Labour leader Joseph Muscat yesterday urged Gozitans to deliver “a strong message” of change in six days’ time.

Addressing supporters in Victoria, he ended his 30-minute address by urging supporters to continue delivering the party’s message of change until the very end of the electoral campaign.

“Gozitans can also deliver a strong message of change today week [on Saturday],” he said.

The Labour Party holds a mass meeting in one of its Gozo strongholds, Xaghra, tomorrow.

The job situation topped Dr Muscat’s agenda, where he referred to recent figures published by the National Statistics Office.

The Labour leader said unemployment continued increasing for 11 months in a row, adding the Prime Minister had tried to belittle the number of young unemployed during a leaders’ debate on Xarabank on Friday.

NSO figures showed unemployment surpassing the 7,000 mark in January, an increase of more than 500 when compared with the same month last year.

“The Labour Force Survey [a separate set of statistics] puts the level of unemployment among young people at more than 4,000 and to us these are not irrelevant,” Dr Muscat said. He insisted that to address the problem the Prime Minister had to first realise it existed.

Making constant reference to the Xarabank debate Dr Muscat said Labour’s energy proposal was the only concrete plan by any political party to reduce electricity tariffs.

He said rating agency Standard and Poor’s, in its review of Enemalta last week, noted the electricity cable to Sicily will be in place by 2015, a year after the PN’s projected target.

“The Government now has a duty to explain this discrepancy... the truth is there is no plan,” Dr Muscat said, hitting out at the PN’s energy proposal to reduce tariffs at night when the interconnector cable becomes operational.

Earlier in the day, Dr Muscat met farmers in Buskett where he reiterated a pledge to have a minister solely responsible for agriculture and fisheries if elected to government. Dr Muscat also told farmers that negotiations with the EU could not be reopened but a Labour government would ensure a level playing field.

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