Former Labour leader Alfred Sant speaks out for the first time since the divorce referendum today, dismissing the idea that divorce is a moral issue which MPs should deal with differently than other political issues.

“Claiming that some matters are purely political while others are moral and that, therefore, they merit separate treatment by the legislator, is in my view a travesty of what Parliament is there for,” he writes

(see  - http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110622/opinion/Post-referendum-blues.371874  )

Coming in the wake of a number of contributions making this distinction between moral and political matters by his former political rival President Emeritus Eddie Fenech Adami, Dr Sant adds: “It would be the worst example of bad faith to retreat from what the outcome of a direct consultation of the people has decided, on the spurious grounds that this is a moral matter and beyond the principled decision that MPs are bound to take on issues which they must decide as representatives of the people.

“Bad faith plastered, among others, in the vague arguments of postponement of the divorce Bill, should not be allowed to undermine further the confidence that the people need to have in our institutions, most of all the Constitution and Parliament.”

Dr Sant also states, however, that parliamentary procedures “allow for an approach” by which the minority (against divorce) can be allowed full expression while the majority’s decision is carried out.

“This can be done under existing parliamentary procedures with due respect for the beliefs and dignity of all sides: those who wish to abstain, vote no, vote yes, on both sides of the party divide,” he writes, stressing that the Prime Minister’s vote, as head of the executive and the person who wanted a referendum is “an unrelated issue”.

In his lengthy article, Dr Sant – who had refused to respect the outcome of the 2003 EU referendum – explains his aversion towards referenda, saying the Nazis used them to acquire dictatorial powers.

Reacting to those who are today bringing up Labour’s behaviour after the EU referendum, he recalled that the opposition contested the legitimacy of the referendum from the start.