Budget 2016 did not go far enough to have a lasting positive impact for low-wage earners, Alternattiva Demokratika said.

Describing it as “a half-baked exercise”, the Green party said it was shameful that in 40 years the minimum wage was never revised upwards as proposed by Caritas, a Church institution.

While welcoming the increase in the national minimum pension, it insisted the measure was not enough and too gradual to achieve the target of reaching 60 per cent of the national median income.

On the environment, AD said the Budget transmitted mixed messages. While acknowledging the traffic problem, the government went ahead in reducing the price of petrol and spoke of infrastructural investment that would encourage car use.

It said the incentives to regenerate urban cores and cut down on inheritance issues that kept property vacant were positive.

It also welcomed the introduction of a tax on tourism.

But the Budget lacked measures to address sustainable water use, AD said.

AD said the fight against precarious work was far from over and all the Budget did was address an anomaly brought about by the government’s own system of contracting out services.