A bill amending laws relating to IVF has been signed into law by Acting President Frank Bezzina after President George Vella went abroad on Wednesday.

Vella and his wife travelled to the United Kingdom on a four-day visit on Wednesday where they will be meeting Maltese athletes taking part in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, which meant that Bezzina took on his role in an acting capacity.

His first order of business for the day was to sign the IVF bill into law, something which was announced in the Government Gazette issued on Wednesday morning.

There had been speculation over who would sign the bill after Parliament almost unanimously approved it before it went into summer recess.

President Vella had expressed misgivings about the bill and its contents, and the sudden appointment of Bezzina as Acting President instead of Dolores Christina was interpreted by many as an insurance policy just in case the President would not sign the bill.

Vella was evasive with journalists on whether he would sign the bill, saying only that “the bill will be signed” – but failing to say by who.

The President has been criticised over the delay for the signing of the law, with legal experts saying that he was breaching the Constitution which states that the President has to sign a bill into law without delay.

Three weeks have passed, however, since it was approved in Parliament.

During the four-day visit to the United Kingdom, the President and his wife will be visiting a hospital in Oxford where Maltese patients are admitted for treatment.

Their engagements will continue in London where they will be visiting the patients and their relatives residing at the apartments of the Puttinu Cares Foundation and with the Franciscan Sisters. In London, President Vella will also meet with Maltese consultants practising their profession in hospitals there.

The President and his wife will return to Malta on the night between Sunday, 31st July, and Monday, 1st August.