[WATCH] Adrian Delia shuns resignation option as he reacts to dismal survey results

Adrian Delia has put up a brave face and acknowledged that the results of a MaltaToday poll putting his trust rating at the lowest level in two years should spur the party to embrace proposed reforms.

The work needed to change things has to intensify, the Nationalist Party leader said when asked by MaltaToday about the results. 

The opposition leader was asked to react to a survey released by MaltaToday on Sunday, in which Delia only managed to achieve a 13.5% trust rating when compared to Prime Minister Robert Abela. 

“The reforms we have been preparing need to be carried out even more swiftly,” Delia said.

He added that the message people were sending through the survey had to be understood, conceding that the result is worrying for him and the party. 

The survey shows that the political turmoil of recent months have not resulted in any shift towards the PN.

Delia was asked whether the survey result should lead to his resignation to make way for somebody else.

“As Opposition leader, I talk about resignations comfortably as I have demanded them from members of the government, but the survey is not showing any breach of ethics or illegality, it is showing that the message may not be getting through to the people,” he said. 

He also attributed Labour’s high ratings to the new leadership, stating that Robert Abela’s election as PM provided a new perspective for people. 

“We cannot stop with just analysing the surveys, we have to hit the ground running and start translating it into work,” he said. 

Several PN MPs were also asked to react to the survey results.

Gozitan MP Chris Said, who had contested the leadership election and lost out to Adrian Delia, said the results will be discussed internally, but insisted that it only gives a snapshot of the current situation. 

Deputy leader Robert Arrigo said that surveys do give a picture of the reality felt by people in the country, but insisted that the most important survey is the general election. 

Herman Schiavone said that while the result worries him, it would be wrong for the parliamentary group and party volunteers not to shoulder collective responsibility for the outcome.

Claudio Grech, who is among several MPs touted as a possible leadership candidate if a vacancy arises, refused to comment but insisted on party cohesion. 

“What I can say is that there is a collective effort towards making the PN a viable opposition,” he said.