Updated - Former Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia is set to replace George Vella as foreign minister in the near future, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said this evening.

His claim was immediately denied by the Labour Party, which said this was the latest invention in a series of delusional acts by a person who was desperate and had nothing to say.

Speaking at a political activity in St Julian’s, Dr Busuttil referred to Dr Mallia’s own baptism as a soldier of steel in Zebbug yesterday and asked how Prime Minister Joseph Muscat could permit this.

Rumours were, he said, that this was the readmission of a minister who had been dismissed for deceiving the people. It was now being stated that Dr Mallia, who had made a mess of the police force and the army, would be appointed Foreign Minister replacing George Vella, Dr Busuttil said.

Speaking on next Saturday's council elections, he said the people should vote for Nationalist Party candidates as the party was the best to manage their localities.

It was the people's duty to vote, be active citizens and decide who should administer their locality. It was in their interest to do so, he said as he appealed to people to vote for the best candidates, those that represented the PN.

Councils led by the Nationalist Party, he said, had borne results, contrary to those led by Labour.

Not only had Labour-led councils not given results, the people were also being deceived.

In Paola, for example, a project for the regeneration of the square was promised before the last election. Not only was this project not implemented, the same project was now being promised again.

Labour, Dr Busuttil said, also deceived on a national level such as with the Delimara power station which it had described as a cancer factory and which was now being retained. The Marsa power station was also ceremoniously switched off by this government but it failed to say that it could do this because of the projects conducted by the previous government.

On the visit of Mattio Renzi on Thursday, Dr Busuttil said the visit was for the inaugurator of the interconnector project between Malta and Sicily, which was the work of the Nationalist government.

On the Bart’s agreement, he said the Labour government announced the project as a fait accompli because a call for tenders had even been issued.

Speaking on St Julian’s at the beginning of his speech, Dr Busuttil said the locality had many Maltese and foreign residents, many elderly, 20 hotels, 200 bars and 250 restaurants. The locality also included Paceville, which attracts many young people every weekend. All this proved to be a challenge to its administrators but the Nationalist Party was proud to be managing the locality.

He said that the party’s plans for the locality included an open air gym, a home for the elderly and a civic centre. The PN would also like to see greater safety, especially because of the influx of activities, including in Paceville.

The PN, Dr Busuttil said, would also like council to tackle the traffic problem which was problematic everywhere and noise pollution. The council, he said, should work for Paceville to have its own police station and a clinic and also organise cultural activities.