Mystery still surrounds whether Speaker Stanley Lowe will carry out a threat to bar MPs from questioning Ministers on anything they did in an old Parliament after his much anticipated statement in today’s House of Assembly session said little.

A statement attributed to Mr. Lowe was issued by Government this week in which he said: “Ministers will not be required or obligated to respond to the questions put on Ministerial travel prior to December 20, 2007.”

Mr. Lowe, who has refused to admit he authored that statement, which came out of Cabinet Office, was supposed to clarify the new stance today.

But today in the House of Assembly he said: “I met in chambers with the Leader of the Opposition this week, I decided to defer a statement until the next day of meeting.

“The Leader of the Opposition knows what it is all about. At this stage it’s a private matter.”

The United Bermuda Party believe the ruling weakens Bermuda’s democracy and undermines the role of Parliament as a watchdog. And they have claimed the statement originated in the Premier’s office.

Government travel has long been an embarrassing issue for the Progressive Labour Party with more than $7.4 million set aside in this year’s budget - $5 million more than the $2.2 million spent in 1998/99.

Premier Ewart Brown had branded the questions as a form of time wasting.

* See The Royal Gazette tomorrow for the full story.