Health Minister Chris Fearne today reassured government workers that their jobs were safe under a Labour government.

Addressing a Labour press conference, Mr Fearne and Labour MP Silvio Schembri hit out at a PN pre-budget proposal to outsource non-core government services to the private sector, and address over-staffing in the public sector.

Mr Schembri said the PL wanted to know what would become of these workers once they were fired by a PN administration.

He also called on the PN to explain what it meant by “non-core services”, arguing that non-core services encompassed nearly all the government services apart from administration.

The Labour MP hit out at Opposition leader Simon Busuttil for presenting a pre-budget document that had not even been costed.

A number of the proposals in the PN's document were already being implemented by the government, Mr Schembri said.

He questioned if Dr Busuttil really believed in the proposals in the document, pointing out that if he did, he had ample time to implement them while the PN was in government.

Health Minister Chris Fearne said the PN had not changed or learnt anything from its 2013 election defeat. The PN remained a party for the privileged, while the PL was the party that really cared for workers.

Mr Fearne said the PN in its document promised an independent human resources review across the government sector. This, he said, would allow the PN to carry out “vindictive transfers”.

The Health Minister said the government had created more jobs in the private sector than it had in the public sector. Under the PN, 27 per cent of all those employed were with the government. This figure fell to 25 per cent under the present administration, Mr Fearne said.

Mr Fearne assured workers that their jobs were secure under a Labour government, promising that no vindictive transfers would take place.