Editorial

If the Malta Labour Party believes that just because it is "supported" by its new policy updates it has the required credentials to present itself as an alternative government, it is manifestly wrong.

Ever since it buried its head in the sand and lost the referendum over EU membership, Labour has not done anything concrete to improve its credentials as an alternative government and if it gets to power in the next election, it will only be by default of the Nationalists who, after so many years in government, have increasingly shown signs of fatigue.

At a party's extraordinary general conference, being held between today and Saturday, party delegates will be asked to approve four new policy documents that deal with public health, education, industry and Gozo. The conference is being considered as a continuation of what the general secretary, Jason Micallef, said in this newspaper, a process that started in June last year when another conference approved a policy document on "the economic revival of the Maltese islands".

Updating policies is, of course, essential to any political party wanting to remain at the forefront of the contest for power. The problem with Labour's policies is that while it would be unreasonable to write off all their content, much of what they are offering is either already being done or is a rehash of platitudes.

The party says it is determined to offer a new beginning for a better quality of life for all citizens of Malta and Gozo. Have we not heard that slogan before? When the electorate gave Alfred Sant, as party leader, a chance to work for a new beginning in 1996, the party stumbled in its own feet and in no time the country had a Nationalist administration again. Labour lost its sense of direction and went on to lose two successive elections.

Does Labour deserve to get back to power in its present state and with its present set of "policies"? It constantly accuses the Nationalist government of being weak, of over-spending, of arrogance and of a long-standing inability to revive the economy.

No doubt, some of the accusations are valid; the purchase of Dar Malta in Brussels, for example, did not send the right message when the government was preaching about retrenchment. As to arrogance, there have been very strong doses of this, the latest example being its intention to go ahead with the extension of development zones despite the massive opposition to the plans.

But despite its many weaknesses, some lame ministers and arrogance - matters that all deserve to be seen to and for which the Nationalists do deserve to be rapped, as they have in fact been in local elections - progress has been made on several fronts.

What is Labour doing to convince the electorate it would do a better job in government than the Nationalists?

The party's general secretary writes that Maltese society is crying out for a change and a new beginning. True, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has been utterly wrong in not bringing in new blood in the Cabinet, but what, exactly, does Labour have in mind by a new beginning? Surely no new beginning is encapsulated in the kind of policy documents it is churning out.

Alternation of power is the bedrock of democracy, but Labour would need to be far more convincing in its work than it has been up to now to deserve the electorate's trust again. It still has time before the election to do this.