Leo Brincat is the second high-profile Cabinet member in as many days to warn the government not to risk undermining its achievements through “avoidable mistakes”.

On his Facebook wall, the Environment Minister yesterday commented on the Prime Minister’s claim that the economy had in one year performed as much as it had in three years under the previous administration.

“Let us take care of these achievements by avoiding ‘mistakes’ that can easily be avoided. It will be a big mistake to risk demolishing all that you would have built,” Mr Brincat wrote.

Let us take care of these achievements by avoiding mistakes

His Facebook post follows that of Education Minister Evarist Bartolo last Sunday, who sounded a similar warning to his own party.

The remarks from the two veterans come on the back of the Panama affair that has embroiled the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri, and Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi. Mr Brincat and Mr Bartolo contest the 9th and 10th electoral districts, traditional Nationalist Party strongholds, where Labour made valuable inroads, an increase of seven percentage points on the 9th district and five percent on the tenth, in the last election.

A recent MaltaToday survey showed how switchers – those who voted PN in 2008 and Labour in 2013 – for the first time in three years trusted Opposition leader Simon Busuttil more than they trusted the Prime Minister.

Joseph Muscat has stood by Mr Schembri and Dr Mizzi, seeing nothing wrong in them opening companies in the secretive jurisdiction of Panama.