Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi killed two birds with one stone when he replied to Opposition Leader Alfred Sant’s speech in Parliament last Wednesday.

On the one hand, he took care to explain the measures that the government announced when it presented the budget for 2008 last week and, on the other hand, he dismantled Dr Sant’s proposals one by one, saying that if they were to be introduced they would cripple the country.

Dr Gonzi is right to say that the list of proposals submitted by Dr Sant were just a series of thoughts drawn up without too much consideration of the effects they would have on the country’s finances. These ideas came up “in a panic” in a bid to counter what the government proposed in the budget.

It has been said, over and over again, that the

budget measures caught Labour off guard. The MLP was expecting a pre-election budget, but it was not expecting so much. It’s slogan “too little, too late” was drafted long before the presentation of the budget, and it is certainly not the best way to describe it.

And, as Dr Gonzi said, the MLP did not have

the courage to change a position it had already decided upon. Added to this, the MLP has also wrongly stated that the “too little, too late” tag is one that is shared by one and all, when it is known that all constituted bodies were quite happy with the measures announced.

The Prime Minister also asked whether Labour supporters feel that the budget is “too little, too late” when they will be getting a wage increase that is higher than the one established by the COLA mechanism, increased children’s allowance, improved pensions and better income through the revision of the tax bands.

The thrust of Dr Gonzi’s speech last Wednesday was that what the government has proposed will improve the quality of life for all sectors of society because they will have more money to spend while not impinging on national interests, whereas in their haste to come up with a counter-attack, the MLP did not realise that its proposals, if implemented, would negatively affect the people on an individual basis and the country too.

One example Dr Gonzi brought up is Dr Sant’s proposal to put the children’s allowance system back to where it was in 1995. In actual terms, and taking into consideration the benefits through the revision of the tax bands, Labour’s proposal would mean that families would stand to lose if this was to take place.

The Prime Minister repeatedly made reference to the lack of confidence that the MLP, and in particular Dr Sant, have in the Maltese people, and the “mistaken suggestions” that were made over the years by the MLP leader, such as the proposal to devalue the Maltese lira and that Malta should remain out of the European Union.

When Dr Gonzi and Dr Sant were involved in a debate on television on 1 October, it was Dr Sant who had scored a few points. Dr Sant was more at ease in the one-to-one confrontation, and in that particular occasion was more convincing.

But matters have changed rapidly since then. The budget has given Dr Gonzi the upper hand, and Dr Sant’s reaction to it shows that the MLP has its back to the wall. The fact that Dr Sant has not taken part in television debates with Dr Gonzi and has on at least two occasions decided not to answer questions during what should have been press conferences is an indication that the MLP does not feel at all confident.

Such an attitude will not help the MLP.