Labour is unelectable

Recent events have shown quite clearly that the Labour Party has not learned anything from its past mistakes. Joseph Muscat's new policy of trying to please or fool all the people all the time will surely not succeed. It has never succeeded.

His opposition to the water and electricity bills is another example of his policy of taking every opportunity to try and gain votes. He plays to the gallery but never gives an alternative on how we are to pay for the fuel importation bills. He dare not say that the alternative to the increase in our utility bills is a rise in direct and indirect taxation.

We can just add this opposition to the fuel bills to the series of no's that Labour is now renowned for. What we are seeing these days is just a replica of what happened in the past in the face of everything done by the Nationalist governments, even if such actions happened to be in the national interest, as time has proved all along.

Dr Muscat is using the same people and the same tactics that have failed in the past. We still remember Labour's opposition to VAT which, unfortunately, many believed but then had to swallow afterwards. We still remember shop owners dispensing of their VAT machines which they had to replace afterwards at their own expense. The same will happen with the utility bills if Labour is ever elected to govern these islands. Those who believe that Dr Muscat can ever reduce these bills will live to regret that thinking. So long as our imported fuel bills continue to rise, our utility bills have to keep pace with them. We have to live with them. Those who argue otherwise are only deluding the people just to get their votes.

Who can forget Labour's no to VAT, no to Malta's entry into Europe, no to the euro, no to the local councils, no to the Gozo Ministry, no to the Drydocks' privatisation? All these are still with us and will remain so because they are all in the national interest and have proved to be beneficial to our country. What's more, there are no alternatives. So one would not be wrong in assuming that any future government will have to swallow everything, because it has not and cannot have any alternatives.

Dr Muscat's urge to cling to every opportunity to help him win power, by trying to please everyone, will certainly lead Labour to another defeat at the next election. Theirs is not a credible way to win an election. Labour has still to show the electorate that there is an alternative to the Nationalist government. Unfortunately for the Labour Party and perhaps for Malta too, there is no alternative on the horizon yet.