Guernsey Press

Spending pressures mounting

NEXT year’s Budget will be a fractious affair.

Published

Set against extreme economic uncertainty as a result of the UK political scene and Brexit, spending pressures are in danger of exploding after years of restraint.

Policy & Resources president Gavin St Pier laid bare the realities being faced by his committee as other members seek to prise open the purse strings. On his desk are bids from committees for £33m. more than is expected to be available in 2020. On top of that, decisions are still to be made about a multi-million pound increase in spending on drugs and treatments being tabled by Health & Social Care. So now comes the balancing act.

Committees have been asked to review their own revenue streams, which in reality means looking at charging the public and business more.

P&R also has its eyes on effectively dipping into the capital reserve, or at least setting aside even less money than it should to ensure Guernsey’s infrastructure is adequate.

It can do this because of this Assembly’s abject failure to see spades in the grounds on large scale projects, so the pool of money is growing but going nowhere.

We can also expect action towards selling major properties that are no longer needed with a pledge to move all staff out of Swissville and Lukis House before the end of this term. A desire to get rid of these premises is not new – the progress in rationalising the States property portfolio is another black mark against this Assembly.

All committee presidents met earlier this week to look collectively at the bids being made. But they have now been told that it is inevitable that not all service developments will go ahead in 2020.

P&R has pledged not to roll back on the need for restraint or slacken the pace of transformation of public services. But the reality is that the pace of reform has already slowed. Savings promised this year from digital transformation and a reduction in public service posts have simply not materalised.

The consequence of that, allied to States members' desire to spend more, will be a hit to everyone’s back pocket through new or increased taxes in 2020.