It was a tit for tat between the Labour and Nationalist parties on government “incentives” to encourage the use of solar panels.

The Labour Party pounced on the Prime Minister’s words in Parliament when he said that, were it not for higher water and electricity tariffs, people would not have bought solar panels.

“After blaming the international price of oil for the higher bills for so long, the Prime Minister has now abandoned this argument and is insisting that the higher bills were an incentive,” Labour said.

It accused the Prime Minister of being insensitive to the plight of families as they faced the highest bills ever. In a sharp reaction, the Nationalist Party accused the Labour leader of issuing “another run-of-the mill press statement” that was “rich in rhetoric but shockingly poor in substance”.

Accusing the Labour leader and his deputy of badly wanting to become Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, the PN said they tried to “ridicule and downplay” the government’s decision to encourage people to invest in alternative energy devices.

“Their recent track record confirms that they have absolutely no clue how to run the country. Hilarious were it not tragic. The people deserve better,” the PN said.