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TG slams Picardo’s ‘arrogant and dismissive’ response to criticism

Together Gibraltar yesterday accused the Chief Minister of adopting an “increasingly arrogant and dismissive tone” with the electorate, calling on him to instead exercise his office “with decorum and humility”.

In a statement, TG said Fabian Picardo had shown “a clear disregard for criticisms that are fair and healthy” in a democratic system.

The party was reacting after a banner was hung outside Community Care with the slogan “Picardo Community Care is ours”, drawing a stinging response from the Chief Minister.

Mr Picardo tweeted the image but added the line: “The culture of entitlement encapsulated in one photo”.

TG said this and Mr Picardo’s earlier reaction to another banner that contained hastily-corrected grammatical errors was not behaviour becoming of a Chief Minister, who it also accused of "engineering public vendettas against people littering in the upper rock”.

“Mocking the spelling of legitimate political statements or engineering public vendettas against people littering in the upper rock - something TG do not condone - are simply not behaviours becoming of someone holding the highest office of the land, regardless of the substance of these actions or criticisms,” TG said.

“The latest episode, in which statements on the Community Care reform are dismissed as encapsulating ‘the culture of entitlement’, are the height of hypocrisy.”

“It is simply outrageous that this so-called ‘culture of entitlement’ of our citizens - which Together Gibraltar prefer to refer to as the “culture of irresponsibility” of those who have governed us in recent years - is now being denounced by the leader of the party which most contributed to creating it.”

Together Gibraltar said criticism of the GSLP’s policies were legitimate and should be respected, adding that the Chief Minister “should refrain from these inappropriate displays of mockery and contempt”.

TG leader Marlene Hassan Nahon added: “Statements regarding cuts to Community Care, which will have a very significant negative impact on the welfare of many of our retired citizens deserve the utmost consideration.”

“The Gibraltar electorate should not be treated with such disrespect and vanity.”

“We have seen the tone of the CM become progressively crass and disdainful over the last months, and his tolerance of dissent and disagreement decrease substantially.”

“He should start showing some respect for the community he serves, and exercise his office with decorum and humility.”

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