Updated: Muscat lists his proposals for the Budget

Updated:

Labour leader Joseph Muscat today warned the government not to make the same mistake twice by raising the water and electricity tariffs again this year.

“Those who are advising you have driven you into the wall, do not let them drive the economy into the wall,” he warned Lawrence Gonzi while calling for a maximum ceiling on all government tariffs and licences.

Speaking during a mass meeting at Zabbar, Dr Muscat said he expected a responsible budget that tackled the high cost of living, job creation and corruption.

Listing proposals for economic revival, the Labour leader said high inflation and corruption, which he described as a tax on everyone, were threatening jobs.

He said the shipyards' Fairmount contract on its own cost the country a loss of €40 million.

Dr Muscat said the Prime Minister could not be trusted since there was no visible and plausible explanation for the ballooning deficit which reached €345 million in August.

“The government spent less money in capital projects this year and it cannot claim to have spent the money on subsidies for water, electricity and gas because these were removed,” Dr Muscat said.

He reiterated that government was unstable and Dr Gonzi was more concerned with his party's internal problems than the problems faced by ordinary people. “The Prime Minister does not know when the budget day is, let alone what measures it will take to help people in these difficult times,” Dr Muscat said.

Proposals for budget:

Dr Muscat said that he had proposed to the government that it should:

* Declare the maximum rate for water and electricity tariffs for next year.

* Freeze all government tariffs and licences.

* Set up an agency for consumer protection with its first remit being to investigate the prices of medicines.

* Take action on food prices, particularly fruit and vegetables.

* Help tourism by withdrawing the accommodation tax announced last year and which is due to come into force next year.

* Reduce the VAT rate on tourism-related services and restaurants.

* Revise the eco-tax system so that it would not weigh down businesses and truly serve as an environmental incentive.

* Hold talks with the banks on their exorbitant tariffs. Banks, Dr Muscat said, should also do their part for the economy.

* Introduce the right for employees to be given a moratorium on home loan repayments if they end up unemployed.

* Review the 12 per cent tax on property sales to make it easier for young couples to purchase their first home.

Earlier thousands of people took part in a demonstration, organised by the Labour Party. The demonstration ended in Sanctuary Street where the mass meeting was first addressed by PL party deputy leaders Anglu Farrugia and Toni Abela.

Dr Farrugia said the government was spineless and tired in addressing the issues that negatively affected ordinary people. He asked whether the Prime Minister should apologise for the injustices perpetrated against Labourites and for allowing corruption to take root. He also accused the government of employing a number of people irregularly with Air Malta after the election when, he said, records at the Employment and Training Corporation were manipulated.

Dr Abela accused the Prime Minister of not wanting to face reality, using the global recession as an excuse for bad governance. Dr Abela spoke of workers who have not been receiving their wages for months and called on the government to take action. People do not have peace of mind, he added, insisting the Labour Party would continue to work for social justice to be achieved.