Prime Minister Andrew Holness has described Speaker of the House of Representatives Juliet Holness as an ‘independent’ and ‘self made’ woman.

The Speaker of the House has been the subject of public debate following criticisms by Opposition Leader Mark Golding during his Budget Debate contribution on Tuesday. Specifically, Golding accused the Speaker of being biased in the execution of her functions, due to her 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 said on Tuesday, March 19.

Golding’s comments resulted in government MPs, including Prime Minister Andrew Holness, walking out of Parliament, bringing a premature end to the leader of the opposition’s budget presentation.

However the prime minister, during the opening of his Budget presentation on Thursday, March 21, said: “I want to thank my family for their love and support in particular, Juliet, an independent woman, a self-made woman, who has achieved all that she has on her own effort, in her own right like my mother, who is here. They know struggle, they know sacrifice, they know hard work and they know achievement.”