The Opposition will not abdicate its role of keeping politicians responsible for their actions, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said yesterday.

“It’s not clear what will happen during Wednesday’s vote on the motion of no-confidence in Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici but, in other EU countries, a minister that is censured shoulders his responsibility and resigns,” Dr Muscat told a political meeting in Kalkara.

Political responsibility was an “alien concept” to the Nationalist government, he said.

“It was very clear that when we filed the motion of no confidence it meant resigning – I thought it was obvious.”

Dr Muscat said he had been told the government would try and find a way out of the situation by claiming that the resignation was not clearly mentioned in the motion.

However, when the party tried to include it in an amendment, Leader of the House Tonio Borg opposed it. “When that happened, I realised that it was true,” he said.

No “incendiary” speeches by Nationalist MPs – such as the one by Edwin Vassallo this week – would stop the Opposition, he added.

He asked the Nationalist Party whether they forgot what they had done to the families of former Prime Minister Alfred Sant and European Commissioner John Dalli.

Other families felt under attack by the government – the 45,000 families who received a bill, letter or notification saying their water and electricity was going to be cut off, Dr Muscat said.

Families of Enemalta employees, especially those working at the Marsa power station, had many “sleepless nights” as they were worried about the future. Marsaxlokk residents were concerned about the emissions from the Delimara power station extension, which used “dirty” heavy fuel oil, he added.

Dr Muscat also referred to the Bondin family who had invested about €250,000 in a bar and restaurant in Cospicua but could not earn anything because works on the Dock No 1 project fell behind.

Turning to the law of in-vitro fertilisation, Dr Muscat said the government had thrown out a law that had been agreed upon and replaced it by another.

“We expect that a European modern society will act in the interests of all and not as a confessional state,” he said. Meanwhile, there were families who could not have children but could not afford to pay for the treatment.

The Nationalist Party condemned Dr Muscat for making personal attacks and mudslinging, pointing to the Opposition’s lashing out against Dr Mifsud Bonnici and Malta’s Permanent Representative to the EU Richard Cachia Caruana.