Presidents are all new, but all familiar faces
A FACTORY reset has been carried out on the new States with new presidents for all of the senior committees.
The winning leaders, who included Neil Inder, Andrea Dudley-Owen, Peter Roffey and Al Brouard, were all deputies in the previous States.
Newcomer Andrew Taylor was the only new kid on the block who attempted a shot at a top job, but he was unsuccessful.
Four of the eight women in the new Assembly won senior positions.
The meeting was deferred until tomorrow, with three presidencies still up for grabs, including the States’ Trading Supervisory Board, which is the target of Deputy Gavin St Pier, the former Policy & Resources leader.
Deputy Inder led the charge against the old guard when he took on Deputy Charles Parkinson for the presidency of Economic Development, and he was successful by 20 votes to 18.
In his pitch Deputy Inder called for a big shake-up of VisitGuernsey, and he wanted to give more taxpayers’ money to the finance industry.
‘We have a job under our mandate to promote the finance industry.
‘At the moment we spend £2.4m. plus costs on VisitGuernsey, we invest £1.5m. in Guernsey Finance, and what we need to do is work with them, reinvest in them, give them the ability to work in the geographic locations, and for them to develop products, and I would be throwing money immediately into Guernsey Finance, because without the finance sector we’re in an awful lot of trouble.’
The leader of Guernsey’s fight against the pandemic at the helm of Health & Social Care will be Deputy Al Brouard, even though he stood for the role ‘reluctantly’ and had ‘cobbled’ a speech together.
He sounded frustrated that there were no other strong contenders for this important position.
‘I would have liked to have delivered to you a well-crafted speech this afternoon as a candidate, but there’s just not been time.
‘All things being equal I wouldn’t be here, but I noticed there was an empty space at the table at St Pierre Park on Sunday when we all met together and someone had to step up to the plate, and I just couldn’t leave Health & Social Care without anybody, so I’m here.’
The leader of the successful ‘pause and review’ of the two-school model was the single candidate for the presidency of Education, Sport & Culture.
Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen vowed to bring people together and tackle the island’s burning issue.
‘This is no poisoned chalice, it never has been, and I will work hard to show this to be true this term.
‘We all need to pull together on this quickly in order to deliver a resolution that Guernsey has too long awaited.’
The most hotly-contested race was for the presidency of Environment & Infrastructure, with three candidates.
Keen environmentalist Deputy Lindsay de Sausmarez saw off competition from Deputies David De Lisle and Deputy Taylor after she told the States that E&I had a vital role to play in the Covid recovery strategy.
‘Environmental and economic benefits are often mutually inclusive, areas such as green finance, eco tourism, renewable energy, sustainable farming, and the green and blue economies for example, are exactly the areas that we should be sharpening our focus on.’
At other committees, Deputy Rob Prow became the new president of Home Affairs, Deputy Yvonne Burford clinched the top spot at Scrutiny Management, and Deputy Carl Meerveld is the head of the States’ Assembly & Constitution Committee.
Presidents at a glance
Economic Development – Deputy Neil Inder
Education, Sport & Culture – Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen
Employment & Social Security – Deputy Peter Roffey
Environment & Infrastructure – Deputy Lindsay de Sausmarez
Health & Social Care – Deputy Al Brouard
Home Affairs – Deputy Rob Prow
Scrutiny Management – Deputy Yvonne Burford
Development & Planning Authority – Deputy Victoria Oliver
States’ Assembly and Constitution Committee – Deputy Carl Meerveld
