Government "solely responsible" for country's finances

The chaotic and poor situation of the national finances was the sole responsibility of the Nationalist government and it was the government which had the duty to act rather than remain static, the opposition said.

In a statement, MLP deputy leader Charles Mangion and spokesmen Jose Herrera and Joe Sammut said the government should explain how, in spite of running a debt of Lm1 billion between 1992 and 2002, the country's infrastructure was still bad, untreated drainage continued to contaminate the sea, beaches were neglected and dirty, historic sites were abandoned, roads were in a bad state, the national hospital was incomplete and its cost continued to rise, and the environment was in a state of disaster.

Referring to the government's criticism of the opposition's reaction to the state of the country's finances, the spokesmen said that when the Labour opposition suggested that one should aim for the deficit to be reduced at the rate of one percentage point each year, it was looking at solving this problem over a reasonable number of years.

They said the government was requesting consensus and at the same time accusing the opposition of putting spokes in the wheel.

The government was being childish when it expected the opposition to assume responsibility for the uncontrolled borrowing which the government burdened the country with in the past 12 years.

The spokesmen said the Labour Party would continue defending the interests of workers in the best interest of the country in the most constructive manner.