Busuttil dubs Labour ‘spin-masters’, says 'nothing done' in energy sector

PN leader Simon Busuttil turned to the Nationalist voters in St Julian’s urging them to “stand up and be counted” and vote for the PN candidates in next Saturday’s local councils election.

Addressing a political activity in St Julian’s the PN leader – heavily criticised by his Labour opponent for “hiding from the press” – said his party was focusing its attention on localities “because, unlike the PL, it had a lot to offer”.

Kicking off his speech by criticising the Labour Party for harping on the government’s work instead of saying what Labour-led councils would do for their residents, Busuttil said PN-led councils will always work in favour of the community.

He went on to list the works carried out by the PN in St Julian’s and plans in the pipeline if the PN candidates are elected with a majority.

Arguing that the PN was starting off at a disadvantage – only eight localities out of the 26 in Malta contesting the elections are PN-led – Busuttil said residents should vote according to the councils that have delivered.

Accusing the PL of suffering from “collective amnesia”, the PN leader said the government was now pledging embellishment works at the Paola square, repeating a promise made four years ago but which never transpired.

“This government of collective amnesia, the deceit that has become synonymous with Labour, thinks the people are stupid and will believe anything. They are spin-masters, fooling people that they are doing something in the energy sector when in reality they have done nothing,” Busuttil said.

According to the Opposition leader, the government had implemented nothing in the energy sector: instead of inaugurating a new power plant it closed the Marsa power station; the BWSC plant which Labour had berated so much in the past had been sold for €320 million.

“This week the government will inaugurate the interconnector, a project possible thanks to the Nationalist administration. They will have Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi over … I doubt that they will tell him it was our project: Presidente del consilio, l’interconnector l’abbiamo fatto noi,” Busuttil quipped in Italian.

A claim which the PN media has been floating for several months now, the PN leader also declared that the Prime Minister was “preparing to get rid of Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella, and replace him with Manuel Mallia”.

The claim was immediately rubbished by the Labour Party, which described Busuttil’s comments as “another invention and a delusional act by a desperate person who has nothing to say”. Labour added that Busuttil should stop hiding from the media and come clean on what the Gozitan contractor-turned-whistleblower had told him.

Busuttil, like PN deputy leader Mario de Marco before him, mocked Mallia for calling himself “a soldier of steel” during a political activity in Haz-Zebbug.

He went on to add that the PN was working hard to regain the people’s trust, basing itself on honesty.