Opposition Legislators To Boycott Budget Presentation

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, Jan 18 2017 – The main opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) says it will boycott Friday’s budget presentation by Prime Minister Gaston Browne insisting that the government has done nothing over the past two and half years to improve the lives of Antiguans and Barbudans.

UPP leader Harold Lovell said that the party and its supporters would be staging a peaceful picket outside the Parliament building while the fiscal package is being presented.

“This administration has done absolutely nothing for the people of Antigua and Barbuda. We have received nothing but hot air for the past two and a half years.

“The people of Antigua and Barbuda have raised their voices, they have called for a lowering of the price at the pumps for gas and diesel and we are calling for the price to be EC$10 or below in keeping with OECS (Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States) prices “

Lovell, speaking on Observer Radio here, said the party is looking at the “fuel variation and the hardship that it is causing” local consumers.

He told radio listeners that while the party would be boycotting the budget presentation, its legislators would be present for the debate.

“We will participate in the budget debate, make no doubt about that. We will participate in the budget debate but we are not going to entertain the prime minister with his budget presentation,” said Lovell, a former finance minister.

“We need to make the point and we will make the point. So, the most important aspect of the picket is for us to show the people of Antigua and Barbuda that we are fed up and we have had enough,” he added.

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