Here’s the full text of Elliott Phillips' Budget address:

Mr Speaker this is my seventh budget and sixth contribution to the debate on the Appropriation Bill currently before the House.

Mr Speaker before I get to the substance of my address, I echo the thanks expressed by members of this House in relation to your team here at Parliament for the work they do all year around to support members of the House irrespective of the side of the House we sit on.

3. Our civil servants in this place go about their daily obligations without fear or favour and they are a credit to the service. In my interactions with your staff Mr Speaker their response time has always been excellent, and I appreciate their guidance.

4. The Parliamentary team are placed in a difficult spot not because of the job but because of the way in which the Government conducts itself in managing the parliamentary diary with very little notice to your staff, not to mention the elected members of this House that sit on this side of the House.

5. Whilst it is appreciated that urgent and emergency type Government business may rarely upset things, the Government must make sure that the House works for all MPS so that they can in turn provide a better service to the public.

6. I have not been shy in saying this House does not work as it should and is in desperate need of reform.

7. This place should be a place for informed debate, collaboration for the good of the community, scrutiny and holding the Government to account.

8. The quality of the answers we have received in this House for many years now and the little regard that the Government place on accuracy or indeed the truth, lead me to the conclusion that this House is an opportunity for the Chief Minister and the government that he leads to grandstand at every possible occasion and to further diminish and suppress the role of the opposition.

9. We will not be diminished, supressed or silenced and we will continue to robustly oppose Government so that the alternative can be put before this House and ultimately for the people at the next General Election.

10. Yesterday the Deputy Chief Minister spoke about planned physical changes to this place to improve functionality and accessibility and they are welcome but the elephant in this chamber is not so much physical changes but a deeper introspection as to how we improve the quality of the work of this chamber. People hold this institution in high regard but there are some fundamental issues which must be tackled so that the quality of our democracy is enhanced.

11. I am personally disappointed that the parliamentary reform select committee has not met despite it being established many years ago.

12. MR SPEAKER, the last two years have been difficult and challenging years for our community. We have had years of continued uncertainty as to our place in the world post Brexit and whilst its negotiators endlessly pick through the detail of the deal, it is important to understand that continued uncertainty is causing us all to worry about our future.  Coupled with the pandemic we have all had it tough.

13. Our citizens have had their liberties restricted and 104 of our men and women have lost their lives to Covid whilst many thousands of our people have had their physical and mental health impacted from being locked down.  Our people needed and continue to need our support during this period.  We as a community did what we did to protect our GHA and the lives of many more that arguably would have been lost if we did nothing.

14. Our thoughts and prayers are with those that have lost loved ones, those who are afflicted with long covid and our health care warriors who continue to attempt to manage a virus that will no doubt live with us long into the future. At this point I wish the Hon Father of the House Sir Joe Bossano a speedy recovery.

15. We should also spare a thought for the many many people in our community who have struggled to access basic appointments and treatments and operations during this time and what many within and outside the GHA are describing as a healthcare service on its knees.

16. If Covid has taught us anything is that life changes at the blink of eye and whilst we must be thankful for what we have, we must at all costs protect those that need our support the most.

17. We may not be the largest or most powerful country in the world, but we have each other and whilst this chamber has been the place for heated debate and vocal argument it has also shown that when the chips are down we are able to unite and defend our way of life be that a challenge to our status, our economy or our health security.

18. What the last two years has also demonstrated is our vulnerability and our weaknesses. The last two years have shown a flood light on areas which are creaking under the pressure of expectation and need.  One such area, is the crisis in healthcare which my colleagues and I have been talking about for some time.

19. As Shadow Minister for Health, I have observed that, health security, public health and our GHA has been put under the spotlight in two ways: (i) in how the GHA came together to respond to the covid emergency; and (ii) how it has been able to emerge from the pandemic in the Reset, Restart and Recover strategy deployed by the Government. 

