Ex-Finance Minister supports 'Conscience Bill'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 January 2000, 19:17 GMT]
Senior Parliamentarian of the UNP and a former Finance Minister of the UNP government Ronnie de Mel has welcomed the "MP's Conscience Bill" to be moved by the government shortly.

But he has denied the rumour that he was going to cross over from UNP to the government Party, the People's Alliance.

He has expressed his view in his interview with a Colombo based English National Newspaper, Daily Mirror.

"MPs should have the freedom to leave one party and join another based on a definite principle or program of work.

"An MP must have the freedom to act according to his conscience in the best interest of the country and the people Cross-overs are allowed all over the World. In Sri Lanka too MPs were freely allowed to cross over until 1978," he said in the published interview.