I wasn’t wanted, says former Home member
HOME AFFAIRS president Rob Prow has said he is disappointed to lose ‘a highly valued and respected’ member of his committee, following the resignation of Marc Leadbeater at the weekend.
In announcing his resignation, Deputy Leadbeater claimed he had been ‘marginalised’ by Deputy Prow, who had not wanted him on his committee ‘right from the off’. He said he was extremely disappointed to have to leave the position, as he had the Home Affairs mandate ‘running through my DNA’.
Deputy Prow said he respected his colleague’s decision but could not hide his disappointment.
‘It is true that his personal business interests in the cannabis sector caused some concern among the committee, in terms of our work to review justice policy, and this was one of the factors which led to a committee majority decision to elect another member to work on the joint project board looking at non-punitive approaches to illegal drugs,’ Deputy Prow said.
‘While this was clearly not the outcome that Marc had hoped for, I believe as a committee we managed the potential conflict appropriately.’
Deputy Leadbeater, who wants to pursue rapid reform of the island’s ‘draconian drug laws’ said he did not feel he was conflicted from addressing the issue. He said it was an issue for him, not for Deputy Prow and the committee to decide.
The two, although they said they were friends and wished each other well, might be set to clash again politically next year.
Deputy Leadbeater has openly mooted a ‘long-overdue cannabis debate’ to the States in the first half of next year, and the publication of the justice review is due next summer.
‘It’s extremely disappointing that things have panned out the way they have, but that will not deter me from continuing to push for drug policy reform,’ he said.
Deputy Leadbeater was not proposed for Home Affairs by Deputy Prow 12 months ago, but secured a seat on the committee in the elections.
But he was not given any part of the committee’s mandate to lead on and said his skills and experience were unrecognised or ‘completely undervalued’.
Deputy Leadbeater retains a seat on Health & Social Care and said he remained fully supportive of all its ongoing work, including the delivery of the justice review, which includes the consideration of non-punitive approaches to the possession of small quantities of illegal drugs – identified as a priority under the Government Work Plan.
Deputy Leadbeater has said his departure from the committee will not affect his willingness to work collaboratively in other areas.
‘Setting aside the differences of opinion Deputy Prow and I have in respect of the treatment of those who use substances, I’m sure that we will remain good friends,’ he said in his resignation statement.
‘We worked closely together last term on population management, for example, and in many policy areas we are aligned.’
