Enough of the spiel!

Years of unbridled and unchecked selfpromotion and endless selfcongratulatory pats on the back have made the Labour Party oblivious and blind to the very swathes of the electorate it always conveniently vowed to represent, the hard-working citizens.

Ivan Bartolo is a PN MP and is the party’s Spokesperson for Social Accommodation, the Fight Against Poverty, Loneliness and Social Exclusion

The bottomless means available to the Labour Party for its marketing have certainly not provided a cushion to those facing economic hardships, the ones caught in the poverty trap or those at risk of poverty. The Labour Party in government has become an unrivalled expert at manipulating facts and statistics to accommodate its favourite narrative, that of being Malta’s saviour.

But let us take off the metaphorical coloured glasses and show the humbug for what it really is… political propaganda paid for handsomely by our taxes.

Housing is a sensitive subject , but not for this government. It loves to indulge in blatant historical revisionism by claiming that the PN has neglected the housing sector for 40 years. We are reminded at every occasion possible that thanks to this government, thousands of units of social housing projects are in the pipeline. And yet so far, in 7 years, this government has failed to build a single unit! What about the new structures that will be built – how adequate will they be? What about the lack of maintenance of existing blocks of social housing? What about the tenants still waiting for a lift to be installed? It is indeed ironic that, after all, the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have been of greater help to the vulnerable than this government’s measures by pushing down rents, providing temporary respite, which is something that the much vaunted Rent Law significantly failed to achieve.

Even more stunning is the proliferation of charitable groups and individuals who have had to step in to provide food to those who simply cannot afford to pay for basic necessities and utilities. The increased need to distribute thousands of meals or substantial amounts of foodstuffs on a daily basis is shocking especially when one considers that for the past 7 years we were told that Malta was outperforming other, larger states in the EU and beyond.

There is a concerted effort by the government harping on its ‘success’, giving figures only when they suit its agenda and narrative. Yet here we have a government basing its povertyalleviating plans upon yesteryear’s statistics, showing complete detachment from the

Glossy and sassy advertisements promising a rapid and relatively painless exit from this crisis are an insufficient response to the social and economic divisions exacerbated by this pandemic.

current situation as experienced by the common citizen, especially the 98,000 who were already at risk of poverty by the end of last year and may even now be staring at their personal abyss.

At this juncture one should start to ask as to why the government does not actually set the ball rolling on a national discussion with all stakeholders about achieving wage levels that do not require government top-ups to assure a decent standard of living. This leads one to question whether, despite the funds that the government has spent to save jobs during the pandemic, the system will actually prove to be sufficiently resilient to sustain the withdrawal of the government subsidies.

Glossy and sassy advertisements promising a rapid and relatively painless exit from this crisis are an insufficient response to the social and economic divisions exacerbated by this pandemic. Does this government have a sustainable, long-term economic and social strategy? It is after all the PN which is proposing a bipartisan task force to deliver a COVID-19 social pact for economic recovery.

I think it is time we all start to look at things more objectively and stop listening to the same spiel played by Labour.