Those of us who have email accounts regularly receive emails from very kind people who are willing to entrust us with millions of euros

Furthermore, we also receive distressing emails that distant relatives, who we never knew existed, have died only to be informed that they have left us in inheritance large amounts of money. The inheritance is ready to be transferred to our account.

These are obviously scams that all end up in my trash box. These emails have the purpose of getting my trust and once my information is forwarded, I would be a victim of fraud and possibly financially wiped out.

Those of us who have studied law and practice criminal law know that an essential element of fraud is messinscena, which means that a situation is created in order for one to believe and trust it is actually true. Fraud is a criminal offence and punishable with imprisonment.

What is not punishable with imprisonment is political fraud as Joseph Muscat and the Partit Laburista are surely guilty of. They are attempting to trick the Maltese people to trust them in the next general election, purporting to have all solutions for all Maltese ills. However, in actual fact, it is all a messinscena and they have no real alternative solutions at all.

In fact, the recent PL campaign directly hits the target. They want us to believe that all the Prime Minister does is ask questions, while they are now the Party of Solutions. Until a few weeks ago, their approach was that they have the solutions to a better transport system, however, they will not tell us until the eve of the next general election. They want us to believe that they also have the solution to reduce the water and electricity bills, but one has to wait to learn all about it. The PL noticed that the problem with this strategy was that their credibility was under attack and Joseph Muscat looked more like Baldrick having a comical “cunning plan”.

Joseph Muscat, under pressure not only from the PN, but even from his own ranks, noticed that the concealment plan was putting more doubts in people’s minds. He decided to use this year’s budget to reveal all. His budget speech was the spin of all spins, in that he gave 51 “solutions” to an equal number of issues. The “solutions” created the hype he desired, however, they fell flat only after a few hours.

The Prime Minister was justified to ask the Leader of the Opposition the questions he put during the PN General Council meeting; after all, they were only a reflection of the questions the man in the street was making. Once Joseph Muscat and PL were promising a reduction of the energy bills, it was legitimate for the people to ask whether there was a catch. Everyone, including myself, would love a reduction in my electricity bill, but would this result in an increase in tax or introduction of some other sort of charge in order to finance the reduction? These were not Lawrence Gonzi’s questions, these were questions that every employee, every businessman and every pensioner put and the Prime Minister was only expressing the same sentiment as the public at large.

Some of the pledges in Joseph Muscat’s speech are sectoral and are merely intended to attract that particular sector. One of these suggestions is the inclusion of the Gozo Business Chamber in the MCESD. Furthermore, the idea for an adjustment of the MEPA fees is also vague. However, when Europe is entering a second financial crisis those pledges are of great concern for the country. No light was thrown on how a prospective Labour Government would pay for a reduction of utility bills irrespective of the international costs. So far there is a general consensus that until a proper plan is presented, the people will say thank you but no thank you. The risk is too great for a leap in the dark at this stage.

Therefore, trust is a paramount element in politics. From my experience in elections few would be ready to entrust their vote without knowing whether a particular electoral promise is feasible in the first place. To my mind, telling people that their electricity bill is to be reduced considerably is an attempt at political fraud.

We trash emails telling us that we will be made rich overnight, and we should do the same with the proposals made by Joseph Muscat and his party.

Dr Malcolm Mifsud is a PN Candidate on the First District