At the outset, and all through the sitting, there was marked cordiality among all the members on both sides of the House who, together with the Speaker, the Hon. David Carty, began the meeting with two members walking in late after the session was well underway.

Members of the Government side of the House of Assembly

Opposition Member, Edison Baird, having taken his seat, turned to his Opposition colleague, Hubert Hughes, and remarked: “I don’t see anything controversial on this Order Paper.” Hughes appeared to have nodded his head in approval.

Mr. Baird and Mr. Hughes

Earlier just before the start of the meeting, both parliamentarians stood close to the Speaker’s Chair when, Baird offered a handshake to Hughes but then exclaimed: “What, he doesn’t want to shake my hand!” The comment had to do with the fact that both men have not shown much unity and support for each other’s views in the House on a number of matters.

Hughes however quickly grabbed the extended right had as Baird continued to speak to him. “I made you Chief Minister twice and now I will make you Leader of the Opposition,” said the Road North representative who recently accompanied a Government delegation to London as the likely person for a fifth ministerial appointment but which cannot be made without the necessary amendments to the Constitution.

Responding, Mr. Hughes shouted: “I want to see this in Friday’s Anguillian and for everybody else to see it.”
The business before the House comprised a motion by Minister of Finance, Victor Banks, to borrow for 12 months, by means of advances from a body corporate, a sum of money not exceeding EC$10,000,000 to meet current requirements. It is a normal financial procedure pending revenue collections.

The other matters were the second and third reading of the Financial Services Commission (Amendment Bill, 2007; the Company Management (Amendment) Bill, 2007; the Trust Companies and Offshore Banking (Amendment) Bill, 2007; and the Mutual Funds (Amendment) Bill, 2007.

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