Prime Minister Joseph Muscat wound up the Labour Party’s election campaign on Thursday with a message of unity and a pledge to deliver further on the achievements of recent years.

Speaking in Birgu, Dr Muscat highlighted the 55 per cent of his party’s 2017 electoral pledges that he said had already been achieved and the tangible benefits he said these had delivered.

He reiterated his characterisation of Saturday’s European Parliament and local council elections as a choice between himself and PN leader Adrian Delia, while stressing his full confidence in each of his party’s candidates.

At the same, Dr Muscat stressed the need to challenge racism and xenophobia, as he has in recent campaign appearances since the arrest and arraignment of the men alleged to have killed an Ivorian migrant.

“The challenge of our time is learning how to live alongside each other,” Dr Muscat said.

“In this country, whether you are Maltese or foreign, everyone has to follow the same laws, but the future is one of integration, not segregation. If anyone believes the language of hate can unite us, they are wrong.

“Our history is one of a people that always welcomed other peoples while demanding the right to determine its own fate. Now, we want to be sovereign in a united European Union.”

Through his speech, Dr Muscat highlighted measures he said had, in the six years since the Labour Party came to government, transformed the country from one “out of hope” to one that believed its children would be better off than the current generation.

He pointed to the reduction in taxes and measures such as the first-time buyers scheme and in-work benefits, which he said had all contributed to a two-thirds reduction in poverty since 2013.

He said the government had now started work on ensuring that the minimum wage would be sufficient to support a family, having already introduced a law to ensure automatic year-by-year increases.

“Our goal is for the minimum wage to only be there on paper, while every worker is earning more,” he said.

The next challenge, he added, would be ensuring an end to the “unacceptable” gender pay gap, while also promising to deliver on remaining electoral pledges - including the construction of a motorsports race track, removal of tax on overtime and additional days of leave.