Sir Bob Neill said he was prepared to deliver tough feedback across Guernsey, Alderney and Sark, if required.
Three members of the five-strong commission, which is reviewing the legislative, operational and economic ties between the three islands, are paying their first visit to the islands to meet residents over the coming week as they begin their work.
Sir Bob, a former Conservative MP from 2006 to 2024, said he had visited the island many times in his role as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State.
He said the commission had the potential to make significant change.
‘None of us will be spending our time simply doing a tick-box exercise,’ he said.
‘If the recommendations are strong, and then if your elected politicians take them up and run with them, then it can produce real difference.
‘I hope that if we get these things right, we can improve the delivery of public services in the islands.
‘Potentially, those who are paying their taxes here will feel that they’re getting the maximum result for what they pay for.
‘I hope it will find means in which we can strengthen the community within the three islands, and also the way they operate with the UK as well.’
All five members of the panel come from outside the Bailiwick and Sir Bob said he believed that would prove to be one of its strengths.
‘We are all independent of the islands, and one of the reasons why it was decided we should be independent is that we are able to speak frankly.
‘We can say this is what we find on the evidence and here’s our recommendations.
‘We’re not dictating what the outcome is. It’s down to the decision-makers in all three of the islands across the Bailiwick as a democracy to take them up and run with them or not. But there’s no point not grasping the nettle and being frank with these things.’
The commission has been given 18 months and a £500,000 budget, almost entirely funded by Guernsey’s Policy & Resources Committee, to review the relationship between the three Bailiwick islands.
A final report is expected by the end of September 2027.
Sir Bob said that the commission’s work would be a collaborative process and its best chance of producing a worthwhile report was to hear the views of everyone, not just the island’s politicians.
‘We’ve got an online survey on our dedicated website and people can send views by email as well.
‘We’re holding meetings for members of the public in each of the three islands on this trip, so we want to hear from people face-to-face,’ he said.
n The Commission’s public survey is open until 15 May and can be found at gov.gg/bailiwickcommission-survey.
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