Labour and Nationalist MPs took the opportunity to vote for early pensions for parliamentarians as soon as Democratic Party members were absent from the House, Marlene Farrugia claimed on Saturday.

Dr Farrugia said the House was aware of the PD members' reservations on the issue and swiftly passed the amendment without their vote.

Speaking on a video blog posted on Facebook, she accused the PN and PL of being in cahoots on passing certain laws before charging: "we have one party with two heads in parliament".

"This is a tactic we started seeing when they started disposing of public land," the vociferous MP said.

Dr Farrugia said that the PD can never agree that MPs start to get a full two-thirds pension for serving one term in the House, as against the previous two. Just as much as Labour had criticised the PN government for giving ministers an extra €500 a month, the PD feels in principle it must be against the new law.

"We cannot have a situation in which many people, including pensioners, are not being able to make ends meet, and then at the same time MPs give themselves a better deal," she said.

PD to call for online petition

In a statement later, PD said it will ask Clerk of the House to launch a petition on Parliament's online system giving citizens a chance to voice their disapproval at the proposals and making sure that parliament truly listens.

The PD MPs have asked the Opposition whip to be represented in the Bill of Committees on an act to amend various laws in connection with the pension reform. They will also be asking for a debate when this act will be presented for a third reading. The debate will be followed by a call for a division on the vote, forcing all MPs to declare where they stand. 

“We stand with the many, not the few,” PD leader Anthony Buttigieg said.

“PL and PN are looking after their own interests before taking care of the Maltese that elected them. We will take initiatives to ensure that people will have a decent income in retirement.”