Labour Party leader, Alfred Sant, said that the government lead by Dr Gonzi should call for an immediate meeting with the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD) to discuss the high cost of living.

Dr Sant was speaking during the Plan for a New Beginning activity held at the Halland hotel at St Andrew’s yesterday.

Purchasing power problems, which Maltese and Gozitan families are facing, are not all due to the international increase in oil, cereal and milk prices. Thus, the international increase in these prices does not justify the increase of prices for the Maltese and the Gozitans, said Dr Sant.

Dr Sant said that a Labour party in government would not allow such abusive forces and monopolies to dominate the consumers and families’ interests.

He said that according to the price index common for all European Union countries, food prices in the EU have increased by 3.9 per cent between October 2006 and October 2007. However, in Malta these prices have increased by almost double, 6.6 per cent.

The price of clothes and shoes increased by 1.1 per cent in all of the EU countries, while in Malta this increased by 7.8 per cent, almost seven times more, said Dr Sant.

Even in the health sector, Dr Sant said, EU prices increased by 1.4 per cent while in Malta these have increased by 2.5 per cent. The government is bragging that it had made an arrangement with business owners that until March the prices of a number of imported goods would not increase, said Dr Sant. However, he said, the Chamber of Commerce was not even notified about this secret arrangement and despite a number of requests, this arrangement has not been placed on the table of the chamber representatives yet.

Dr Sant said that the agreement includes certain conditions which stipulate that given certain circumstances, some prices can shift, and this can lead to an explosion of prices after March.

During the months of September and October, prices continued to rise. In September, food prices increased by 6.7 per cent while in October they increased by 6.6 per cent. Prices of clothes rose by 4.3 per cent in September and 7.8 per cent in October, while prices in relation to education increased by 4.1 per cent in September and six per cent in October, he said.

Dr Sant claimed that the government is not interested in protecting consumer interests and mentioned that a week ago in Birkirkara the government organised the euro village, where a soft drink usually sold for 35 cents was being sold for one euro and a hot dog with chips normally sold for Lm1 was being sold for three euros.

The Labour party expects that after the next general election, the agreement on price-freeze would be extended for at least another two months, so that a new Labour government would implement the necessary measures to fully protect consumers’ interests.

Dr Sant said that in the first week, a Labour party in government, would cut down surcharge of electricity and water by half as such a measure would only lead families to have more purchasing power and cash in hand.

The Labour government would also eliminate income tax on overtime as this would not only enable families to have more cash but to offer a further incentive for more work.

However, in a statement replying to Dr Sant, the Department of Information said that Malta and Holland had the lowest annual inflation rates in October 2007. This was 1.6 per cent where the Eurozone average was 2.6 per cent.

The Malta Labour Party’s regional development plan for the Grand Harbour zone will not only improve the quality of life but bring more employment for the whole country. This development plan will help Malta come out of its stagnation brought about by the PN government, said Dr Sant.

He also said the Labour party was setting up an authority that will guide the concrete measures offered by the Labour party for the regional development plan. The Labour party will present the Grand Harbour plan to all the stakeholders involved at a meeting at the Mediterranean conference centre on Saturday.

Dr Sant also referred to PBS, and said that apart from its clear biased intentions against the MLP, the national broadcasting station also had another strategy which involved allocating huge sums of money for certain programmes.

The Opposition Leader said that the Manuel Dimech bridge project smelled of corruption as the project should have been completed by last September and there now seems to be a clash regarding the completion of the project’s second phase as some are saying it will be finished in March and others in May.

The auditing of the project has been left to a particular company of architects, led by architect Robert Sant who has another architect firm with Urban Roads and Development Minister, Jesmond Mugliett, which employs the same people and has the same company resources. This company was assigned the work of the Manuel Dimech Bridge, he said.

During a press visit, the company’s architects and architect Sant himself never turned up and since the time and expenditure of the project are being extended, Robert Sant’s company’s income will also rise, Dr Sant said.

The government has been recently saying that while the work was being carried out, very hard concrete was found; when until a few months ago the government was saying that this bridge was falling to bits. The government is also saying that this bridge will be built to last another 100 years, Dr Sant said.

The PN government is deceiving the Maltese and Gozitan people and a change is needed, which will be brought about by a Labour party in government, he emphasised.

The Ministry for Roads and Urban Development issued a statement in reply to Dr Sant and said that after 83 days that the government invited Dr Sant to a meeting where he would be informed on everything related to the Manuel Dimech Bridge, yet Dr Sant still has not accepted.

The statement said that in the tender the estimate of the work on the bridge amounted to about Lm1.9 million. The only variations accepted by the supervisor after this estimate reached about Lm18,000.

However, the actual value of this project is less than that of Lm2 million, and the Transport Authority will not reach any compromise regards the completion of this project.

The statement also said that Minister Mugliett denied Dr Sant’s insinuations and challenged him to prove his allegations, while he reserved the right to take legal action against him.

Dr Sant referred to the contest for the Commonwealth secretary-general post, which took place last Saturday in Uganda where the Maltese government nominated Foreign Minister Michael Frendo.

Dr Sant said that even the MLP supporting the candidacy as Dr Frendo had all the right credentials, even when at times the Labour party had to criticise his political behaviour.

Unfortunately, Dr Sant said, the election did not go as planned as Dr Frendo lost the post. The Labour party feels obliged to ask the prime minister to be accountable and explain the reason why the decision to nominate a Maltese candidate was taken, and the basis on which Malta pushed forth such a candidacy. This candidacy distracted the government from Euro-related work and other diplomatic matters, he said.

Dr Sant said that Dr Gonzi is a serial loser as he has now lost another election aside from the European parliament and the local council elections.

Dr Sant congratulated the Australian Labour leader, Kevin Rudd for his triumph in Australia yesterday, after 11 years of conservative leadership in Australia.

Dr Sant had met Kevin Rudd in a meeting in Sydney in 2005, where he had explained his vision and emphasised the need to prioritise education, social protection, the environment, health and transparent leadership.

Meanwhile, the government, through a DOI statement said it strongly condemned Dr Sant’s biased comments which attempted to ridicule the Maltese candidacy of the post of Commonwealth secretary general. Even Commonwealth secretary general Don McKinnon remarked that Dr Frendo’s “country’s positive profile globally has been raised hugely”.