P&R boss publishes video blog about Budget

Guernsey’s most senior politician will be recording a series of short video clips giving the community his take on various matters relating to the work of the Policy & Resources Committee.

In the first of the series, Deputy St Pier deals with the subject of the Budget, something which he said he is used to being criticised for.

‘This will be the seventh States budget I have had the responsibility of leading, so I am used to being criticised for all its contents,’ he said.

‘I’ve had my picture put on petrol pumps, I have been called the ‘‘thief in the night’’ and I am sure much worse on social media – that absolutely goes with the territory.

‘Of course the reality is for anybody who has ever constructed any kind of budget, there are always constraints.’

Deputy St Pier said when making budgets there is rarely enough money to meet demands, and the States is no different.

‘That will lead to some interesting conversations with political colleagues, to better understand what their priorities and pressure points really are,’ he said.

‘We also have decisions of the States which have already been made.

‘For example, the medium term financial plan has determined that by 2021, we will be raising an additional £14m. a year in revenue and we will have reduced expenditure by £26m. each and every year.

‘We have had a decision of the States that seeks to double the value of domestic TRP on properties by 2025 and that means it will increase by at least 7.5% a year in the 10 years leading up to that point.’

Deputy St Pier then spoke about the challenge of fuel duty as technology changes.

‘With fuel duty we have a source of revenue that raises over £20m. a year to fund the public services that we all enjoy,’ he said.

‘But we face the challenge that consumption is falling, with alternative fuels coming online and as engines become more efficient.

‘So in the long term we know that that position is unsustainable, but in the short term we have the challenge that we need to continue to maintain the real value of that source of revenue, to sustain the public services for the community.

‘We also have the additional decisions to be made this year in relation to the surplus that we had in 2017, which was over £20m. and greater than we expected.

‘These are nice decisions to have.

‘In particular we need to make decisions on how much we should be putting back in to the reserves.

‘Also of course the question of how much we should give back to you [the public] through increased personal tax allowances.’

• The Budget will be published at the beginning of October.