The government's next step is to enact a law to decriminalise drugs, one in which the government will show no mercy with drug traffickers while people who are caught with a joint will not suffer their whole life, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said this evening.

Addressing the annual general meeting of the Labour Youth Movement, Dr Muscat said that great strides forward were made in civil rights in the past 18 months, but still more needs to be achieved.

He also spoke about the gender identity bill, saying that this was one way to show the difference between a government that had the courage to make changes and others - with obvious reference to the Opposition - who were seeking loopholes in the law.

He said the PN was trying to undermine the work of this government, which over and over again was showing that it was close to the people. He said the Opposition Leader had asked party delegates whether they were ready to accept homosexuals in the party, as if they were "different" from the rest. On the contrary, the Labour Party had worked in favour of the introduction of divorce and enacted the civil unions law.