Updated 4.05pm - Added PL statement

Members of Parliament today argued over minutes of yesterday's controversial session, during which Speaker Anġlu Farrugia denied an Opposition request to debate calls for the police commissioner and Attorney General to resign, citing parliamentary rules. 

Opposition whip David Agius today insisted that the minutes, which read that the order of business was taken up as usual because there was no consensus on suspending the rules, should be changed to reflect that the Opposition request was denied by the government's insistence on procedure being followed.

Government whip Byron Camilleri objected, insisting that this was an attempt to tamper with the minutes to give the wrong impression. The standing orders prohibited the Opposition’s request from even being taken up, Dr Camilleri said, so the government was at no point given the opportunity to decide on the request. 

In a compromise, the minutes were changed to reflect that, following the Speaker’s ruling, the Government insisted that procedure be followed and the order of business taken up.

In a statement issued in the afternoon, the Nationalist Party said the government was doing its utmost to block parliamentary debate of civil society requests for reform following Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder.

It accused the government of "trying to manipulate" minutes of yesterday's session and said this had only not happened thanks to the insistence of Opposition whip David Agius.

The Labour Party shot back by accusing the PN of trying to exploit Ms Caruana Galizia's brutal murder for partisan ends.

That charge echoed one made by deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, who said that Sunday's demonstration had been turned into a partisan affair.

Mr Fearne also had harsh words for former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, who had expressed concern about the rule of law in Malta: Dr Gonzi, the Health Minister said, should remember that a chief justice had been found guilty of corruption under his watch.