Time is running out for anti-discrimination law - Bury

Employment & Social Security has not given up hope of outlawing discrimination based on age, sex, pregnancy and maternity, marital status and gender reassignment, which was initially planned for this year.

But ESS member Tina Bury told the latest Guernsey Press Politics Podcast that she was increasingly worried that the proposals would not be finalised before the end of the States term in June 2025.

‘One of the things that is concerning me is phase two of the discrimination legislation,’ she said.

• Listen to the full interview with Deputy Tina Bury on the latest Guernsey Press Politics Podcast

‘A year is not very long. Work is under way, but I think there is quite a lot of work.

‘I would like to see that progress, whether or not it actually gets to the floor of the States and votes are taken. That is still our intention, but we’ve been honest that resources are tight and we are definitely up against it.’

Phase one of the law, which came into force in October last year, made it illegal to discriminate based on disability, race, carer status, sexual orientation and religious belief.

Another phase, which includes equal pay for work of equal value, has already been deferred until the next States term.

In the interview, Deputy Bury also predicted that the current States would fail to agree how to fund long-term nursing care and how to plug an annual deficit in public finances estimated at up to £100m. by 2040.

However, she said the Assembly, which was elected in October 2020, had become more constructive over the past few months.

‘I have been disappointed at the divisive nature of this States – the tribalism and playing the man, not the ball,’ she said.

‘Actually, I think in the last little while, perhaps the last year or so, you have started to see amendments on the floor of the House with a proposer and seconder that maybe a couple of years ago you wouldn’t have expected even to see speaking to each other.

‘Those things do seem to have shifted and we have started to see more of what I like to see, which is just getting together on the subjects where you agree, and politely disagreeing on the things where you don’t.’

Deputy Bury voted against a goods and services tax earlier this term, but told the podcast the island would probably need it in the future.

The former Policy & Resources Committee was forced out of office in December after the States repeatedly rejected its proposals for a 5% GST.

‘I think GST is probably inevitable,' said Deputy Bury. 'I don’t think that we’re such a unique economy as all the other places in the world that have such a thing.

‘I never said I was anti-GST and I’m actually not anti-GST, but I want to make sure that everything else is done first.

‘I wanted to be making sure that before we continue to tax our individuals, we’re getting as much in tax as we should be from businesses that benefit from being here.’