Democratic Party leader Godfrey Farrugia has accused the Nationalist Party of “collusion” with Joseph Muscat over its failure to back his party's motion of no confidence in minister Konrad Mizzi.

“When (PN leader) Adrian Delia knows the PL parliamentary group is divided and that there are members who may be ready to voice their dissatisfaction publicly, he served the interests of Castille by proposing a completely different motion instead,” Dr Farrugia said on Thursday.

The PN moved a motion on Wednesday calling for a public inquiry into journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder and for the resignation of the attorney general and police commissioner, pushing back a debate on PD’s no-confidence motion until at least after the Christmas recess.

Addressing a press conference outside Parliament, Dr Farrugia said Dr Delia had behaved “like the police commissioner who carried on eating rabbit while the thief fled the crime scene”.

He said the National Audit Office report on the Electrogas project had made it clear that Dr Mizzi was “incompetent at the very least” and required clear action in Parliament seeking his removal.

Deputy leader Timothy Alden added: “The PN once again let pride come before good politics. They couldn’t bear to see us take the lead.”

Another motion of no confidence filed against Dr Mizzi two years ago had been defeated. That motion had been filed by PD member Marlene Farrugia, then an independent MP.

"Since then," she said on Thursday, "the journalist investigating the Electrogas leak has been murdered, Pilatus Bank has been closed down, and the ownership of 17 Black has been revealed along with the links to Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri's Panama companies."

‘No confidence in any inquiry board appointed by the PM’

Addressing the PN motion for an inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder, Dr Farrugia said his party had no confidence in any inquiry board appointed by the Prime Minister, who he said had made clear that his allegiances did not lie with truth and justice.

“Even if the attorney general or police commissioner were to be removed, it is now clear that they will be replaced with people pliant to the Prime Minister... As a country, we deserve truth and above all lasting change. If we do not change then the hidden interests that killed Daphne will kill again.”

Dr Farrugia called for the appointment of a “truly independent” inquiry board, but stopped short of explaining how such a board should be appointed, saying only the party had a clear plan which it would reveal further down the line.

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