Young on PM’s absence from press conference: 'It would not be appropriate'

ACTING Attorney General Stuart Young said it would not have been “appropriate” for the Prime Minister to attend Monday morning’s press conference on the state of emergency (SoE).

The SoE was declared early on the morning of December 30 and a press conference hosted by Young and National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds began at 10 am.

Asked why Dr Rowley, head of the National Security Council, was absent, Young said, “It would not be appropriate for the Prime Minister to be the person coming out in the first instance to talk about a SoE.

“You have the Minister of National Security, who is the conduit and the person advising the National Security Council, and then you have the acting attorney general, who is charged with the responsibility of carrying out the legal implications.”

He added, “The Prime Minister himself was the one who convened us at the late hours of yesterday into midnight and has been completely in tune in discussing it with (us).”

Pressed on the topic again, Young told the journalist: "It’s obvious that you hold a different opinion."

He then repeated his earlier points and asked to move on to other questions.

The full details of the SoE will be publicised in the coming hours.