The Labour Party will be embarking on court procedures against the Malta Resources Authority next week for failing to take any action regarding the way the new water and electricity bills were introduced.

Labour leader Joseph Muscat said this morning that the increase in tariffs was also affecting employment which was set to grow only to return to current levels at around 2012

The government refused to debate the new power station whenever this was mentioned by Labour, saying the contract was being investigated by the auditor.

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority, however, did not wait and issued a permit. The government did not wait either because it already paid the contractor €39 million.

The Prime Minister, he said, must have given the go ahead for the signing of the contract.

Moreover, the government was now saying that if contract was cancelled it would cost the country €300 million. It was also saying that it had not been asked by the Auditor to suspend matters until a decision was taken.

Labour, Dr Muscat said, would continue to protect families. The government insisted on increasing the water and electricity tariffs at a time when such increase was also being detrimental to employment.

The increases were placing jobs at risk and fewer people were gainfully employed.

A total of 2,600 people lost their job last year. And the Nationalist government increased the utility bills. The increase were not affecting just one sector but the whole spectrum of Maltese society.

Dr Muscat said that the forecast for this year was not at all rosy. It was that unemployment would rise to 7.4 per cent, amounting to around 13,000 people and this would only go down again to today’s level at around 2012.

The Labour leader pointed out that people earning more than the minimum wage did not qualify for assistance and the middle class were being ignored. A new way had to be found for the middle class to once again become the motor of society.

The PL had given the government a technical solution of how the water and electricity tariffs could be reduced by €15 million. The government’s excuses not to take up this option were a symptom that it was with its back to the wall.

Under this government, Dr Muscat said, Enemalta made a debt of €450 million. This money had to be paid by families.

Half the corporation’s debt, he said, was made in the past two years when subsidies were removed, bills were increased and no investment was undertaken.