Majority of readers back Labour’s unwillingness to unveil policies

Just over half of the 2184 respondents to an online poll on MaltaToday.com.mt agree with Labour's strategy to abstain from revealing its major policies and proposals.

51% of the respondents agreed that this is a reasonable electoral strategy and it is only a question of time before the party unveils its plans.

Since Joseph Muscat took the helm of the party in 2008, Labour has come under harsh criticism from the Nationalist Party and the media for its reluctance to make its proposals public.

In some instances the party chose not to take an official stand on controversial issues such as divorce and gay marriage and instead rested on Joseph Muscat's personal position.

As of 1pm on Saturday, 1124 respondents backed this strategy while 31% expressed their disagreement and said that Labour has only offered rhetoric and empty pledges.

Labour maintains that it will only reveal its policies when elections are announced. Muscat and other party exponents have gone on record saying that the policies will be announced when the time is right.

In recent weeks, Labour has targeted the youth vote and has come up with the 'youth guarantee' proposal which is a pan-European campaign proposed by the Party of European Socialists.

 However, Muscat ended up defending this proposal that puts all school-leavers into education or training and employment, after Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi on Sunday accused him of being "unoriginal" by "copying" a policy plank of the Party of European Socialists.

In an interview with MaltaToday in April, Muscat said "Our proposals may appear vague, to people who have an interest in not understanding them. But better a vague proposal than a fake one. The difference between us and the PN is that we don't make false pledges. Like the promise to widen the tax bands before the last election, which was clearly fake..."

3% of respondents said the only policy voters must know now is how Labour intends to make utility tariffs cheaper, which is one of Muscat's main proposals revealed so far.

While insisting that his party has clear plans to slash the tariffs based on technical preparations, the Labour leader has said that the fine points of this plan will be revealed at a later stage.

261 respondents or 12% said they do not care about policies as they have already decided for who they will vote.