(Adds PL's statement)

Changes to the shadow cabinet were announced this morning.

The Nationalist Party said the changes follow the election of Chris Said as PN secretary general and the election of Antoine Borg to Parliament earlier this week.

The changes were made following meetings held by Opposition leader Simon Busuttil with the members of the Parliamentary Group.

The changes are the following:

Clyde Puli MP - family and social solidarity, formerly tasked to Dr Said.

Joseph Cassar - education.

Claudio Grech - health.

Ryan Callus - planning and simplification of administrative processes.

Antoine Borg - EU Presidency 2017 and EU funds.

Stephen Spiteri MP will retain employment but will also add the rights of persons with a disability to his portfolio.

Albert Fenech - research and innovation.

Dr Busuttil said the changes will enable all PN MPs to actively participate in the work of the Opposition.

"The Parliamentary Group is now fully geared up to undertake its challenge of delivering an Opposition that is strong and constructive. I am proud of the excellent line-up in the PN shadow cabinet and I look forward to working with each and every colleague in the team to overcome the upcoming challenges.”

The pdf link below contains the responsibilities of each member of the shadow cabinet.

Health: one of the previous government's biggest failures - PL

Through the removal of Dr Cassar from shadow minister for health, Dr Busuttil was trying to escape the disaster his party left in the health sector. The problem was that Dr Cassar was now being trusted with education.

Investigations being carried out by the new government in the health sector, as well as details about the inefficiency, mismanagement and waste which were to continue to be made public, would show that health was one of the Nationalist government’s biggest failures.

Dr Busuttil was devaluing the people’s intelligence when he thought that they did not see through such gimmicks.