20. MR SPEAKER Governments across the world are learning important lessons from Covid, they are learning from the data collected that the state of people’s health has a direct correlation as to how they respond to a health crisis and there is much we can do to improve the health of a nation from improving our collective approach to our own health and wellbeing.

21. The only way, in my view, in getting down the collective weight of our community is by increasing our activity levels, putting healthy eating at the forefront with exercise. This is the only way we can bring down the cost of health care and the burden that poor choices can have on the public purse in the long term.

22. The world is moving towards a better understanding of the importance of public health and we need to listen to the experts in this area. I don’t believe we do enough in our community to explain the impact that poor dietary choices or the lack of physical activity has on our ability of the GHA to deliver care to the population.  Minister Balban’s contribution yesterday touched upon improving the nation’s health by improving walking and cycling infrastructure.  I share his passion but he appears a lone voice on those benches in relation to their commitment to a green and child friendly city.

23. As the Minister for Civil Contingencies said in her contributions moment ago it is clear to all that Covid is here is stay. We must live to learn with the risks associated with Covid and ensure that our community is provided with a health care service that is fit for purpose, that our healthcare professionals are not demoralised and our people have confidence in the leadership at the GHA and that confidence translates into a decent health service being provided to our community.

24. Mr Speaker I am responsible on this side of the House for the health, transport and the environment amongst other portfolios.

25. The one portfolio that has eclipsed all others in respect of public complaint and engagement is health and it is one that will dominate my address to the House in this budget alongside transport and the environment.

26. In order to understand the draft estimates it is important to reflect on the 30^thNovember 2021 statement by the now former Health Minister. That statement was supposed to revolutionise healthcare in Gibraltar.

27. Well before the 30^th November 2021 statement, the Opposition regularly raised serious concerns about the Government’s inability to provide leadership over our health service and the provision of a fully functional health service to service users and patients.
28. We have long raised many concerns about the operation and effectiveness of the GHA on a range of disciplines and whilst Covid has had an impact, matters have of course become more acute during the GSLP/Libs’ administration of this service.

29. The present Minister for Health yesterday talked about the world being upside down, but it is easy to blame Covid for the problems in the GHA. As I have been at pains to say, Covid has served to highlight where we are going wrong and the systemic problems that have plagued the GHA for years.

30. It is easy to blame everything on Covid but the truth is that we know, the healthcare professionals know, the public know, the Unions know and the Minister from his contribution yesterday knows, that the GHA is broken and it has been caused by a decade long mismanagement of priorities and the wider economy. The moment they publically acknowledge it the sooner we can get on and move forward.  It is clear from the outpouring of criticism from the public that things must change quickly within the GHA.

MR SPEAKER we too, have been vocal in our complaints about health services:

(i)        the lack of dental care for our children,

(ii)       the collapsed PCC appointments system,

(iii)      the telephone line and F2F appointments,

(iv)      cancelled operations,

(v)       the lack of financial control in relation to procurement,

(vi)      Clinical governance,

(vii)     Shocking preventable harm and death raised by the former head of clinical governance,

(viii)    the lack of a Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officer to lead the GHA,

(ix)      the removal of the micro manager Minister from the St Bernard’s Hospital as a signal that things needed to change, and

(x)       the tsunami of poor moral within the service leading to industrial strife.

31. We were critical of the former Ministers’ supervision of the GHA and under the Chief Minister’s watch our health service has spiralled downwards from internal crisis to internal crisis with no end in sight.

32. Never in our history has our health service been in such a state of disarray as under the GSLP/Alliance administration of healthcare.

33. In their time in office we have seen a massive escalation in the cost of the service, we have seen complaints, litigation and claims skyrocket, we have experienced systemic waste and we have heard about shockingly serious concerns expressed about preventable deaths and harm. All on their watch Mr Speaker and they know it.  This is nothing to be proud of Mr Speaker and this all rests on their shoulders as the guardians of the provision of 

34. We have heard of normal working people, our elderly and vulnerable not being able to access simple appointments. Children left without seeing dentists for 3 years, a management structure destroyed by years of micromanagement by an incompetent political leadership and to add salt into the wounds, now a budget which promises mass uncoordinated and haphazard cuts across the health service that will inevitably impact on service levels and basic health care in our community.

