Please read and share Tony's letter to Gibraltar Governor David Steel, using its direct link on Gibraltar Messenger. Thank you.
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David Steel ignored calls for him to withhold assent to the The New Inquiries Act 2024 for Gibraltar.
There has been NO "royal assent", because there are NO royals, only a fraudulent pretender called Charles, and so Charles' representative, the governor, has no authority to give assent. The only person who could give royal assent is Christ, the Rightful King.
New Inquiries Bill made Gibraltar law; Azopardi tells Governor act is 'assault on good governance'
#ChristIsKing
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GSD Tells Governor Inquiries Act Is “An Assault On Good Governance”
GSD Full Letter:-
Dear David
Re: Inquiries (BILL) ACT 2024
Thank you for agreeing to see me on this issue at short notice.
You will be aware that the publication of the Inquiries Bill 2024 has been hugely controversial and we have fully set out our views in public and in Parliament.
However, as explained in my request to you, in the same way as the Government made plain that they had consulted you on the Bill before it was published I wanted to have the opportunity to directly convey the feelings of the Opposition in respect of the Bill so you are aware of these first-hand. In deference to Parliament I have wanted to do so once the debate concluded there.
We consider that it is wrong in principle, an assault on good governance and deeply concerning that the Government should have presented this bill and sought to apply it to the McGrail Inquiry. That Inquiry has been overseen by Sir Peter Openshaw since 2022 and he has taken such decisions he has seen fit in relation to issues, evidence or procedure from the outset.
I appreciate that the Government have sought to portray this episode as driven by a wish to modernize this legislation. Simply put the chronology of facts and participants point to a conflict of interests that deprive this sudden desire for reform of legitimacy. Rather it is seen by many as a bid to bolster the Government and Chief Minister in the Inquiry and weaponize him in that process.
The effect of this new piece of legislation is to vest new and intrusive powers in the Government in circumstances where the Chief Minister has made plain he may exercise them in the very inquiry within which serious allegations are raised of his conduct and that of the Government. This will disturb the legal status quo which had vested those powers in the chairman.
We consider that the chief Minister and Government as core participants were fundamentally conflicted and should never have brought this bill and sought to apply it to the McGrail Inquiry. It is seen by many as a politically self-serving platform suggested, as it was, by the lawyers representing the Chief Minister, Attorney General and former Deputy Governor in the Inquiry. I regret to say that for reasons explained at length in Parliament on the second Reading of this Bill, and because of the role of the former Deputy Governor in the matters under inquiry, we consider that the Office of the Governor is similarly conflicted here. None of those core participants or conflicted parties should be perceived as taking steps that will affect the Inquiry process. As has also been made plain the McGrail inquiry chairman was unaware of this Bill and had not been consulted ahead of its publication. That simply compounds the perception that the presentation of this Bill was wrong in principle.
In our view nothing should be done to alter the procedural/legal status quo in that inquiry. Regrettably the Bill was passed in Parliament on the single vote majority of the Chief Minister - a personal core participant in the inquiry.
At this stage no powers have yet been exercised under this new piece of legislation. We have cautioned against the exercise of any powers that will be seen to simply undermine public confidence in the inquiry, the independence of its chairman or alter its course, nature of its work or the public access to the hearings or its eventual Report. We would consider it a very serious development for any step to be taken by the Government under the new legislation before the McGrail Inquiry has concluded its work and the Report has been fully published.
That would simply make matters worse, deepen the perception that steps are being taken in political self-interest rather than the public interest and detrimentally affect Gibraltar’s interests and reputation. There is a sense of real public outrage that this is happening. This episode is in my mind a fundamental crossing of the Rubicon by this Government in a way that I have not experienced in the many years I have been involved in politics.
I regret to have to write to you in these terms. In 30 years in politics I cannot recall ever having written to a serving Governor in these terms but this is an issue of huge constitutional importance and the facts are grave.
The views expressed in this letter are unanimously held by all my Opposition colleagues.
In view of the serious and public nature of this matter I am making the contents of this letter public.
Yours ever,
Keith Azopardi