The Labour Party yesterday accused the Prime Minister of an outright lie and issued a declaration signed by the party’s parliamentary group to deny a claim by Lawrence Gonzi.

However, in a press release issued last night the Office of the Prime Minister said Dr Gonzi stood by what he had said in the interview.

The MLP was referring to what Dr Gonzi told an interviewer in the last issue of The Sunday Times, claiming that there were members of the opposition who had emailed him to say that the budget of 15 October was good and addressed the country’s more serious needs.

The signed declaration accompanying the MLP statement denied any such email by any member of the opposition.

Dr Gonzi’s claim, the MLP said, was nothing but an outright lie. When he became Prime Minister four years ago, it added, Dr Gonzi promised to introduce a new style of politics but instead he was today behaving like his Nationalist predecessor, by lying even for electoral convenience.

His lies were nothing but a bid to deviate attention, the MLP said. And it was not the first time in recent weeks that Dr Gonzi had been caught denying the truth or, worse, resorting to lying.

The Prime Minister had said there was no VAT on education but in a booklet by the Education Division, the government instructed heads of school to ensure they had a VAT receipt for uniforms and books.

He had announced a national breast screening programme but experts said this was not possible because the country did not have the resources for it. Dr Gonzi had also said cargo costs had gone down by about 20 per cent after the port reforms but the Federation of Industry had found that costs had been cut by much less than 20 per cent.

The Prime Minister had also said the MLP had an “empty plan” but in the budget he ended copying 15 of the MLP’s proposals. He had also for months been declaring confidence in his ministers but said in the interview that if he were re-elected he would remove some of the ministers he had.

In last night’s press release, the OPM said Dr Gonzi would not reveal the identity of who had sent him the emails he referred to.

He said that the MLP should have been mature and responsible enough to confirm the allegations before issuing public statements.