CE To Tone Down Her 'straight Talk' After Row

Chief Executive Carrie Lam has promised to be more "diplomatic" in her exchanges with legislators in future after remarks she made last week regarding a change to welfare eligibility requirements angered many councillors, including those in the pro-government camp.

When questioned about the plan to increase the minimum age requirement for elderly CSSA payments from 60 to 65, Lam shifted the blame to lawmakers saying it was they who had approved the move as part of the last budget.

"I was merely responding to questions in a factual and in my straight talk style … If individual members felt uncomfortable with that sort of straight talk, I will be more diplomatic in future," the CE said before Tuesday's Executive Council meeting.

Her comments on the CSSA change – which comes into effect on February 1 – prompted the opposition camp to urge all legislators to vote against the next budget unless the government drops the plan.

Lam said such a call was irresponsible, saying society would be damaged if the next budget wasn't approved and it would not be possible to maintain government services.

"To suggest that because of unhappiness over one policy issue or maybe other policy issues in the time to come that they should now, in advance, say they are not going to approve the next budget, I don’t think this is a very responsible way of dealing with Legislative Council business," she said.

The CE said her administration cares about elderly people and spending on this age group accounts for 20 percent of the government's overall expenditure.