Those people who are attacking the Nationalist Party because they want to see more political parties elected to Parliament are only helping the Labour Party and Robert Abela continue to run roughshod over everyone, PN leader Bernard Grech said on Sunday.

Grech was speaking on party media after a disastrous political survey showed that his party was now trailing Robert Abela’s Labour Party by some 39,000 votes and that less than a fifth of the electorate trusts him as a party leader.

Grech wasn’t asked directly about the survey results during the 25-minute interview which aired live on NET Television, but he spoke about it as he gave his final remarks.

He noted that the survey was issued exactly one year after the European Parliament elections, and said that the surveys then showed that the PN was set to lose those elections by 25,000 votes – but in actual fact it only lost them by slightly more than 8,000 votes.

“Today we have a survey where that 25,000-vote gap has grown; so that means that despite the realities that are bothering people, unfortunately the gap between the parties has increased,” he observed.

“I will not ignore the survey, like I’ve never ignored any survey. It is a snapshot of the moment but it means that I have more responsibility, that my colleagues have more responsibility, and everyone has more responsibility get stronger in order to be an alternative government,” he said.

Here the PN leader said that he wanted to send an “important message.”

“There are some, who are not in the PN and not in the PL, who attack the PN because they think that they can have more political parties in Parliament. The reality is that all these attacks on the PN are doing is helping Labour and Robert Abela to continue running roughshod over everyone,” he said.

Grech said he then wanted to send “a message of hope”, saying that many people are paying attention to what the party is doing.

“Does that mean we are there? Definitely not, but it means we have a responsibility and we are going to keep making a difference as we did on Manoel Island, on Jean Paul Sofia, on the hospitals, but also to keep on working and strengthening as that is our duty – to offer a solution,” he said.

NAO is in the best position to assess Manoel Island contract – Grech

Asked about the current situation with regards to the concession for Manoel Island, Grech said that this is a “clear example of how politics can be done by continually listening to people.”

He said that when he first spoke about the matter, he clearly said that what the people are saying in the petition, and the reality of what people are feeling cannot be ignored which is why he insisted that there should be checks to see whether the contract had been honoured or not.

On the PN’s position, he said that “the reality of Malta 25 years ago is different to the realities of today.”

“This is because the frantic development of the last 12 to 13 years has continued to reduce the quality of life of people.  So yes, we needed to care about people and NGOs, and take action to safeguard people’s quality of life,” Grech said.

He said that he had insisted that the concession agreement is looked at “seriously” even because Manoel Island has not been built so far, meaning that there is still time.

He said that the National Audit Office is the entity in the best position to investigate the facts of whether this contract was breached, and if so, how.  “The allegations are strong, but we need to confirm them,” he said.

'This was never a socialist government' – Grech

Grech spoke about a host of other topics, ranging from the health sector to emissions to cost of living.

On the health sector, Grech said that the government had spent hundreds of millions of euros, but had done very little if anything at all in terms of infrastructure.  He referred to the Paola Health Hub which has been delayed on several occasions, and noted how St Luke’s Hospital remains dilapidated.

He said that health staff needs to be granted better conditions but they also need to work within a better infrastructure, especially when the government continues to push an economy which increases the country’s population by tens of thousands every year.

Grech also noted that there are certain medications which are not included in the government formulary, with the consequence that cancer patients are being sent to “beg” from the Malta Community Chest Fund.  “For me that’s not acceptable,” Grech said.

“We will use the money to have the best medicine, service and professionals by investing in the sector,” he said.

On emissions, Grech said that the PN would take “expert-guided decisions,” unlike the government which “says one thing and then does another.”

When it came to inflation and cost of living, Grech reiterated that the government has “given up” on addressing the inflation phenomenon and ran through the PN’s oft-quoted measures on the situation, including not taxing over-time and extra part-time jobs, tax credits for employers, not taxing the COLA, and creating a national fund to help importers.

“This was never a socialist government; it doesn’t care for the vulnerable or those in difficulty,” Grech said about the PL government.

The PN leader also commented on the Standards Commissioner finding no breach of ethics by three of his MPs, after they were accused of not turning up for their government jobs.

“When the PL is in a political storm, like it had with Clint Camilleri and Clayton Bartolo, instead of turning to them and saying they should have done better; they turn and attack the other side,” Grech said.

It is “unacceptable”, Grech said, that Robert Abela is now turning to “inventing” things about people and families, adding that he had no doubt what the conclusion of the investigation would be because he fully trusts his MPs.

“This is Labour: Labour invents and lies about others in order to try and defend itself. We have a Prime Minister who we already knew had no integrity and is insecure, and now we know he is willing to stoop to this level,” he said.

Grech said that Abela should apologise to these MPs after the Standards Commissioner – who, Grech reminded, was appointed by Abela himself – found that he had lied.