Labour is a “guarantee of unemployment” while the PN is a “guarantee of jobs”, according to Nationalist deputy leader Simon Busuttil.

He was speaking about his party’s latest billboard which shows the faces of Labour leader Joseph Muscat and Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi painted red and blue respectively.

In the billboard, Dr Muscat holds up a placard with the word “unemployment” while Dr Gonzi holds up the word “work”.

Dr Busuttil said the billboard epitomised the PN’s core message which was that people should not opt for change for the sake of change, when the country was doing well.

The billboard went viral on social media yesterday but many criticised it for categorising people as blue or red and evoking Dr Busuttil’s recent gaffe when he said Labour was arming itself with people with Nationalists faces.

Dr Busuttil spoke at Villa Arrigo where German MEP Manfred Weber, the EPP’s vice president, said he used Malta as an example of economic success in the Mediterranean.