I am appalled by the bare faced opportunism of the Malta Labour Party. Alfred Sant's latest pronouncement, that a Labour government would act unilaterally on the illegal immigrants/ refugees issue, implies that he is prepared to make Malta another pariah state, perhaps replacing the one that was whipped into submission by the international community and made to denounce its evil deeds and pay a heavy price.

It is just not good enough for Dr Sant to make empty promises which he knows he cannot deliver without incurring serious consequences.

Such pandering is the hallmark of irresponsible political parties in pursuit of power. Dr Sant knows, or ought to know, that empty threats such as his will be met with stiff opposition and censure, as well as risking damaging sanctions that might spell the end of our tourism industry.

The intelligent floating voter will readily see the inanity of this proposal. If this is the brinkmanship politics that Dr Sant is aspiring to, all I can say is God deliver us from the Labour Party.

Joe Zrinzo, who it is alleged to have suggested Dr Sant's removal from the leadership in good time before the next election, will I believe be proved right in the fullness of time. Meanwhile, Dr Sant will have a free rein to engineer another electoral calamity, to the unrepressed satisfaction of Lawrence Gonzi and the Nationalist Party.