The Labour Party yesterday decided to withdraw its participation from a televised debate between Joseph Muscat and Lawrence Gonzi on Xarabank scheduled for March 1.

According to an exchange of correspondence between Xarabank producers and the Labour Party, seen by The Times, the party had initially accepted verbally to participate in two programmes but then wanted to restrict the time of the show to just an hour each programme.

After the producers refused the request, Labour said it would be taking part only in one programme.

On the other hand, Labour’s spokesman said he never confirmed his party’s participation in both programmes. He argued that the party’s point was that there were already several debates in the final week of the campaign, including the one to be hosted by The Times at the Intercontinental Hotel on February 26.

Contacted by The Times, hours before the two leaders went head to head in the first electoral debate on the same programme, Xarabank presenter Peppi Azzopardi did not wish to comment.

Reacting to this issue, PN general secretary Paul Borg Olivier accused Labour of trying to impose its conditions on televised debates and claimed the PL was scared of debating with the PN leader.

Asked by The Times whether the scheduled March 1 debate should still go ahead with Dr Gonzi alone, Dr Borg Olivier said the Broadcasting Authority had already decided on the programme and Labour might still want to change its mind and send Dr Muscat.

In a counter-statement, Labour said the PN statement was false and a distraction from the fact that the Nationalists had not produced a single policy proposal in the first two weeks of the electoral campaign.