The Government notes that the GSD want to use the health services in Gibraltar like a political football to try to gain votes.
In respect of the subject matter of Dr Burke’s allegations, the Government is defending legal proceedings and will not say more at this stage.
Commenting on the GSD’s allegations, however, Mr Picardo said:
“The GSD want to use our health services and our health professionals to play political games and try to snatch votes. The fact is that the Government has never misled Parliament. I have never misled Parliament. If they think I have, they should bring a motion and have a debate on the subject. It will then be seen that I have always told the truth to Parliament in respect of the allegations by Derek Burke.
Instead of try to use our doctors and our nurses to play politics, the GSD would do well to think hard about who to believe. They have decided already that they prefer Derek Burke’s word to mine. They should think again. Derek Burke has said that he “conceptualises modern Gibraltarians society as a criminal enterprise” and that the future of the people of Gibraltar “would best be served by incorporating Gibraltar into Spain as an autonomous region”.
These are scandalous statements for a purportedly serious health consultant to make, especially when he was so handsomely paid by the people of Gibraltar and cast a shadow over everything else Dr Burke has said and the reliability that can be placed on it by members of our community.
The GSD need to ask themselves now if they still believe everything Derek Burke says at face value over and above the word of a fellow parliamentarian in Parliament – including his political advice on a Spanish Gibraltar.”
