The Speaker, Louis Galea, this evening deplored insults made by union leaders against MPs for the way they had gone about their duties in the House.

Reacting to a call made by Nationalist MP Robert Arrigo for the Chair to take action after MPs were called 'traitors' for the way they voted after the debate on the utility tariffs, Dr Galea said that while Mr Arrigo had not followed the procedure for this issue to be considered as a breach of privilege complaint, the Chair had taken cognizance of Mr Arrigo's remarks.

While leaders could not control everything that the crowd did, matters were different with regard to what the leaders themselves did when they addressed the crowd, Dr Galea said, and insults directed at MPs over the performance of their duties in the House were deplored.