35. MR SPEAKER, of 30^th November 2021, the former Minister for Health announced so called landmark and radical reforms to the GHA in direct response to our comprehensive proposals which we set out at the last General Election and our public statements reflecting the crisis in healthcare. It is clear that once again where we lead on healthcare policy the Government follow.  We, on the side of the House, welcome the wholesale adoption of GSD health policy.  It was excellent back in 2019 and is of critical importance now that the GHA has been put under the microscope not only by us but so very vocally by the patients and the public at large . 

Back in 2019 we constructed a package of positive, constructive and radical proposals for the reform of healthcare.

We proposed an independent professional management team as well as structural and qualitive changes to improve the quality of care.

In particular, we proposed (i) the reintroduction of a CEO at the GHA, and (ii) the appointment of a CFO to monitor procurement and spending of public money in the GHA.  We are pleased to note that all of our proposals have been introduced.  Where we lead on health the GOG follow.

36. Mr Speaker the GHA has now had 5 Ministers for Health, Ministers Cortes, Balban, Costa, Sacramento and now Minister Isola. Whilst the public watch the Ministerial musical chairs, at the GHA, our health service stumbles from one crisis to another without leadership and with public confidence in the service at an all time low.  We now have a new kid on the health block.  Minister Isola: Let’s hope his head is not next on the block. They are running out of Ministers on that side of the House.

37. The Hon Gentlemen knows that I have a great deal of personal affection and respect for him, but I have to say that he should stick to what he is known for and what he appears to be fairly good at, namely financial services and digital assets.

38. The Hon Gentlemen is a consummate salesman, and he knows how to sell Gib Plc outside Gibraltar and I personally commend him for his efforts but I suspect his silver tongue is not going to come to his aid with the Health Service and whilst I wish him Godspeed and the best of British, I suspect that deep down he knows that he is presiding over a health service which is on critical life support.

39. His contribution yesterday whilst not earth shattering, it was though at the top end of ad lib before he got into his pre-prepared speech, just the usual defensive jabs, none of which landed on his opponent. On this side of the House we suggest he sticks to non-contact sports.

40. Far from it, all he did was to demonstrate that he is able to do the quickest u-turn in political history. It took less than 24 hours after they announced their ridiculous £25 a week charge affecting all businesses to row back on it.  Where in the world does a Government, after supposedly thinking properly about their measures row back on their commitment within 24 hours.

41. MR SPEAKER it must be a world record! It’s like LWR all over again.  More of that later…

42. I do think that he did honestly recognise that all is not well at the GHA and I got the distinct impression that he may be overwhelmed by the prospect of trying to fix the GHA.

• There were no answers by him in relation to the areas which, on the surface, look like significant cuts to the healthcare budget referred to by the LOTO.

I take the absence of a reply as an acceptance by him that we will have a task on our hands of managing the health budget moving in 2023.  They only have themselves to blame and the public know it.

44. We told them last year that the GHA should be regulated by an independent body and pointed to our carefully designed Care Quality Commission. Our idea - it seems clear that they are giving active consideration to this,

(i)      we told them to hire a CEO, they hired one;

(ii)     we told them to hire a CFO, they hired one;

(iii)      We told them to move the Health Minister out of the Hospital and they reshuffled yet another Minister out.

45. Mr SPEAKER I am all for constructive politics, but they haven’t got a clue when it comes to managing the healthcare budget, they have simply run out of good ideas and brought the GHA to its knees.

46. Well Mr Speaker the only thing I will commend them for today is adopting well thought out prudent and cautious GSD policy.

