Update 2 | Divison called as House votes on amendment allowing MPs to sit on boards

The House of Representatives this evening continued with its discussions to amend various laws relating to the functions of the Members of Parliament. The act is now being analysed at committee stage after parliament was adjourned to tomorrow evening.

It is expected the bill will pass its third reading tomorrow, before the parliamentary rises for the summer recess.

But as the House voted, with the Opposition voting against it, PN whip David Agius called for a division... and requested for the House to wait a few minutes as one of his MPs "was stuck in traffic".

Speaker Anglu Farrugia accepted Agius' request and suspended parliament for 20 minutes.

The vote was eventually taken with 34 votes in favour and 30 against. Absent for this evening's vote were environment minister Leo Brincat, parliamentary secretaries Roderick Galdes and Franco Mercieca, and Labour MPs Michael Falzon and Etienne Grech. All members of the Opposition were present.

The Nationalist MPs have raised questions "on the real merits" of the Act, claiming this was being done "to appease" MPs and backbenchers who have not been given a role by the government.

Asked by MaltaToday, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has however vehemently denied this claim. He insisted it was the PN administration that had first introduced the concept by placing then Nationalist backbencher Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando chairman of the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST).

Muscat, who has publicly declared he was against the role of parliamentary assistants set up by the Gonzi Cabinet, said an MP would now be fulfilling a role that was regulated by law.

"Isn't this better than creating roles, such as parliamentary assistants, which were not defined? I never cricitised the previous administration's decision to have parliamentary assistants as that was in his [Lawrence Gonzi] remit. But they were paid for a role which was not defined, with a code of ethics which was a cut-and-paste job of code used by another Commonwealth country," Muscat said.

He insisted the role of a parliamentary assistant role had "in reality been not to criticise a minister's job".

Asked whether with more MPs, the government was increasing its control of public company boards by centralizing them politically, Muscat said it was the Attorney General, after being approached by the government, who came back "with a number of entities".

These entities included the National Audit Office, the Malta Crafts Council, the Occupational Health and Safety Authority, the Malta Sports Council, Malta Enterprise and the Malta Film Commission among others.

Muscat went on to add that not all these available places would be filled by MPs.

An other argument raised by the Opposition is why should such entities be further politicised. According to the Nationalist side, the number of entities which lack political interference should increase and not decrease.

The changes to the law also include amendments to laws giving Government the option to select its Leader of the from among its MPs and no longer from its Cabinet. The Leader of the House could also effectively be chosen from among the Opposition benches.