Distrust in politicians is growing and this was exacerbated in the last legislature when the Cabinet decided to take a wage increase of €500 a week, according to Joseph Muscat.

The Labour leader said people were disillusioned with politics and the distance between politicians and their electors was growing.

Interviewed in Mtarfa yesterday by Miriam Dalli, Dr Muscat said the country had an institutional crisis.

“The Government collapsed, the judiciary is tainted by corruption allegations and we have to be careful that the third pillar of democracy, the legislative, is strengthened.” He spoke of the parliamentary reforms a Labour government would introduce, including the payment of the MPs’ honoraria per sitting attended and the introduction of a petitions committee with clear guidelines on how to handle petitions from the public. These reforms were necessary to instil trust.

Dr Muscat added that a Labour government would embark on “a fast reform by the end of the year” to overhaul the judicial system.

He said the Labour Party was “serene” because it had listened to the people over the past four years and worked to come up with a vision for the future. Speaking about Malta’s credit downgrade by Standard and Poor’s, issued on the same day the PN launched a billboard lauding the country’s “sound” public finances, he did not let the irony pass.

“While on Malta’s roads the PN is telling people how strong the public finances are, the Government received a certificate of its bad economic management,” he said.

He laughed off criticism earlier in the day by Finance Minister Tonio Fenech who blamed the downgrade on Labour’s lack of support for the Budget