Only a dozen members voted in favour of Option A, which offered a 1% real-terms spending cut across committee budgets in a £700m. spending package, and then opposed Option B, which added an extra £15.7m in committee spending, representing a real-terms increase of 1.3% year-on-year.
One of them, Deputy Lee Van Katwyk, said that he had really wanted to support Option B, and deliver services that islanders need and want, but said, ‘we’re a small island and we have to be pragmatic’.
‘We’ve over-invested in our civil service, over-invested in our services, and under-invested in the infrastructure that we’ve got,’ he said.
‘As a new deputy I refuse to be swept away with the spending tsunami and really do ask everybody to change the tune. Now is the time to show the public that we can have fiscal restraint.’
The political party Forward Guernsey supported Option A, and then abstained in the vote on Option B.
It had put forward what it described as a halfway house Option C proposal but that had already been rejected by deputies.
Member Sally Rochester said that the party had voted in line with its manifesto commitment to introduce a 1% reduction in baseline spending for each year from 2026. She said that Option C, which was defeated by 12 votes to 26, would have offered the opportunity to hold the 2027 Budget at the same level as 2026 in real terms and allow time to secure the overall savings of 3% across three years, rather than cutting 1% a year, a Forward Guernsey proposal that has now been formally dropped by the States.
‘The party are proud to have played a part in shaping both of the options presented by the Policy & Resources Committee to the States and the inclusion within the final resolutions of a requirement to strive to deliver savings of £20m by 2029.
‘Even though the lower budget was not approved by the States, Forward Guernsey have been instrumental in delivering financial restraint through this Budget through shaping P&R’s proposition 17 and delivering the lowest increase in year-on-year budget in recent times.
‘This is another demonstration that party politics can deliver on manifesto commitments and shape government policy.’
You need to be logged in to comment.