Last summer’s election was widely seen as a swing against deputies who had supported GST and the majority of successful candidates were seen to be against it.
On the eve of the first GST debate of the political term, Deputy Liam McKenna, pictured, said he was trying to overturn support from GST-plus in the last States ‘to win for Guernsey’.
‘We’ve been shown evidence of where it’s gone wrong and yet we’re walking blindly into a catastrophe and I’m begging, begging the deputies who stood on a manifesto of no GST to be true to their word,’ he said.
‘They’ve told 7, 8, 9,000 voters that’s what they believed in and the voters have believed in them. Don’t stab the people of Guernsey in the back. If you’ve stood on a “No to GST” election on your manifesto, stick to your word.’
Hear more from Deputy McKenna on the latest Guernsey Press Politics Podcast
He said that he was being told that he would get fewer than a dozen votes from political colleagues in support of his amendment this week.
‘If that’s the case, it means people have not told the truth on their manifesto book. They have lied to the people of Guernsey because it’s only been six, seven months in the election.
‘The system is still broken and the platform they stood on with their reasons of why they would vote no GST are still as relevant today as they were then.
‘If they don’t vote the way they stood on their manifesto booklet, then I think it’s a question they should be asked.’
Deputy McKenna said that he was trying to stop the island ‘going over the edge of a cliff’ in his steadfast opposition to the tax, and highlighted evidence of millions wasted by the States in recent years.
He has been accused of failing to come up with alternatives to raise the millions needed to plug the hole in States finances.
‘You can only stop something going over the edge of the cliff.
‘When you see this danger, you go, please, please, stop,’ he said.
‘Our children and grandchildren are leaving Guernsey and you can’t tax a generation that no longer lives here.
‘We’re given relocation packages to people to come in and work in Guernsey, but there’s no location packages for our community to stay.
‘If I sit here and promise the earth, it’s a false promise. Fixing our broken system, where the taps are running 24 hours a day and we’re losing millions, will save us hundreds of millions and that would be an achievement.’
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