Failure To Talk 'will Cost Government In Legco'

A failure to engage in dialogue with the pan-democratic camp will undermine Chief Executive Carrie Lam's government as it attempts to get its agenda back on track in the Legislative Council, political commentator Joseph Cheng has warned.

However speaking ahead of the first Legco committee meetings since the storming of the legislature by anti-extradition protesters on July 1, Cheng said legislators should be prepared to grant government funding requests as a way of moving society back towards normality.

"Up to today, even, since the beginning of the crisis in early June, there has been no effective dialogue between the chief executive and the pro-democracy legislators," said Cheng,

"This is certainly not helpful in establishing a healthy executive-legislature relationship facilitating the various processes, including the appropriation of government money, in the Legislative Council."

Legco's Finance Committee and its agenda-setting House Committee are both due to meet on Friday. The Finance Committee has a backlog of HK$70 billion worth of funding requests to consider.