Former tourism minister Konrad Mizzi did not turn up in parliament on for a series of votes on various money bills despite having pledged to keep supporting the Labour government, hours before his expulsion from the party the day before.

However, Mizzi’s absence made little difference as government won these votes on the financial estimates of state entities and public authorities comfortably by 36 to 27.

The former minister has not been attending parliament since March when he had left for the UK. Subsequently, he started excusing himself on medical grounds saying he had fallen sick during a business trip and was unable to come back to Malta following the closure of the airport due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Mizzi returned to Malta a fortnight ago but had to spend a fortnight in quarantine, which expired yesterday. Yet, he neither showed up for the plenary session held in the morning nor the one in the evening despite the fact that the agenda included eight different votes.

Meanwhile, at the start of the sitting Opposition Deputy Leader David Agius asked Speaker Anġlu Farrugia if he had received any communication from Mizzi following his dismissal.

The question was raised in order to establish if the former minister would be opting to spend the rest of the legislature as an independent MP on government’s side or not. However, Farrugia said that by that time no such communication had been received from Mizzi.