‘Labourites losing heart in Muscat’ – Busuttil

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil claimed that traditional Labour Party voters, particularly those hailing from the south of Malta, have started to turn away from Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

“Labour voters in the south are feeling as though Muscat has discarded them after having used them for their votes,” Busuttil said on Reporter, referring to the government’s “secret” €2 million acquisition of a property in Shanghai, their  €4.2 million ‘bailout’ for the owners of Café Premier, and the Prime Minister’s visits to Azerbaijan.

Busuttil praised the recent local council elections that saw the PL win by 54% of the total votes, but the PN close the gap by 10 percentage points when compared with the 2012 round of local council elections.

“This is a clear result from half the population, the majority of whom were Labour-leaning,” Busuttil said. “We managed to cut the gap by half, a result that has filled us with the energy we need to try and win the other half before the next general elections.”

When asked to comment on Muscat’s claims that some PN voters voted for PL councilors and that other PL voters stayed at home, Busuttil accused the Prime Minister of “insulting people’s intelligence”.

“I focus on facts, but Muscat portrays things as he wants them to be seen, and this is starting to annoy Labourites too,” he said, adding that a number of PL-voters disagreed with the way Muscat had “personally attacked” Busuttil throughout Labour’s local council campaign.

He also claimed that Gozitan Labourite officials are feeling betrayed that the government has brought in people from Malta to take over high position jobs, rather than hire them.

He critcised the government for having failed to justly distribute the wealth it has earned.

“The PN was and will remain pro-business, but I’m not only interested in creating wealth but in sharing that wealth justly,” Busuttil said. “That is where Muscat is economically failing, particularly with Labourites.”

He added that Muscat has not lived up to his pre-electoral promises to end precarious employment and to have no patients waiting in the corridors at Mater Dei Hospital.

“The average salary had increased by €500 per year in the last five years under a PN administration, whereas it has only increased by €187 per year in the two years under Muscat’s leadership,” Busuttil said. “Why have the people at the bottom remained at the bottom under a Labour government?”

Busuttil continues to defend ex-minister Giovanna Debono

The Opposition leader defended Nationalist MP and ex-Gozo minister Giovanna Debono, who is facing allegations that her ministry had paid for private construction works in exchange for votes.

“Debono has categorically denied these allegations,” Busuttil said. “She has spent her life working for the PN and I won’t kick her out just because Muscat spoke about it in some Labour band club. I will act depending on the results of a police investigation and on whether people end up charged in court in relation to the case.”

Busuttil insisted that Debono’s denial was what differed her from Michael Falzon and Ninu Zammit, two ex-Nationalist ministers who Busuttil had suspended from the party after they were revealed to have held secret bank accounts in HSBC’s branch in Geneva.

“Falzon and Zammit admitted themselves to having held Swiss bank accounts while they were ministers,” Busuttil said. “They evaded taxes while occupying ministerial roles and indeed Falzon had suspended himself from the PN over it.”

With regards former minister Austin Gatt, who had held money in a Swiss USB bank account, Busuttil said that the case had already been revealed when the Nationalists were in government.

“Also, we know that Gatt had inherited that money from his father, whereas we are still in the dark about where Falzon and Zammit had earned their money from,” Busuttil added.

‘Spring hunting vote made me unpopular amongst Nationalists’

Busuttil admitted that his decision to vote in favour of the retention of Malta’s spring hunting derogation in a recent referendum had made him unpopular amongst Nationalists.

“The majority of Nationalists disagree with spring hunting but I still chose to stick to my word and take a tough decision, even though it didn’t make me look good,” Busuttil said. “The fact is that hunters were part of the majority that we had needed on our side in order to enter the EU, and I was personally involved in the EU negotiations to bring the derogation.”

Programme host Saviour Balzan questioned Busuttil why he couldn’t have changed his stance over spring hunting, arguing that he has already changed his stance regarding LGBT issues.   

“I attached my face to the negotiations, meaning that I am personally attached to it,” he responded, adding that he himself had helped the PN become more open on LGBT issues.

Busuttil described Muscat’s earlier decision to close the spring hunting season as “inevitable”.

“A bird falling into a schoolyard and panicking the children was too much,” Busuttil said. “People who voted in favour of spring hunting didn’t vote for illegalities.”