The number of Maltese people living in poverty has risen from 88,000 to 100,000 in the last two and a half years under a Labour government, the Nationalist Party said in a statement today.

The party’s shadow minister for social policy Paula Mifsud Bonnici and spokesman against poverty Stephen Spiteri said that in one of his pre-electoral promises, Joseph Muscat had said that poverty will be eradicated. The fact that the number of people living in poverty has risen under his watch shows that the government’s policies are failing.

At the same time, people close to the Labour Party, such as those involved in the Gaffarena and Cafe Premier scandals, were being made rich overnight.

The percentage of elderly people living in poverty has increased from 20.8% to 23.3%, the PN said.