Then, Azopardi threw back similar sentiments at Picardo, defending that he had called him current because Picardo had called him that.

Picardo interjected that he does not want to be permanent as chief minister, leader of the GSLP and so on.

UP FOR GRABS

And went on to surmise that it was Azopardi who had put his position up for grab - and went on to indicate that rumours persisted.

It was over a year ago when former GSLP leader and chief minister Sir Joe Bossano questioned that the size of the public sector had overgrown, in fact he reckoned that the public sector was unsustainable economically and indefensible socially.

Those were strong words. It was in February last year when Bossano said that the size of the public sector had grown by an extra 700 employees compared to the previous year, and it was likely to grow further in the current year.

The recurrent budget for the public sector had grown by an extra 700 employees, and the recurrent budget for the said sector had been growing by an average of £28 million every year. Civil service pay was 25% higher than in the UK!

The gap between the lowest and highest paid was increasing and between the public sector worker and the private sector worker.

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15-07-2020 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR