Government review could carry risks
The think tank Gpeg, the Guernsey Policy and Economic Group, wants to encourage some scratching of the grey matter this new year with the publication of a new report on the island’s machinery of government.
The group is pretty strident that change is required, but despite many being unhappy with what they are getting from their States at the moment, voters might need more convincing that another form of government would lead to better results for all.
Gpeg doesn’t pull punches when it declares its unhappiness with the current state of Guernsey, and especially its politics. But at least some of the argument appears to be, or should be, directed with performance in the debating chamber.
The ‘system’ is not producing poor quality reports nor, indeed, outcomes. That is down to the deputies themselves, their discipline and interest, or lack of it.
In classic States fashion, it might well be that members can be encouraged to commission a report on the future make-up of government, and leave it for someone else to consider in due course.
That seemingly easy solution is fraught with danger twice over.
One, it sets an expectation of change. And secondly, as Gpeg makes no bones about, subsequently rowing back on recommendations – as a previous Assembly did with the Harwood Report – would be seen as worse than doing nothing.