Please get behind the politicians who are trying to help

Far from ‘sitting at home drawing a full salary while a select few are doing most of the work of government’, the work of the committees goes on. The editor of the Press, of all people, must know that our system of government relies on committee work being maintained. All the committees and boards are working remotely. For example, I have just this morning completed a two-hour meeting using the Microsoft Teams app. Last week I had two more meetings using the internet, having read all the associated papers involved and having spent time preparing for the meetings. In addition, a large amount of work is done by email and telephone and that continues. Most deputies work from home – we are (rightly) not given offices or secretarial assistance.

The editorial also criticises the remote States meeting before it has even taken place. How negative. Another editorial gripe is that some deputies question the feasibility of having a remote meeting and others will need to learn quickly and make this experiment work. Well, not all deputies think like that. I can tell the writer that I have been in touch with other deputies for over nine days saying that there should be a remote meeting. Sadly, it was not until Jersey held such a meeting that I (and others of a similar view) began to be taken seriously.

Please get behind the politicians who are trying to help to get us through the current crisis and try to crush all those negative sentiments so loved by the knockers, mockers and blockers.

DEPUTY JEREMY SMITHIES

States of Guernsey people’s deputy for the Vale, vice-president, States’ Trading Supervisory Board, member of Committee for Home Affairs, member of CPA Guernsey Branch Executive Committee, vice-dean Vale Douzaine.