The Malta Labour Party has been working hard on a comprehensive plan to give the country the breath of fresh air it badly needs and will be putting this plan into action following the next general election, Labour Leader Alfred Sant said yesterday.

Speaking to party supporters at the Worker’s Day celebration in Freedom Square, Valletta, yesterday evening, Dr Sant said that the government had fooled the Maltese people by promising them a wide range of things that had never come to fruition.

Dr Sant said the Malta Labour Party is there and will be there to protect these people and send out a clear message that the Maltese will not be fooled any longer. He said Malta desperately needs a breath of fresh air, a new government with new leadership and new ways of doing things. He said Maltese families need a party in government that knows what they are feeling and responds to those needs.

Dr Sant said the result of local council elections in the last four years had been clear indications that people in Malta are fed up with the Nationalist Party-led government. The MLP, he said, will continue working on its plans, offering alternative solutions to the country’s problems.

“As soon as we are in government following the next general election, we will put into practice all that we have planned. Moreover, we will continue working in the best interest of the country and its people, giving Malta the new beginning it deserves,” he said to the cheering crowd.

He said the party’s plans will offer new opportunities for the people of Malta that will enable them to widen their horizons.

Malta, Dr Sant said, needs a new Labour government to concentrate on solving its problems while at the same time alleviating the burden being carried by Maltese workers and their families.

Dr Sant said the government had spent millions of liri on capital projects for which it had paid double or triple what they should have cost. At the same time, the government had increased taxes by more than Lm60 million.

He also mentioned the fuel surcharge and how this should be halved as from now “because this is what people want”.

He said the MLP has plans for various sectors including youth, tourism, Gozo, information and communication technology, the financial services sector, industry and the working conditions of Maltese workers, among others. On the health sector and the MLP’s plans, Dr Sant promised that the health service will be good and efficient and will continue to remain free of charge for everyone.

In his concluding remarks, Dr Sant once against promised that, once in government, the Labour Party will see to all the injustices that people have suffered over the years.

In the run-up to Worker’s Day, he said, the MLP leadership had toured various workplaces and met people from all walks of life while they were at work. He said the leadership was planning to continue these meetings because the party did not want to distance itself from what the people are really feeling.

Meanwhile, MLP’s celebration to mark Worker’s Day continued with a live concert by various musicians and bands, before renowned Italian singer Toto Cutugno, with his new clean-shaven look, entertained the crowd with his repertoire.

Among those who participated in yesterday’s event were Scar, Winter Moods, Olivia Lewis, Ira Losco, Italian singer and writer Alessandro Canino, Katrina, formerly known as Katrina and the Waves. Dr Alex Tamburini livened up the evening with commercial music.