47. Whilst they are at it, I would ask them to introduce integrated health care so that our IT systems between primary, secondary and tertiary care can properly talk to each. The failure of digital platforms is totally unacceptable and in 2022 there is no excuse for poor technology in health.  The answer to the delivery of better healthcare is to embrace technology and to ensure joined up IT with all aspects of healthcare so that when you visit a Doctor or go to a pharmacy, your health record is accessible by the health professional and you can be provided with the best possible treatment and medication for your ailment.

48. MR SPEAKER when it comes to health care in our community:

• the cost to the tax payer for years 2019/2021 namely for two years was a staggering £322M odd crudely divided into two £161Million each year;

(ii)       the Estimate for 2021/2022 was £140M;

• the forecast out turn for 2022 is £170M.

49. In short, we spent £170M up to March 2022 and the estimate for this time next year is £128M. The LOTO has spent much time attempting to demonstrate the overspend and has expertly dissected the Chief Minister contribution and serves to highlight the failure of the Government to get a hold on public spending on healthcare.

50. Putting it simply, we spend half of all revenue generated from income tax on the health service

51. The Government have committed on numerous occasions to attempt to cut the cost of health, I remember the Hon Mr Costa’s attempt but they have been unable to place financial controls and secure efficiencies within the system. And this is why the Hon. Roy Clinton has said that this budget is irresponsible and unrealistic.

52. For every single Minister for Health, the revolving door as it has been well known, has tried and failed to drive efficiencies within the health service and despite what is set out in the book, it is very difficult to see how they are going to stem the crisis in the GHA and meanwhile people continue to suffer and complaints about service rise.

53. The Government now and again repeats the efficiencies’ mantra and now proposes to essentially cut the cost of healthcare from the outturn of £170M to £128M a year. How are they going to do that MR SPEAKER?

54. Well they have no choice they are going to cut services that our people rely on.

55. We have already seen a pre-budget announcement of a massive hike in prescriptions’ costs to the public and a reduction in those eligible for exemption.

56. We have also learned that now life saving and life improving medication to those that need it will be curtailed. I have spoken with patients and pharmacists alike and it is clear that patient access to important medicines will now be severely restricted.

57. This is the start of it Mr Speaker what will follow is a period of sustained cuts, cuts and more cuts to our health services.

58. MR SPEAKER Appendix F on page 225 of the Book provides some insight into how they will go about butchering our most beloved health service.

59. As we all know the health service is as good as the people that work in and it has always been a place where they are overwhelmed by the demands placed by them on the service. We have excellent healthcare professionals who are trying their best whilst being completely demoralised.

60. We pay as a community personal emoluments which includes salaries over £60M per year. In terms of relief cover, visiting consultants and recruitment expenses, we paid out in 2021/2022 over £15M, insofar that those subheads the Government are now budgeting for the years ahead just over £3.4M which is massive cut which can only directly impact on the delivery of health care to our community.  Is this seriously realistic?

61. Selecting a number of other areas you can see that it’s not just on people where we are seeing cuts but on other areas which directly affect patients.

62. When we look at prescriptions the Government intend to cut the costs from £12.5M to £9.M to a whopping £3.5M pounds from prescriptions.

63. In terms of medical departments they intend to reduce the cost from £18M odd to just £5.7. All this to directly impact on the healthcare to our community.

64. And then Mr Speaker we come to the last line of defence of health care our most treasured sponsored patients’ scheme.

65. Many of our families and members of this House may have been recipients of health care delivered elsewhere because we cannot simply provide that quality of care here.

66. I am sad to report to this House that the Government intend to cut sponsored patients from approximately £15M to £10M representing a significant decrease.

67. It is also very disappointing that despite all that is said by them in this House about the importance of support members of community with disability and mental health aka our vulnerable, that there is no detailed budget for these areas. We will all remember the publication of the Mental Health Situational Analysis report which was sat on the former former Minister’s desk for 19 months.  That report heavily criticised the Government for not having a defined mental health budget and low and behold the report from Public Health England has been ignored and no mental health budget is properly put forward this year.

