Debate on the plan opened yesterday and started with discussion of an amendment from Deputy Haley Camp which asked for there to be commentary on its progress in delivering support to the island’s economic capacity and competitiveness, any trade-offs that might affect economic growth, resilience or productivity, and how it had balanced economic considerations alongside the delivery of its various ‘super-priorities’.
Deputy Neil Inder, while supporting the amendment, took the opportunity to speak on the plan as a whole.
He said that he had no issue with the plan’s five ‘super priorities’ – delivering tax reform, starting work on Leale’s Yard, agreeing on a sustainable health and care system, improving early years provision and support for families, and deciding and designing the future of the island’s harbours.
But he said one key issue that should have been a super priority was government efficiency and its delivery, which were issues that had come up often in the run-up to last year’s general election.
And on top of that, were the five existing issues affordable, or even deliverable? He could not back the plan as it stood, he said.
‘This is la la land, certainly,’ he said.
Nobody voted against Deputy Camp’s amendment, although Economic Development committee president Sasha Kazantseva-Miller said she was a bit concerned that it did not provide any framework or tools to show how the elements referred to would be measured.
She did not think the internal tools existed to enable objective commentary to be provided on the elements highlighted, and a lot more needed to be done if this was to happen.
Deputy Jayne Ozanne said the amendment showed that the States would be open about any trade-offs that might occur.
But it also illustrated a new way of working, that the government would respond to criticism rather than deflect it, and embrace feedback as opposed to being defensive.
The amendment was seconded by P&R president Deputy Lindsay de Sausmarez, who said she was slightly more optimistic than Deputy Kazantseva-Miller.
She said the States would not get its hands on the tools or embrace the framework unless it tried to do it: ‘To me, this amendment is a real enabler in moving us further along,’ she said.
The amendment was passed unanimously, with 37 votes in favour.
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