Holding afternoon sittings in the law courts is “not on and does not make sense”, according to the Malta Labour Party’s spokesman for Justice.

José Herrera said plans to reform the judiciary had a lot of positive elements, but added the party ’s parliamentary group still needs to discuss and endorse the new package recently revealed by The Sunday Times.

His comments come a few days after the Chamber of Advocates declared its opposition to afternoon sittings and instead suggested that court sittings should be held every weekday, rather than the current three days out of five.

“I would like to put forward some counter-proposals to the package being negotiated as I don’t think afternoon sittings make sense,” Dr Herrera said.

“At what time are judges going to draft judgments, and when will lawyers see their clients?” asked the Labour MP.

He pointed out that his father had spent 80 per cent of his time as a judge studying and writing judgments.

Sources close to the judiciary yesterday told The Times they were surprised at Dr Herrera’s position, as initially he had signalled his agreement with the reform package.

When contacted, Dr Herrera said he informally agreed with many of the proposals but some needed tweaking.

“I will have to discuss these proposals with my colleagues and we will then have a formal position,” he insisted.

He could not say when such a formal position would be taken because the parliamentary group is currently not meeting, but promised to do his utmost to establish it as soon as possible.

A Justice Ministry spokesman declined to comment, saying that discussions with the judiciary were in the final stages.

Earlier this month, The Sunday Times revealed that the government was set to give a €12,000 increase in allowances to judges and magistrates and would also increase their pensions in return for a number of reforms.

These include introducing an appointment system for all sittings, holding court sessions in the afternoon and increasing retirement age from 65 to 68.