Nationalist backbencher Franco Debono is tight-lipped on whether he will abstain on a Labour Party parliamentary motion calling for Transport Minister Austin Gatt’s resignation after Monday’s PN executive meeting.

Contacted by The Times Dr Debono yesterday skirted the question and said: “There is another meeting of the executive.”

“It is positive that the minister took the first step in admitting political responsibility when the bus routes were changed two days after I had said I would abstain but we are now patching up the reform with an overhaul,” he added.

No date has yet been set for another meeting during which the PN executive is expected to debate the Labour motion after Dr Gatt on Monday gave a lengthy technical presentation on the public transport reform.

The PN executive was convened after the public transport debate originally scheduled for last week was postponed.

Parliament debates the motion of no confidence on November 4.

After the meeting, sources told The Times that Dr Debono had adopted a different tone leading some to understand that he had softened his original stand.

Dr Debono had declared on numerous occasions that he would abstain on the opposition’s motion calling for Dr Gatt’s resignation unless the minister shouldered political responsibility for the way the reform was handled.

Sources said that during Monday’s meeting, Dr Debono asked a number of questions related to the reform, including the compensation of €55 million given to the previous bus owners, which Dr Gatt failed to make reference to.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi was the only one to talk to the media after Monday’s meeting, insisting there had been “unanimous agreement” among the party executive that the reform was needed for the country.