The opposition spokesman on tourism today urged the government to scrap its proposed utility tariffs and discuss the issue with the social partners.

Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca said the new tariffs, if introduced, would be especially detrimental to the tourism industry since operators had already negotiated next year's prices on the basis of current costs, and the new outlay could not be recovered.

Furthermore, the increases were coming at an especially bad time for tourism, which was expecting a downturn.

Going ahead with the proposed tariffs would be irresponsible and harmful, undermining competitiveness and threatening jobs.