Malta Labour Party Leader, Joseph Muscat, has called on the Maltese and Gozitan people to stand up and be counted, to protest against the heavy burden being placed on families and many companies by the government.

In a message to the nation on the party radio station, Dr Muscat said that the party had decided to hold a national demonstration as happened in other democratic countries, to protest against the government’s decision to raise the water and electricity bills.

He added that the government chose the worst time to impose new tariffs, given the current international economic crises. While other governments are helping their people and companies, in Malta, the opposite was happening with people having to help their government instead.

Dr Muscat said the government was ignoring the plight of the social partners and the deteriorating situation whereby workers were being made redundant or having to work reduced hours.

“In all this, the Prime Minister has been absent in these crucial days. He has not shouldered his responsibility to ensure that people’s needs were given enough consideration in the proposed new tariffs. Instead, Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt took over,” Dr Muscat concluded.