Over the past two weeks, since its annual general conference, it has held activities on a daily basis, doubtless aimed at keeping the momentum going ahead of its protest demonstration scheduled for 30 January.

No doubt, with a government seemingly in difficulty in a number of sectors, the MLP is trying to score as many points as possible. The eco-contribution on plastics bags and IT equipment, the Marsascala waste recycling plant, the increase in the price of bread, bus tickets and kerosene, the surcharge on water and electricity and the public holidays issue have put the government against the ropes.

These matters follow the Mater Dei Hospital debate and the purchase of Dar Malta in Brussels, and help to give the opposition the edge when it comes to popularity. If a survey was to be held today, the majority would say it would be voting Labour at the next election or wouldn’t vote at all.

The Labour Party obviously wants to capitalise on the government’s apparent hard times. And, indeed, it is doing so. The protest demonstration it will hold on Sunday will be a strong show by a party which knows that this is the right time to win over votes from the opposing camp.

But then, the general election is still three years away, and many things can happen in the meantime. The first two years of a legislature are always used by the

government to implement measures that are deemed to be harsh, but then the following three years are used to either mitigate them or else introduce others that make up, in part or in full, for the actions taken previously.

The fact that Labour won the last local council elections and obtained three of the five seats in the European Parliament does not mean that, in a general election, the people would be prepared to give the MLP a mandate to govern.

The Labour Party should therefore use the next three years not only to criticise the Nationalist government for its mistakes, misdoings and mismanagement – something that an opposition must do – but also to show that it is a valid alternative government.

The Labour Party must gain in credibility if it wants to attract more people to its fold. And it must therefore be careful not to commit its own errors, like the one it committed when leader Alfred Sant said that if Labour were in government it would devalue the Maltese lira.

That was a wrong move by Dr Sant, and this is seen from the fact that the Nationalist government gained a lot of political advantage on the matter. For example, the Prime Minister brought up the matter again last Sunday week by asking the unions to give an opinion about Dr Sant’s suggestion.

In a way, the proposal put forward by Dr Sant was the straw that the Nationalist government could clutch at a time when the currents were all against it. The Nationalist media continue to hound Dr Sant on the

subject in order to divert public attention from other, more important matters.

This is why the Labour Party must be extremely careful what it says and what it does. Right now, the MLP is more popular with the people. But will the people be ready to give the Labour Party another chance, considering that the 22-month stint in government during 1996 and 1998 was an unhappy adventure?

In the next three years, Labour must show that it is not only an opposition that is ready to pounce on any government mistake or unpopular decision. It must also convince the people that with Labour in government, the country will move forward and that it is in a better position to resolve the problems the country is facing now… and in the future.