Padarath unfazed by Opposition walkout during Mid-Year Budget Review debate

Pub­lic Util­i­ties Min­is­ter Bar­ry Padarath said he re­mains un­fazed af­ter Op­po­si­tion MPs walked out of Par­lia­ment dur­ing his con­tri­bu­tion to the de­bate on the Sup­ple­men­ta­tion and Vari­a­tion of Ap­pro­pri­a­tion for Fis­cal Year 2026 yes­ter­day, in­sist­ing the protest will not de­ter the Gov­ern­ment from ex­pos­ing the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM).

Op­po­si­tion MPs ex­it­ed the Cham­ber as Padarath rose to speak, cit­ing what they de­scribed as his “rep­re­hen­si­ble” treat­ment of par­lia­men­tary staff.

Padarath al­so took aim at Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les, crit­i­cis­ing her for not par­tic­i­pat­ing in the de­bate and de­scrib­ing her as “in­com­pe­tent, ab­sent and lazy”.