Your editorial column of 15 June, under the heading ‘Spin begets spin’ was, in my view, grossly unfair on those Labour MPs who, besides their honoraria as MPs, also receive a salary for their employment with the government.

You wrongly equated the two “salaries” they receive with the two “salaries” which the prime minister, ministers and parliamentary secretaries are now receiving for the sole job they are doing.

Previously, candidates who were elected to parliament, if they were also employed by the government, they had to give up their government employment or were granted leave of absence in order to serve as MPs. Of course, they could then find employment in the private sector and still serve as MPs and thus receive two “salaries” for the two jobs they were doing.

Elected candidates who worked in the private sector kept their employment or profession and served as MPs too. This was the anomaly which existed then and which was corrected when government employees were allowed to keep their employment while serving as MPs. No one ever complained of discrimination against the prime ministers, ministers and parliamentary secretaries because they received their salary pertaining to their appointment. Attending parliament is part and parcel of the job of ministers and parliamentary secretaries.

It was also unfair that you inferred that it is the PL which has criticised harshly the astronomical raise which Dr Gonzi and his Cabinet gave themselves. There has been a public outcry throughout the whole country. So much for fairness sake.

Eddy Privitera

Mosta

Editor’s note: Mr Privitera fails to understand the thrust of the leading article in question. TMID did not say that it was wrong for the MPs in question to receive the extra payment – after all, that is what House rules stipulate. If one were to actually read the article properly, the bone of contention was that it was wrong to keep these payments hidden while mounting a spin campaign against the government, regardless of the ham-fisted way the unjustified honoraria increase was handled.