A united PN that spoke with conviction could send a strong message to the “arrogant and corrupt government”, Opposition leader Adrian Delia said on Sunday.

Speaking during a political meeting in Siggiewi, Dr Delia said the next six weeks leading up to the European Parliament elections would be crucial.

He said the PN had to once again rise to the occasion by showing it was the party that truly cared for the country.

Dr Delia’s leadership has been blighted by a reported split within the party.

The Opposition leader on Sunday urged supporters to get out and vote, insisting it was useless just pointing fingers from home.

“Those staying home are certifying corruption. It would be a thank you to Labour, and a thank you to Konrad Mizzi”, Dr Delia said of those considering not voting during the elections.

A poll by the Sunday Times of Malta last week showed Labour is enjoying a 22-point lead over the PN. Asked which party they intended to vote for in next month’s European Parliament elections, 59 per cent of respondents said they would vote for the Labour Party compared to 37 per cent for the Nationalist Party.

During his speech, Dr Delia accused the government of pretending to be pro-business.

He said in reality, Labour only favoured certain big businesses.

The Opposition leader said that during the past weeks he had met a large number of small business owners, who were facing daily struggles just to make a living.

“The government does not care about these people”, he said.

Latching on to a report by the Times of Malta about how the Contracts Department changed a key tax arrears clause in a €12 million cleaning tender,https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20190412/local/crucial-tax-clause-removed-from-st-vincent-de-paul-12-million-cleaning.707100 Dr Delia said all companies should be able to compete on a level playing field.

He also hit out at Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi for “deceiving” people into thinking that Air Malta had suddenly registered a profit.

Dr Delia said the airline had in fact juggled around its debt and employees and a few days after declaring a profit, it was discovered that Air Malta had €15 million in unpaid fuel bills.

The Opposition leader said people were now seeing through Dr Mizzi, who was the same person who tried to say the Vitals and Electrogas deals were good ones.