Family
How would they help to improve home and family life?
Both parties promise higher children’s allowances. Labour promises to raise it by €90 every year for the next five years while PN promises an increase of €150, or €250 for families with an income lower than €12,000.
The PN would also give a one-off grant of €1,000 for new parents. The grant would be retroactive for all parents who have had a child since January 2017.
Labour promises free childcare for all, irrespective of whether parents work or not.
It would grant €10,000 spread over 10 years for first-time buyers, a doubled grant of €30,000 on buying UCA properties in Gozo and no capital gains or stamp duty on the first €750,000 of a property’s value.
The PN pledges to make the first-time buyers’ scheme permanent, remove stamp duty for property purchases up to €400,000 and give youths buying their first home a 50 per cent government subsidy on interest rates payable on loans up to €250,000, for the first five years of the loan.
Both manifestos pledge more social housing units.
Labour plans to require family courts to decide on child custody cases within set timeframes. The PN will add more judges and magistrates to reduce waiting time for judgments.
Money
Where do the parties stand on economy, salaries, pensions and taxes?
Despite a war in Europe and a looming financial, energy and food crisis, both parties are promising a country where people earn more money and pay less in tax.
Labour pledges more tax rebate cheques to everyone, while the PN promises people will get better wages in 32,500 new jobs in its 10 new economic sectors.
Meanwhile, Labour pledges to reduce income tax and raise the country’s GDP from €14 billion to €20 billion. Under Labour, parents will not pay income tax on the first €12,200, singles on the first €10,800 and married couples on the first €14,400. It also promises to slash corporate to 25 per cent on a business’s first €250,000 while businesses that reinvest profits will not pay tax on those investments.
Similarly, the PN pledges a 15 per cent tax rate for businesses that reinvest the first €500,000 of their profits into the company and to slash corporate tax to 25 per cent over five years.
Both manifestos promise a raised minimum wage but neither specifies by how much. The PN says the minimum pension will be as high as the minimum wage.
Labour promised the elderly a weekly €15 pension increase as well as better energy and housing benefits. The PN promises ‘dignifying’ pensions, stemming from a new fund to be set up with the private sector.
The PN would reduce VAT for bars and restaurants to seven per cent and grant a 50 per cent tax credit to hotels for refurbishment works.
Under a PN government, people earning less than €20,000 will get a tax credit amounting to 10 per cent of tax paid during the previous year. For those earning between €20,000 and €40,000, the tax credit will be five per cent. For income between €40,000 and €60,000 the tax credit will be three per cent and tax rates for people earning between €60,000 and €80,000 would be cut to 25 per cent.
The PN would also pay a year’s worth of minimum wage to workers who lose their job, to help them train for a new job, while Labour would pay them a year’s worth of private pension contributions.
Labour would work to make unionisation mandatory for workers and create a wage
supplement scheme for businesses impacted “by international events” of up to €800 a month for six months. Aid would be repaid over a five-year period starting from return to profitability.
Meanwhile, the PN’s manifesto sets out to reward businesses that conform to an environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards, a phrase that appears 72 times in their manifesto.
It also promises incentives for businesses that agree to take part in a national four-day week pilot project, improve working conditions for army, police and correctional officers and a five per cent tax rate on earnings up to €80,000 for art professionals.
Meanwhile, Labour’s manifesto outlines plans to specifically target ‘depressed’ localities with a series of investment incentives.
Labour also promises to boost incentives to Gozo businesses by 10 per cent and the PN promises sub-contractor employees working for the government will be given a job directly with the government and have their contractor’s commission added to their salary.
Transport and the environment
What are the parties doing to solve traffic snarl-ups and to make Malta greener?
Both parties promise more open spaces but neither make any serious pledges to revise planning polices that have allowed for overdevelopment.
There’s a big emphasis on the concept of giving land ‘back to the people’. The Labour Party has promised some very substantial projects including a €700m investment in green lungs projects, one of which includes pedestrianising St Anne’s Street, in Floriana. In government, it would seek out private property to convert into accessible public land and introduce a mobile app that clearly delineates open public spaces in the countryside. They’ve also promised national parks along the coast of Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq and Għar Lapsi, keeping Miżieb and Aħrax open to picnickers and campers all-year-round, creating new campsites in Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq and Qortin, Mellieħa and pledging to plant 10,000 trees in five years.
Similarly, the PN is promising more open spaces to be enjoyed by the public, albeit with less detail on the where and the when.
