Muscat aims to ‘reverse trend’ and win local council elections

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that he intends to reverse the trend whereby local council elections are won by the party in opposition.

“Mid-term elections are the hardest elections for all governments in the world, but we must keep on working hard despite the uphill road ahead of us,” Muscat told a political activity in Gozo ahead of tomorrow’s launch of the local council election campaigns. 

“After two years, governments usually start introducing taxes, stamp duty, and electricity bills,” Muscat said. “Instead, we’ve improved the economy, increased female workplace participation, reduced taxes, reduced electricity bills, reduced fuel prices eight times, and created 832 new jobs in Gozo.

“Many people doubted that the Labour Party could win the Gozitans’ vote in the last election but we managed to do so, and I ask you now to show the same level of faith in us again,” the Prime Minister told a cheering crowd.

He highlighted how ‘By the Sea’, a film featuring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, boosted Gozitan tourism when it was filmed in Gozo last year.

“For Gozitan hotels that usually close their doors in the winter months, last winter was one of the best winters they can remember,” Muscat said, adding that he plans to invest further in Gozo so that it will no longer live off Malta’s excesses.

Ahead of Women’s Day tomorrow, Muscat focused a chunk of his speech on his plans to further increase female workplace participation.

“The government’s free childcare scheme has made a huge difference to many mothers’ lives, saving some mothers €6000 a year in private childcare,” he said. “Thanks to the Klabb 3-16 scheme, children who finish school before their parents finish work are benefitting from free, professional homework help.” 

He said that, for some reason, a lot of women who were born in the early 1950s haven’t paid enough stamp duty to receive a pension.

“We’re going to allow these people to pay off their required stamp duty and receive a pension,” he said.

However, he warned that many elderly people aren’t coping with their pensions, with some only earning as little as €500 a month.

“The two-thirds pension system created in the 50s is clearly no longer working and we need to find alternatives,” he said. “When I was younger, elderly people used to be able to help their children and grandchildren with their pensions alone. Now, their children find themselves having to help them instead.”