Labour Movement spokesman to sue MLP official for libel

Barely 24 hours from the political group's public launch and the Popular Labour Movement's Anna Mallia has declared she will sue the Malta Labour Party's general secretary for libel.

The new movement, whose Maltese title has an acronym similar to that of the Labour Party - MLP, was officially launched by Dr Mallia on Tuesday pledging to stick up for workers and serve disillusioned Labourites.

Dr Mallia, a lawyer and a former Labour Party delegate, said yesterday Jason Micallef's comment on Tuesday describing her as "a reject" who did not seem to find shelter anywhere was libellous and damaging to the credibility of her profession.

Asked about the new movement, Labour Party leader Alfred Sant said yesterday he would not comment on "political gimmicks".

Did that mean he did not see a threat to the Labour Party? Dr Sant replied by repeating he did not comment on political gimmicks.

Dr Mallia is a member of the Front Maltin Inqumu, headed by former Labour Prime Minister Dom Mintoff, that campaigned against Malta's EU accession package.

She told The Times yesterday that the front had never been against EU membership and this was the reason why it was separate from the Campaign for National Independence (CNi).

The CNi is headed by former Labour leader and Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici.

What the front was against, Dr Mallia said, was Malta's EU treaty as negotiated by the Nationalist government because it believed that better conditions could have been obtained.

"The front was never against membership, so much so that it encouraged everyone to vote in the referendum," Dr Mallia said.