Next year’s Budget confirms that the government is going to continue moving in the right direction, the Labour Party said in a press conference on Thursday.

“Before the challenges we are facing, we choose to be with the people.  That’s what we did during the pandemic, that’s what we did today, and that’s what we are going to keep doing.  With us, you know where you are because we do what we promise,” PL President Ramona Attard and PL MP Randolph de Battista said in a press conference.

De Battista explained how the Budget presented on Monday is one which is as much for the future as it is for today.

“It is for today because it addressed in the most solid manner one of the biggest challenges of the day, which is the cost of living.  It is for the future, because the certainty and stability we are giving today will allow families and businesses to plan their future with peace of mind,” he said.

He said that the principles of certainty and stability which the Budget has based itself on can be traced to three points: protecting families and businesses on energy prices and cost of living; keeping in mind those who can cope with the least; and improving the quality of life for Maltese and Gozitans through a better environment and strong economy.

Attard meanwhile harked back to the PN administration, saying that for PN leader Bernard Grech and the opposition the fact that the government is increasing pensions and the children’s allowance, giving a €10,000 grant to first-time buyers and introducing additional compensation for cost of living to 37,000 families is a budget with no solution for the increasing cost of living.

She said that this reaction contrasts with the reaction from social partners and constituted bodies who described the budget as one which is powered by the fundamental decision of energy stability, and said that it was socially just, responsible, preserving the economy, strengthening digitalisation in Gozo, and one which left them full of hope for the future.

“These are reactions which show how the government is offering certainty and stability to people, which will ultimately lead to a better future together,” Attard said.