bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Gary Cheung

Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah  is likely to face a confidence motion  in the Legislative Council over the budget U-turn that will bring a HK$36 billion handout to permanent residents.
If he does, he will be  only the fourth top official to face such a motion since the handover and the first since 2003, when his predecessor Antony Leung Kam-chung  won the vote but resigned soon afterwards. 
The motion will be raised  as soon as possible,  pan-democratic lawmakers say.
They are angered by what they describe as Tsang's lack of sincerity in the face of their call for him to make  long-term financial commitments to social development. 
Tsang faces a growing credibility crisis. Albert Ho Chun-yan and Emily Lau Wai-hing  of the Democratic Party have  called for Legco to debate a non-binding motion calling on  Tsang to step down.  And former top official Joseph Wong Wing-ping  yesterday called on Tsang to resign. 
 'As a politically appointed official, John Tsang should do the  honourable thing and  step down,' said Wong, civil service secretary from 2000 to 2006.  
Wong said it was not a matter of targeting a particular official. 'What is at stake is the credibility of the whole administration,' he said. He cited Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's  pledge in 2008 that political appointees would stand down if they failed to meet public expectations. 
Nineteen of the 23 pan-democrat lawmakers  met Tsang yesterday.
'We will raise a motion of no confidence - although we know it cannot secure enough votes to pass,' said Confederation of Trade Unions lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan  after the 11/2-hour meeting.
He said that when they asked Tsang to explain the government's long-term plans and social policies  he asked them to speak to the relevant government bureaus.
Civic Party legislator Audrey Eu Yuet-mee  said Tsang declined the pan-democrats' offer of two weeks  for further discussion within the Executive Council. But an official familiar with the meeting said the lawmakers insisted Tsang  accept their demands within two weeks, but failed to detail their proposals. 'They were simply putting forward slogans and showed no sincerity or willingness to compromise.'  
 Pan-democrats want  an extra HK$20 billion in recurrent government spending, resumption of the Home Ownership Scheme - under which the government built flats for sale at subsidised prices for families priced out of the property market - and the establishment of a universal retirement protection scheme. 
Civic Party leader Alan Leong Kah-kit  said Tsang  should resign.
'The administration has no credibility and cannot govern,' he said.
Allen Lee Peng-fei,  a political commentator and former legislative councillor, said: 'Tsang's biggest mistake was selling his unpopular budget speech too hard and making a U-turn only days after saying there was no room for any concession.'
Tsang said yesterday that the budget put in place initiatives to guarantee improvement in people's livelihoods. 'These measures are in the long-term interests of the community. The government will continue to actively listen to views expressed by members of the public,' he said.  
 Asked if any official should take political responsibility for the widespread anger over the budget, Tam Yiu-chung,  chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong,  said  'The whole budget is acceptable ... They have adjusted the proposals according to public opinion. There is no need to ask whoever to step down.'
Christopher Cheung Wah-fung,  a local delegate to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, shared Tam's view. 'It is overreaction for [the Democratic Party] to threaten to move a motion of no confidence.'



Pan-democrats to press for a vote of no confidence in John Tsang