Leader of the Opposition Mark Golding says he will not apologise for comments made in Parliament challenging the independence of the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Golding received much public backlash including from the acting house leader Olivia Grange, who described his comments as disturbing and hypocritical towards Juliet Holness.

The opposition leader’s Budget presentation on Tuesday, March 19, went down a slippery slope after Government MPs, including Prime Minister Andrew Holness, walked out of the chamber due to comments made by Golding about the potential lapse in objectivity attendant to the position of house speaker, due to Holness’ spousal relationship with the prime minister.

“When the former speaker was forced to resign as a result of an Integrity Commission investigation, the move to replace her with the wife of the prime minister, so that the head of Parliament is now the spouse of the head of the government really does not sit well that the speaker must act independently of the government of the day. The speaker is intended to be independent and must act independently of the government of the day. That is the tradition,” Golding argued.

Golding, who was speaking on the local entertainment podcast The Fix, says he will not apologise for his comments, noting that it is the prime minister who owes him an apology for working out during his Budget presentation.

“Certainly not, I think [ it is] the prime minister who owes me an apology having walked out during my speech, preventing me from completing when I never said anything disrespectful to anyone. I was making a point of principle, which I think is a valid and sound point and needed to be made because of what has happened since Mrs Holness became speaker,” the leader of the opposition said.

Golding raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest arising from the Speaker being the wife of the prime minister.

“I have concerns that having the spouse of the prime minister, who himself has issues with the Integrity Commission, as I have said with his own filings and so on. His spouse is running the Parliament’s procedures. As the umpire, it is not consistent with the tradition that the speaker is supposed to be above the fray as an independent and neutral umpire and that is a very important issue.

“I am not calling for her resignation, but I am making the point that the way in which it is being conducted by her gives rise to a real perception that there is an issue and I would have loved if she would correct it. Release the opinion and I think reverse the ruling that says that certain reports aren’t going to be tabled before being sent to this committee that the government controls in Parliament, which is a highly unsatisfactory way to run our democracy,” he said.