With election time looming and the lack of interest in people joining the electoral roll, a lot of people I talk to are fed up with each term becoming the ‘worst States ever’.
Progress is being stifled by those in the Chamber who seem only to say ‘No’, unless it’s their proposition or it’s proposed by someone they like.
We cannot just blame this term for the financial problem. It has been coming down the track since zero-10 and the financial meltdown in 2008.
I was at the meetings when we were told that Guernsey would be £100m. a year short in the future, but the growth that would come through introducing zero-10 would fill that black hole. Growth never came, so a lot of responsibility rests on those who were in the Chamber then and since, who instead of addressing it, have just let us slip into the financial position we find ourselves in today.
We have the threat of increased taxes on the horizon in one way or another, without still truly knowing the full financial position of Guernsey. Although one thing is sure – it’s bad, very bad.
Many I speak to – and I have spoken to many over the last year, a lot of coffee has been drunk – believe it’s not worth engaging, voting or even standing for the States as nothing gets done, even if you have the best intentions.
Many are commenting on the failure of island-wide voting, which I agree has been controversial. Has it worked? I don’t think so.
Isn’t it time for a change in the structure of government? I believe it is and I was a signatory on the open letter with others asking to start a conversation, but it needs to be done quickly by making deputies in the States and the senior civil service accountable.
But will change come? I believe that if it doesn’t we will stumble into another term of the worst States ever, and I for one do not want that.
There is a lot on the table and massive decisions are required to see the change I feel we need.
The recent failure to reduce the number of deputies by 10 begs several questions.
How many career politicians do we have? Do they vote for the populist things and avoid difficult decisions? Is it the pay that makes them want to stay and, therefore, not rock the boat but instead hold the middle ground to remain popular?
Think where you put your vote in June. Maybe a list on manifestos of achievements in the States would help us all decide.
Let’s not get distracted only by those for whom making a difficult decision isn’t in their DNA. Let’s also look to the other half of the Chamber who have, against all odds, tried their best for Guernsey. I applaud them, but they have been held back by these populist politicians who need to be seen for what they really are.
You don’t enter the States to be popular, for a career, or to get re-elected. You enter to do your best to improve the lives of the people that elected you and to grow Guernsey to make it financially sound.
We have too much red tape, too many vanity projects, a housing shortage leading to businesses being unable to grow due to lack of staff, our connectivity is poor and travel off the rock is expensive, education does not have the funds to achieve its requirements, the health service is short of both front-line staff and resources, and much more. The list could go on and on.
We need to retain our young people to stay in the island after their education or to return from university to use their skills to grow the island. Offering them incentives to return home won’t cut it. They need proper family homes that are affordable for them to buy, not at 16 times their annual salary.
Maybe it’s time the States used its land to let locals but not licence holders build on it and lease the land on the basis that if the purchaser then sells and profits from that, they pay out of that profit an amount for the plot on a declining scale.
If we look back to 2023, when Guernsey hosted the Island Games, the island joined together to give a spectacular week of sport, working together for the good of the island, with everyone chanting ‘Go Guernsey’. Isn’t now the time, in the run up to the general election, that we all started chanting ‘Grow Guernsey’? Growing our economy generates wealth and taxes and they, in turn, fund our infrastructure and provide jobs.
We live in a beautiful island. Let’s improve it for generations to come.
Let’s hope the new States works together for the betterment of our island home and puts aside personal politics, as this is crisis time.
Please register, go out to vote, and make a difference.
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