The Opposition fully supports the GRTU’s call for a 30 per cent reduction in electricity tariffs for prices to reflect the drop in the price of oil, party leader Simon Busuttil said this morning.

Speaking on Radio 101, Dr Busuttil said the Opposition also believed petrol and diesel prices should go down and would keep putting pressure on the government until this was done.

The Nationalist Party leader also reiterated his call for an independent inquiry into how thousands of residency permits and visas were being issued.

Dr Busuttil requested the inquiry during a Security Committee meeting on Thursday.

He had asked for the meeting to be held after a scandal affecting the issuing of visas and residence permits was uncovered.

Dr Busuttil pointed out this morning that not only had the Prime Minister not called the meeting himself, he took three weeks to hold the meeting.

He pointed out that 14,000 residence permits were issued for people from outside the EU to come and live in Malta last year.

This was as many as the number of residents in Mosta and as many as the number of irregular immigrants arriving in Malta in 10 years.

Dr Busuttil said that now that it was known that there was a major scandal leading to the arraignment of the former treasurer of the Labour Party, he wanted to know how many of these permits were irregular or should not have been given.

“Why is government holding back on the call for a public inquiry if it has nothing to hide,” he asked.

He added that the two-and-a half hour Security Committee meeting had not put his mind at rest but left him more concerned than he had initially been.

“This is a major fight that we will keep fighting... I believe there is much more to hear about the matter,” he said.

Dr Busuttil also spoke on the recent police success into the string of Sliema thefts and congratulated the officers and the mayors of the localities involved.

He noted, however, that confidence in the police force had shot down because of political interference and conspiracies.

The current Police Commissioner, he said, was the fourth since the Labour government took over two-and-a-half years ago and both he and his two predecessors had been selected by the current government.

Dr Busuttil said there were still many theft cases unresolved and there was also a sense of lawlessness all over the country.

“Everyone breaks the law as if nothing matters,” he said adding that noise and lack of order were allowed to continue to the detriment of residents.

He said it was about time someone spoke up for the affected residents.

“The PN wants to be there for these people.”

On the situation at Mater Dei Hospital, Dr Busuttil said this had worsened since the current government took over.

Although the service given was excellent, waiting time was unacceptable and this was all because the hospital was being badly managed.

“I acknowledge that the situation was not perfect under the previous administration but it has since worsened and we will keep pressing government to do something about it,” he said.

He also spoke on the traffic problem and said that people were wasting about 10 hours a week in traffic.

“This is too much. We cannot live in a country where everywhere one goes he is stuck in traffic,” Dr Busuttil said.