The GSD Opposition wishes to emphasise that the only two people to have received a copy of the letter from the Leader of the Opposition to the Chief Minister of 22 July were the Chief Minister and the Speaker. 

A spokesman for the GSD said: "It must be assumed, therefore, that the Chief Minister has decided to leak the letter to GBC.  That letter was a constructive attempt to set the record straight whilst at the same time safeguarding the integrity of the political and parliamentary process which had been so tarnished by the Chief Minister in his Budget reply.

"This just shows that the Chief Minister is not interested in lowering the tone of political debate.  On the contrary he is interested in diverting attention away from issues such as the risk of the LNG power station and installations to the people living in the vicinity by turning politics into a highly personalised political dog fight and doing what he has consistently done over the last three years and that is to disparage and denigrate anyone who he perceives to be a political threat.

"That is what motivated his vicious attack on the Leader of the Opposition during his Budget reply and continues to motivate his communiques.  This from the man who said in 2011 that we should steer away from character assassinations.

"Finally we wish to add that nothing in the statement made by the Leader of the Opposition after the ruling of the Speaker was either acrimonious, aggressive or in breach of the rules.  We invite people to read that statement. Again we renew our calls for people to ask themselves whether they should trust someone that behaves with such disregard for the intelligence of people."

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