Partnership of Independents to ‘consider next steps’
ONE OF Guernsey’s political parties is assessing its future at the same time as one of its own members said that the party had, from his perspective, ‘served its purpose’.
The Guernsey Partnership of Independents was formed before last year’s election, under the banner ‘move forward together’.
Deputy Gavin St Pier, leader of the group, said they would be meeting to discuss their next phase.
‘Having just passed a year since the formation of the Guernsey Partnership of Independents ahead of last year’s general election, the nine members of the partnership in the States will take the opportunity over the Assembly’s recess to consider the next steps.’
Jonathan Le Tocq, a member of the partnership, said on social media that he would be leaving the party if it was not wound up.
He added that he was clear when he joined it that his main reason for doing so was to promote and support the brand new candidates, and if he had been in a similar place in 2000, when he was first elected, he would not have been successful without an association with others.
The Partnership of Independents came in for some criticism in the States meeting last month when Deputy Rob Prow called it ‘opaque’, and he questioned how the party operated and organised itself on States debates.
It followed Deputy St Pier’s comments in a Guernsey Press column about the Guernsey Party and the unofficial ‘Van Party’ – which Deputy Prow said did not exist – and perceptions of an orchestrated, whipped vote.
Analysis of voting patterns in the new States has shown that the Guernsey Partnership of Independents is more fractured than the Guernsey Party and the ‘Van Party’.
Deputies Heidi Soulsby, Jonathan Le Tocq and Al Brouard have sometimes voted with the so-called coalition.
In last year’s general election, the Partnership of Independents fielded 21 candidates, including many new faces and former politicians attempting a comeback, and 10 were elected.
Deputy Yvonne Burford resigned her membership after she was elected as president of the Scrutiny Management Committee.
