Adds PN reaction - Labour leader Joseph Muscat said today that the PL would show in due time that it was on the people's side in calls for the holding of a referendum on divorce.

Speaking on One Radio, he said he had been holding meetings with MPs on the best way of getting the country out of the complicated mess which the prime minister had dragged it into.

Earlier today, a Labour Party spokesman told timesofmalta.com that the Labour Party was discussing a number of options aimed at ensuring that a referendum on divorce was held.

Sources said that the top main options appeared to be a decision for all Labour MPs to vote in favour of the divorce bill - not because they back divorce but to force a referendum - or a parliamentary private member's motion calling for the holding of a referendum.

The Nationalist Party executive committee decided yesterday that the party position should be that a referendum would only be held if the divorce bill is approved by Parliament.

Dr Muscat said this morning that the PN’s position on divorce was incongruous and inconsistent.

He said that one could have a personal position and grant a free vote, but when a party decided on a position, everyone should toe the line.

The prime minister had said, as early as July, that the people should decide on divorce.

He agreed, Dr Muscat said, that some kind of popular mandate was needed.

But now Dr Gonzi was making a colossal U-turn on the referendum, saying he would vote against divorce in parliament, thus acting against the holding of a referendum.

Dr Muscat said he had been holding meetings with Labour MPs to see what could be done. At the proper time the PL would show the people that it was on their side, that it had the proper democratic credentials and that the people could not be ignored.

In his view, Dr Muscat said, Dr Gonzi had decided against holding a referendum and was acting to prevent it from being held.

The people should have a forum to express their views, if not in an election, then in a referendum, Dr Muscat said.

He added that he had consistently said that he was personally in favour of divorce. He had always said that in order to have a mandate for legislation, he would move a motion on divorce after a general election was held.

He had also always said that MPs in Parliament and the people at a referendum should enjoy a free vote to vote according to their conscience.

ELECTORAL PROGRAMME

Earlier, Dr Muscat said the PL would be holding a series of meetings ahead of the drafting of the Labour electoral manifesto would start next week.

He said the party intended to meet constituted bodies and associations representing various sectors, but the party also wanted to hear about the problems and aspirations of the common people and those facing particular problems.

“We need to know what is happening on the ground, not just what the institutional thinking is,” Dr Muscat said.

“We know where we want to go, and the electoral programme will map out the details. That is the role of Karmenu Vella, who has been given ownership of the preparations,” Dr Muscat said.

The Labour leader said personal attacks made over the past few days by people rooted in the past against Karmenu Vella, George Vella and others were disgusting.

“The best weapon against scaremongering is hope, and we will be giving the people home,” Dr Muscat said.

AIR MALTA DISMISSALS

With reference to reports that Air Malta may dismiss as many as half of its workforce, Dr Muscat regretted that this was never mention within the Air Malta restructuring committee, where the PL is represented.

He said that the PL representatives were not being given replies to questions they asked, such as the pay of executives and whether it was true that a consultant was to be paid €250,000.

Dr Muscat said the situation was also worrying at GO plc, where the company, after having invested in a company in Greece, was now dismissing workers. The Prime Minister needed to explain how he had promised workers that their jobs were safe.

This, Dr Muscat pointed out, was a company which had been handed over a prime site worth €23 million by the government.

“My issue is not with GO but with the Prime Minister who made commitments which are not being kept,” Dr Muscat said.

The prime minister was consistently showing that he was not keeping his word with many workers in many sectors, including the dockyard, the buses, Air Malta, Go and many others.

PN REACTION

In a reaction, the Nationalist Partydenied that Dr Gonzi was opposing the holding of a referendum on divorce. And, it said, it was Dr Muscat who was changing his mind. It pointed out that in a 2008 interview to The Sunday Times, Dr Muscat said:

calling a referendum would simply amount to passing the buck. It would be an irresponsible failure to postpone the decisions that need to be taken .”

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.