MLP approves manifesto

The Labour Party's extraordinary general conference yesterday evening approved the electoral manifesto.

The 37-page programme is in Labour leader Alfred Sant's own words, an abridged version of the Plan for a New Beginning document the party launched last year.

Running through the manifesto in an unexpectedly long speech, Dr Sant said that Labour's plan hinged on three crucial factors which the party will be hammering in the coming weeks: Good governance, job creation and the reform of social policy.

He mostly reiterated the pledges and measures the party has been making in the past months, such as halving the surcharge and stamping out corruption.

On the latter point, he echoed a number of speakers before him when he emphasised that under Lawrence Gonzi's leadership, the government had closed its eyes to countless corruption and conflict of interest scandals - a fact, he stressed, that flies in the face of the almost saintly profile the PN propaganda machine is trying to give the Prime Minister.

Referring to a story that appeared recently in the Sunday paper It-Torċa, he accused the parliamentary secretary within the Finance Ministry Tonio Fenech of using the Good Causes Fund to further his political career when he donated money from this fund to a company that had organised the recent Juventus-Valletta match.

"I tell you, as I have already told my colleagues, these things will not be accepted under a Labour government," he said.

Turning to education, he gave, for the first time since launching the idea, a detailed account of how a prospective Labour government would implement its measure to compensate for the VAT that is paid on items and expenses connected to education.

In the case of VAT paid on direct expenses such as school uniforms and books, the government will give parents a refund that will be included with the children's allowance, as will the refund on VAT paid on computers and related equipment.

In line with an EU directive which he cited as he spoke, the government would also exempt educational institutions from the VAT they pay on services and products that are directly linked with educational management and the maintenance of its facilities.

Similarly, when both private and Church schools, make capital investments, they will be given an allowance by the government that will be redeemable against the income tax they owe.

"We will do this, and we will do it in the spirit of a tranquil change that is not confrontational," he said closing his speech, shortly after the manifesto was formally approved.

The document comes hot on the heels of the PN's document, which was approved on Thursday.

At about 4 p.m. today, voting should start on the list of candidates the party will be presenting for the election.

One of the highlights of yesterday's conference came from a speech delivered by Labour's MEP John Attard Montalto, who in 2003 had contested Alfred Sant for the leadership of the party in a relatively fierce challenge that followed that year's electoral defeat. Speaking just before Anġlu Farrugia, who had also contested for the top post, Dr Attard Montalto gave a public pledge of allegiance to the party leader.

Reacting to a comment the PN was using in its campaign, in which Dr Attard Montalto is quoted saying there was need for change in the Labour leadership, he singled out, one by one the party's top brass, saying they were all new faces before coming to Dr Sant, who, he said, had been born again, in a clear reference to his (Dr Sant's) recent operation.

"We have to show him our affection and our loyalty," he said to a resounding applause.

At a similar conference last year, Dr Sant had failed to mention Dr Attard Montalto when praising the work done by MEPs shortly after it emerged that he had not been attending as many committee meetings as his colleagues at the European Parliament.

The full text in Maltese of the MLP draft electoral programme can be viewed at www.timesofmalta.com.