The biggest mistake a politician in government can make is detach himself from the electorate that has elected him and prefers to update himself on how people are living by consulting the statistics put in front of him. My frequent visits to normal people’s homes highlight how so many of our families are struggling to make ends meet.

If we were just to rely on what inflation statistics tell us, we would not believe that an increasing number of people have to work so much harder simply to survive or maintain the standard of living they took for granted up to a few years ago. The model used to measure the cost of living may be scientifically correct and in conformity with the parameters set by the economics bureaucrats in Brussels. However, it does not necessarily capture the impact that rising prices have on, for example, a single parent family in Qormi, or a couple in Mosta who have to pay a significant part of their income to educate their two children in private schools.

One would be wrong in thinking that the pressure of rising prices is only hitting those who are already destitute. Increasingly the phenomenon is affecting the quality of life of a rising number of pensioners who have to cope with the spiralling prices of medicine. The Gonzi administration has often told us that it has resolved the problem of high medicine prices, but this shows just how detached they have become from reality.

Another sector that has been badly affected by rising prices is that of young couples seeking to get on the property ladder for the first time. The price of property has increased so much that many young people are postponing their marriage until such time when they can afford to raise a deposit on a new apartment. Not everyone has the privilege of having his/her parents’ assistance to raise the much-needed funds for such an important first investment in one’s future.

Embracing a market economy is all well and good, but it does not absolve the government from the need of being vigilant to ensure that the cost of living pressures are eased, especially on those who are more vulnerable. But the reality we are facing today is that we have a moribund administration fumbling its way from one crisis to the other without any sense of direction. We have a government who can no longer distinguish what the real priorities are which our people want it to address.

A new Labour government will give a new sense of direction to this country. One of our first executive decisions when in power will be to reduce the water and electricity surcharge by 50 per cent, to give our long suffering families a chance to recover from the pressures of the oppressive cost of living. A fairer distribution of taxes will be at the root of our future policies, which will be aimed at ensuring that our families, whichever form they take, can look at the future with more optimism.

We will also adopt a two-pronged approach to improve educational standards and stimulate the economy that is stagnant in many sectors. Achieving a better quality of education for our children will ensure that they will be more employable when opportunities from new investment arise. We will measure our success in education not by how much we spend, but by the levels of achievement each of our students reaches after going through our educational system.

With my colleagues in a future Labour government I will ensure that our trust in economic issues includes more initiatives in new areas of productive activity than is the case at present. But economic priorities will be matched with an equally strong commitment to social issues. We will address the bread and butter issues that are the main concerns of our families like the spiralling of costs that affect the day-to-day life of so many people.

Our families deserve much better than what they are getting at present. That is why they will be voting in a new team to improve their lives by getting things done.

Dr Mangion is deputy leader of the Opposition.

[email protected]

www.mangioncharles.com