Trotman may rule on legality of budget cuts tomorrow

Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman says he may not be able to make a ruling on the legality of the proposed budget cuts until tomorrow.

At the resumption of the recess today, Trotman said he needed time to review the speeches made on both sides of the House before making his ruling. He said it is not likely that he will complete this before the end of today.

At as 18:20 hrs, Attorney General Anil Nandlall was on the floor. Following him will be APNU’s Basil Williams.

Nandlall said it is wrong to say that a preliminary ruling cannot be enforced. Further he said that the argument stating that the ruling cannot be appealed is puerile and vexatious.

He said no power can second guess a ruling of the court and because of this the Speaker was in an invidious position.

APNU’s Deborah Backer said she believes the House can legally amend the budget. She called for there to be talks so that the result is a budget of compromise that makes space for everyone. She said that there have been attempts to amend budgets in the Caribbean but they did not have the numbers to be successful.