The Labour Party has said in a statement that a decision by the Local Councils' Department to reduce the Fgura council's budget by €49,439 vindicated its decisions in the past months and its insistence that serenity needed to be re-established within this council.

Mayor Byron Camilleri said in a statement this afternoon that the money was reduced because the council had not followed the established procedures for the resurfacing of two roads. He said the council was informed of this cut by the Local Councils Department today. The department told the council that a call for tenders should have been issued for the works.

Mr Camilleri said that this matter took place when the council was led by his predecessor and the issue had been brought to the department and the councillors’ attention by the executive secretary on January 8.

The secretary, he said, carried out his duty in an exemplary manner and passed the relative document to the Local Councils’ Department on March 23. This was after the document was discussed during a council meeting the previous day.

Since then, the previous mayor had resigned - after being threatened with a no-confidence motion.

Mr Camilleri promised Fgura residents that he and his council would continue to give residents the best service in spite of this problem and he would ensure that the council always acted according to law.