An opportunity for scrutiny has been missed

But with a population largely happy with the actions of the CCA, it didn’t really go anywhere. Interest in the moves of the CCA remains high however, particularly among deputies, and most of them seized the opportunity to talk Covid at their first proper opportunity this week. The enthusiasm for meaningful debate, rather than simply noting previous CCA actions, was considerable. And that enthusiasm spilled over into attempts to amend the propositions. Four bids, all successful.

It means that there will be a full review of the way the States and the CCA managed Covid, and those CCA minutes can be placed in the public domain, if the authority agrees. CCA chairman Deputy Peter Ferbrache said himself yesterday that the review would be ‘a waste of time’ without disclosure. But it turns out the only review the States will have will be a passive, rear-view mirror version.

For a few hours later senior States members were attempting to vote down the previously-approved amendments. They were nearly overturned, as some deputies appeared to be seriously confused by the ramifications of their votes.

Deputy Parkinson's didn't make the cut. 24 hours earlier he had convinced the States to allow all members to effectively sign off on the exit from Covid. Now he found three members changing votes, one of his supporters absent, and two reappearing – one in hybrid form from the Cayman Islands – to ultimately turnover the result.

Deputy Parkinson almost pulled his own amendment before he presented it on Wednesday, thinking it might be irrelevant. But a majority of his colleagues agreed it presented an opportunity for appropriate government scrutiny on an issue which has been almost totally out of its hands.

It is entirely proper that deputies may review the handling of the pandemic, and maybe learn some lessons.

One wonders exactly what they might have been able to do to the exit blueprint, but outside of a state of emergency, it was surely feasible for a debate to take place.