Dear Editor,

Opposition Leader Andrew Holness is more than right and the government will get a fight to replace the Judicial Privy Council and The Queen in the current economic, financial and legal environment.

I read with interest the newspaper article, “Distractions, ‘Opposition leader says government making weak attempts at veiling plight of poor'” and will add the following:

* I, like the Opposition leader, believe that the government agenda to abolish the Judicial Privy Council and to remove The Queen is a distraction and totally unsustainable in the current economic, financial and legal environment.

* The government budget as presented in Parliament seems to be scraping the bottom of the barrel – seeking revenues to fund government operations. Why not simply use the money proposed to be used by government to abolish the Judicial Privy Council, maintain the Caribbean Court of Justice and to remove The Queen to subsidise or underwrite the basic food basket and invest more in inner-city communities (urban/rural) bringing forth their renewal? The governing party so love the poor!

* There is a need for serious justice reform and this reality will be borne out by the legal challenges government will face, should it continue down this red herring path in the name of abolishing the Judicial Privy Council and removing The Queen.

Humphrey L McPherson

Attorney-at-Law

65 1/2 Half Way Tree Road

Kingston 10