The series of tweets posted by Labour MP Marlene Farrugia during the Prime Minister’s address to Parliament yesterday were a mixture of criticism to the government she forms part of and also praise to Joseph Muscat who, she said, has the potential to remain Prime Minister for 15 years.

At the end of the two-hour speech on the budget 2016, the Labour MP described it as being a “statesman’s speech, optimist and positive.” And she added that if facts follow his beautiful address “he can be Prime Minister for 15 years at least”.

Earlier, she was not so supportive, remarking sarcastically about the regeneration of Marsaxlokk and Qajjenza through the stationing of an LNG tanker in the heart of Marsaxlokk Bay, a government decision that the Labour MP has opposed.

She also said that the economic growth the Prime Minister was boasting about was in areas created by the Nationalist Party government “with all their defects. Our (ideas) are still on paper”.

She could not understand why the government was using the offices of the PN’s deputy leader for consultation, and did not stay back from referring to those who were greedy on both sides of the political fence.

But her most vocal criticism was directed at her government, saying that with the salary of one person in a position of trust, four disabled persons could have been given employment.

“If we are doing so well,” she wrote, “why are we leaving people, mostly women, in precarious employment?”

In another jibe, she said that she had been so convinced by Joseph Muscat that the economy was doing well that she believes that pensioners should have been given a bigger rise in their income.