No room for Franco Debono to speak in confidence vote debate tonight

Debono requested to be allocated time to speak ahead of the vote, but a decision taken by the PN’s parliamentary group yesterday, decided that only Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and deputy Prime Minister Tonio Borg will speak for government during the debate.

Contacted this morning, PN parliamentary whip David Agius confirmed vthat he had received a request from Franco Debono to speak during tonight’s debate, however it was decided that only Gonzi and Borg will be addressing the House from government’s side.

“Like Debono, there were other MPs who wished to speak tonight, but we cannot accommodate everyone,” Agius said, adding that according to an agreement reached with the Opposition over the weekend, both sides of the House have split the debate into two equal one hour and three quarters’ slots.

The Prime Minister called for a vote of confidence in his government, following last Friday’s abstention by Franco Debono who objected to government’s defence of transport minister Austin Gatt over the public transport reform fiasco.

Debono repeatedly stated that Gonzi should have never made a “clear case of individual responsibility into a collective one.”

In a 50 minute speech last Friday, Debono hit out at the Prime Minister over a number of issues, including the way the national television station is being run.

Meanwhile, Franco Debono did not attend yesterday’s PN parliamentary group.