Labour’s electoral battle cry Tagħna Lkoll turned out to be “a lie”, with the government failing on accountability, transparency and meritocracy, Simon Busuttil said yesterday.

The Nationalist Party leader accused the Prime Minister of hypocrisy and undermining people’s trust in politics as he took his local elections campaign to Siġġiewi. Dr Busuttil ridiculed Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s statement that he would be happy even if the Labour Party won this round of elections by one vote.

“If Muscat wins by just one vote it would be his biggest failure,” Dr Busuttil said, adding that this round of elections was dominated by Labour-leaning councils.

But the Opposition leader also returned to the “works for votes” scandal in Gozo after refraining from speaking about it for the past few days.

He stuck to his position that he would wait for the police to conclude their investigation before taking any action against former Gozo minister Giovanna Debono.

But he also accused Gozo Minister Anton Refalo of perpetuating the scheme with which public funds were being used to finance private works.

He said works on an illegal private room in Għajnsielem belonging to Dr Refalo’s canvasser were financed by the Gozo Ministry over the past two years.

Dr Busuttil urged the police to widen their investigation into the “works for votes” scam to the present and accused Dr Muscat of being brazen when criticising him for not taking action against Ms Debono.

“It is wrong to have private jobs financed through public funds, and if this was happening it was wrong.”

“But if Joseph Muscat wanted him to take action against Giovanna Debono, should he not take more action against Anton Refalo?” he asked.

He used this example to highlight what he described as Dr Muscat’s hypocritical way of doing politics.

Dr Busuttil ended the speech by calling on all Nationalists to go out and vote in Saturday’s local elections, a plea that had been made earlier by deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami.

In an impassioned crescendo, Dr Fenech Adami also reached out to disgruntled Nationalists who had deserted the party two years ago.

“Our doors are open and if you do not come to us we will continue to run after you. I will come after you to hear your pain, your concerns because this is not my party... this is your party.”