Leader of the Opposition, Dr Peter Phillip, says he strongly rejects claims from Prime Minister Andrew Holness that the United Kingdom prison offer to Jamaica was implicitly refused by the People’s National Party (PNP) administration.

But, this was rebuffed by Phillips in a statement this afternoon and he accused Holness of using the UK prison offer debate as “a feeble attempt at blaming others for the deteriorating prison conditions and lack of proper governance of  correctional facilities.”

The Leader of the Opposition, Dr Peter Phillip, M.P., says there needs to be no controversy over the UK offer to assist Jamaica in building a new correctional facility, as the Cabinet Office and Ministries of National Security and Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade have the records which can be made public.

In a statement this afternoon, Dr Phillips said the Opposition repudiates in the strongest terms, the account given to the nation by the Prime Minister that the offer was implicitly rejected by the PNP Administration, through a lack of follow up of the MOU signed by both countries, and was therefore inactive when his government took office.

Dr Phillips said Prime Minister Holness should recall that he had vociferously opposed the prison offer from as early as during the official visit of British Prime Minister David Cameron in November 2015 and repeated his opposition many times during the 2016 general election campaign.