Opposition Leader Bernard Grech said, in his New Year's message, that in 2022 he will be asking the people to place their trust in him.

Malta will hold a general election in 2022.

Delivering his message for the new year, he said that looking back on 2021, his thoughts are with those who carried the weight of the pandemic. "We lost more than 470 people, more than 470 precious lives were lost before it was their time."

He said that there are thousands whose quality of life dropped. "Workers who went down to working a 4-day week, self-employed persons who ended up with no income for a whole month, parents, teachers and students who lived the anxiety of home schooling (...) we stand with you. We are with you through these trying times."

He said that a new year is an occasion to improve, to change what could have done better at the end of the year and build on the good.

He said that this year he will be asking the people to place their trust in him so that, together, "we can lead the country forward."

"We all believe that the country could be better off than it is now. I believe that we should always strive to be better. Let us work together to implement this belief."

"We want to continue working to build on our hard work, on our good hearts."

 "We all want a Malta that promotes honest work and forgiveness. This needs to be the basis of everything"   

He spoke of giving more value and dignity to everyone. "We all believe that our country should give more value to what is right and restrain those who exploit workers or abuse of others or of their authority."

"I want the work of everyone to be valued. I want our country to invest strongly so that you will receive more pay for your work tomorrow than you do today." He spoke of the need for workers to continue improving their skills.

He spoke of the digital revolution and the need to invest in more workers to advance in this sector.

He spoke of the need for the country to give more value to professionals like educators, pharmacists and all technical employees.

"When we are careful with our resources and the people's funds, we can use them more wisely and responsibly so that we can help our frontliners, workers and the elderly. We could reduce the burden of tax on you, reduce the VAT on restaurants and give back the funds stolen from you through energy bills."

"Next year we must give birth to new hope. Hope that we will all be stronger, that our country will start to recover, that we will start to take back the reputation that our country has always had, hope that you will succeed and with you, Malta and Gozo will succeed."