People were being told their concerns were simply "problems of success", Opposition leader Adrian Delia said.

Speaking during a meeting of the Nationalist Party general council, Dr Delia said Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was laughing at the people's problems and boasting of a surplus.

The government was not acknowledging that it did not have a long-term plan, the Opposition leader added.

The Nationalist party, on the other hand, did not see people as a problem, but as a resource.

Referring to reports that an influx of students led schools to resort to mobile classrooms, Dr Delia said children having lessons in containers were being told this was the result of success, he added.

Read: Mobile classrooms under consideration for some overcrowded state schools

He also hit out at comments by Education Minister Evarist Bartolo who joked that all schools in Malta would be shut down and children and teachers would be sent to have classes in containers at the Freeport. 

"He is making fun of those who are saying our children deserve better," Dr Delia said.

Turkish workers in containers

Dr Delia said that Turkish workers were being made to live in containers while they worked on construction project. Times of Malta reported earlier this week how hundreds of Turkish construction workers flown to Malta had been moved to a quarry in Mqabba.

These people were living in "worse than precarious" conditions, the Opposition leader said.

He also echoed alarms raised that Malta's dwindling reputation in the financial sector was affecting banks.

HSBC CEO Andrew Beane warned earlier this week that damage to Malta's reputation was affecting the bank negatively. The bank reported that its profit had slid by 23%.