St Pier working on forming new political party for next year
THE leader of the party which won the most seats at the last general election has held talks about forming a new group for next year’s election.
The Partnership of Independents secured 10 seats in October 2020 but broke up shortly afterwards. A successor organisation, Future Guernsey, was recently removed from the official register of parties at the Greffe.
But Gavin St Pier has been working on a new project ahead of the second island-wide general election next June.
‘Many people I’ve reached out to have confided that they are fearful for Guernsey’s future without political change. We will be failing if we ignore the clear concerns being expressed by the electorate,’ he said.
‘For now, my focus is on a future grounded in coherent and deliverable policies built by islanders and for islanders. We expect to be able to say more in the coming months.’
Several deputies who were rumoured to be in talks about setting up a different party, but who dismissed the rumours as false, claimed that Deputy St Pier was recruiting candidates and supporters for another bid to establish party politics in the island.
The Guernsey Press understands that most of the talks held so far have not included other deputies.
Several States members elected under the Partnership of Independents banner four years ago have already said they will stand as independents in 2025.
But Deputy St Pier continued to see parties or groups of one form or another as necessary to improve government locally.
He believed that the majority of people saw local politics as ‘systematically dysfunctional’. He claimed that island-wide voting, which he described as ‘a nightmare for voters to navigate’, had made the problems worse.
‘The feedback I receive from the community is that people desperately want a government led by policy rather than personality,’ he said.
‘They are asking for accountability, leadership and vision, all of which is impossible in the States Assembly as it currently stands.’
Recent amendments to campaign spending rules will make it harder for parties to communicate with voters during the next year’s election.
The States agreed in May that a party should be permitted to spend up to £12,000 on its election campaign. But four months later it cut the cap to £3,000, a third of the limit imposed in 2020, even before taking into account inflation since then.
Deputy St Pier claimed the move was partly driven by a desire ‘to strangle the possible development of any political parties’ and predicted that independent election observers would criticise the restrictions on candidates after next June’s contest.
But it looks unlikely to deter him from pressing ahead with a party or electoral grouping.
‘I have made no secret of my view that I think we would benefit from politics based around a group, precisely because that group could commit to clearly articulated policies,’ he said.
‘Voters would then have the clarity and accountability they are asking for.
‘Only with clear vision can we create a government which will deliver widespread prosperity for all, and tackle the community’s challenges, particularly those faced by the next generation.’
