States cannot return to the old ways

Guernsey had for the last decade or so been tweaking and tinkering with the consensus model of government, but each iteration has done little to increase faith that the States is working efficiently and pushing well-tested policy through in a timely manner.

The work of the Civil Contingencies Authority will be an elixir to those who support a more executive style of running the island. They will point to swift decision making that has won public approval, the soap opera taken out of proceedings.

But can a model that works well in the opening throes of a health crisis be just as adept when it comes to managing the long-term economic recovery when competing interests come to the fore?

This week the States will pass legislation that will give it an unprecedented further year in office.

As a body it was deeply unpopular, scarred with divisions and personality politics, with some damning reports into the governance being shown in certain areas.

None of those shortcomings have gone away because of what has happened in the last two months, even if the few politicians currently in the public eye have done much to reassure islanders.

At some point there will need to be a transition away from CCA and the emergency powers it is operating under, what that cannot mean is simply going back down into the same problems that were so evident before.

There will be £500m. of borrowing, half of which is earmarked for the economic recovery – that is a massive responsibility.

The States will need to be operating on many more fronts than it is now, balancing competing interests while also reviewing and learning lessons from what has gone right in the past few weeks, and what has not. Remember that things like Brexit are still looming large and need to be managed at a time of strain.

As the island is released from lockdown, it is an unpalatable thought that we will simply return to the same old ways of government.