Deputy Andy Sloan’s move is actually a more modest version of one he tried at the 2026 Budget debate last winter – but this time he is looking for a freeze in real term, allowing for inflation increases, rather than a hard and fast freeze as he previously promoted.
Deputy Sloan would pull in both general revenue spending and spending on pensions and other benefits from social security funds. He said he believed that most islanders would support the proposal.
‘The public are demanding that the States start looking at the spending side of the equation, but there doesn’t seem to be a culture of spending constraint in our government. If we can’t even cap our spending in real terms for three years when we are bringing in a new tax, it would be feeble. We’ve got to get a grip,’ he said.
‘The States can’t keep deferring spending control.’
It is possible that the impact on the States pension would be the most controversial element of that package, particularly with the cost of providing rising because the formula used to set the pension is slightly more generous than inflation, and that the number of pensioners is increasing.
But Deputy Sloan said that pensions can’t continue to be treated as a sacred cow.
‘I am not trying to win a popularity contest here. We’ve got to look at pensions – they are one of the biggest drivers of spending. But what I am talking about is capping spending across all areas, so it might go up in some areas and down in others. I know it can be done, because States spending stayed the same in real terms between 2009 and 2013.’
Asked if it would be hard to restrain spending on healthcare with an ageing population, Deputy Sloan said that excuse was used too often.
‘The increase in health spending is not all about demographics. There are 50% more medical staff now than there was less than 30 years ago. Health spending is another area which definitely needs to be controlled.’
He said that the States had never recovered from what appeared to be a spike in States’ spending during the Covid pandemic but that it never went down as much as it should have once that crisis had passed.’