Updated 10.10pm with Labour reaction below -

Opposition leader Adrian Delia has written to the Prime Minister, saying parliament should postpone its summer recess so that it can discuss and approve a motion for an independent inquiry to be held into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The Caruana Galizia family has been calling for such an inquiry for months. The Council of Europe on June 26 called for a public inquiry to be held within three months. 

On Thursday, Foreign Minister Carmelo Abela said the government will launch a public inquiry in the coming months, sticking to that three-month deadline.

The government, however, has since not confirmed that announcement and insisted Dr Abela's comments were "the same" as those of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. 

Dr Muscat had previously said that he was wary of holding such an inquiry since it could interfere with ongoing police investigations and said he was seeking advice from the Attorney General .

In his letter to the Prime Minister, Dr Delia recalled that he had, last October, moved a motion for the holding of an independent inquiry, but the government amended the motion and no inquiry was held.

Failure to hold an inquiry, Dr Delia said, went against the national interest and violated the fundamental human rights of the Caruana Galizia family and their right to fundamental freedoms.

It was in the national interest that the whole truth was known, Dr Delia said.

Read Dr Delia's letter on pdf below.

In a reaction, the Labour Party said the government always acted in the national interest, and it did not take a summer break.

It said it would have been better had Dr Delia dissociated himself from the Nationalist MP who fed the Council of Europe wrong information.