Monday 10Th June 2019
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P R O C E E D I N G S O F T H E G I B R A L T A R P A R L I A M E N T MORNING SESSION: 10.01 a.m. – 2.11 p.m. Gibraltar, Monday, 10th June 2019 Contents Suspension of Standing Order 7(1) to permit papers to be laid ...................................................... 2 Papers to be laid ............................................................................................................................... 2 Suspension of Standing Order 7(1) to proceed with Government Bills ........................................... 2 Government Bills .............................................................................................................................. 3 First and Second Reading ................................................................................................................. 3 Appropriation Bill 2019 – First Reading approved.................................................................... 3 Appropriation Bill 2019 – For Second Reading – Debate commenced .................................... 3 The House recessed at 1.55 p.m. and resumed its sitting at 2.10 p.m. .......................................... 60 Adjournment .................................................................................................................................. 60 The House adjourned at 2.11 p.m. ................................................................................................. 60 _______________________________________________________________________________ Published by © The Gibraltar Parliament, 2019 GIBRALTAR PARLIAMENT, MONDAY, 10th JUNE 2019 The Gibraltar Parliament The Parliament met at 10.01 a.m. [MR SPEAKER: Hon. A J Canepa CMG, GMH, OBE, in the Chair] [CLERK TO THE PARLIAMENT: P E Martinez Esq in attendance] Suspension of Standing Order 7(1) to permit papers to be laid Clerk: Meeting of Parliament, Monday, 10th June 2019. Order of Proceedings. Suspension of Standing Orders. The Hon. the Chief Minister. 5 Chief Minister (Hon. F R Picardo): Mr Speaker, I beg to move, under Standing Order 7(3), to suspend Standing Order 7(1) in order to proceed with the laying of reports on the table. Mr Speaker: Those in favour? (Members: Aye.) Those against? Carried. PAPERS TO BE LAID 10 Clerk: The Hon. the Minister for Tourism, Employment, Commercial Aviation and the Port. Minister for Tourism, Employment, Commercial Aviation and the Port (Hon. G H Licudi): Mr Speaker, I have the honour to lay on the table the Tourist Survey Report 2018, the Hotel Occupancy Survey 2018, the Air Traffic Survey Report 2018 and the Employment Survey 15 Report 2018. Mr Speaker: Ordered to lie. Suspension of Standing Order 7(1) to proceed with Government Bills Clerk: Suspension of Standing Orders. The Hon. the Chief Minister. 20 Chief Minister (Hon. F R Picardo): Mr Speaker, I beg to move, under Standing Order 7(3), to suspend Standing Order 7(1) in order to proceed with Government Bills. Mr Speaker: Those in favour? (Members: Aye.) Those against? Carried. ________________________________________________________________________ 2 GIBRALTAR PARLIAMENT, MONDAY, 10th JUNE 2019 GOVERNMENT BILLS FIRST AND SECOND READING Appropriation Bill 2019 – First Reading approved Clerk: Bills – First and Second Reading. 25 A Bill for an Act to appropriate sums of money to the service of the year ending on the 31st day of March 2020. The Hon. the Chief Minister. Chief Minister (Hon. F R Picardo): Mr Speaker, I have the honour to move that a Bill for an Act to appropriate sums of money to the service of the year ending on the 31st day of March 30 2020 be read a first time. Mr Speaker: I now put the question, which is that a Bill for an Act to appropriate sums of money to the service of the year ended the 31st day of March 2020 be read a first time. Those in favour? (Members: Aye.) Those against? Carried. 35 Clerk: The Appropriate Act 2019. Appropriation Bill 2019 – For Second Reading – Debate commenced Chief Minister (Hon. F R Picardo): Mr Speaker, I have the honour to move that the Bill be now read a second time. This is my 16th Budget address as a Member of this Parliament. It is my eighth Budget 40 address as Chief Minister. As part of my address on this Second Reading of the Appropriation Bill, I have the honour to present the estimates of Government’s revenue and expenditure for the year ending 31st March 2020. I also have the honour to present the outturn for Government’s revenue and expenditure for the year ended 31st March 2019, which was the seventh full financial year of a Socialist Liberal Government since we took office in December 45 2011. The House is having to meet today on a Jewish feast day, the day of Shavout. I wish all members of that important religion a happy feast and apologise to the hon. Lady for having to meet today. She and I discussed options for adjournment, which she knows we would have pursued if it had been possible. 