Evarist Bartolo wants to attract middle classes

Labour MP Evarist Bartolo yesterday issued a statement confirming he will run for leader of the Labour Party, an intention he has already clearly expressed in interviews published in some of the Sunday newspapers.

A former Education Minister under the Labour government of 1996/98, Mr Bartolo said that, as Labour leader, he would ensure that the party was in constant and effective contact with as many people as possible and reflect their views and aspirations.

While he would preserve the party's roots in the south of Malta, he would also work to help the party grow in the north and in Gozo.

Mr Bartolo said that, while continuing to help the disadvantaged, the MLP under his leadership would also seek to increasingly attract people who were making a success of life, adding that policies that made sense to the middle class were also needed.

He would improve the way policies were drawn up and communicated, using credible media and the internet.

As an alternative government, Labour would back what was good for the country, criticise what was wrong, and propose alternatives.

Mr Bartolo also spoke of the need to improve education so that Malta would have the skills it needed to be an economic success. At the same time, economic growth had to be sustainable also from an environmental viewpoint, he said. The public service would be improved and the people would have a bigger share in decision-making.

He also promised gender equality, better living conditions for the elderly, more opportunities for young people and better support for families with children and those with disabilities.

Mr Bartolo said he would work to have health services of high quality, better housing, better animal welfare and a social policy that would tackle problems before they developed.

He also promised a bigger space for private enterprise and progressive policies so that Malta could move closer to the more open and liberal societies of continental Europe.

Malta, he said, should also work more closely with the other members of the EU and make a bigger success of its EU membership. It should also develop stronger commercial links with the other countries of the Mediterranean and countries such as China, India, Brazil and Russia.

In order to achieve all this, Mr Bartolo said, he would work to make the Labour Party more open and welcoming to different opinions, and better deploy the talents within it.