Muscat expects 'sweet' budget as he calls for demonstration

Today's budget should be "sugar sweet" following the hikes in water and electricity bills, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said yesterday as he rallied people for a national demonstration to be held on Sunday.

The Labour leader reiterated his call on the government to withdraw the new rates, to deliver the promised cuts in income tax, and not to introduce new taxes in the 2009 budget which will be announced this evening.

The call, made at a party activity in Msida, came as he announced a "national demonstration" next Sunday in Valletta, against the tariffs.

He was keen to characterise the event as a demonstration, rather than a protest, and urged people of all persuasions to attend, carrying Maltese, rather than political flags.

Despite it being pitched as a non-party event, Dr Muscat said he would be offering a vision for the future rather than just saying no to the increased tariffs.

He returned to a point made earlier this week by the Opposition, when it questioned a statement made by the Prime Minister on the weekly talk show Xarabank about introducing the new water and electricity bills retroactively.

Dr Muscat pointed out that Lawrence Gonzi had said that an agreement had been reached with the social partners not to backdate the tariffs to October 1. But Dr Gonzi did not keep his word and in fact the new regime was implemented retroactively from that date, he said.

He blamed the apparent u-turn on the fact that Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt, whom he referred to as the other Prime Minister, did not share Dr Gonzi's line of thinking. "In the end Austin Gatt had his way," he said.

The MLP leader also made a thinly veiled reference to last week's court ruling which awarded former prison guard Anthony Mifsud around €186,000 in damages for the torture he had suffered at the hands of two former police superintendents - Joseph Psaila and Carmelo Bonello - during interrogation in 1982, then under a Labour administration.

He said both political parties had to shoulder the burden of their past, adding that his party had paid a big political price for the irresponsible behaviour of some.

Without mentioning names, he said explanations are needed from "those who promoted one of them", now the head of security at Mater Dei Hospital.