£500m. virus response split into two amounts

Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen was successful with an amendment to add more checks and balances to the borrowing so that taxpayers’ money could not be squandered.

The amendment also demanded that Policy & Resources should provide detail about how the debt mountain would be repaid.

States members voted by 25 to 14 in favour of the amendment, reflecting the majority view that while borrowing was needed, it should not be a decision rushed through on the nod and in the dark.

There was a lot of debate about who would receive the £250m., and there was a consensus that it should go into the pockets of individuals and businesses who need it.

Deputy Lester Queripel felt that P&R had put a gun to his head, and he wanted more specifics before taking a ‘gamble’ and handing a legacy of debt to the next political Assembly.

‘Do we even need all of this money? Where is the proof? Where are the details telling us where it’s needed and where it’s going to be spent?’

Highlighting environmental and social issues, Deputy Lindsay de Sausmarez urged her colleagues not to focus purely on the fiscal, and consider the bigger picture.

‘When we take the environmental context into consideration, many of the things that will achieve our environmental aspirations will of course act as an economic stimulus, and the same goes for social considerations as well.’

Policy & Resources had wanted permission to pursue the £500m. in one swoop.

Deputy Jane Stephens, one of its members, said separating the sum into two chunks would slow the process.

‘I’ve got a feeling that there is a strong likelihood that two tranches of borrowing will come at a cost.

‘I think the amendment will add cost and difficulty to achieving the sums that we need.’

That view was echoed by P&R president Gavin St Pier, who tried to call upon the Guernsey versus Jersey rivalry to persuade deputies to back him.

Jersey States has already approved massive borrowing, and Deputy St Pier did not want the sister isle to steal a march.

‘If businesses are faced with a choice we want them to choose this Bailiwick as their Channel Island base.

‘And if we want that we must have, and show we have, confidence.

‘Our Bailiwick’s handling of this crisis has been widely praised by business leaders across the islands, we must not squander that intangible value which has the potential to be a real asset in our recovery.’

But Deputy St Pier did not manage to convince his colleagues, and in the end States members voted for a slightly more cautious type of confidence.

The debate will resume this morning to consider a few more amendments and then the final propositions of the policy letter.

How they voted ...

... on Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen’s amendment to separate the £500m. borrowing into two tranches

FOR: Deputies Peter Ferbrache, Rhian Tooley, John Gollop, Lester Queripel, Marc Leadbeater, Joe Mooney, Paul Le Pelley, Jennifer Merrett, Carl Meerveld, Neil Inder, Mary Lowe, Laurie Queripel, Jeremy Smithies, Sarah Hansmann-Rouxel, Barry Paint, Mark Dorey, Andrea Dudley-Owen, Emilie McSwiggan, David De Lisle, Shane Langlois, Lindsay de Sausmarez, Rob Prow and Victoria Oliver and Alderney representatives Steve Roberts and Alex Snowdon. Total: 25

AGAINST: Deputies Dawn Tindall, Barry Brehaut, Charles Parkinson, Michelle Le Clerc, Lyndon Trott, Gavin St Pier, Jane Stephens, Matt Fallaize, Richard Graham, Chris Green, Jonathan Le Tocq, Al Brouard, Heidi Souslby, and Peter Roffey. Total: 14