Labour has no plan to create jobs and will therefore cause unemployment, according to Finance Minister Tonio Fenech.

Addressing a Nationalist Party press conference yesterday he listed the schemes and incentives in his party’s elec-toral programme.

“You do not create jobs by hoisting a flag,” he said, with reference to Labour leader Joseph Muscat’s assertion on Sunday that a vote for Labour would ensure the Maltese flag would replace party flags once and for all.

“All ministries already have a Maltese flag flying on the roof.”

Mr Fenech said Labour’s manifesto had no new ideas for job creation. Labour was just promising continuity or half-baked measures that gave businesses less of an incentive than was already the case.

He quoted Labour MP Chris Cardona saying the party would do nothing to hinder the manufacturing industry. “If that’s all you’re going to do, might as well stay in Opposition,” he said, stressing this was not enough.

Challenged on the PN’s growth projections, Mr Fenech said the European Commission’s more cautious forecasts did not take into consideration the impact of new initiatives.

Asked if business people had lost confidence in the PN despite its record, Mr Fenech acknowledged that many were disappointed by planning permits that were not handed out efficiently.

He said that unlike Labour, the PN would not promise permits that could not be issued.

“Labour will have to shoulder responsibility for this. It is your right to vote whichever way you want but Labour has deceived the business sector before.”

The press conference, at the PN headquarters in Pietà, was also addressed by Small Businesses Minister Jason Azzopardi, who underscored that the PN created 20,000 jobs over the past five years.

This, he said, was confirmed by the labour force survey.