In the absence of an agreement in the committee, the witness should be given not more than 10 minutes to explain the salient points of their written statement in, Speaker Anglu Farrugia decided.

Farrugia was ruling on an incident which occurred on Wednesday 23rd where PN MP Jason Azzopardi was stopped from reading out his declaration about the expropriation of land at Fekruna Bay, Xemxija as sparks flew between members of the government and members of the Opposition during a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting.

Opposing parties claimed victory after the ruling from the Speaker, with Azzopardi going on Twitter and insisting that the ruling had confirmed what he stated last week in the PAC.

“It’s my right to read out a written statement before answering any questions, exactly in line with years long practice. Exactly contrary to what Labour MPs said.”

On the other side of the aisle, PL MP Julia Farrugia Portelli stated that the Speaker confirmed that they were right to ask Azzopardi to spare them from a “read with me session”.