68. It is shocking that in 300 pages there is no mental health budget. They talk about the vulnerable, the weak, and those in need with compassion but it is never backed up with action MR SPEAKER they are all words but no action MR SPEAKER. How many more young men and women need to suffer in silence needlessly because of a lack of provision or mental health budget?  

69. All this budget demonstrates is that they are entirely disconnected from reality and what is important to the people of this community.

70. Healthcare is our number 1 priority and the Government have embarked on a culling and mercenary butchery of the health care budget targeting medicines, staff and the availability our well-loved sponsored patient scheme.

71. No amount of spin we have heard from the latest in a long line of Health ministers or the spin doctor extraordinaire the Chief Minister, will assure the public that what they are doing is embarking on a haphazard scatter gun approach to cost cutting at the expense of patient care and ultimately safety .

72. In respect of the purchase of the Hospital by the Government we will carefully scrutinise the deal when the details are made available

73. MR SPEAKER I said in 2018 in this very House that the Government had been reckless with the peoples’ money.

74. MR SPEAKER I said that in 2018, it took him 7 years of SPEND, SPEND SPEND which resulted in us being saddled with DEBT, DEBT, DEBT.

75. MR SPEAKER we will now have to live with the consequences of his huge appetite for spending and that is CUTS, CUTS and even more CUTS.

76. His chickens have come home to roost MR SPEAKER and they now seek to blame Brexit and now Covid for their poor planning and mismanagement of the economy.

77. The two clear characteristics of an economy bruised and battered by a decade of spending is CUTS to public services and tax increases the Government has now done both.

78. The Chief Minister almost seems to be proud of the fact that under his watch he needs to make significant revenue raising measure, albeit for 2 years! Or to lighten the presentation of bad news 24 months!

79. MR SPEAKER the Chief Minister tells us that this is not a GIVE AWAY budget but it is a TAKEAWAY budget. The Chief Minister is indeed taking away from hard working families who are enduring a cost of living crisis and higher interest rates.  After a decade of spending he know want to raid our piggy banks in true Sherriff of Nottingham Style…

80. As I have demonstrated there is less money for medicines needed by patients, less money for sponsored patients, less money of cover which ultimately has a direct effect on level of health service provided to our community. How can he be proud of that record?

81. What the Chief Minister cannot get away from is his decade long of splurging millions cash at festivals, his Venetians place, swanky business trips through VVIP world leader lounges and a war bunker that can only rival the West Wing to name but a few. All he can point to is the wonderful green park that the Honourable Mr Isola spent some time discussing yesterday.

82. We all remember the VVIP tickets issued to all and sundry and contracts for boys - now that he has spent the peoples’ money, the CM talks about becoming a nation of fairness and peoples’ toughest budget. There is nothing tough about this budget Mr Speaker.

The CM is attempting to position himself as a strong determined leader who has to take tough decisions which might not be popular.  Well Mr Speaker he wouldn’t have had to be tough on people’s money if he managed the public purse better over the last decade of spending.  

83. I think it was the Deputy Chief Minister who attempted on Tuesday to persuade the public that it was a combination of a lethal cocktail of Brexit and Covid that has caused the economic bomb to go off. We do not doubt that Brexit and Covid has had an impact, but to brush aside the Government addiction to frivolous spending and mismanagement of the public finances will not go unnoticed by the public. Whatever the shape of the Treaty Mr Speaker it will all be too little too late for Mr Picardo and his cheerleaders.   

The Chief Minister conversion to prudence and to the age of responsibility is an act to shield him from his decade of mismanagement and spend spend spend.  It’s a shame he didn’t listen carefully to the perfect storm warning set out by the Honourable Gentlemen Mr Feetham all those years ago.

84. MR SPEAKER when the Honourable Gentlemen sat down in that chair after delivering what he described as the “peoples’ budget” our community exploded in anger and social media went on a frenzied criticism of his speech. MR SPEAKER the pendulum has swung, this is the champagne swigging socialists’ last budget.  They are Mr Speaker bruised and battered, tired and spent with nothing more to given and clinging to the hope that successes on the Treaty will some how make people forget about the domestic nightmare that people having been living with.

