The questions which the Labour Party’s foreign affairs and information technology spokesman had asked about a computers tender had shown that the Labour Party was a party of slogans which were empty and had no substance, the investment ministry said.

It was referring to questions Leo Brincat made about the computers leasing tender and said that the questions unmasked the Labour Party. The ministry said that the Labour Party was against having thousands of families which could not afford a computer being given the opportunity to acquire computers at a cheap price.

The Labour Party was against having five Community Technology Learning Centres equipped with specialised technologies so that vision-impaired people could use them, it was against having all primary and secondary school students having their lessons on new computers with the latest software, it was against government employees starting to use the latest technologies in their work, against the government being able to purchase its computers in the most effective manner at the least possible total cost of ownership, and against the government working full tilt in this sector from today to the date of the next general election, the ministry added.

The ministry said that in this context, it was Mr Brincat who was being politically opportunist by not saying anything of substance but posing questions which were supposed to raise serious doubts in those reading them. If Mr Brincat had any serious doubts, the ministry said, he should lay them out.

The Labour Party remained hostile to information technology and confirmed that the so-called vision statement was just political farce aimed to fill the void on the shelves of its outdated policy.

The Labour Party, the ministry added, had shown it was prepared to ignore the national interest for the sake of winning a few votes.