Opposition and Govt at odds over MP’s allowances
The GSD has defended its decision to table a motion on MPs allowances, insisting that detailed breakdowns of the information were not available despite government claims to the contrary.
But the Gibraltar Government responded immediately, saying all the Opposition had to do was ask.
GSD MP with responsibility for public finance, Roy Clinton, who tabled the motion, said: “I brought this motion to be debated in Parliament because detailed information on what our MPs and Ministers are paid has historically simply not been made public.”
“I checked this point with both the Clerk to the Parliament and Mr Speaker as well as consulting the Estimates book which only gives totals.”
“The UK Parliament on their website, (under FAQs), discloses that the Prime Minister is paid £142,500, Cabinet Ministers £134,565 and MPs £74,000.”
Mr Clinton went on to say that it is this level of disclosure that he was asking the Gibraltar Parliament to consider.
“I trust the government will have no problem in supporting my motion on a cross-party basis in the interests of transparency and good government,” he said.
The Gibraltar Government replied by stating the specific amounts earned by Ministers, Members of Parliament and Office Holders was public information.
“This can be made available to the Press, to the Opposition or to anyone else and indeed has been made available by successive Governments for publication when that information has been requested,” No 6 Convent Place said.
“It is therefore inaccurate to state that this has historically not been made public. The total amounts earned are already in the public domain in the Parliament section of the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure.”
“The peculiarity is the procedure that Mr Clinton has chosen to follow in this case. Instead of simply asking for a breakdown of the figures, which is public information anyway, Mr Clinton has instead chosen to table a motion.”
The Government said it had included in the statistics section of its website the allowances for Members, Ministers and Office Holders for 2015, and that the data up to 1996 would follow.
The table below shows the data published by the government.