85. The community has had enough, and they want him gone MR SPEAKER for it is the CM and the Government responsible for the ruinous state of public finances.

86. MR SPEAKER he talks about a rebirth and a renaissance. Listening to Chief Minister was like looking at a completely different human being this isn’t a rebirth or a renaissance it is a wholesale reincarnation.

87. The Chief Minister is selling himself as a Robin Hood but he is the Sherriff of Nottingham. He is as my learned and Hon friend the LOTO said he is a highway man.

88. MR SPEAKER we are pleased that he is now appears to be counting the pennies but what about all those many many millions of pounds he spent on contracts for the boys and the parties he isn’t accountable for his spending spree?

89. I say “appears” because even when he now asks more from people in tax, electricity and water he increases his entertainment budget at No.6!!

90. So in short he’s gone from drinking Dom Perignon to a Prosecco but still is asking the people to pay for his parties.

91. Shame on him Mr Speaker. Tell that to people who can no longer afford medication or obtain the medication they need, tell that to people living on the breadline who now have to pay more in tax and utilities, tell that the sponsored patients who have just had their budget slashed, tell that to small business and the unions who have openly and directly criticised this budget.

92. This is not the people’s toughest budget it is a desperate scramble budget to get us through the next year scrimping around to cover the hole created, not by Brexit or Covid, but his pathological addiction to spending other peoples’ money. We now rely on the generosity of benefactors to pay for our parks and our theatres.  I make no criticism for their generosity their contribution to our community is welcome but in one way it can be seen as an abdication of responsibility and reflection of the state of public finances for which they have ultimate political responsibility.

93. MR SPEAKER this budget demonstrates to all that would care to listen that the Government that he leads has lost the trust and confidence of the people of this community.

94. Our community has lived through a decade of SPEND SPEND SPEND AND DEBT DEBT AND MORE DEBT and it now appears that we are all about to board Tugboat Picardo for a sustained period of collective economic pain.

95. On Tuesday he romantically talked about himself as being Captain Picardo of HMS Gibraltar, leading us all through choppy waters where the reality is he is readying himself to abandon ship, when the rest of cling on to rust bucket in in the middle of a tsunami.

96. ENVIRONMENT AND TRANSPORT

97. MR SPEAKER moving to the Government’s now abandoned commitment to a green and child friendly City. I have heard it been said by the Chief Minister and the Deptuy Chief Minister and others in this House that they will not be able to honour the promises they made to the people in 2019. It appears that green Gibraltar will be the victim of GSLP overspend and mismanagement of the economy.

98. No other Government in a refined democracy has abandoned its commitment to the environmental so why should we? Any political party going to the polls in the future rowing back on its commitments to climate change and decarbonisation will be punished by the electorate.

99. I was surprised to hear it said on Tuesday by the Hon Minister Cortes that several countries have stepped back on low carbon measures which was described by the Minister in his contribution as short term and opportunistic. I would be very interested to hear which countries have stepped back from their commitment to reversing climate change.

100. There was nothing in his very short, limited, unfocused, and quite frankly poor 5-minute contribution on the Environment, apart from wishy washy commitments to climate change that inspired very little hope to those listening that he was truly interested in improving the environment for the betterment of members of our community.

101. The Minister said that the Government remained fully committed to green Gibraltar but then confirmed that they had to pull back on plans and manifesto commitments. Well which is it MR SPEAKER?

102. We heard a very limited update from the Minister in relation to their decade long and hitherto undelivered the Sewage Treatment plant which appears to be no further forward and in fact is not provided for in the book, save for a limited £1000 provision. It appears that Gibraltar will continue to pump raw sewage into the sea with no indication as to how much it will cost the public purse and despite saying that it could be ready in a year, a realistic time estimate for the delivery of this project 

103. Insofar as solar power, it is clear that there has been very limited progress and rolling this out more widely. It is also clear from Opposition questions in this House that the move to EV is very slow and that businesses have very little encouragement to move their entire fleets to EV.

