Parliament has approved a government motion to replace now independent MP Rosianne Cutajar as chair of the Social Affairs Committee after she resigned from the PL parliamentary group.

The motion for her replacement was supported by MPs from both the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party.

Labour MP Katya De Giovanni will replace Cutajar as chair of the committee, while government backbencher Randolph De Battista will become a member. Parliamentary committees are usually made up of three government MPs and two Opposition MPs

The motion was presented by Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri in parliament on Monday.

Cutajar resigned from the party last month before the Labour party executive was going to hold a meeting on her removal.

This followed pressure from the publication of damning WhatsApp chats which revealed an intimate link between the MP and Daphne Caruana Galizia murder suspect Yorgen Fenech.