Premier Craig Cannonier has confirmed he will be responsible for funding his legal action against two Opposition MPs.

Taxpayers were set to foot the bill after Mr Cannonier filed defamation writs against Progressive Labour Party leader Marc Bean and Shadow Finance Minister David Burt on Wednesday over allegations of bribery.

But last night Mr Cannonier said that, after taking further legal advice, any legal costs “will not be covered by public funds”.

A spokesman initially claimed that, because the allegations were made against the Premier in his official capacity, the legal action would be “a Government lawsuit” and therefore funded by public money.

That decision prompted criticism from some commentators who suggested that it was a waste of taxpayer money.

And at a press conference yesterday, Opposition deputy leader Derrick Burgess described the decision as “very strange”. He declined to comment further.

Mr Burgess came under fire in 2010 after he launched a legal action jointly with former Premier Ewart Brown after forged cheques were found in a Government file.

Government hired a Canadian law firm so that Mr Burgess and Dr Brown could sue architects Sam Spagnuolo and Lawrence Brady in a Canadian court alleging defamation.

The two politicians ran up legal bills of more than $30,000 before Auditor General Heather Jacobs Matthews ruled the arrangement was “a direct violation of Financial Instructions”.

According to Mrs Matthews, Government was not named as a party in the lawsuit and public funds should therefore not have been used to initiate a private legal action.