Their big pledge has been a promise to increase 50,000 square metres of land to the outside of the development zone (ODZ) every year. An afforestation programme is also on the manifesto and a promise to ensure that every community has its own green open space.
The PN pledges to make sure Malta meets 80 per cent of its carbon neutrality targets by 2030, to introduce tax incentives for environmentally friendly businesses, give full autonomy to environmental regulators and increase the number of votes assigned to NGOs on decision-making boards.
It says it will take a clear position against “excessive” development and require a two-thirds majority vote for the development of outside development zone (ODZ) land. Meanwhile, Labour has promised to “start discussions” on making rules for ODZ development stricter and to make urban conservation areas (UCA) irrevocable, save only to extend them.
They’ve also pledged to introduce buffer zones between the UCA and standard development zones, a skyline policy to regulate high-rise development, introduce timelines for construction projects and a stipulation for developments that build to maximum height to integrate renewable energy systems. They also add that land reclamation is “needed” in the country and that such projects would be moving ahead during the coming legislature.
Labour also pledged to work with the private sector to develop offshore renewable energy projects, while promising to keep electricity costs “stable”.
Both parties promise a second interconnector and PV panel incentives. The PN is also committing to buying energy from the cheapest sources with the lowest emissions, terminating the controversial Electrogas agreement, refunding people who have been overbilled through ARMS since 2013 and investing in the electricity distribution network.
When it comes to transport, the two parties’ flagship proposals are battling it out head to head. Labour are putting forward their already unveiled metro project, saying work would begin on it immediately, with one caveat - that technical studies ensure it’s feasible.
On the other hand, there’s the PN’s trackless tram proposal, which they say will pass through arterial roads through “reserved” lanes.
Labour is also promising new sea ferry routes, a lift from the Marsamxett ferry landing to Peacock garden, in Valletta, road design that gives more consideration to cyclists, perks for electric cars through green number plates, 1,200 additional charging points and a pilot project to allow 16-year-olds to get a scooter licence.
The PN pledges better public transport connections and a network of underground roads to address traffic congestion. It is also promising a €10,000 grant to encourage families to scrap their cars and not buy a new one.
The PN’s manifesto also promises to “freeze” minor contraventions that do not impact third parties, like minor parking tickets. If further contraventions take place during this period, the penalties due will increase and could result in penalty points.
Education
What visions have been set out for schools and universities?
Both parties have pledged to raise stipends for students, with Labour promising an additional 15 per cent compared to the PN’s 25 per cent, with a further 25 per cent for students who do voluntary work.
Labour has promised €300-a-year for children to take part in extracurricular activities. They pledge free laptops, internet and uniforms for children from low-income backgrounds and to raise children’s allowance by €90 every year for the next five years.
Similarly, the PN is offering a €500 grant to organisations for every child enrolled in extra curricular activates as well as a €500 voucher for youths to travel and enrich their sports or cultural appreciation.
Both parties promise “better” working conditions for teachers and pledge to increase access to healthy food in school.
Labour has also pledged to work towards a “homework-free society”, increase PE hours to a minimum of one hour a day, set up a Maltese literacy centre, build and renovate more schools and modernise 180 school laboratories.
The PN has promised tax credits for employers who allocate time for their employees to train, fiscal incentives for higher education institutions that invest in research and study leave for full-time employees seeking further education.
Health
What is being promised for public health?
Both parties have similar key proposals.
They both promise a new hospital in Gozo (PL say 430 beds, the PN 400 beds), a new mental health hospital near Mater Dei (the PN wants to close Mount Carmel, Labour wants to turn it into a hospital for addicts) and more free medicines (Labour will give government formulary beneficiaries their medication for free, the PN have promised “more” free medicine).
They both promise extended IVF services. Labour promises free contraceptives for women, free rapid testing for HIV, a new breast screening programme, a follow-up clinic for COVID-19 patients, personalised at-home care for mental health patients and offer the HPV vaccine to boys for free.
One of the PN’s longstanding proposals in the health sector has been to terminate the controversial Steward Health Care hospitals deal and replace it with a series of projects to better health facilities. Workers who left the public service to join Steward would be given the opportunity to take up government employment again.
They’re also proposing tax rebates to cover costs for healthcare workers to continue professional development and for people who take up health insurance cover.
They’ve also promised €180-a-month for patients with celiac disease, free family doctor services for pensioners, open health centres that treat chronic illness and provide aid to patients whose medication isn’t available on the government’s formulary.