Labour leader Joseph Muscat and his deputy Anglu Farrugia this morning kept up their attack against the government and the Speaker over their actions in parliament on Thursday-Friday night, but Dr Muscat said the issue would not be allowed to overshadow the 'corrupt' power station extension contract.

Dr Muscat said that what happened on Thursday, when a government MP voted with the Opposition but the vote was not declared, showed the government's instability. A strong government did not do the shameful acts witnessed on Thursday-Friday night, he said.

Dr Muscat recalled that he had first protested about the conflict of interest of Nationalist MP Charlo Bonnici. After three hours, the Speaker ruled against the Opposition. The Opposition disagreed, but stayed silent.

The Opposition, however, could not accept that parliamentary rules were ignored, despite clear precedent, which was why it walked out after the Speaker's decision on Parliamentary Secretary Mario Galea's vote.

What really hurt, Dr Muscat said, was the fact that MPs had witnessed a 'blatant lie' against Justyne Caruana. Dr Muscat said that Dr Caruana, who is in early pregnancy, had taken this issue very badly.

It was clear from the 'cleaned' tape recordings that Dr Caruana had voted for the opposition motion, Dr Muscat said. Therefore, until the government formally apologised in parliament to Dr Caruana, the Labour MPs would not attend the sittings of the Parliamentary Committee on Democratic Change, because what happened on Thursday-Friday night undermined democracy.

Dr Muscat said no pressure had been put on Labour MP Carmelo Abela to step down his post as Deputy Speaker, but he had acted wisely, because democracy had been betrayed.

A Prime Minister who always spoke about values should realise that honesty and truth came first. Just as important was credibility. After the political lies of Thursday-Friday night, how could anyone trust the government with anything?

Dr Muscat said that what happened during the vote would not be allowed to overshadow the 'corrupt' power station extension contract.

Earlier, Labour Deputy Leader Anglu Farrugia asked if Speaker Michael Frendo had been threatened last Thursday and by whom.

He said that Dr Frendo had had a duty to declare the result of the vote. There had been various instances in the past when MPs voted one way but then said they had made a mistake. However, Dr Farrugia said, it was always the first vote which counted.

Dr Farrugia insisted that Labour MP Justyne Caruana was 'framed' by Foreign Minister Tonio Borg when he claimed that she had voted against the Opposition motion.

In his speech Dr Muscat reiterated the Opposition's criticism of the power station contract, quoting various sections of the report by the Auditor-General.

He said that it was very serious that Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt on Thursday had sought to put the Office of the Auditor-General in a bad light, by claming that evidence given in the inquiry, about bidder Bateman not having been informed about the results of the tender.

Dr Muscat said that through this contract, the government had violated its own electoral programme since it had promised investment for an environmentally cleaner power station. The government had opted for technology which it turned down in 1993. He said that such were the conditions of the contract, that the government would pay if completion of the works was delayed, and BWSC would get a bonus for early completion.