Legco has returned to rationality: Andrew Leung

The president of the Legislative Council, Andrew Leung, said on Tuesday that the electoral reform has brought rationality back to the legislature, which allowed it to pass a record 46 government bills in the past year, more than double the number in previous years.

It came at a time when the sixth Legco term, originally slated to end in September 2020, was extended for a year after the government decided to push back the election over Covid-19 concerns.

During that period, the council saw mass resignations and disqualifications of non-establishment members.

Writing in his annual Legco report, Leung said the relationship between the executive and the legislature has “warmed up” in the past year, prompting the resumption of the Chief Executive’s question time, something that was suspended in June 2019.

He said he hopes executive authorities and lawmakers will continue to work together to safeguard the city’s constitutional order, and ensure the long-term stability of Hong Kong.

Without disruptions from who he said were lawmakers with “grossly disorderly conduct”, Leung noted that the 49 council meetings that have since been held were able to effectively clear a backlog of government bills.

Leung also said the Finance Committee held 48 meetings, lasting about 127 hours – significantly less time than the year before.

Despite that, he said the committee passed 120 financial proposals in a year – a record high for the sixth legislative term – involving more than HK$327 billion.

To accommodate an additional 20 lawmakers’ offices in the current term, Leung said construction on expanding the Legco complex would commence later in the year, with the hope of completing it by mid-2025.