Guernsey Press

One political group not enough for deputy as he joins another

A FOUNDING member of the Islanders Association has joined the new 2020 Association.

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Deputy Carl Meerveld. (Picture by Peter Frankland)

Carl Meerveld is still on the executive committee of the Islanders Association, which was formed in March and helped get island-wide voting passed in October’s referendum.

However, he has confirmed he has also signed up as a member of the new 2020 Association, which was set up last week by former members of the Islanders' executive committee.

Deputy Meerveld said there was not a conflict in being part of both groups.

‘One of the differences between us and how parties operate in the UK, is that in the UK if you are member of one, you can’t be a member of another,’ he said.

‘But we decided we did not want to function like that in Guernsey.’

He said both groups had similar policy ideas, such as diversifying the economy and cutting taxes.

‘We had different ideas of how things should be run and so they set up their own association to do it their own way, but we are like-minded people with similar ideas,’ he said.

He said he welcomed more groups being set up.

‘When we voted for island-wide voting, I was very clear on the message that I was expecting the formation of multiple groups,’ he said.

‘I expect between five and eight groups of candidates at the next election, and then maybe 10 or 12 independent candidates.’

He said the fact that deputies operated as individuals slowed down the States.

The States' Assembly & Constitution Committee’s responsibilities includes developing policies relating to how deputies are elected.

Sacc president Deputy Neil Inder said that over the last year there had been some stops and starts with parties and associations.

‘We are aware of the Islanders Association, there was some talk of a conservative-type party and recent news gives us this 2020 Association,’ he said.

‘As we move towards the general election more may appear, some more serious

than others.

‘The States' Assembly & Constitution Committee has, as one of its priorities, the investigation into how to manage the emergence of any party, how best to control its funding and use of that funding in the promotion of its candidates. It’s a large piece of work and we will be talking to Policy & Resources to make our case for the resources.’

He said the committee’s first job would be to establish the definition of a party.