Too little too late, Labour leader says
The budget presented by the Nationalist government contains too few measures and confirms that it is stagnant, void of fresh ideas and is scared of the forthcoming general election, Labour Leader Alfred Sant said yesterday in his first reaction to the...
The budget presented by the Nationalist government contains too few measures and confirms that it is stagnant, void of fresh ideas and is scared of the forthcoming general election, Labour Leader Alfred Sant said yesterday in his first reaction to the 2008 budget.
In a two-minute official reaction, Dr Sant said the budget offered too little too late. He said Maltese families have enough burdens to cope with and when people make their calculations they would confirm their belief that the country needs a breath of fresh air which only the Labour party can offer.
The budget contained no fresh ideas to generate new employment opportunities or to combat unemployment among the young.
He said the budget was full of old, repeated ideas and promises which have already been mentioned in recent years but which were never put into practice. In the education sector, despite promises and blowing of trumpets, the Nationalist government spent €20 million less than it had planned, while in its plans for next year, the government was thinking of spending less than it had planned for 2007.
Dr Sant said the budget confirmed that the government had no strategy to control the cost of living, which is the biggest problem Maltese families are facing and a weekly Lm1.50 (€3.49) cost-of-living increase is certainly not enough to help families with burdens such as the water and electricity surcharge. The measures were aimed at fooling people into voting for the PN.
There were other measures which should have been implemented years ago, such as a campaign to combat breast cancer and the promise to reduce waiting lists for surgeries at hospital.
With regard to Gozo, Dr Sant said the budget contained no fresh ideas to improve the island's economy and increase employment opportunities there.
Concluding, without fielding any questions from journalists present, Dr Sant said this budget continued to strenghten the people's conviction that the country required a change and needs the MLP to improve its quality of life.