MLP 'analysing' pensions proposals

The Labour Party is currently analysing the pensions system and meeting with members of civil society who have an interest in this area.

Labour leader Alfred Sant told a delegation from the Alliance of Pensioners' Association yesterday that the party's parliamentary group was analysing the Prime Minister's statement about changes in the pensions structure so that the party would have its own concrete proposals before Parliament starts discussing a draft bill.

Dr Sant said the party was also looking at various studies being carried out around Europe and the rest of the world, adding that it was open to any proposals. The party will also be debating the subject within its national executive.

Meanwhile, Labour MPs Marie Louise Coleiro and Silvio Parnis said in a statement that bad politics were having a negative effect on the elderly - particularly the rising cost of medicine and fuel sur-charge.

The MPs added that some senior citizens had been waiting for eye, hip and knee operations for over a year.