Opposition leader Joseph Muscat said today that the Budget did not meet the people’s expectations and would not improve their living standards.

Speaking at a press conference after the Finance Minister’s speech, Dr Muscat said the Budget had done nothing to reduce the burdens of the water and electricity rates, the 'tax of corruption' or the government’s costly inefficiency.

The budget would not put money in the people’s pockets but would erode purchasing power.

He said that the Prime Minister had promised to reduce income tax from the first Budget of this legislature - despite knowing of the gathering economic storm clouds - but three Budgets on, this promise had not been kept, and the people had therefore been denied a total of €141 million, or €200 from every family every year.

Instead of easing the people’s burdens, this budget imposed new burdens such as the increase in the duties on fuel.

Dr Muscat also hit out at the increased VAT on collective accommodation, saying this could undermine tourism’s competitiveness. This measure, he said, had apparently been decided without consultation or proper studies. The government, he said, was playing with the livelihood of 40,000 tourist sector workers.

The Opposition leader said that despite stopping its subsidies to the dockyard and Enemalta, and despite selling many of its companies, the government debt position had continued to deteriorate.

This Budget, he said, was a repeat of the exercises of the past, where the burdens on the people were imposed throughout the year, as was the case with the utility tariffs and the higher bread prices.

There was no doubt that as the elections approached, the government would become generous, he said, but the people had to remember the unfulfilled promises of the past and what they had cost them.