Guernsey Press

Calling on islanders to 'step up'

AS OUR review of the year, which we have started to publish this week, indicates, 2022 has been quite some 12 months.

Published

We quickly moved on from Covid – though its tail remains in our community and our public finances – only to be hit by war in, discovering the true implications of Brexit, and watching, and feeling, the implications of the cost-of-living crisis.

Sadly, 2023 doesn’t feel like it’s going to start any easier for islanders. We must be concerned about the main implications of what Chief Minister Peter Ferbrache was feeling in his Christmas message, and he sensed the ‘dread’ among his political colleagues to tackle the tax review crisis.

‘My greatest concern for 2023 is that we instead kick this can down the road further,’ he said.

It’s a move that few in our community will embrace. But when Deputy Ferbrache speaks of protecting public services, he strikes at the heart of the debate – what public services do we as a community want, or need, to retain? At that point, we can consider how we continue to pay for them.

But the Chief Minister also offers a glimmer of hope. ‘Time and time again we have stepped up to respond, and I have tremendous confidence our community will continue to do so.’ It is a Guernsey trait. But it's very likely we will need all our faculties to manage through 2023 and beyond.