Opposition leader Joseph Muscat yesterday renewed his attack on the way raises were underhandedly granted to ministers and MPs, indicating that the Labour Party might oppose any form of raises.

Last week the Prime Minister decided to postpone any increases to MPs until they were agreed upon by the House Business Committee and he also ordered his ministers and parliamentary secretaries to refund the honorarium raise they have been receiving since 2008.

Although Dr Muscat stopped short of saying what the Labour Party’s position would be in the upcoming discussions, he said: “We will be on the public’s side. We know how to read the times.”

He also questioned whether the Prime Minister’s call for parliamentary unanimity on this issue would mean that increases to MPs would only be granted if there was consensus.

Reiterating the claims being made by former Prime Minister Alfred Sant, Dr Muscat accused the government of “misleading” and “ridiculing” Parliament through its handling of the raises issue.

He also insisted that ministers did not deserve any form of pay rise and a number of them had placed the country on the brink of disaster.

The government, however, insisted on going ahead with giving ministers a double salary and Lawrence Gonzi refused to put this up for discussion as he did with the raises for MPs.

And to justify this, the government argued that ministers were receiving €367 extra per week, not €500 as the Labour Party had claimed. He said this was an “insult to people’s intelligence”.

Dr Muscat added that, while MPs who were also bankers or doctors deserved two paycheques for separate jobs, the same could not be said of ministers.

“If a police inspector is promoted to superintendent he does not get two salaries,” Dr Muscat pointed out, depicting ministers as MPs who had been promoted and had an adequate salary which took into consideration their role as MPs.

He added that instead of being transparent and open about such a delicate decision – and instead of discussing it in Parliament as should have been done – the Cabinet took these decisions in 2008 and did not even inform those directly involved.

As Opposition leader, who, like ministers and the Speaker of the House, is now entitled to this double salary, Dr Muscat was not informed of the raise and never received the revised honorarium.“Only the inner circle knew about these changes,” Dr Muscat added.He said the government’s behaviour dealt an “enormous blow” to the whole institution of Parliament, which should instead be showing that it understands the mood of the public.

Dr Muscat criticised the speech Dr Gonzi gave in Parliament on Wednesday, where he sounded like the “union leader” of the Cabinet, “almost bringing us to tears” about how much they deserved the raise.

The Labour leader then listed the blunders and weak performance of various ministers, including Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech, Education Minister Dolores Cristina and Resources Minister George Pullicino.

He argued that ordinary workers would be penalised for poor performance but these ministers were instead being given a bonus.

Meanwhile, he said the Prime Minister’s partial backtrack was simply a “compromise” reached out of fear of losing a vote in Parliament.

Although he insisted this was not a U-turn because ministers will be able to keep a handsome pay rise, he also listed the past incidents in which the government had to retract from its position because of backbench disgruntlement.

“It’s a pity no PN backbenchers are criticising the increases in water and electricity rates,” he quipped.

Dr Muscat ended his weekly speech by calling on Labourites not to close the door to those who may have disagreed with the party in the past but were now interested in helping out in the “progressive and moderate” movement.

“Elections come and go. In fact we’re now used to seeing them go,” he joked. “But our aim is not just to win an election. That is just beginning. We want to change the country so that the elderly do not have to be humiliated in hospital corridors and social welfare does not stop at giving people vouchers which they have to queue up to redeem.”

Meanwhile, the Nationalist Party responded by saying that through wise politics and a hardworking public, Malta was managing to overcome the economic and financial crises, but Dr Muscat was not “appreciating” this.

The party listed a number of accomplishments to respond to the negative portrayal of various ministers by Dr Muscat.