P&R could face 19 Budget amendments

A dozen deputies, including former P&R member Deputy Mark Helyar, are making bids to change the package put forward by Deputy Lyndon Trott’s committee.

Their aim is broad – while some bid for the States to spend more, there are three proposals to save money, and there are plenty of structural changes which could threaten to derail the whole P&R proposal.

Most of the structural amendments have already been published or have been well-trailed – Deputy Roffey’s GST proposal, Deputy Helyar’s bid to hold committee spending at 2024 levels, and Deputy Charles Parkinson’s desire to see a territorial tax system investigated in time to be up and running by the year of charge 2026.

Deputy John Dyke has put forward two amendments – one to reduce committee budgets by some £28m. if Deputy Helyar’s near-£40m. proposal is unsuccessful, and another to cap growth in the public sector to just 20 posts in 2025.

‘Over the past 5 years FTE positions have increased by 374, of which 341 were for positions in health and social care services,’ he said.

‘The 2025 Budget makes provision for a further 80 FTE positions. This trend is unsustainable with States FTE headcount now in the process of exceeding numbers in the finance sector. A pause is called for, at least until adequate nursing and other key worker accommodation is made available to meet excess demand.’

Among the bids to raise revenue, Deputy Sasha Kazantseva-Miller is returning to a previous target with a bid to restructure fees and charges at the Guernsey Registry by some 20% from 2026. That move could raise just over £2m.

Deputy Sam Haskins has tabled a move to increase alcohol duty by 0.9% instead of freezing it. In some cases this will have no impact, as it would equate to less than a penny in duty, but it should raise in total £151,000, which is the cash that the Education, Sport & Culture Committee wants to enable St James to secure to continue operations.

That proposal from ESC is one of four moves to spend more or raise less – the others coming from Deputy Aidan Matthews with a proposal to stall the withdrawal of mortgage interest tax relief, Deputy Haskins tweaking proposals for a tax-free allowance on room rental in a household, and Deputy Roffey to spend more on maintenance of the island’s social housing stock.

The Budget debate starts on Tuesday 5 November.