Pledge to work with Jersey on handling of Covid
IT WAS in May that Peter Ferbrache uttered his bumbling idiots jibe at Jersey politicians on their handling of Covid-19 – yesterday, he was pledging to work with them on the crisis.
During the British-Irish Council summit press conference, Deputy Ferbrache and his counterpart in Jersey, John Le Fondre, were quizzed on whether they wish to work more collaboratively as the Channel Islands combat Covid-19.
The two islands have taken very different approaches to fighting the pandemic, with Guernsey imposing stricter controls on its borders than Jersey and everyday on-island life returning to normal after case numbers fell to zero.
Jersey, meanwhile, reopened the borders in July and has attempted to keep cases low with a comprehensive test and trace system, but still has restrictions and social distancing measures.
In May, Deputy Ferbrache was talking about the islands’ approaches: ‘Compare it to our neighbours 20 miles away where people I have been speaking to on legal matters and other matters that I am involved with call them a bunch of bumbling idiots compared with us.’
During the press conference, hosted by Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon, Deputy Ferbrache took a more conciliatory attitude toward Jersey’s politicians.
‘Of course we want to co-operate. We have had different polices in relation to how we deal with Covid-19 in Jersey and Guernsey,’ he said.
‘Jersey, I am sure, is happy with how theirs has worked and we are happy with how ours has worked. But the more collaborative we can be to deal with and address the problems of Covid – both the entry and the exit to our respective bailiwicks and the way it will continue to act, sadly, on our economies – going forward the better.’
Senator Le Fondre agreed that closer working ties were the way forward.
‘Peter and I have spoken on a number of occasions. I am looking forward to working with him in far more detail in the future,’ he said.
He added that Jersey has used the conference as an opportunity to speak to delegates about the island’s response to the crisis.
‘In relation to the benefit of today, it’s just great to have the exchange of information,’ he said.
‘From a Jersey perspective we have updated all the other representatives of the British-Irish Council on things like the stimulus package we have done, on the vouchers we have done, on our safe exit strategy, our border testing and internally our test and tracing scheme, which has received some very positive attention from outside the island. It’s been a good exchange of views and a good conference.’
Earlier this week, Deputy Ferbrache indicated that he would work with external relations lead Jonathan Le Tocq in dealing with Jersey.
‘He [Deputy Le Tocq] will continue to be our lead on external relations as he did before,’ he said in the States. ‘One thing though that he and I will do together is to liaise closely with Jersey and the Isle of Man to see where we can save costs, create synergies and pool resources. In practical terms that is more likely to be orientated towards our colleagues in Jersey, but we do not exclude any such opportunities with the Isle of Man.’
. Yesterday, Senator Le Fondre urged young people in Jersey to follow public health guidance and blamed them for the increased number of cases.
‘I want us to avoid draconian measures. We will not reintroduce any restrictions lightly. But we will act swiftly and in a targeted way if necessary,’ he said.
He admitted there were pockets of community transmission.
‘I want to stress that we are not talking about an outbreak or an epidemic. But we must take all possible steps now to prevent further spread.’
