Malta may have its biggest and most expensive Cabinet ever if Labour is voted into power.

The largest in the past 25 years was led by Labour Prime Minister Alfred Sant in 1996

Over the past years, Dr Muscat has gone on record pledging as many as 11 ministries (see table) and the list does not yet include portfolios such as education, social policy and health.

In a question-and-answer session with The Times newsroom last week, Dr Muscat would not be drawn into specifying the number of Cabinet members he plans to appoint, but said his team would cost the same as Cabinets appointed by former Nationalist Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami.

He did stress, however, that his ministers or parliamentary secretaries would not receive any increase in their salaries during the next legislature.

An exercise conducted by The Sunday Times shows the largest Cabinet in the past 25 years was led by Labour Prime Minister Alfred Sant in 1996 (see table).

This Cabinet, which remained in government for just 22 months, included 14 ministers and five parliamentary secretaries, apart from the Prime Minister, costing €14.2 million per year.

On the other hand, the smallest Cabinet is the current one led by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.

Dr Fenech Adami had appointed four Cabinets during his tenure as Prime Minister; the most in Malta’s history.

The biggest was his last, appointed in 2003, which included13 ministers and four parliamentary secretaries at a cost of some €13.4 million per year.

At present, it is estimated that every ministry costs taxpayers more than €800,000 annually or €4 million per legislature. These costs are very conservative and only include salaries of ministers and their private secretariats.

The figures do not include other recurrent expenditure such as transport, lease of buildings and equipment, travel and accommodation and other matters connected to the proper running of a government.

With a secretariat of 38 staff members, a Prime Minister’s secretariat is by far the biggest political expense, running into more than a €1 million a year.

Ministers come second, with a staff complement of 20 each, followed by 11 staff members for every parliamentary secretary.

During Dr Gonzi’s current legislature, costs increased through higher salaries for ministers and parliamentary secretaries, which were reversed following a public outcry, and the appointment of parliamentary assistants costing some €50,000 per legislature.

Parliamentary assistants were introduced in 2010 to quell backbench unrest and make the Government more effective since it had the smallest Cabinet in recent history.

When asked if Dr Muscat planned to keep these posts, he said that although this was a political move by Dr Gonzi to appease the rebellious backbench, parliamentary assistants were now in the system.

Dr Muscat has so far pledged a number of ministers never included before, such as a Minister for Civil Liberties and another for Irregular Immigration.

The latter had been mentioned in his plan of action in 2009 where he had proposed that a person be appointed to coordinate this area and who would have “executive powers equivalent to a minister”.

He had added: “We’ll leave it in the Prime Minister’s hands to decide if this [position] should be a Cabinet minister or a technical person.”

Dr Muscat told The Times during his visit although he already had a plan for his Cabinet in mind, he first had to see who of his MPs would be elected and then choose accordingly.