THE Opposition has slammed the government for what it described as a premature end of the 2024/2025 budget debate in the Senate on October 27, with several senior government ministers not contributing to it.

In a statement, the PNM said the debate collapsed at 9.57 pm after Opposition Senator Faris Al-Rawi made his contribution and Minister in the Ministry of Finance Kennedy Swaratsingh immediately jumped up to end the debate.

At that time, Opposition Senators Dr Amery Browne and Foster Cummings had not yet made their contributions. On the government side, Attorney General John Jeremie, Leader of Government Business Darrell Allahar, Agriculture Minister Ravi Ratiram, Public Administration Minister Dominic Smith, Tertiary Education Minister Prof Prakash Persad and Civil Aviation and Transport Minister Elias Zakour also did not speak before Swaratsingh stood up.