Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi was mobbed by supporters wishing to speak to him or have his autograph during a visit to the Rabat open market this morning.

The visit was the first event in an increasingly hectic election campaign which later also saw him address a dialogue meeting at Siggiewi. He will also address a mass meeting this afternoon.

In his morning addresses Dr Gonzi focused on the tax cuts which the PN is proposing, saying they will leave more money in the people’s pockets and further boost the economy.

He explained that the government was following the pattern of the past two years, where tax cuts had translated into economic growth, and he was therefore confident that the government would still achieve its target of a budget surplus in 2010. The proposed tax cuts, he said, were drawn up after talks with constituted bodies, notably the GRTU, and they were being well received by all constituted bodies except the MLP.

Dr Gonzi also addressed himself to floating voters, urging them to carefully analyse what the MLP was proposing and to remember what had happened to its promises before the 1996 election. Labour, he said, would have schoolchildren needlessly repeating a class. And its proposal to remove income tax from overtime would be counter-productive on workers. He also recalled that in 1996 Labour kept its promise to remove VAT, but the people ended up being burdened with a heavier tax, the CET.