The thousands of people who, last Saturday morning, queued up for hours outside the Labour Party headquarters to give in their name for legal action to be taken against the government have given the party, in the words of PL leader Joseph Muscat, a “moral and political victory”.

It must be admitted that the turnout for Labour’s call was overwhelming, as people from all walks of life gathered in Hamrun to try to earn back the money they claim was paid wrongly as VAT on registration tax on vehicles bought since 1 May 2004.

The support shown to Labour’s cause in a way nullifies Alternattiva Demokratika’s argument, made a day earlier, that they had convinced only 14 people to submit their names to a similar law suit because people were afraid of acting against the government. Such a hint was literally out of place, and became more so when so many then turned up to give their name to Labour. If anything, it goes to prove that small political parties have little effect on the people, and it would have perhaps been better for AD to express their support to Labour without going it alone.

Irrespective of whether the court cases will be won – there are others who have chosen not to join the PL and AD but have resorted to take legal action against the government privately – the fact that so many people chose to give it a try means that they do not take the government’s words for granted.

The government has so far insisted that it is in the right, that it has legal advice showing that the VAT on the registration tax is justified. But now the matter will be in the hands of the court, and Labour has already said that it is prepared to take the matter before the European Courts if the local justice system does not support the claims being made by thousands of Maltese.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has also said that the rights of the citizens will be honoured to the last cent if the courts deem that they should. Yet, so far, the government believes that it is in the right, and will not take action until the matter is decided in court.

This might take a few months, but in the meantime the government knows that it has already suffered a defeat. In fact, while on the one hand Dr Gonzi has already claimed that the people will be refunded if and when the courts will decide in their favour, on the other hand the Nationalist Party is trying its best to deviate the people’s minds from the subject.

In statements it has issued over the weekend it made little reference to the issue, if any, and instead preferred to attack the Labour Party on other matters, such as on property that the Labour Party is occupying without having the right to do so. The PN has in fact challenged the Labour Party to say, before Saturday, whether it intends to give back property it had taken over and used as political clubs.

The PN’s defeat is compounded by the fact that people who are or have been closely associated with the Nationalist Party have also publicly stated their support to Labour’s cause, going as far as saying that the government should give the money back.

What is being given little attention is the fact that ultimately – whether the courts decide against the government or whether the money is given back anyway when the PL is elected to government, as PL leader Joseph Muscat pledged on Sunday – the money that will be refunded will have to come from taxes. The e50 million that will have to be reimbursed will have to come from somewhere.