Former MP Silvio Grixti Warns Some PL Politicians Are Growing Detached From Voters
Former PL MP Silvio Grixti warned that the recent MaltaToday survey is a reflection of some PL politicians growing increasingly detached from the electorate.
Grixti said that the PL should carry out a serious post-mortem of the survey result, which found that the gaps between the two major parties and their respective leaders have narrowly shrunk in the wake of the Budget.
“Today’s survey is a worrying result, and it is thanks to inefficient people who are obsessed with their personal interests and district rivalries with other candidates instead of the collective interest of the party and its supporters,” he said.
Grixti warned that some PL politicians care more about promoting themselves on social media than properly addressing their constituents’ concerns. He said that this attitude contrasts sharply with that of Prime Minister Robert Abela and Deputy Prime Minister Ian Borg, “who meet and speak to people every day with humility and a spirit of political service”.
“Politics must be driven by listening to people, serving with a sense of humility, and solving people’s problems, not mocking those who seek assistance,” he said.
“So much for the jacket, the handbag, and the driver, if there’s no actual contact, constituency work or empathy, particularly with those downtrodden PL supporters who have learned nothing but Viva Labour from birth.”
“However, they are now surrounded by insensitive people who can’t feel the public pulse.”
And with the PL now approaching its thirteenth year in government, Grixti warned that many current PL politicians don’t even know what it’s like to be in Opposition.
“They found everything ready for them, they want to humiliate their predecessors and receive high wages and they feel comfortable spitting in the air only for it to land in the party’s face,” he said.
“That’s what happens when candidates are detached from people and end up in Parliament without knocking on a single door. There needs to be a serious post-mortem. To love the PL, you must first be a Labourite, and not vice versa.”
Grixti served as a PL MP between 2017 and 2021, when he resigned after he was implicated in a social benefits scandal, to which he is pleading not guilty.
Photo: Silvio Grixti