Pheu Thai stands by budget vote

Pheu Thai stands by budget vote

Fund transfers to 'aid Covid relief'

The Pheu Thai Party has insisted it has done nothing wrong by voting for a budget transfer motion which the fellow opposition Move Forward Party (MFP) has criticised as handing the government a blank cheque.

Yutthapong Charasathien, an MP of the main opposition Pheu Thai Party and a member of the House committee vetting the budget bill, insisted his party seconded the motion aimed at providing additional relief to Covid-19 sufferers.

The motion was meant to shift a chunk of budget worth 16.3 billion baht -- collected from funds trimmed down or reallocated from various state procurement projects including the next fiscal year's instalment payment for two submarines -- to help with Covid-19 relief.

The MFP reportedly insisted the spending of the 16.3-billion-baht budget might go unchecked and he said that Pheu Thai should not have supported the motion.

Mr Yutthapong explained the law only allowed the opposition to cut, not add, the national budget plan during the scrutiny stage. The party has done its job and all the trim-down funds have been rounded off.

"They [the MFP] equated backing the motion to handing Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha a blank cheque," he said. "My question is are we going to sit back and watch people die on the streets?"

This portion of the budget should be disbursed quickly, he said, adding the government needed all the financial help it can get as the one-trillion-baht loan obtained last year has been exhausted in combating the pandemic. The additional 500-billion-baht borrowing this year may not be enough to finance the relief and reconstruction of the battered economy.

Mr Yutthapong said the MFP may hold differing opinions on the issue. "The party should get off this act of self-aggrandisement and its demonising of others," he said.

He also dismissed a rumour that Pheu Thai was cosying up to the ruling Palang Pracharath Party so as to forge a future political alliance. The Pheu Thai has not changed its stance as it is holding its no-confidence against the government most probably after the final reading of the budget bill later this month.

Earlier, House Speaker Chuan Leekpai said parliament will convene on Aug 18-20 to deliberate the budget bill for the 2022 fiscal year, despite the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Jirayu Huangsap, a Pheu Thai MP for Bangkok and spokesman of the House committee on budget scrutiny, said the MFP did not agree with all of the decisions Pheu Thai made regarding the budget review and Pheu Thai respected that.

"But when we took a stand on an issue they didn't see eye to eye with, we were taken to task. That's not very fair," Mr Jirayu said.

The MP assured the opposition would rigorously monitor the spending of the 16.3-billion-baht budget. The government must explain how it uses the funds, he said.

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