Updated | 'Which is the real Budget?’ PN leader asks Speaker

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil yesterday asked Speaker of the House Anglu Farrugia to give a ruling after government tabled the wrong Budget document on Monday.

“Which is the real Budget?” Busuttil asked Farrugia as he pointed out a number of differences between the Budget Document published by the government on Monday and tabled in parliament and the Budget speech delivered by finance minister Edward Scicluna.

Underlining the gravity of these discrepancies, Busuttil asked for an immediate ruling which Farrugia declined.

Among the differences between the working document and the speech, Busuttil cited the discrepancy between the allowance granted to

Gozitan students which the document put at €800 while the finance minister put at €300 in his speech.

But the Speaker said proceedings would go on as normal and he would be giving his ruling at a later stage.

On his part, government whip Godfrey Farrugia said the government had already explained in a statement that the Budget Document was published erroneously and had been withdrawn. “The working document is no substitute to the Budget speech,” Scicluna said, adding that the working document had been withdrawn and a new document was being printed.  

However, Busuttil insisted that two different documents had been tabled the document could not be withdrawn once it had been minuted.  
PN deputy leader Mario de Marco pointed out that government had not requested a correction of the minutes before their approved and asked the Speaker to rule which document was the valid one.

Busuttil is in ‘panic mode’

Reacting to Busuttil’s intervention in Parliament, government said the PN leader was clutching at straws since he is at a loss in criticising the Budget.

“After finding himself isolated in negatively criticising the Budget. The opposition leader is clutching at an administrative mistake made when a document was erroneously uploaded and published.”

Busuttil should know, the government said, that the document was meant to be of an explanatory nature and was not part of the documents submitted to the House after being rubber stamped by the President.