Govt dismisses Hammond's 'deliberate spin' on street cleaning

The Gibraltar Government has accused GSD MP Trevor Hammond of "devious inaccuracies" and "deliberate spin" over his complaints about street cleaning.

Mr Hammond had been critical that the government was buying new street cleaning resources for Britannia, the company which won a government contract to take over from Master Service.

Britannia had already made clear that the terms of the contract, which it won by EU tender, stated that the government would provide the equipment.
It added too that it had inherited run-down vehicles and equipment from its precursor.

Yesterday, the government added its voice to the exchange too.

"The Government is being entirely consistent with what it stated recently: that the streets are cleaner and that with tweaking it will be improved further," No.6 Convent Place said.

"This is the logical approach, working with the new contractor, with the experience it is now acquiring, to improve delivery further."

"The new cleaning contract is a considerable improvement on the GSD’s old one."

"What it did not envisage was that the existing equipment would have had to be replaced so soon."

"However, the method of financing equipment is identical to the one employed by the GSD with Master Service."

"This was additional to their own contract, and dealt with by way of loan in exactly the same way as is envisaged now."

"Mr Hammond’s criticism, were it valid, would be just as valid during the days that his party was in Government."