‘Going full Belgian’ could be the answer to our political problems
RECENT days have seen talk about whether or not the States is about to go ‘full Belgian’.
This refers to a period of 500 days in Belgium in 2010-11, when a hung election produced a stand-off and no government could be formed. Gavin St Pier fears that ‘almost nothing’ will be done in the States for the next 18 months. Peter Ferbrache assures us (Guernsey Press 22 August) that it will.
Both gentlemen imagine that the stand-off in Belgium was a disaster. In fact, that period was far from stagnant. Without parties in government and opposition, MPs redrew their education system, reformed their pension system, passed a budget and went to war. How? Because they stopped voting on party lines and coalesced around individual issues. Sound familiar? They got more done without party politics in 18 months than they had with it in the previous 10 years.
‘Going full Belgian’ has nothing to do with stagnation. However, it is an argument against party politics. Ironically, the phrase is now misused by men who tried and thankfully failed to invent political parties here.
FERGUS DUNLOP
St Peter Port
GY1 1XZ