The government was not addressing the problem of materialistic poverty, which was on the increase in both Malta and Gozo, said opposition MP Marie-Louise Coleiro-Preca yesterday.

Mrs Coleiro-Preca made her comments at a news conference to analyse the findings of a report entitled Survey on Income and Living Conditions.

She said the report established that some 60,000 Maltese and Gozitan people lived in poverty. These, she said, included elderly people, children, the unemployed and single-parent families.

A worrying factor, said Mrs Colerio-Preca, was that the percentage of children living in poverty had risen to 22 per cent from 20 per cent five years ago. She also said that if endemic poverty was not dealt with, it would carry on into the next generation.

Forty-eight per cent of single parent families and half the unemployed lived in poverty. She also said that the perception the government was trying to create, that people on social benefits were committing fraud, was propaganda to try and cover up the fact that the government was planning to reduce social benefits.

Mrs Coleiro-Preca said the PN government had done nothing to address the problem of poverty and that people who were supposed to be exempt from paying the water and electricity surcharge would now soon have to pay some of it.

She also pointed out that there was a substantial number of people who were awaiting ultrasound tests, with many opting to have these done privately, due to the waiting time.

The MLP, she said, was proposing to cut the water and electricity surcharge by some 50 per cent, draft a holistic plan for children, cut inflation for the elderly, pay more attention to single parent families and the unemployed and strengthen the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development. Opposition whip Joe Mizzi was also present.