Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1295200
9 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 7 OCTOBER 2020 ANALYSIS questionable track record. Sending the message that Labour is more hawkish on migration than Grech's PN risks sounding like an invitation to the PN's hard-right to join Labour. It also expos- es contradictions in Labour with Ab- ela's own chief of staff Clyde Caruana having been a strong advocate of im- porting foreign labour to prop up the Muscat economic model. Labour not only opened the country to 65,000 legal foreign workers but also includes left- wing elements who shun Abela's divi- sive language on the issue. By lashing out at Grech because of his presumed views on immigration rath- er than on his conservatism and vague social and economic policies, Labour comes across as crass and all too willing to appeal to prejudice. 5. Labour's antipathy towards the so- called Busuttil faction is less effective now that the former opposition leader has been partly vindicated Labour has over the past years banked on the antipathy generated by the PN's more intransigent elements, whose anti-corruption drive masked a sense of entitlement deployed in equal dos- es against anyone remotely associated with Labour and against Delia, who was unfairly portrayed as Labour's useful id- iot. Labour may well be more effective by lashing at Grech's tax debacle, which exposed the double standards of those who were unforgiving with Labour and Delia, but were all too willing to white- wash Grech's sins. But with judicial probes beefing a number of allegations made by Simon Busuttil before the 2017 electoral cam- paign, Labour's demonization of the former PN leader is losing its potency. M.O.R. voters may be more inclined now to give Busuttil credit for exposing Mizzi and Schembri before the election, especially in a situation where Abela himself is distancing himself from his predecessor's legacy. 6. By going overboard against Grech, the PL risks confirming that he repre- sents a threat to its hold on power Labour warned that "with Bernard Grech, the PN goes back to the policies of yesterday of higher utility bills, a mi- gration policy where everyone is let in, and an inferiority complex before for- eign countries where Malta bows down to all others say". This sounds like a caricature of a rival who is perceived as a more effective threat to Labour's hegemony than Delia ever was. Such a strong premature reaction fuels ru- mours of an imminent general election, something that may sound off-putting to voters preoccupied by COVID-19. Labour may be trying to nip Grech in the bud before he gains traction in the polls and be in a position to start the long march to recovery. But in doing so Labour may end up strengthening Grech as a unifying force in his party. Ultimately this depends on Grech's actions in the next few days where he is expected to articulate a vision which appeals beyond the restricted constitu- ency of older PN members, mostly hail- ing from PN leaning localities. Inelegant and toxic