Get on board or sail your ship alone
‘WHEN you’re in a hole, stop digging’ is generally sage advice. However the Government of Jersey, and its caught-in-the-headlights Sustainable Economic Development minister Kirsten Morel just can’t. He’s now in too deep – arguably way above his head.
To be fair to Deputy Morel, he’s not hiding. He’s on television, radio, yesterday he spoke at a big farming conference, but everywhere he goes, he’s saying next to nothing.
He was asked outright on live television if he was backing the tender bid from DFDS, which has been rumoured for weeks and now looks completely accurate. ‘There’s no shame in saying that,’ the presenter said.
‘Shame and lawyers are two very different things,’ the minister grimaced.
We have repeated exhortations to ‘work with’ both tenderers, the ‘poisoned apple’ of giving Condor the seven months’ grace of a summer service, the allegations that the tender process ‘broke down’, leaving Jersey unable to ‘close off the process’.
It’s wrapped up in concerns about ‘financials’ and ‘the best ferry services for Jersey’. It’s all pointing to starting again and looking for a different result, when we are given to understand, as Guernsey said a week ago, the process allows each island to go its own way.
Nobody’s pretending that is the optimal arrangement. But if Guernsey is happy with where it is, Jersey needs to get on board, or sail its ship alone.