Opposition Leader Tillman Thomas was suspended from the House on Thursday in a move that triggered an opposition boycott of the Parliament.

Speaker of the House, Lawrence Joseph, evicted Mr. Thomas after he refused to apologise for a statement accusing the Speaker of playing politics during debate on the 2007 estimates of revenue and expenditure in January.

The Keith Mitchell government holds a slender one-seat majority in the Parliament.

During the budget debate, Mr. Thomas had accused the Speaker of shielding the government from accusations regarding the controversial payment to Prime Minister Mitchell by a former Grenada trade diplomat, an accusation that the Prime Minister has consistently denied.

Mr. Joseph is a former government minister and Chairman of the ruling New National Party, who became Speaker last year following the retirement of Sir Curtis Strachan.

Reprinted from radioja.com