Still time for population rules review

What began as murmurs of concern about the impact on short-term workers as the new population management law got under way at the start of April, appear to have grown louder – to the extent that we are now hearing calls from both leading industry and political representatives for an urgent change in thinking.

Policy & Resources is under a direction to report back early in 2019 on how the law is operating.

It is unlikely that will be soon enough for the likes of the Confederation of Guernsey Industry, or the hotels, restaurants and other businesses that are struggling to recruit and therefore operate successfully. They want a big bang approach.

Economic Development will win sympathy with its move to bring back the nine months on, three months off licences that had become embedded under the former regime.

Even before these latest concerns, the argument for change to the new controls – that these workers would all be gaining residency rights and needed to be controlled – had a whiff of being based on theory rather than cold reality.

The other argument for the new short-term regime – where people can accumulate up to five years and then have to leave – was largely based around keeping things neat, tidy and fair.

Yet businesses that are struggling may well feel that the new law is far from fair for them.

Home Affairs has said that it is not solely about the population law changes, with the impact of Brexit and the value of the pound also at play.

It has now called for employers to air their views through the panel that helps oversee the operation of the law.

The States should not fear acting quickly and decisively, even so early into the life of the new controls, if the evidence that damage is being done to the economy is there.

If the wider European picture, which was not so evident when the regime was agreed, is making the island less attractive, that may well need to be countered and this is one tool to do that.