Alter the structure of government so that the next election is meaningful
WHEN I was recently in Alderney at the Literary Festival I listened to Josie Day talk about her father’s involvement in the States of Guernsey during the wartime period and the executive committee that ran the island during these exceptionally difficult years. I wasn’t here at the time having only been in Guernsey 40-odd years but I went through the Covid pandemic when the island was also in effect run by an executive committee.
By and large both were pretty effective. The problem is now we are back to normality, our consensus system of government has totally failed since then. What do I see as the biggest risk to Guernsey PLC – apart from a major war, global pandemic or a worldwide financial crisis? Well it’s not over-regulation by the GFSC, Moneyval, food and energy costs, inflation or the cost of the civil service. It’s the sheer inability of the States to govern. We have some very good States members, quite good civil servants and good law officers but we have a consensus system of government that is not fit for purpose.
Unless this changes there is no point in voting in the next election or realistically ever again. The answer has to be some form of executive government. It could mean party politics or it could simply mean a chief minister and five or so ministers having a suite of policies and being elected by the people to bring them to fruition.
Using Jeremy Rihoy’s letter of a couple of weeks ago as an example, if Guernsey were a cruise liner and an iceberg was directly ahead, either going to the left or going to the right would save the ship having a month of debates with four different proposals and still achieving damn all is a guaranteed step to disaster.
We are all nervous that Moneyval will result in a downgrade for Guernsey to a grey jurisdiction. Another issue could easily be another investment rating downgrade because our government hasn’t grasped the issue of how to solve the pension black hole and structurally can’t find a way to do it or raise any taxes, in the event Guernsey needs to raise money in a crisis.
The time to act is now. To alter the structure of government so that the next election is meaningful and the next generation of politicians can achieve what they promise at the hustings.
MARTIN BELCHER
Les Aubrets
Rue des Aubrets
St Martin’s