The PN's plan is to ensure a gradual decrease in the public sector workforce in a bid to keep the public payroll under control, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said this morning as he refuted claims that a PN government would lay off civil servants.

Dr Busuttil was speaking during a presentation to the social partners on the party's 91 pre-Budget proposals presented last Friday. These included an independent human resources audit in the public sector and a re-deployment exercise within the service if this was needed. In its reaction, the Labour Party accused the PN of drawing up a plan to lay off civil servants.

The PN leader this morning noted that since Labour was elected to government in 2013, the previous trend whereby the public workforce was slowly being brought down to keep state finances healthy, was reversed.

“At no point has the PN suggested that civil servants should be sacked. What was proposed is to revert back to the past trend to gradually decrease the size of the workforce to lower recurrent expenditure,” he said. Dr Busuttil pointed out that the sharp rise in the number of appointments on a position-of-trust basis did not make sense. 

He said the PN's economic policy was aimed to generate wealth and distribute it in a fair manner. The 91 proposals are grouped in five packages. For the second year running, the PN is echoing calls made by the social partners for a reduction in utility tariffs, saying there is ample room to lower the rates.

The more efficient BWSC plant, the interconnector from which over 70 per cent of electricity was purchased in the first eight months of this year, as well as the drop in oil prices, justified such request, he said.