The Nationalist Party this morning formally presented a parliamentary motion to challenge a ruling given by speaker Anglu Farrugia to alter a censure motion of the Prime Minister's chief of staff Keith Schembri.

The motion calls for a revision of Mr Speaker’s ruling.

Although a similar motion was allowed in 2012 against Richard Cachia Caruana - then a government appointee - speaker Anglu Farrugia earlier this week ruled that Mr Schembri, who is embroiled in the Panama Papers leaks, cannot be censured by the House of Representatives as he is not a Member of Parliament.

Addressing the press, PN MPs Francis Zammit Dimech and David Agius called the ruling "unacceptable", as Parliament "is the highest institution of the country."

They argued that Parliament had already set a precedent with Mr Cachia Caruana’s case, and it was therefore illogical to argue that Mr Schembri was not answerable to Parliament.

The motion was presented to House Clerk Raymond Scicluna, as Speaker Anglu Farrugia was not present for the presentation.