A Labour Government would implement the positive measures of the forthcoming Budget should it be defeated in Parliament, Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat pledged yesterday.

“We will keep the positive aspects that might be presented by this Government in the upcoming Budget. We are doing this to put everybody’s mind at rest: pensioners, students, businesses and investors,” Dr Muscat said in a political meeting at Ta’ Xbiex.

The present uncertainty over whether the Budget would go through or not was threatening businesses and jobs, he argued, adding that Labour’s promise to implement the measures it deemed positive was aimed precisely at giving the country continuity and stability.

Nonetheless, he still made clear that his party would be voting against the Budget to register its lack of confidence in the Government.

“We have stated our position many times. We have been warning the Prime Minister.

“He said the Budget was a vote of confidence in the Government and himself. When he said that, we immediately said we won’t vote in favour because we don’t have confidence in him,” Dr Muscat said.

The Opposition waited for “concrete” measures from the Government to end the uncertainty but even the date of the Budget remained under wraps, Dr Muscat said, arguing that the Nationalist Party was clearly putting “its own partisan interests before the national interests”.

Employers were not interested in the PN’s internal politics or by-election but wanted financial certainty, he said.

Contacted later, Dr Muscat said the Labour Party would state clearly which measures it would keep from the Budget ahead of an election.

Pledge to cut electricity bills remains

“Any increase will be kept, the positive measures, any increases in pensions and such like,” he said, adding that the party would also retain the general framework of the Budget and work on the assumptions presented in it, which would have been agreed with the EU.

Asked if Labour would be in a position to keep this Government’s Budget pledges while adding its own through the electoral manifesto, Dr Muscat said his party was working on the assumption that the Budget would go through and, therefore, the electoral pledges would still have to be implemented in that context should there be a Labour government in place next year.

More specifically, he said, Labour’s pledge to cut electricity bills next year would be unchanged by the commitment to honour the Budget’s positive measures.

As Dr Muscat was making his new commitment, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi questioned the sustainability of Labour’s pledges while addressing a party activity in San Ġwann.

“Has Labour suddenly struck oil? Has it found some hidden treasure? If not, how will it fund the many promises it is making,” Dr Gonzi asked.

On his part, Dr Muscat argued that Dr Gonzi had made a lot of unkept promises before the 2008 election.

He said that while fully aware of the troubles ahead, the Prime Minister had promised in 2008 that, by 2010, the deficit would be turned into a surplus.

The plan was to reduce the deficit to €70 million from €87 million that year but, instead, this shot up to €268 million, half racked up in the first three months of 2008 during the election campaign, he said.

Similarly, Dr Gonzi had said in 2008 that the debt would rise by €46 million but it went up by €247 million in just one year.

Anything the Prime Minister said, especially before an election, should be analysed carefully by families and businesses, Dr Muscat said.

“We are offering a clear choice, even for those who didn’t vote. My appeal is this: we have a plan, a credible road map.

“Be part of our change. I understand you’re disillusioned. We are committed to show that politics can be done in a different way where proposals and promises are kept,” he said.

The Nationalist Party reacted to Dr Muscat’s speech saying the Labour leader “talked big, promised everything to everyone and, as long as he becomes Prime Minister, then, anything goes – the end justifies the means”.

However, his policies were wrong, the party argued, and his vision myopic. “Muscat promises and, as Prime Minister, you’ll have to pay, dearly, for his promises”.

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