Nationalist MP Franco Debono said today that he has prepared a draft Bill to regulate the funding of political parties and has handed it to the prime minister.

Dr Debono said this was an issue about which he had been speaking since his maiden speech in Parliament in 2008.

As in other countries, he said, solutions on party funding were not found immediately and regulation was built up gradually. His bill, therefore, was only a start. The aim was to instil transparency in the way political parties were funding.

He said there were no plans for state funding of political parties.

Dr Debono was speaking on the Radio Malta programme Ghandi xi-nghid.

He underlined the duty of backbenchers to speak up on issues they held dear, saying this was what made a Parliament lively. In his case, he said he would not have acted differently under the leadership of Eddie Fenech Adami as he was doing under Dr Gonzi.

"That backbenchers speak up should not be an issue. This is very common abroad," he said, while adding that once decisions were taken, they had to be followed. However, he stressed, that the issues he had spoken about were always in line with the PN political beliefs, including having an improved environment in the south, transparency, and legal assistance to people under arrest. He reiterated his view that PAC hearings on the power station extension should be video-streamed live.

Dr Debono also underlined his view that Parliament needed to be given greater dignity, and said a concern was how what was being said in Parliament was not reaching the people.

Dr Debono said he intended to be a candidate in the next general election.

He also said he had never objected to anyone, and the person who claimed he had done so had since apologised.