Guernsey Press

New political dawn? Not quite

LAST week a new dawn of politics was heralded with the launch of Charter 2018.

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Now 13 members have expressed their support for the guiding principles that will shape how they vote in the next two years.

It was established as an antidote to the left-wing running the States – you know the chaps, Comrades Gavin St Pier and Lyndon Trottsky have long been observed quoting Chairman Mao Tse-tung around the Policy & Resources table, with those well-known radicals Al Brouard and Jonathan Le Tocq flypostering Town with communist appeals to the workers while Jane Stephens raises the red flag.

So just what do these Charter 2018 principles really mean? Here’s a step-by-step look at them.

The charter says – Economy: our priority is to support the Bailiwick’s principal industries of finance, construction, tourism, hospitality and retail, to grow their businesses for the benefit of our Bailiwick and its people. A strong, diverse economy and supporting infrastructure are key to the success of every islander. A depleted economy means depleted tax take, resulting in the depletion of public services.

The economy is important – the golden rule of every politician, ever, is to stress how important the economy is. Never an election goes by without this being mentioned in every manifesto because it is self-evidently true, so no great shocks here then.

Let’s have a fact check. What are the Bailiwick’s principal industries? Finance. Tick. It’s the largest employer, accounting for 21%, a total of 6,843 people. In employment terms, what’s next? Actually, it’s the public sector. Tricky one for the chartists this, because they believe in smaller government. Tourism isn’t actually recorded separately in any government data.

In terms of economic contribution, 40% is from finance, 10% from wholesale/retail and repairs and then 9% from public administration. Construction comes eighth, behind groupings including administrative and support services. But a rallying cry for administrative and support services isn’t so catchy.

Fiscal conservatism: our aim is for a smaller, less intrusive, better organised, more cohesive government; thus reducing the burden of the state on the middle- and lower-income earners.

Interesting this one. We all know there is some fat to come out of the public sector – we’ve had consultant reports that have told us. So far so good. Signed up to this commitment are the Home Affairs president and vice-president – ‘our committee is cut to the bone’ – and the former Education board members who so abjectly failed to make any progress on savings identified by their own staff that they were put into special measures.

Enterprise: we acknowledge that enterprise is the backbone of the Bailiwick’s economy. A key area of the government’s role in support of small local businesses, start-ups and enterprise lies with its buying power. Where possible, by policy and action, we commit to the spend of government resources within the Bailiwick. We have faith in Guernsey talent and want better use of island expertise. We reject the default position to employ ‘UK experts’. Every pound spent in the island benefits residents. Every pound spent in another country benefits that country.

As pointed out last week, in April 2014 the States agreed to new policies that favoured spending money with local companies where they could – the impact on the wider economy became an explicit part of the decision-making process.

There is no default position to employ UK experts. It’s a rallying cry that plays out well at election time, though.

Not sure whether the spending analogy implies that you do not benefit from spending money in other countries – a philosophy that would, actually, kill our economy if the finance industry ever adopted it.

Taxation: to encourage individual responsibility in matters of personal wealth and to strive for the reduction of incremental tax increases to feed the size of government and its services. A balanced tax structure that does not squeeze the lower- and middle-income earners but allows for comfortable living standards whilst encouraging and enabling business development.

The ‘have your cake and eat it’ policy. We all want just the right amount of tax.

Just what individual responsibility in matters of personal wealth means is anyone’s guess, but the suspicion must be it’s driven by a belief that too many people are on benefits – let’s see if they extend this philosophy to struggling pensioners: ‘Sorry, but we can’t help, you need to take personal responsibility.’ Of course, this ‘left-leaning’ States is the one already driving through the secondary pension scheme to help people take just that responsibility.

Efficient government: to seek out ‘non-governmental’ delivery of services where better value can be identified and via commissioning models, thus removing unnecessary expenditure. The current political structure of government impedes efficient progress. The operational side of government should be adopting an energised, effective, ‘can do’ culture.

Let’s take this in stages. The States is already looking at commissioning – indeed the chearleader has been Deputy Heidi Soulsby – one of those you suspect is on the chartists’ hit-list.

The current political structure of government isn’t working – but what do the 13 support? Expect 13 different answers. But actually, the operational side shows much more flexibility. I’m sure the ‘can do’ rallying cry won’t have thousands of public workers slapping their foreheads and shouting ‘if only we’d known this before’.

The ‘can do’ has come from the public sector only to be shut down by the political boards – take the example of what has happened with merging the fire and ambulance services, for example.

Direct democracy: to acknowledge the diversity of opinion on important matters. To include and engage with the community on policies that fundamentally affect them. To commit to the use of information technology and/or referenda to seek out the views of our islanders on our greatest matters. We believe that democratic engagement with the electorate is a four-year process, not something we conduct four weeks before the election when we want your vote.

The X-Factor vote clause. The States is forever consulting and carrying out surveys already, but it is often window dressing. Take an example, I don’t know, say ESC’s three-school reforms. Actually, don’t. Acknowledging diversity of opinion is one thing, but what does that mean in terms of making a decision? You can’t please all of the people all of the time. Voters don’t go to the polls every four years to elect a government that is then too frightened of its own shadow to make a decision without having a referendum first, or that gets swayed by those who shout loudest.

Family: to support the family in our modern Guernsey. To respect the rights of married couples while respecting the diverse range of personal human relationships.

As opposed to supporting anyone who is single? There is something truly unsettling about this principle, written in a way to allow those opposed to same-sex marriage to sign up. It’s the forced use of the word ‘modern’ that gives it away – sometimes you can protest too hard.

Environment: to support a sustainable natural and built environment. Environmental responsibility comes at a cost to small islands and environmental efforts and policies need to recognise what we can and cannot do given our lack of scale.

The shot across the bows of anyone who dares to think Guernsey should have any kind of global outlook or international responsibility. Of course we only want those when it means we get to strut around signing off tax deals or bragging about our importance around conference tables. Another vacuous pledge that is just about tolerable to the greener members but will mean a lot more to those who want to be able to pavement surf in their diesel 4x4, leaving children walking to school choking on the fumes in their wake.

Tradition and culture: the Bailiwick’s culture, our traditions and language have been eroded over the past century and we will commit to keeping alive and celebrating our history and values.

The Braveheart moment perhaps – Neil Inder standing atop L’Ancresse beach with a Guernsey flag painted on his face shouting at a digger: ‘you can take my wall, but you cannot take my freedom!’

In all seriousness, this really does need quite a lot of fleshing out, not least an explanation of why Guernsey culture is pin-pointed at 100 years ago.

Last time I checked, there was a fair bit that shaped who we are from before that – and after. Earlier they were talking of modern Guernsey, now they look like they want us to be steaming greenhouses and chatting in Guernsey-French, where the only people from other countries you speak to are here on holiday. Perhaps they dream of a life where every day is La Viaer Marchi. Some people desperately want to cling to a pastiche of times gone by, and in some ways that reflects the demographic that is elected to government, but just what do they actually want to protect that isn’t already and why?