Malta Labour Party leadership contestant George Abela yesterday apologised for “the unjust way the Malta Labour Party insulted university students during the electoral campaign”.

Speaking in Gozo, Dr Abela said he felt close to university students as he marks exams and theses at university, and until a few months ago he was a student himself as he finished a course which he followed to keep himself updated with progress. He spoke highly of lifelong learning and proposed that the University of Malta’s Gozo centre should be expanded in order to provide full-time courses.

Dr Abela said if elected leader, he would see that a party regional conference would be held in Gozo, which would bring together all party structures on the island and periodically update the MLP policies with regard to Gozo. The party’s previous policy regarding Gozo had all the stakeholders’ approval, he said.

The former MLP deputy leader said the party’s future lies in changes that would help it obtain credibility which would encourage people to choose Labour in the next general election.

He said it was useless to be negative about everything the government does. Similarly, said Dr Abela, not everything was rosy as the Nationalist Party promised to cut taxes in order to increase disposable income in the face of oncoming increase in the price of fuels and cereals. Yet it failed to prepare for inflation, he said, thus showing that there was a great difference between what the PN promised and what it will do in the future. Dr Abela denounced irresponsible electoral promises and said that their time was over.

The leadership hopeful said the MLP will never win an election by default and must strive to change itself and was critical of the decision to publish the MLP electoral defeat report after the leadership contest was over.