I would like to reply to comments made by Salvu Sciberras (October 9). In my opinion piece, I never insulted anyone and my 16 years in Parliament can vouch for this. I do not need to resort to insults to be elected, as stated by Mr Sciberras, since I have had the privilege to represent my constituents for four consecutive times. I observe that he did not quote where I supposedly insulted someone.

He went on to say that it was the first time he had read that someone stated that the minimum wage increased by €1,000 a year. The Prime Minister was quoted in a newspaper the day after saying that the minimum wage had increased by €1,000 a year over the last four years. This was never corrected by the Department of Information or by the GonziPN media machine which practically are the same. I am not aware that this gentleman forms part of the official media machine of GonziPN.

In my article, I did not mention income tax but provided official figures that prove that the minimum wage was not raised deliberately by GonziPN but only through the COLA mechanism, which is agreed by the social partners, and by far less than €1,000 per year.

I would like to quote what was stated publicly by former Finance Minister, now European Commissioner John Dalli, that neither he nor his successor or predecessor raised the minimum wage with the exception of the cost-of-living adjustment. He went on to say that for the last 25 years we have had a minimum wage freeze.

We are already experiencing lack of democracy at different levels and only those who are blindfolded cannot see this. As such, my claims about what happens if the Labour Party is elected to govern still remain. So Mr Sciberras’s assurance does not satisfy me at all, even because of what the Nationalist Party did during the years in Opposition. But, like Joseph Muscat, I am more interested in the future that unites us rather than in the past.