Azopardi focuses Budget reply on electoral choice, adding Arias-Vasquez is ‘antidote to change’ 

Keith Azopardi used his Budget reply on Tuesday to deliver a stark political message ahead of the looming transition at the top of the GSLP and the forthcoming general election, arguing that Gemma Arias-Vasquez did not represent renewal but rather the continuation of a system of government that was increasingly opaque, defensive and intolerant of scrutiny. 

In a speech that ranged widely across public finance, democratic standards and the legacy of Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, the Leader of the Opposition returned repeatedly to one central theme, insisting a change of leader inside the GSLP would not amount to meaningful political change for Gibraltar. 

“The handpicked successor, Mrs Arias-Vasquez, is the embodiment of continuity, not change,” Mr Azopardi said at the outset, setting the tone for much of what followed. 

With Mr Picardo due to step back from frontline politics, Mr Azopardi said Mrs Arias-Vasquez would be the political heir to a style of government that had blurred the lines between party and state, weakened accountability and fostered privilege for a connected few. 

“We are at a democratic crossroads,” Mr Azopardi said, his eye clearly on an election that could still be well over a year away. 

“The future depends on it.” 

“The choices in front of the people are now existential for democracy and the good governance of this community.” 

“We reject a style of Government that is opaque, which is permeated by special interests and a privileged few, where truth doesn’t matter, or doesn’t matter as much as it should, which is intolerant of criticism, which engenders a culture of fear, an institutional disrespect or that behaves as if it is arrogantly entitled to govern.” 

“We demand and will deliver a different, better, cleaner Gibraltar.” 

Mr Azopardi said Mrs Arias-Vasquez had not stood apart from key controversies in recent months but had instead, along with other ministers, stood firmly by Mr Picardo. 

By way of example, he said she and other ministers had supported “the trashing of the [Principal] Auditor” and criticism of the police in Parliament during a debate on a motion about whistleblowers, and had supported the Chief Minister when the GSD tabled a confidence motion. 

“She is continuity personified and the antidote to change,” Mr Azopardi said. 

Throughout his address, Mr Azopardi linked well-rehearsed arguments about overspending, opacity and off-book financial structures to a broader argument that Gibraltar was facing a crisis of governance, not just disagreement over policy. 

He argued that if the problem was structural, then changing the leader without changing the governing culture would solve nothing. 

“She is his chosen successor and nothing suggests she will be different,” Mr Azopardi said. 

“She will be as zealous as him to protect the same values and interests which are today threatening the democratic and constitutional fabric of our governance.” 

Mr Azopardi linked this directly to other themes that also ran through his speech, including that the GSLP would “tell you anything to be elected or stay elected”, citing a long trail of promises he said had either not materialised or had been repeatedly delayed. 

He described too an intolerance to criticism, an issue he tied particularly to the Government’s reaction to the Principal Auditor and, more broadly, to the treatment of institutions and individuals who challenged the official narrative. 

“This is a Government where you are with them or against them,” Mr Azopardi said.  

“It is a Government that seeks to squash critics with the most aggressive of language or the use of disproportionate legal resources if you dare to raise your head above the parapet.” 

He cited, for example, the Government’s response to the Principal Auditor’s report tabled in Parliament last year, describing it as “an unprecedented reaction of vitriol on a senior and respected civil servant which frankly had seen no previous parallels”. 

All Government ministers had then backed a vote “castigating” the Principal Auditor after the Chief Minister had described the auditor in “emotional and descriptive” terms and accused him of “deep party-political bias”. 

“The trashing of the last Principal Auditor was surely so that future watchdogs or other watchdogs should watch less,” Mr Azopardi said. 

He later added: “The language screamed of high paranoia, was a disgrace to this House and showed a terrible intolerance to criticism.” 

“The behaviours that we have seen, and the excesses, belong to all of them,” he said of Government ministers. 

“It belongs to the successive Governments [Mr Picardo] has led and also, this year, very unceremoniously and in full technicolour, belongs to all the current ministers without exception.” 

Mr Azopardi wanted to talk about the findings in the report on Mr Picardo, but the Speaker intervened and said parliamentary rules prevented comment on a matter that was the subject of a pending judicial decision. 

“We all know what the conclusion of the Openshaw report was,” Mr Azopardi said, describing it as “unprecedented”. 

He told Parliament the GSD had been talking about the need for robust rules on conflicts of interest since before the McGrail Inquiry and the need continued “because lessons have not been learnt”. 

“The idea that we can simply move on from the Openshaw Report or other aspects of serious financial or democratic governance deficit as if nothing is happening is a nonsense,” he said. 

“The next election will be a watershed for how things are done and by whom, how conflicts are handled, how institutions are protected and what standards are acceptable in public life.” 

Mr Azopardi welcomed some of the specific measures announced in the Budget, including increases to the minimum wage, the entry-level salary in the public service, and rises in pensions, survivors’ benefit, disability benefit and maintenance grants for students.  

He said the increase in the minimum wage was important because it targeted the lowest paid at a time when cost-of-living pressures remained acute. 

And while he backed the principle of phased public sector pay rises, Mr Azopardi said the details of the long-term agreement with unions had not yet been made public and should be disclosed. 

But the Leader of the Opposition said the wider budget picture was undermined by what he described as persistent financial indiscipline, pointing to a total overspend of £187.6 million, including departmental overspend of around £79 million.  

He said the Government had again failed to keep within its own budget, with significant overruns in areas including health, education and refuse collection. 

Mr Azopardi said the overspend had been masked by tax revenue outperforming forecasts by £109.8 million, arguing that this was not evidence of strong financial management but of higher tax receipts covering weak expenditure control. He said that if the Government had kept to its budget there would have been more room for pay rises, job creation and assistance measures for businesses facing the impact of the treaty. 

Mr Azopardi said that while the treaty did not come “without a price and without misgivings”, it was better than proceeding without one. 

But he said consultation with the business community had been “late and poor”, warning that there would be casualties in some sectors under the new economic model. 

He said ministers should already have put in place support for affected businesses and improvements to Gibraltar’s tourist product, city centre, maritime entry points and transport infrastructure so the Rock was not “playing catch-up” as the deal takes effect.