Leo Brincat has clarified the statement he made over a pledge in Labour’s manifesto on parliamentary hearings for the appointment of authority chairpersons.

During Tuesday’s parliamentary sitting the Opposition proposed that the chairman of the environment authority should undergo parliamentary scrutiny. This position was endorsed by former Labour MP Marlene Farrugia.

Dr Farrugia went on to support the Opposition’s amendment to the law, breaking ranks with the government before resigning from the Labour Party.

Mr Brincat did not agree with the proposal and went on tosay that the Labour Party had not promised this in the electoral manifesto.

“I would have been the first to push for it, were it included in our manifesto,” he said.

However, the Labour manifesto had included a pledge to hold “parliamentary hearings with regards to persons being nominated to lead regulatory functions and regulators, such as MRA, MCA”.

When contacted about this contradiction, Mr Brincat yesterday said that his statement in Parliament referred to the planning authority demerger proposals in the manifesto, which did not mention parliamentary hearings in connection with the chairman’s appointment. He didn’t elaborate on the separate manifesto proposal that spoke in general about appointments to regulatory bodies.