The PN will not negotiate with hackers, Opposition Leader Bernard Grech said on Sunday.

The PN was recently hacked, with hackers threatening to publish sensitive information if the PN does not cooperate with them. Grech responded that the PN remains adamant and will not negotiate with them.

"We do not know who these people are; this is illegal hacking and they are trying to steal information. We will not negotiate," the PN leader said.

The police have been informed and a public inquiry regarding the case has been opened, he remarked.

Turning to the party's situation, he said that the PN did not introduce enough new people in recent years, "and that needs to change."

Grech has been touting that the PN needs to regenerate and introduce new people within its ranks over the past few weeks. Asked for further clarifications as to what he means by this, the Opposition leader said that the surveys, although relatively positive for the PN, show that change is needed and that the party needs new faces.

"I want to include everyone who genuinely wants to help the country. If this party doesn't understand that it needs to change, it will remain stuck in the same place," Grech said.

"I will not let anyone derail the party from going in the right direction," he declared.

When asked about the PN's call for an end to corruption, Grech said that the public understands the gravity of the corruption that took place in recent years, especially when taking into account that the persons in question were within the government's ranks, or had close ties to it.

While what had been done under former prime minister Joseph Muscat's watch was "terrifying", Abela was not doing enough to weed out the "far stretching roots of government corruption."

Instead, Opposition MP Toni Bezzina was being dragged through the mud for an alleged abuse of power that occurred a decade ago, he said.  Bezzina was questioned by police at the Financial Crime Investigation Department in Hamrun in connection with an alleged case of corruption relating to using government workers to carry out maintenance works at a PN club in 2012, with the MP saying that it is "a political frame up".

Regarding the Standards Commissioner's recent report, where he found that Minster within the Office of the Prime Minister Carmelo Abela had breached ethics by trying to boost his image through an ad with public funds, Grech said that although the PN was accused of similar things in past times, the PN was shown the door in 2013 when the PL got elected.

Regarding cannabis, Grech said that the PN is still consulting with people, where he said that the party held meetings with drug users, families of users, rehabilitation workers, agencies and pro-legislation activists.

Grech also pointed out that the party is working on a plan regarding mental health issues, especially since the pandemic has caused a lot of harm in this respect. He remarked that simply renovating the Mount Carmel hospital won't work, and that the view of the public on the subject needs to change.