[WATCH] Prime Minister dubs Cardona’s ministry move ‘a cost-cutting measure’

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had very few words to say about his deputy leader’s decision to relocate the Ministry for the Economy from Valletta to Hamrun, a few doors down from Labour’s Mile End headquarters.

In hurried comments as he was walking out of the Exchange Buildings in Valletta, Muscat rubbished suggestions that the move had anything to do with the Labour Party’s preparations for the 2018 general elections.

Economy Minister Chris Cardona was elected Labour’s deputy leader for party affairs last year, in an election where he promised the party would turn back its focus to the delegates, as well as continue “building bridges”. Several grassroots activists had complained that the Labour Party had sidelined them, once the party was elected to power.  

“I think it’s a cost-cutting measure,” Muscat told MaltaToday this afternoon, dodging a pointed question on the location being so close to the party’s headquarters.

MaltaToday on Sunday revealed that the Economy Ministry will be renting and moving in the building currently occupied by the Broadcasting Authority, which in turn is planning a move to Valletta.

The economy ministry is currently split across a number of offices in Valletta and Marsa, although doubts have been raised about whether the BA building is big enough to house the ministry’s employees.