Need to deliver where others have failed

If it is to stand any chance of turning that around to achieve growth figures needed that go beyond what was expected pre-pandemic, the States is going to have to change its spots.

This Assembly, like others before it, becomes paralysed in the face of tough or unpopular decisions, retreating to the comfort zone of more reports and more analysis.

That cannot be allowed to happen.

When you take the list of opportunities that Policy & Resources president Gavin St Pier outlined to the Chamber of Commerce lunch yesterday, what is most striking is the number of them that should have been resolved already.

Travel links are one element seen crucial to the revival, and that means deciding on what Aurigny is really for. It is wearingly familiar and a failure of this government not to have resolved it already.

Then there is the old chestnut of revamping the seafront from Havelet to the Bridge.

This has been in the sights of the policy makers since mid-2000 when the ‘Little Venice’ reclamation scheme jolted people’s senses.

This term we have heard talk of spades in the ground, but the reality of that is the only spades being used were those of volunteers to tidy up and refresh areas that the States had long neglected.

We know that plenty of people can talk about what is needed, swift and bold decisions, but too many fade once that becomes a reality.

October will see the most important general election in a generation.

The economy and the community is on a precipice.

It is also an election that is a big experiment in democracy, with the whole Assembly being voted in on an island-wide basis for the first time and no real answers to how candidates will both get their message out there and face the level of scrutiny required to ensure the best people take office.

This is all a challenging environment in which to plot a course to success.