Mr Speaker Michael Frendo yesterday ruled that the Opposition could move an amendment to its censure motion against Dr Mifsud Bonnici, calling on the minister to resign.

The censure motion implied no confidence

The ruling had been requested by Foreign Minister Tonio Borg, who had argued that the amendment changed the substance of the motion and, therefore, should be rejected because it broke House rules and practice.

In his detailed ruling, Dr Frendo said the Standing Orders only spoke about amendments which may be withdrawn. He referred to Erskine May and to rulings going as far back as 1964 when amendments had been requested for motions of this nature and noted how the Chair had accepted amendments when they were relevant to the subject matter.

In this case, Dr Frendo said, the Chair considered the Opposition’s motion as being relevant to the subject matter.

He noted that the words “censure motions” in Erskine May itself had been changed to “confidence motions” in other editions.

The censure motion therefore implied no confidence.

The original motion had also requested the shouldering of political responsibility and that, in itself, implied resignation. The amendmentwas explicitly stating the thinking of the motion, and Dr Frendo said the Chair was, therefore, accepting the Opposition’s amendment.