Red tape must not tie up recovery

The dangers, outside the obvious health risks, include the resetting of all known parameters.

The seismic shock of Covid-19 and the lockdown has shaken the economy and government so violently that all precedents and planning come with the footnote *subject to change following the 2020 pandemic.

From employment to housing via education, social policy and climate change there is no area of government where the ground has not moved and data is still reliable and informative.

All plans are in limbo and all trends irrelevant as the tsunami that is Covid-19 leaves the past in its wake.

Even in those few crevices of government left relatively untouched by the lockdown and the ‘new normal’, the temptation to use the pandemic as an excuse for all delay, all overspends, all miscommunications and mistakes will be catnip to States committees.

No one can be held accountable for anything as the clocks have been reset and the past is now BC – Before Coronavirus.

The danger is that the shock will bring government to a sudden halt. Committees will all go into a lengthy review mode at the same time and then begin the painstaking process of rebuilding plans and strategies at the glacial pace with which the islands have become familiar.

That cannot happen. Rapid recovery of a shattered economy will require decisive, pro-active government, not the procrastination of the last four years.

Therein lies the opportunity.

By using the force majeure of the pandemic to cut through the red tape, the States can slim down the decision-making process and get a government fit to spend £500m. only on what is needed.

Such planning need not be done by a body as small as the Civil Contingencies Authority. That would struggle to take on all aspects of government.

But neither can the familiar 38-person talking shop be allowed to return in all its glory and straitjacket the States at a time when it can least afford it. A middle ground must be found.