Tom Rylatt: ‘Look forward with hope, not backwards with regret’

Horace,

You tapped into a feeling which I suspect is now common to many Guernsey families – ‘I no longer believe my grandson has a future here – and that’s a loss I feel more deeply than any statistic can measure’.

Speaking at the launch of the Future Guernsey manifesto, I did some polling of my own on this issue. I asked the room of 180 people to put their hands up if they knew a young person who had recently left or was seriously considering leaving the island. The audience was a sea of raised hands.

You also wrote that senior positions across the island were no longer held by Guernsey people. We have certainly been guilty of bypassing local knowledge for external credentials in the past. Yet, as an island, we will always need to attract a certain amount of talent from beyond our shores. This is the case for every small and open economy. The challenge is finding a balance. Currently, we do not back our young people nearly enough. We must enable them to live and compete on their own turf. On that, we agree.

However, where we part ways is our approach to these problems. Your column dwelt on loss, on the Guernsey that once was. I believe we must focus on the future and discovering what Guernsey could yet be. Those who write regular columns for the Guernsey Press ably outline Guernsey’s problems. Every issue gets analysed, lamented and regretted, but rarely is there an effort to promote real solutions.

To this point, you called for us to rediscover belief in our own people. A feeling we share. Yet, when Future Guernsey launched its manifesto, which put forward ideas aimed at securing a future for Guernsey’s own, your response focused on appearances rather than substance.

Though I am not a part of Future Guernsey’s team, I am aware that nearly a year’s worth of policy work went into the manifesto. The policies are a product of local people’s time-tested know-how, complemented with a few fresh perspectives.

Yet, on social media, your critique was not about the ideas, plans or solutions. Instead, you were concerned with the optics – that there weren’t enough local accents on stage and too many presenters were dressed in suits.

A unique and ambitious plan for Guernsey was unveiled, yet your criticism seemed to be that the presenters did not arrive on stage to the tune of Sarnia Cherie. This preoccupation with style over substance epitomises our current political struggles.

For example, at each island-wide election, we are asked to choose between roughly 100 candidates. All with different ideas, values and promises. Very few of us have the time to give each candidate due consideration. We are left with little choice but to base our votes on the superficial. As a result, we have been left with a States rich in appearances but lacking in substance.

None of this is to say that an understanding of our heritage and the ‘Guernsey way’ aren’t important. They should be non-negotiables for those looking to represent our island. Fortunately, the Future Guernsey manifesto has probably benefited from more local input than any political manifesto in Guernsey’s history.

Speaking as a 25-year-old local, I have seen friends leave Guernsey. I have heard the anxieties of my peers. And in truth, I believe few of them would find their concerns captured in your column. We do not have the luxury of reminiscing back to the good old days. We just want to afford to live here and for a mortgage to be a realistic prospect again. New ideas like the ‘Additional Earned Allowance’ proposed by Future Guernsey would allow 16-30-year-olds to save up to £20,000 for a deposit.

This would be a true game-changer for my generation. A positive move from government that could open the door to a future in Guernsey for many more people like me.

I would sincerely ask that you weigh these possible benefits against any misgivings about accents and suits.

If you are inclined to take a second look, you can read the manifesto at https://www.futureguernsey.gg/manifesto_launch

To make these changes, however, we cannot continue as we are.

I would ask this: Are we willing to gamble four more years on another group of 38 individuals, all pulling in different directions? Based on the last four years of evidence, I would not.

We need to improve at delivering on our promises. We can do that either by upending our current system and putting more power in fewer hands through executive government. Or we could save vast amounts of time and resources by having deputies work together, publicly committed to delivering a common manifesto. With the latter, we can hit the ground running in July, but with the former we would face political upheaval and further years of delay.

You went on to say that locals have gone from ‘masters to servants’ at the hands of ‘non-locals’. This was, at best, unhelpful. It fosters division when we desperately need cohesion. We can and should focus our energy in a far more constructive way.

For example, you mentioned upskilling islanders, and that combining on-island work with part-time degrees could help maximise our local talent. I could not agree more. The States should facilitate this in any way it can.

We can go further. Let’s fully seize the opportunity of The Guernsey Institute’s move into the new post-16 campus by expanding the range of undergraduate and post-graduate opportunities on-island. And, as Future Guernsey proposes, develop a skills strategy within a year, led by a political champion and informed by an independent group of local stakeholders.

Yes, you are right that we must hold on to and upskill our young people, but keeping them here for the future is not our only challenge. We must make sure we have enough people to begin with.

Alarmingly, the last decade has seen plummeting birth rates, with a 33% reduction between 2014 and 2024. While this trend is not unique to Guernsey, there are barriers to having children which we can and must reduce. For example, enabling better early years provision and improving our woeful parental leave policy.

It’s not enough to invest in young people, we have to properly support the families and women who will bring them into the world.

However, if birth rates do not improve, no matter how capable our people are, there will not be enough of us to keep things running. We will have no choice but to attract and compete for overseas talent. If this comes to pass, the rhetoric of ‘masters and servants’ will only serve to demonise the very people we may end up needing.

Like you, I love this island, and I am deeply concerned for it. But that shared concern should be cause for us to look forward with hope, not backwards with regret.

As I said at the manifesto launch, the evidence of our ability to meet these difficult challenges is all around us. It’s there in the faded drawings of rainbows left sat in window sills and in the occupation-era buildings dotting our coastline.

With election day on the horizon, I hope we will look back on 2025 as the year in which Guernsey met the moment again.