MPs have no choice but to vote Yes to reflect the country’s nod in favour of divorce when the vote is taken in Parliament, Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando tells The Sunday Times in an interview today.

Once the Prime Minister decided to take the divorce issue to the people, and after Parliament voted for the amendment stipulating a May 28 referendum, parliamentarians have no way out, Dr Pullicino Orlando insists.

While saying he would not consider the possibility of Lawrence Gonzi going against the popular vote, the Nationalist backbencher says: “It’s not up to our personal feelings any more… You can never, as a legislator, put your religious beliefs before the common good… I can’t accept our party doing a Pontius Pilate”.

The interview comes as a number of government MPs said they could abstain or even vote ‘no’ to divorce in Parliament, despite last week’s 53 per cent Yes vote.

Dr Pullicino Orlando says the PN could have avoided the embarrassment had it avoided taking an official anti-divorce stand and not actively campaigned for a No vote.

The MP said it would be a bitter pill to swallow for thousands of Nationalists who voted in favour of divorce legislation to see the divorce Bill carried through simply because of the Labour Party’s parliamentary group.

While ruling out destabilising the government, Dr Pullicino Orlando says his party has done its utmost to weed out liberals like Louis Galea in recent years, ending up with several members of Cabinet who are “out of touch with reality”.