P&R loses currency when it matters most
IT IS often the job of Policy & Resources to have its foot on the brake.
Every year it will be negotiating budgets with committees, trying to ensure spending plans deliver value for money, trying to prioritise and focus minds.
Sometimes this has left the senior committee isolated, so at odds with the mood of the Assembly.
That was true again at the start of this States meeting, where it found itself opposing £26m. plans to replace the ageing Dairy.
It can be lonely at the top, they say, but each defeat like this picks away at the political influence that the holders of the purse strings have.
It was as overwhelming as it was obvious and P&R’s only saving grace was at least it is keeping a consistent line – Covid-19 has altered the spending landscape and everything needs to be looked at again through that lens.
It does not like, and nor has any of its predecessors, committees jumping the gun and getting their projects before the States ahead of others that may later be seen as more important.
The failure of this argument was resounding – in the background is the fact that the States’ capital programme was failing to deliver even before an economic crisis made it even more important.
Given the opportunity to progress a project that is vital for the survival of the dairy industry, those that want to see action easily won out.
Next week the Scrutiny Committee is set to publish a report about States capital spending. More than half of the original bond money remains unspent. Capital spending was down year on year in 2019, vastly shy of what has been put aside, and a high proportion of it was on maintenance rather than meaningful investment. That is not a good background from which to launch a recovery package.
P&R lost political currency over the dairy, it is doubtful it was worth it.
There is still time to effect change before the general election, the island cannot afford for the States to go into its shell and for divisions to stymie progress where it is so desperately needed.
This is not the time for P&R to become detached, but to lead with authority.