104. We will continue therefore to see a fleet of trucks spewing dirty fumes across our streets and with increased construction our health is going to be further impacted by bad air quality.

105. The Government must do much more to improve our air quality and cleaning up Gibraltar for all our residents. We will watch with bated breath how the new instruments that have been purchased will improve public information about air quality.

106. We heard about the Sustainable Tourism Tax which has been described as a positive step but as the LOTO and my Hon friend Mr Bossino said this is strategically a bad move.

107. I welcome the prohibited importation of diesel and petrol mopeds as of the 1 July 2023.

108. It should have happened earlier but we are where we are and we are pleased that they are following policy which we have long promoted in this area. Diesel and petrol mopeds are polluting and noisy and the sale is counterintuitive.  Again, another example of following where we lead on constructive and progressive policies.

109. I cannot of course not deal with the LWR debacle, the other Ministry I have been blessed to shadow is transport which was quickly taken back by The Hon Mr Balban after a disastrous term at health and after Mr Daryanani massive UTURN on LWR.

110. Who will ever forget the appalling mismanagement by the former Minister for Transport who famously said in this House that LWR belong to the Government only to be corrected by the LOTO who put him right as to who own LWR it is the people not him MR SPEAKER.

111. They got themselves into a right mess over LWR. The mistake was clearly asking the former Minister for Transport to embark on a project without planning in the first place but that is the hallmark of the GSLP/Lib Administration, jumping in with little thought about the consequences on normal working families.

112. By way of example the closure of LWR had a massively negative affect on other important roads and caused massive and untold traffic chaos.

113. That mistake for which they apologise cost the tax payer a whopping and just shy of £300K.

114. Let that sink in- the truly embarrassing, ill planned and ill-conceived closure of LWR cost the tax payer us £300k, another example of carelessness and waste of public money and now they are cutting increasing prescriptions and cutting sponsored patients Mr Speaker.

115. You couldn’t make this stuff up!! Mr Speaker during Covid (2019/2021) they spent nearly £2M on road resurfacing, and they estimate to spend £1M this year. Have you seen our roads where are the improvements?  Minister Balban spoke in his contribution of patch jobs to our roads but the public are up in arms about the quality of our roads and rightly so.  Nothing in Mr Balban’s speech will ever appease the many who believe the STTP was a waste of public money.

116. In 2019/2021 the Government spent nearly £8M on the tunnel and roads to North Front, the outturn for 2021/2022 is £4.1M in 2022/2023 they expect to spend over £4.5 Million.

117. MR SPEAKER that’s over £16M on a tunnel and it isn’t even open!!.

118. MR SPEAKER the infamous Sustainable Traffic, Transport and Parking Plan continues to be an unaccountable money pit.

119. In 2019/2021 the tax payer paid £477K for the STTP, in year 2021-2022 the cost was £205K and for 2022-2023 it is estimate to reach £800k. I have said it before Gibraltar requires a radical shake up in the way we all move about our community.

120. Gibraltar can only change if people have confidence in the reliability and availability of public transport. Safe infrastructure for alternatives is essential in order to move our people away from car use and to more sustainable modes of transportation.

121. Yesterday The Hon. Mr Balban romanticised about his desire for walking and cycling infrastructure. I applaud and support his commitment to this but it isn’t backed up by the colleagues he sits with. It is clear that his predecessor was not onboard at all with his vision which I agree is a good vision.  One which sees our people walk more, cycle more and embrace sustainable and healthier modes of transport.  I really do think that the only way he will truly see his vision put into practice is when the people shortly move us from here to their.  Mr Speaker Mr Balban is a lone voice on that side of the House but we support his vision.  In relation to e-scooters, there is no real indication as to when proposed legislation will be brought before the house.

