The Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise has referred to the statement by MLP spokesman on foreign affairs and information technology Leo Brincat, which it described as harmful.

Mr Brincat had said that a Labour government, after the next general election, would review all aspects of the public tender for computers for the public service and government schools.

The chamber said that whenever there were public calls for tenders such as this one, business people took risks and made estimates on the conditions known and established by the authorities at the time and not on any conditions that may yet be changed in future.

Such utterances were harmful because they created unnecessary doubts, leading to such a crucial sector as that of information technology becoming the subject of political dispute, the chamber said. Promises that tenders would be reviewed would never have a positive effect, and would only lead to uncertainty within the business community.