“As a newly elected team of parliamentarians, we need to be responsible and disciplined in what we say and write and how we express ourselves. Particularly on party radio stations.

“Where we will be mainly addressing and preaching to the converted. One might argue that Net TV and Radio 101 can be even cruder. But I still contend that the credibility factor is a test that we must win in the coming months.”

This is what Labour experienced MP Leo Brincat wrote in an article in this newspaper on 18 March, an article in which he exposed the main weaknesses in his own party in a bid to push it to take the necessary measures to become more credible in the eyes of the electorate.

He went on to call for a re-branding of the party he has been representing for many years, and which is passing through what must be one of the most difficult times in its history following a third consecutive election defeat.

He goes on to say that “Unless we show a sense of purpose and direction in reaching out through the choices that we make for the following we will become an ossified party, hardly even worthy of calling itself an opposition party:

a) the growing number of floating voters;

b) the disillusioned Nationalist voters who stopped short of voting Labour;

c) those who preferred to leave their vote uncollected rather than vote for us;

d) the first time voters whom I have argued all along that we failed to reach out for effectively enough.”

In a nutshell, Mr Brincat is saying that the party has failed to convince the people – other than the diehard Labour supporters – that it is a valid alternative to the incumbent Nationalists, and unless things change drastically, the MLP will continue to suffer the consequences of its wrong decisions and approach.

As is characteristic of a moderate politician, Mr Brincat does not mention any names and does not point fingers at anyone, preferring to make his genuine heart-felt plea in a general way. And although this might be interpreted as being an attempt to criticise the party while at the same time remaining on the fence, it must also be said that the MLP’s collective mistakes cost it much more than the individual errors that were committed.

Various MLP exponents are, in fact, now openly admitting that it was a mistake, for example, to re-elect Alfred Sant as leader after the 2003 election defeat – and that is perhaps the biggest collective mistake that was made.

The fact that, in spite of being in opposition for so long, the MLP was unable to come up with the right proposals at the right time is another collective error that was made. Added to this, the party was unable to make itself appealing to the four categories of voters that Mr Brincat referred to in his article.

Having said that, the MLP must now look ahead, and what Mr Brincat is proposing – he should have perhaps spoken in this way before the 8 March election but, again, it is understandable why he did not – should be taken into account by all MLP officials, especially those in the higher positions within the party.

Most of all, the MLP should learn how to use the media, particularly the independent media, in a way that would be of benefit to it, rather than seemingly being constantly at war with whoever dares to point out the party’s deficiencies.

Criticism that is levelled at the party should not be dismissed. On the contrary, such criticism should be taken more seriously as it would be coming from outside the party and is therefore likely to be more objective.