It’s time Guernsey was run like a business

When the board of any sensible company finds its finances deteriorating seriously, they take fast and firm action.

The first action is to substantially reduce its spending by:

1) Reducing the headcount;

2) Exiting from unprofitable operations;

3) Selling surplus assets;

4) Looking for more profitable sources of income;

5) Stop spending money on virtue signalling.

I will deal with these items individually:

1) We all know that the States payroll headcount has grown enormously in recent years. That cannot continue and the headcount has to be substantially reduced, however painful that is. The public sector is just trying to do too much and its roles must be reduced.

The aim should be to reduce the headcount by about 20%. That would free up a lot of good quality staff who could fulfil the vacancies that currently exist in hospitality and other areas. We should not need to import nearly so much labour from overseas. Most of the overseas workers are bringing families with them, who all add to the load on health, education and housing.

2) The States should stop all non- essential activities, particularly those which can be economically handled by private companies.

3) The States is sitting on a lot of land and property assets. Unless these are running at a satisfactory profit, they should be sold.

4) The States needs to find innovative new sources of income.

Islanders are fed up to the back teeth with constant increases in motoring costs, TRP, harbour costs etc. We need a radical new approach. Firstly, we should have a flat rate 10% corporation tax.

That is still a very competitive rate internationally and should not drive companies away.

Secondly, we should look at the overseas money that is managed by fund managers on this island. I understand that it runs to many billions of pounds. These overseas investors are benefiting from the island without contributing to it. I believe that fund managers generally charge the investors at least 1% a year to manage their funds.

If we applied a tax of a very, very small percentage of those funds, we would earn enough revenue to run this island without continually imposing on the long-suffering residents who do not benefit from this trade. Such a small percentage would not discourage the investors from keeping their money here.

5) We must stop spending money on virtue signalling. We cannot afford a foreign aid budget and should stop it immediately. People prefer to make their own personal choices on what charities to support and do not want the tax man to make those decisions for them.

We should stop spending any money to try to achieve net zero. Guernsey’s CO2 production is completely insignificant in world terms and is never going to destroy the planet. We should stop obsessing on heat pumps, insulation and fossil fuels. We should monitor what the major countries do. The technology is changing rapidly so we will save a fortune in taxpayers’ money by being a follower rather than a leader.

It is high time we woke up and started running this island as a commercial business for the benefit of the islanders.

R WHARTON

St Andrew’s