Tonga's Parliament decided this morning that it was not an urgent matter for a Motion for a Vote of No Confidence in the Prime Minister to be put on the agenda of the House today.

A vote on agenda priorities resulted in members voting 14-13 effectively to defer it in order to allow the Prime Minister time to prepare a response to the claims made against him in the motion.

This morning the People's Representatives who had signed the motion for the vote of no confidence were pushing for it be heard urgently and they moved a new motion proposing to upgrade their item on the agenda.

All members of the House voted on the new motion to upgrade the item and after it was rejected, the rest of this morning's session was spent arguing over whether or not the two appointed members of the Cabinet had the right to vote on the new motion about the agenda.

They referred to Sub Clause 6 of Clause 51 of the Constitution – Function, constitution and powers of Cabinet which stated, "6) A Minister who is not an elected representative shall sit and vote in the Legislative Assembly and shall, unless otherwise provided in any Act, have all the rights, duties and responsibilities of an elected representative except that he shall not be entitled to vote in any vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister under clause 50B."

So when the House broke for lunch members were still arguing over the right to vote on agenda priorities.

Today is the last day of sitting before Members go on a two week's visit to their constituents.