Wissanu said the Parliament will be in recess in October but the government will seek an extraordinary session for the passage of the budget bill.

The bill should be passed by January next year and be retroactive to October 1, when the new fiscal year starts, Wissanu said.

He said the projected spending of Bt3.3 trillion could be trimmed or increased during the vetting of the bill by a special House committee after the bill is approved in a first reading.

The deputy prime minister said the budget bill states on the last page how the government would acquire the money for the projected spending.

The bill states that the government would get money for social development affairs from taxes, and for the development of basic infrastructure partly from joint projects with the private sector and partly from taxes.

He said the budget for long-term projects would come from new tools being developed by the government while some money could be found through cuts in unnecessary spending.

The commission, which is chaired by Cheep, held a meeting at 9am at the Supreme Court, where the 15 members voted unanimously to endorse Salaiket as the head of the judiciary branch.

The appointment of Salaiket will take effect on October 1 when Cheep is due to retire. His appointment has yet to be officially endorsed by the King.

Salaiket was born on December 3 1954. He graduated from Thammasat University’s Faculty of Law and he later became a barrister of law. He also earned a Master of Arts degree from New York University.

He was formerly a senior judge of the Rayong Court and a senior judge of the Phuket Court, before rising to the post of the chief justice of the Appeals Court Area 8 and the chief of the Tax Division of the Supreme Court. He then graduated to the post of Supreme Court vice president.

Future Forward secretary general Piyabutr Saengkanokkul and Sirikanya Tansakun, director of the policy division of the party, held a press conference to announce the Open FWP Project, which they said would establish a mechanism for the public to monitor and play a part in the work of the party and its MPs both inside and outside Parliament.

Piyabutr said the Future Forward wants to drive a range of national issues with public participation and drew up the project to allow the public to monitor the progress of various policies.

Piyabutr described the project’s five key elements as follows:

1. Commitment. The party will carry out its missions to change the country through the 12 agendas to which the party committed during the election campaign and which helped the party to win 81 House seats and site in opposition.

2. Accountability. The Future Forward will be accountable to the voters who elected the party.

3. Encouragement. The Future Forward will encourage its members and MPs to work with continuity.

4. Transparency. The Future Forward will make its operations transparent so that the public can check its work at every step.

5. Participation. The party will promote public participation by checking how the party and its MPs have been working.

“We want the Future Forward to be a lively party and to be close to the people. We want the people to be able to monitor us at every step and we want our MPs to be enthusiastic and to have accountability to the people,” Piyabutr said.

Sirikanya told the press conference that the project has three tools:

1. A tool to allow the public to take part and monitor the works of Future Forward MPs more easily. This will summarize attendance at parliamentary meetings, absence, and debates of Future Forward MPs. It will also allow the public to monitor the progress of motions on various issues. Sirikanya said the party has so far submitted six motions to the House. This tool will also report the on-going works of each MP.

2. The new website https://www.futurecommunity.co/hc/th to report the party’s work outside Parliament as well as that of its MPs. The public can submit complaints on various issues to the party via the website. The tool will provide a tracking numbers for each complaint accepted thus allowing the people to monitor the complaint every step of the way. The website will show which MPs are working on which complaints, Sirikanya added.

3. A tool to report on the progress of the party’s implementation of the 12 polices. Although the Future Forward is in opposition, it will do its best to try to push for the implementation of the 12 policies, she said.

Prayut was speaking to reporters after he officially took office as the concurrent defence minister by entering his office at the Defence Ministry.

Prayut said he would supervise the national police force and head the Police Commission in lieu of his deputy, General Prawit Wongsuwan, because he has concerns over Prawit’s health.

“I have concern for Prawit’s health. He has a very high level of determination for his other responsibilities,” Prayut said.

He said Prawit has several other responsibilities, including national intelligence and the supervision of the National Security Council.

Prayut said he would screen promotions of both senior military and police officers that were nominated by their agencies, in order to ensure suitability.

The prime minister said it was not certain whether he would also supervise the Department of Special Investigation, but he would make sure that all important tasks related to the DSI would get done.

Prayut added that the DSI would also need to be reformed, as the agency may have too many police officers working for it.

Regarding the military budget, Prayut said the military agencies may not get all of what they wanted because the government has limited money. But he insisted that the much-criticised procurement of submarines would not be cancelled.

“The purchase must be made properly. There must be a committee to check it and make it transparent – and the issue is over,” Prayut said.

Speaking to reporters before the Cabinet meeting, NACC secretary general Worawit Sukbun said he would brief the Cabinet before its first weekly meeting.

Worawit said the new NACC law extended the deadline for Cabinet members to declare their assets from 30 to 60 days with effect from the date on which they took an oath of allegiance with the King.

Worawit said the new law also requires ministers to declare the assets of their common-law spouses, or those with whom they have not registered their marriage. NACC. The previous anti-graft law only required a declaration of assets held by legally married spouses.

Prayut succeeded Gen Prawit Wongsuwan as the defence minister after Prawit, who was both deputy prime minister and defence minister in the post-coup government, was given only the post of deputy prime minister in the Prayut II administration.

Prayut was welcomed by Gen Nat Intharacharoen, permanent secretary for Defence, Supreme Commander Gen Pornpipat Benyasri, Army Commander-in-chief Gen Apirat Kongsompong, Navy Commander-in-chief Adm Luachai Ruddit, Air Force Commander-in-Chief ACM Chaiyapruek Dityasarin and several senior military officers.

Before entering the ministry compound, Prayut paid respects to the Bangkok City Pillar Shrine and once inside went straight to the Chao Por Ho Klong (drum tower spirit) Shrine where he paid respect to it and other sacred icons in the Defence Ministry.

