The sheer political hypocrisy of the Nationalist Party’s parliamentary group shone through like never before on July 5. One PN deputy after another heaped ridicule on the ‘equal marriage’ amendments moved by the government to the Marriage Act.

Scaremongering arguments, reminiscent of those we had all heard in the run-up to the referendum on the introduction of divorce, were again used to spread misinformation among the people. The elimination of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day was perhaps the most ridiculous one. But it did manage to scare at least one ‘florist’, who sent an anonymous letter to Minister Helena Dalli complaining that, with the elimination of Father’s Day and Mother’s Day, he might as well not sow flowers any longer.

Yet, when the Speaker of the House called for a vote on the second reading of the Bill, all Nationalist MPs, including those who spoke harshly against the government’s amendments, with the exception of Edwin Vassallo, who had declared his ‘no’ vote in advance, consented.

It is now expected that when the final vote on the third reading is taken today all Nationalist MPs, including Vassallo, will vote ‘yes’ to what, hand on heart, they would wish to vote ‘no’.