Labour was ashamed of celebrating the 10th anniversary of its election to government, Opposition leader Bernard Grech on Thursday, listing the reasons why. 

Speaking in a TV and Facebook broadcast, the PN leader focused on Labour's track record in government since Joseph Muscat swept to power in 2013. 

Muscat and his successor Robert Abela had betrayed the people and Labour’s values, Grech said, with parts of the country sold off to fraudsters and criminals.

It promised Malta Tagħna Lkoll (Malta belongs to all of us) and then sold off the state’s hospitals, among other sectors, to foreigners.

Grech said Labour had promised that the environment would be a priority for the government, and yet it proceeded to ruin the environment.

It promised meritocracy, but now one could only progress by being a "friend" to a minister.

Labour, he continued, had no plan for the traffic sector, education, the health service, to help build a better future for young people or to control the cost of living, which was destroying many people.

Instead of investing funds to better the country, those at the Labour government’s helm had divided the funds between them.

Now that, thanks to the PN, hospitals were being returned to the state, the opposition would continue to insist that Abela does the decent thing and sues Vitals and Steward to recover some €400 million handed to them. This was something only Abela could do, as prime minister. 

Instead of being in the hands of criminals, those funds could be better used for new hospital wards, medicines, nurses, teachers, the elderly, workers and students as well as the university.

It was thus with good reason that Labour was ashamed of celebrating its 10-year anniversary, Grech said.

Abela was even scared of mentioning his predecessor because he knew that he was an essential part of what was done and what was still being done, and he was still there to ensure that that plan was not derailed.

The Nationalist Party, however, would remain strong and continue to serve and protect the Maltese people, Grech said. 

PL: Proud of achievements, focused on the future

In a reaction, the Labour Party said it was the people who spoke about the positive changes which the government had brought about in the past 10 years.

"The change needs to continue, building on the lot of good that was achieved and strengthening where needed," the party said. 

It said that Bernard Grech had shown himself to be a partisan politician and an arrogant one, who thought that only what he did was good, and what others did was bad. 

It was the Labour Party and Robert Abela were different and would continue to look ahead. While they were proud of what had been achieved, they were more focused on the changes needed for the future. 

The PL also issued an anniversary feature.