122. We need an integrated plan that provides public confidence allows people to explore safe and cleaner modes of transport. We also need to encourage a transition to EV and we require our infrastructure to be significantly upgraded to meet the green and child friendly commitments set out in is glossy 2019 manifesto.  One example is our taxi service which should be entirely electric and we should encourage that transition as soon as possible.

Gibraltar deserves better than a half-baked traffic plan that is costing the public millions.

123. Mr SPEAKER Gibraltar’s streets and highway are unsightly and dirty and whilst millions go out of the Improvement and Development fund nothing is improved or developed by the GSLP Liberal Alliance. Whilst they have enjoyed a decade of spending and decadence they haven’t seen the decade of decay on our highways and byways MR SPEAKER.

124. MR SPEAKER it is important to remark on the following:

• we spend over £6M a year for the cleaning of streets and public spaces;
• we pay half a million pounds a year to monitor air quality
• we spend £1.85 Million on the Environmental Agency contract,
• we spend £1.25M on running of Alameda Gardens.
• We spend £100K a year up keeping our cemeteries.

125. In most if not all of those areas I receive complaints from the public, if it isn’t our dirty streets, it’s our exceptionally bad air quality affecting the long term health of our young and old alike, it’s the poor state of where our relatives are placed at rest. Where is the supervision?  Where is the quality control? Where is the efficiencies and assuring that we are getting value for money.  All the public can see from the book is the Government spending their money with no real improvements in our environment and worst still a deterioration in the way our community looks.

126. MR SPEAKER our air quality is diabolical and anyone who suggests that we do not have a problem which is directly impacting on the lungs of our children is blind to reality.

127. MR SPEAKER, I am shocked by reports from Doctors on the levels of asthma and other respiratory conditions as well as the prevalence of allergens. More must be done and quickly to stop the increasing bad and poor air quality in our City.

128. I am not confident that the current Minister has the ambition to drive real change in this area. No-one in their right mind believes that this community is well within the 2021 limits imposed by WHO and that we have no problem with air quality. The Hon Gentlemen the Minister for the Environment paints a rosy picture but it is very far from rosy.

129. In fact yesterday The Hon Professor contribution yesterday was completely at odds with that of the Hon Mr Balban. Don’t they speak to each other don’t they compare notes at least. Should transport, health and environment be joined up?

130. The fact that the Government has changed its air quality work monitors demonstrates that the 20 year equipment was not fit for purpose and they now accept the long standing concerns expressed by NGOs as to our poor air quality.

131. Pausing there we should all reflect and applaud the health/disability and environmental charities, NGOs and associations for the excellent work they do in raising awareness and funds for their causes. We should thank every organiser and tin shaker for their efforts in ensuring that their health, disability or environmental concerns are raised loud and clear.

132. MR SPEAKER coming to end I wanted to say something about the contribution of the Chief Minister and MR BOSSINO yesterday in relation to another country’s approach to the question of abortion

133. The Chief Minister talked about not having a reverse gear on rights and Mr Bossino talked about the belligerent left. Old wounds which were well settled in the referendum and the subsequent commencement of the act.
134. We in this community were torn apart by this question let and let us not continue to create ill feeling. Let our community continue to heal the wounds of these divisions and attempt to live together in peace and harmony with the collective decisions we have made about seminal issues such as abortion despite the many views that have been expressed.
135. Before I close my contribution a word about yesterday news in relation to the end of reciprocal health care benefits. Mr Speaker we have consistently said that the Government have mishandled the negotiations by giving away rights to frontier workers with no equivalent rights in return for our people.  People will not need to be concerned with taking out health insurance for Spain to cover emergency health cover there. 

136. MR SPEAKER it is clear to all that after a decade of spending and a decade of decay and to use a Shakespearean theme… something is rotten in the state of Denmark and there is a real need for a change of direction. We need a Government that delivers what it says it will deliver, a Government that can be trusted with the public affairs and finances of the community and a Government that puts the health of our country first always.

Thank you