50 Mr Speaker, this address will be the last of this Government in the lifetime of this Parliament and before a General Election. It also comes some 36 months after the decision of the British people, in a referendum, to leave the European Union. Additionally, I rise to address the House this year on some other significant anniversaries which have a bearing on who we are today and our enduring security. 55 It is 80 years since the formation of the Gibraltar Defence Force. Indeed, perhaps most apposite is the fact that the Father of the House is 80 years old today. (Banging on desks) For most people, having a birthday on the day of the Budget might be a drag. (Laughter) For Sir Joe Bossano, I do not think he would prefer to be anywhere else. I think it is fair to wish Sir Joe a very happy birthday and a very happy Budget debate on behalf of the nation 60 he has given most of his life to. ________________________________________________________________________ 3 GIBRALTAR PARLIAMENT, MONDAY, 10th JUNE 2019 It is 75 years since D-Day, and it is 50 years almost exactly to the day since perhaps the most defining post-wartime evacuation event in our history, the closure of the Frontier, and indeed the 1969 Constitution. I shall have more to say about each of those relevant anniversaries later on in this address, 65 especially about the last of the ones I have just mentioned. Mr Speaker, as you know and as we all know, the UK should have left the European Union by now, at the end of March this year. Instead, it has been granted an extension until 31st October this year. Again, if the UK leaves on that date this will, sadly, be the last Budget address that will ever be delivered in this House by a Chief Minister whilst we are members of the European 70 Union. We will all no doubt, however, agree that we hope that it might be possible for the United Kingdom, and with it Gibraltar, to stay in the European Union. One way or another, the position of my Government will be to continue to navigate the months ahead with the same political tact and strategic care that have enabled us to reach today with no materially adverse shocks affecting our economy since the date of the Brexit 75 referendum. We will also seek to contribute our grain of sand in persuading whoever is the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in coming weeks and months that a confirmatory referendum should now be held before any type of Brexit is finalised. What is certainly true is that history will show that none of my 2016, 2017 or indeed 2018 80 Budgets turned out to be Brexit Budgets after all – although we were right to be prudent and careful in crafting them as such at the time that they were delivered. I will be no less careful and no less prudent today. In the context of the developing situation in London – with the Prime Minister officially now resigned as leader of her party and awaiting the outcome of the leadership election in the 85 Conservative Party – as is now traditional, my Budget address to this House will be very much a state of the nation address. I will also, of course, report to the House on the state of our public finances as well as on our nation’s economic outlook. This year, regrettably, I will also, during the course of this main address, deal with certain innuendoes and aspersions cast wildly by some of the Members opposite whose deep political 90 frustrations at their repeated political failures have led them to make even more outlandish attacks on the integrity of Members of the Government. Hon. R M Clinton: Mr Speaker – 95 Mr Speaker: I am very sorry, Mr Clinton, please sit down. (Interjection) This is the opening of the debate on the Appropriation Bill. I think it is not appropriate, without a real need, that any points of order should be addressed. Whatever the Chief Minister may or may not say on that issue you will have an opportunity, when you contribute to the debate, to have your say. He has not even said anything yet in detail and you are already on your feet on a point of order. 100 Hon. R M Clinton: But, Mr Speaker – Mr Speaker: Yes, Mr Clinton, please. 105 Hon. R M Clinton: – you will accept that there will be a point of order anticipation if he does raise anything that is not already on the Order Paper by way of motion? Hon. Chief Minister: Mr Speaker, I am afraid I do not want to be accused of having said something which is not in context, so I think I should read that part of my address again. It is 110 important that people get the flavour of what it is that I need to say. This year, regrettably, I will also, during the course of this main address, deal with certain innuendoes and aspersions cast wildly by some of the Members opposite whose deep political ________________________________________________________________________ 4 GIBRALTAR PARLIAMENT, MONDAY, 10th JUNE 2019 frustrations at their repeated political failures have led them to make evermore outlandish attacks on the integrity of Members of the Government, including some officials.