Politicians trying to score political points at each turn had to “sober up” and move away from the “mud-slinging contest” the electoral campaign was turning into, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said yesterday.

We cannot achieve in five years what others failed to in 40

Dr Muscat preceded his appeal for positive campaigning with a pledge, saying a PL government would be forthright and admit to mistakes when they were made.

“Sometimes mistakes demand resignations, at others they require remedial action. But the cardinal point is that politicians cannot try to score political goals at all costs,” he said at the end of a speech which steered well clear of ongoing controversies concerning oil procurement and drug use at band clubs.

Political honesty meant not promising people the world but instead focusing on what was truly achievable, Dr Muscat said.

He gave two such examples in the course of his 40-minute question and answer session with a crowd in Xgħajra.

A Labour proposal to raise the minimum pension to 60 per cent of the average national wage would take more than one legislature to achieve, he said, so too would the resolution of outstanding issues concerning service pensions.

“We cannot achieve in five years what others failed to do in 40,” he said, though he promised one audience member that the PL was committed to settling issues with port workers’ pensions fund “without existing port workers losing out on anything”.

A question about pensioners’ quality of life prompted Dr Muscat to remind his audience about the party’s pledge to cut senior citizens’ electricity and water bills by 35 per cent.

As well as promising to shut down the Marsa power station, Dr Muscat also said that localities which had borne the brunt of power station emissions would be compensated with a series of environmental projects in their localities.

Promising young artists and performers would benefit from an arts college modelled on the national sports college opened last year, he said.

“No electoral manifesto has ever dedicated as much space to art and culture than ours,” he boasted.

Answering a question from a mobility-impaired former Mcast student, Dr Muscat said equality was “a right, not a favour”. He highlighted the PL’s proposal to guarantee disability pensions even if their recipients found paid work.