The British government has decided to downsize its High Commission in Malta and a number of recent redundancies of locally engaged staff have the full backing of the Commonwealth and Foreign Office in London.
A huge budget deficit inherited from the previous Labour administration prompted cost-cutting of 20 per cent across the UK government, and the High Commission in Malta is also a victim of this policy, the UK’s Minister for Europe David Lidington said yesterday.
He was speaking to The Times following a bilateral meeting with his Maltese counterpart at Valletta’s Palazzo Parisio yesterday.
“Unfortunately, this is an unwanted and difficult decision which we need to do,” Mr Lidington said.
The General Workers Union had accused outgoing High Commissioner Louise Stanton of sacking staff and discriminating against the union and its members.
“The High Commissioner was just doing her job in line with the government’s policy and she has the full backing of the British government,” he insisted.
Asked whether Ms Stanton had been replaced because of the continuous conflict with the GWU over embassy staff, Mr Lidington replied: “Definitely not.”
Ms Stanton will be moving to another section of the UK’s diplomatic service and a new High Commissioner has been nominated to replace her from October.
Earlier in the day, the GWU – which has also been boycotting the High Commission – mounted pressure on Mr Lidington to investigate the High Commissioner, accusing her of refusing to recognise the union and of sacking its members.
Union section secretary Cory Greenland said the recent redundancies involved Maltese staff who had been replaced by new employees sent from London.
“We understand downsizing but we think that the High Commission is being very selective when choosing who to sack among its employees,” Mr Greenland said.
According to the GWU, the number of employees at the British High Commission has been halved in the past three years.
During his meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg, Mr Lidington discussed several subjects, from the Arab Spring to the need to collaborate even more in EU fora.
Dr Borg reiterated Malta’s position against the EU’s proposal to introduce an EU-wide Financial Transaction Tax.
Apart from Malta and the UK, he said, there were several other member states opposing the “unwanted” and “regressive” tax, including Sweden and the Netherlands.