Opposition Leader has not received McGrail report; Govt says he'll have 24 hours

The Leader of the Opposition says he has not yet been given an embargoed copy of the McGrail Inquiry report - and that this should be done without further delay.

The GSD says it is obvious that the Government intends to provide it to Keith Azopardi at the last possible moment.

However, the Government says there has been no delay in providing a copy of the report to Mr Azopardi, and that he will get it a full 24 hours before publication.

The GSD says the McGrail Inquiry report was delivered to the Government on the 6th of November - over a month ago.

On the same day, the Government confirmed it would provide an embargoed copy to the Opposition Leader ahead of publication. 

The Opposition points out that last Thursday, the Government said it had planned to publish the report the next day - on Friday afternoon at three - and that this was only delayed due to the Chief Minister's emergency eye surgery.

Keith Azopardi says despite this, and despite the Government having provided embargoed copies to the press last Wednesday, he has not yet received his promised copy.

He says, "This suggests a deep nervousness as to providing me with time to consider the Report ahead of publication and a desire to minimise that for political reasons. People will inevitably draw their own conclusions as to why that would be." 

However, the Government says Keith Azopardi is not in the same position as those to whom an advance copy has been provided by agreement with the Chairman, and that "he does not even feature in that agreement".

Number Six says a copy will be provided in keeping with the practice in the UK for the laying of inquiry reports in Parliament, which gives less than 24 hours' advance time - and that Mr Azopardi will have more time than that.

It says as publication is delayed, the provision of this advance copy is also delayed.

The Government says "It is nonetheless increasingly clear that Mr Azopardi sees the Report, despite not yet having had sight of it, as no more than another political weapon to use against the Government and wants to get his hands on it only for that purpose, which is not the objective of the taxpayer having spent in excess of £8m in the process of the Inquiry."