The Labour Party believes consumers should be given due importance in all political decisions.

The PL said World Consumer Day, marked yesterday, was a reminder of the challenges and difficulties placed upon consumers, primarily by the government itself.

It said the government should be there to look after consumers and act as an example to the private sector. The authorities, which were supposedly there to protect consumer rights, were doing everything apart from what they were supposed to.

The Malta Resources Authority was cited as an example. The MRA was set up with the aim of looking after consumer interests. However, it was abdicating its responsibilities and letting the government use it for its own goals, as happened with the utility tariffs.

Other factors causing difficulty for consumers were medicine prices and a lack of available medicines at government pharmacies, Labour said.

It was a known fact that certain medicines were priced far higher than in other EU member states. All this was reason enough for the government to take a good look at the weaker consumers in society.