The Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment’s (PNM) Na­tion­al Women’s League has come out strong­ly in de­fence of Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les, in­sist­ing she will de­cide the fu­ture of Sen­a­tor Janelle John-Bates “in due course” while ac­cus­ing the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) of hypocrisy and po­lit­i­cal dis­trac­tion.

In a state­ment is­sued on Mon­day, the Women’s League dis­missed mount­ing crit­i­cism from Leader of Gov­ern­ment Busi­ness Bar­ry Padarath over Beck­les’ con­tin­ued si­lence on whether she will ac­cept John-Bates’ res­ig­na­tion from the Op­po­si­tion Sen­ate bench.

“The Na­tion­al Women’s League of the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment stands solid­ly be­hind the de­ci­sion of Op­po­si­tion Leader, the Ho­n­ourable Pen­ne­lope Beck­les-Robin­son, to ig­nore the hys­te­ria the UNC is des­per­ate­ly try­ing to cre­ate around the com­po­si­tion of the Op­po­si­tion’s Sen­ate bench,” the group stat­ed.