Opposition Leader Mark Golding says his departure from the Parliament on Thursday evening was not in reaction to anything said by Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness in his budget presentation. “I had a 6:30 pm engagement in August Town, and when it got to 7:15 pm I had to leave as a large crowd of people were waiting on me there,” Golding said in reaction to a post on the Jamaica Observer’s Instagram page reporting that he walked out at the moment Holness announced an increase in the national minimum wage. “I had a copy of the PM’s speech, and waited until the he had delivered all of the substantive points in his speech, the last of which was the announcement of the increase in minimum wage, and all that was left with his closing remarks. There was nothing said at that stage that would’ve warranted me walking out. Several other MPs on both sides had already left,” Golding told the Observer. #BudgetDebate2025 #Jamaica