The Labour Party spokesman on social protection, Karl Chircop, yesterday claimed that the Nationalist Party was in a panic.

On the eve of the general election, he said, the government has decided that those who will be qualifying for the children’s allowance for the first time – which means those who earn more than e23,920 (Lm10,270) – will be getting “the whole of the children’s allowance in one go”, so that they would receive the allowance before the elections.

This was a very partisan way of administering social benefits, where one was classified according to income. What this meant, Dr Chircop said, was that those who had the least income would continue to receive the allowance in four payments during the year. Those who earned a high salary are receiving the “whole payment” at the beginning of the year, and before the elections.

The Nationalist government of Lawrence Gonzi was blatantly using social benefits as an electoral bait. At the same time, the government was treating those who earned less in a discriminatory manner, by denying them the whole benefit.