LISTEN: Guernsey Party hopes to field more candidates

John Dyke was one of eight candidates to represent the party when standing in 2020, in the island’s first island-wide election, and was one of six to be elected, attracting support from 33% of those who voted.

The parliamentary party has since lost Deputy Chris Le Tissier, who resigned following controversy over his use of social media.

However, current members include the Policy & Resources treasury lead Deputy Mark Helyar, Economic Development’s tourism lead Deputy Simon Vermeulen and the vice-president of Education, Sport & Culture, Deputy Bob Murray, along with Deputy Nick Moakes.

It is also the only remaining party in Guernsey politics, after the dissolution of the Guernsey Partnership of Independents and the failure of the Alliance Party to win any seats.

Deputy John Dyke joined St Andrew’s senior constable Martin Thwaite to talk about a range of issues on the latest Guernsey Press Politics Podcast:

Deputy Dyke said the party still meets regularly and has members outside of its parliamentary representatives.

‘I think it’s a success,’ he said, ‘we have people who do research for us and help us along with ideas.’

He said the party was not ‘tightly whipped’ and did not agree on everything but coalesced around a belief in small government and prudent spending, with an emphasis on individual freedoms.

‘We’re open to new members, if anyone wants to join,’ he said.

‘What I’d like to see with the party is it continuing into the next election, ideally with more candidates. I mean, we started from nothing.’

He said the disadvantage of having a majority of candidates standing as independents was that electors did not always know what they were voting for.

‘That, to me, is the advantage of parties,’ he said.

‘We’ll see how it goes.’

n Deputy Dyke was a guest on the latest Guernsey Press Politics Podcast, which is available from today.