Country is in crisis, MLP leader insists

Labour leader Alfred Sant cited national issues - namely higher unemployment and higher prices - as he fired the last shots yesterday in the party's local elections campaign.

Speaking at a mass rally at the MLP headquarters in Hamrun, Dr Sant said that contrary to the Prime Minister's view, the country was in crisis.

Unemployment had risen by three per cent since the last local council elections, in spite of efforts by the Employment and Training Corporation to strike people off the unemployment register, he said. In Gozo alone, the jobless figure had risen by 20 per cent.

At the same time, prices had continued to go up. The government's retail price index had put the rise in the prices of food items at five per cent since June, at seven per cent for utilities and three per cent for medicine.

"With the vote on Saturday, a courageous message must be sent that a better future would be build for the country if it were run seriously and responsibly," said Dr Sant.