The Malta Labour Party has embarked on a consultation exercise by receiving emails on the issues of rent reform, local councils and utility bills, but has remained mum on other issues of importance, such as the privatisation of the shipyards, said the PN in a statement yesterday.

In a statement, assistant secretary general Jean Pierre Debono said that government had put this issue, and other important ones, as priorities in its general election proposals.

The White Paper on rent reform, he said, proposes detailed measures that will find a balance between all concerned. Many have taken a position on the issue, he said, but not the MLP.

The government also convened a meeting for local councilors, which the relevant opposition spokesman was invited to, but did not attend, he said.

Oil prices, he said, are double what they were last year and eleven times as high as when current labour leader Joseph Muscat was in agreement with former leader Alfred Sant in the massive water and electricity hikes in 1998. The PN questioned whether the MLP stood by its electoral promise to halve the surcharge. If the opposition is serious, said Mr Debono, it should show vision, direction and a clear position on issues and not just simply sit and watch from the public gallery.