Deputy must nail colours to mast on population

I read with interest Deputy Roffey’s piece ‘Enough is enough’ in the Press of 3 January, in fact I read it twice. I find it intriguing that he uses the phrase ‘enough is enough’, which is surely perceived as an anti-government slogan, I guess he wants to reassure us that he is a man of the people. In the article he alleges that Guernsey’s real population policy is to go for growth, I have always had a nagging feeling that this might be the case, now we have confirmation. The new population control laws are a tool that is intended to allow a measure of control over the size and make-up of our population, but the effect that this tool has is dependent on the intent and integrity of those pulling the strings. Deputy Roffey suggests that the majority of his colleagues support year-on-year population growth while he himself is in a small minority that says ‘no’, he also says ‘we can for the first time in our recent history give rights to those born here’. I look forward to a future edition of ‘Roffey writes’ where no doubt he will expand on exactly what those rights should be.