Hot on the heels of the roundly-applauded Budget, the Prime Minister presented the Nationalist Party’s new basic document, Our Roots. And, in a fit of panic, Joseph Muscat rushed home to scribble 51 Labour proposals and presented them the day after.

...this mediocrity is frightening- Simon Busuttil

It could not have taken him more than an hour to write them. And if you have not read them, please do because the mediocrity that screams out at you is too loud to be captured in this article.

Let’s leave aside the choice of 51 as the magical number. We are all used to Labour’s obsession with media glitz. But for those of us who thought that, finally, we would get some substance, the 51 proposals are a big disappointment.

Just imagine, the first item on their list is that “interest rates on VAT arrears will be reduced”. I had to read it twice. For quite apart from the fact that this is already being done (even in this Budget itself), the question that one must ask is whether this proposal, deserving as it may be, truly merits to be the first point of the programme of a government-in-waiting.

Is this Labour’s top economic brainwave?

Ok, so perhaps the document does not present an order of priority and that higher priorities are further down. But, then, why doesn’t the document include anything of substance on the economy?

The closest we get is proposal 5: “Our government will be safe for business and enterprises” and proposal 3 that tells the self-employed that “we will let you work”.

Safe? We will let you work? What kind of proposals are these?

And don’t these “proposals” betray an innate uncertainty over whether a Labour government would indeed be safe for the economy?

Now hold on to your seats. Here comes the famous commitment on electricity bills even if you have to wait all the way down to the 12th proposal to get it: “Electricity bills will be reduced in a realistic and sustainable manner”.

Really? And how? Nothing. Zilch. We are none the wiser. Except for two points.

The first is that the interconnector cable project that will link us to the European electricity grid will be continued (14) but that project will be well underway by the next election.

In a sop to environmentalists, proposal 13 adds that the Delimara power station will be switched to gas. Fine. Except that this will come at a significant cost that will translate into even higher bills.

Let’s move on, shall we?

Proposal 18 proclaims that the first decision of a Labour government will be to remove the increase in ministerial salary. The temptation was too great to resist. But even here they give away their scam: For in the next proposal, they announce that ministerial pay will be subject to an independent review.

Now am I the only one thinking that the independent review will bring ministerial pay right back up to its current levels? Does Labour really take us for morons? Probably, because the rest of the document is littered with “proposals” that range from outright inanities to self-evident statements that no serious politician can present as a new policy.

Here’s one inanity: “The key to address the pensions challenge is economic growth” (20).

And another one: “Youth before bureaucracy: we deliver what we promise” (26).

Here are some self-evident truths that Labour mistake for new proposals:

“We believe in industry as an important part of our plan for economic growth” (28).

Or “Air Malta has a future if it has a more ambitious vision” (35).

Or worse: “Unconstitutional laws will be amended” (46).

Need I go on?

Well, there are a number of “proposals” that are already in the course of being delivered as we speak. But in two of them, Labour really takes the biscuit.

Proposal 37 tells us that “tourism will be a leading pillar of economic growth”. Labour is obviously oblivious to the fact that, in the past years, despite the economic crisis, this country has broken one record after another in tourist arrivals.

Proposal 33 announces that “the stipend system will be strengthened”. This is rich coming from Labour. The last time they had a hand at strengthening our stipends, they sent students queuing at the bank for loans.

What can I say?

Well, I cannot say that I am pleased with these 51 proposals. For every country needs a serious opposition that can keep the government on its toes and that can come up with alternative policies on how to run the country. But this mediocrity is frightening.

Which tells me that the PN has a duty to do its level best to win the next election. True, the odds are firmly stacked against it and it is running out of time. But if it is to win, it must continue delivering right up to the end. And all the while, it must come up with renewed policies that can show that it still has what it takes to run the country with new and exciting ideas.

Crucially, it must rally together and regain its will to fight to win.

The Prime Minister’s speech in the recent PN general council set the tone. But we all have a duty to chip in.

simon.busuttil@europarl.europa.eu

Dr Busuttil is a Nationalist member of the European Parliament.