In his most pointed statement to date, opposition leader Simon Busuttil yesterday told the party’s general council that the PN must admit it made mistakes and that “36,000 people cannot be wrong”.

In analysing the PN’s report about the drubbing at the polls, Dr Busuttil said that the party had learned lessons from the defeat and was ready to open a new chapter.

He said that following the defeat, PN activists were left incredulous. But he quoted one who pointed out to him that while the won by less than 5,000 votes in 1987 – when democracy was under threat – the PN managed to lose by a huge margin, even though things – on a macro level – were looking good.

He said that the PN needed to accept the result and realise that it had gone wrong, and in more than one area, saying that the opposition had no right to tell people they had made a mistake by voting for the Labour Party.

He apologised to all those who had been disappointed by the PN in its time in government, and recognised that people had also been hurt and that the party structures needed to listen to people more. The PN leader’s remarks were spot on, and he hit the nail on the head. The PN must accept that it has to change and that the way matters were handled during the last administration was just not good enough. A party and its individuals would be very wrong to ignore the message of such a landslide margin. But while the party must continue to reinvent itself – and it is no coincidence that Dr Busuttil wore a pale purple tie for the event – it must also focus on other matters – its financial viability being one of them.

The Prime Minister yesterday said the government would be moving legislation on party financing by the end of the year. The Prime Minister added that this was being done in view of the state the party finds itself in. A noble gesture? Some might say so. Attempts to win brownie points? Some might subscribe to this too. The way the PM came across though, might raise eyebrows in other quarters because the exact terminology of a PL statement was that the decision to move the law at the year’s end was because the PM and the government did not want anyone to be “able to say that this was done to worsen the PN’s situation”. In reality, it is probably a mixture of all of the above – though we do believe that the intention is, on the whole, genuine.

Dr Busuttil pledged to lead a constructive and strong opposition over the next five years, pointing out that the party has proven its willingness to be constructive by backing all of the first seven bills presented by the new government.

This did not mean that the party would not issue criticism where necessary, but will back its criticism by offering alternative ideas and solutions. Of course, the PL and the PN are now settling into their opposed roles of government and opposition. But it is now time for the PN to declare the chapter closed, learn some lessons and be a strong and credible opposition – for the good of the nation.