After the rites, Prayut went to inspect a newly found ancient well in the compound. Prayut ordered the permanent secretary to check whether the water is clean and ordered him to improve the landscape around the well.

The well appeared on Friday when a parking area in front of the Chao Por Ho Kkong shrine subsided.

While Engineering Corps troops were preparing to re-pave the area, they found three thick granite rocks. When they lifted the pieces, they found 9-metre-deep well with musky water. The well appeared to have been dug a long time ago and measures about one metre by 20 centimetres.

Nat said he would coordinate with the Fine Arts Department to check and renovate the well, which is part of the old command building in the compound of the ministry, itself 132 years old.

Ruangkrai, a former member of the dissolved Thai Raksa Chart Party, said he has found that several senators could be deemed as violating Article 184, which bans MPs and senators from holding posts in government agencies.

Ruangkrai alleged that Gen Boonsang Niampradit, Gen Chatchawal Suksomjit, Thawil Pliensri, Seri Suwanphanon, Khamnoon Sitthisamarn, and Gen Lertrat Ratanawanit were among the senators that who could be deemed as violating the article because they have been appointed members of national reform panels.

Ruangkrai said parliamentarians could be members of committees as long as the committees’ works are related to parliamentary affairs or the panels have been appointed under special laws.

He added that several senators are also holding posts in the national strategy committee, so they should also be disqualified by the EC.

He said such senators include ACM Prajin Juntong, Gen Worapong Sanganetr, and Poldej Pinprateep.

He added that some senators also hold posts in the Council of State and should be disqualified, including Senate Speaker Pornpetch Wichitcholchai and Kanchanarat Leeviroj.

“All in all, there are more than 10 senators who should be deemed violating Article 184. So, I need to ask the EC to investigate and summon these senators to testify,’ Ruangkrai said.

He said the senators must be asked whether they have resigned from the posts before they were appointed senators.

He said he has checked with the website of Office the National Economic and Social Development Council and found that many of the senators are still members of the national reform committee and the national strategy committee.

He added that the PM’s Office has not issued statements that these senators vacated their seats before being appointed to the upper chamber.

The source said Kalaya, a Democrat minister, signed an order on Thursday to appoint a 35-member advisory committee with former Krabi MP Pichet Phanvichartkul chairing the panel.

But, the source said, Kalaya was informed by the party’s legal experts that her appointment order could violate Article 185 of the charter because the advisory panel included three MPs and cancelled her order.

The article prohibits MPs from holding political posts in the government.

Earlier, Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Jurin Lakssanawisit told Democrat ministers that they should select secretaries and advisers from among MPs or former MPS elected at least five times, the source added.

Speaking to reporters, Kalaya confirmed she cancelled the order although members of her advisory panel would not get antsalary and the panel would be different from political posts with salary.

She said she did not want her order to be deemed a violation of the charter later so she consulted the legal team of the party and cancelled the order.

A source familiar with the Cabinet agenda said that during the first Cabinet meeting after the policy debate in Parliament, the Cabinet will formally appoint the council of economic minsters to coordinate the works of all ministries with economic briefs so that all of them would work towards the same direction.

The economic minister council will be chaired by the prime minister and will include all of his deputies and ministers in charge of ministries related to economic affairs.

According to the source, this will involve the ministries of Finance, Agriculture, Industry, Commerce, Tourism and Sports Ministry, Digital Economy and Society and Energy Ministry.

The council will also include representatives of key government agencies in charge of economic affairs, the source added.

The source said the Cabinet meeting would also acknowledge Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s decision to allocate responsibilities to his deputies.

Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak would be assigned to supervise the Undergraduate Education, Research, Science and Innovation Ministry, the Digital Economy and Society Ministry, the Energy Ministry, and the Industry Ministry, the source added.

Deputy Prime Minister Jurin Lakssanawisit would be assigned to supervise the Commerce and the Agriculture ninistries.

Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul would be assigned to oversee the Tourism and Sports Ministry and the Transport Ministry.

The source said the economic minister council will meet every Monday to screen issues related to the economic ministries for the Cabinet to consider on the following day.

Meanwhile, a source from the Phalang Pracharat said Somkid would ask the Cabinet to appoint Phalang Pracharat spokesman Korbsak Phutrakul as deputy PM’s Secretary General serving Somkid.

Wissanu said he has consulted with the Council of State and that he and the Council, which serves as the government’s advisory board, agreed that MPs cannot concurrently hold political positions in the government as it would lead to conflicts of interest and also violate Article 184 of the charter.

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Activist Ruangkrai to ask EC to disqualify senators for alleged charter violations

Article 184 prohibits MPs from holding posts in government agencies and state enterprises.

However, MPs can hold Cabinet seats because an exemption is provided in Article 163.

Article 163 states that “A Minister has the right to attend and give statements of facts or opinions at a sitting of the House but has no right to vote, except in the case of [voting in] the House of Representatives where such Minister is also a Member of the House of Representatives. The privileges provided in section 124 shall apply mutatis mutandis.”

Phalang Pracharat party-list MP Naruemol Pinyosinwan has vacated her House seat after being informed by the Cabinet Secretariat she would be appointed as the government spokeswoman.

A Phalang Pracharat source said all coalition partners had been informed of the ban on MPs holding political posts.

For the political posts under the Phalang Pracharat’s quota, the party would give priority to party’s failed candidates who earned a lot of votes.

The source said Cabinet members of the party would also be allowed to select their own staff and each group of MPs would also be permitted to nominate its candidates for the political posts.

The political posts of the Phalang Pracharat would be allocated to all regions to reduce internal conflicts, the source added.