House Business Committee to meet again - Opposition says its procedural motion stands

The parliamentary House Business Committee is to meet again tomorrow afternoon - its third meeting before parliament reconvenes tomorrow evening after the Christmas recess.

The purpose of the meeting is not known, but sources said that since no agreement was reached about the no-confidence debate during yesterday's committee meeting, the Opposition is insisting that its procedural motion stands and it would like the debate to be held this Thursday.

The Nationalist Parliamentary Group is due to meet tomorrow to discuss the latest developments.

The Opposition's procedural motion laid down that the no confidence motion would be debated and decided on Thursday morning.

The government disagreed.

However after Leader of the House Carm Mifsud Bonnici declared that the procedural motion would be debated - however long it took - the Opposition said it was withdrawing the motion as long as agreement was reached on the actual no confidence debate.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici then decided that the no confidence debate would start on Monday evening  with no restrictions on speaking time other than what is provided in standing orders.

In no-confidence debates, MPs can each speak for an hour.

The opposition said it needed just one hour of the debate and it insisted that there should be agreement on when the debate should end.

However no agreement was reached.