PN deputy leader Simon Busuttil this afternoon held a news conference to explain in more detail three of the party’s electoral proposals.

The measures are those related to the setting up of a pension account for children, that of enabling parents to use sick leave when their children were  sick and that on the removal of tax on property parents passed on to their children.

Dr Busuttil said a Nationalist government would open a pension account with €1,000 for each newborn to encourage savings among the young. The account would be in the newborn’s name but others, such as the parents, would be encouraged to contribute to it.

The government was also committing itself to work with financial institutions for this money to be invested in the best way possible.

The sick leave measure would enable parents to take sick leave when their children were sick. The government would also work with employer organisations to reduce sick leave abuse and increase the people’s loyalty to their job.

Dr Busuttil said that the government was also committing itself to remove the tax on property parents donated to their children or which children inherited from their parents. This was going over and above the measure announced in the last budget, which was for the removal of tax on property the parents would have been living in and which children would have inherited.

Dr Busuttil said that the PN wanted strong finances to ensure that its promises could be implemented and it was making a number of commitments to ensure this.

It would set up an independent fiscal council and an economic and financial parliamentary committee and would conclude, by the end of the year, an expenditure review through which the government would identify a two per cent reduction in expenditure.

A number of measures in the PN’s programme were also aimed at generating wealth, Dr Busuttil said.

He criticised Labour for not yet having published its electoral programme saying this was an insult to the people's intelligence.