From Mr R. Buttigieg
Election time is definitely round the corner. It is a most interesting time to evaluate proposals set out by our two main political parties. I always wonder why we have to wait five years to get our parties thinking creatively. It looks like their creative juice is kept for five years in deep freeze. Well that’s another story!
One of the most controversial proposals currently doing the rounds is that of Labour’s pledge to cut the electricity surcharge by half. Such a proposal will go down well with the electorate. This reminds us of previous prior election gimmicks, such as the 1996 promise to remove VAT. We all know the story.
The problem with this pledge is that it exposes the Labour Party and its leadership to accusations that the national interest comes a distant second to their greed for power.
Firstly, it is irresponsible to make such a pledge when nobody knows what the price of oil will be in the next three to six months. It all shows that this is an uncalculated proposal, cooked up in the Mile End glasshouse to make Labour look apetitissimo (appetising) without telling us what indigestion this measure will bring to our fiscal stability.
Secondly, there is the economic argument that such a proposal creates economic waste and discourages households from economising on the use of energy. This has to do with the concept of demand and supply and the distortion in the market brought about by price subsidisation policies. This pledge, if followed through, would also discourage consumers from shifting to energy saving devices. It is amazing how a fifth form student reading basic economics at school would tell you this and how our Harvard trained economist Leader of the Opposition fails to see this. It does similarly astonish how our so-called Green Party has not taken this proposal to task. Who knows, maybe a few hundred votes seem more valuable to this irrelevant party than its Green policies.
One just hopes that the floating voter sees the true agenda behind such popular vote catching propositions.
Ray Buttigieg
BIRKIRKARA