AN INSTITUTE of Directors seminar yesterday considered – admittedly slightly prematurely – the first 100 days of Guernsey’s new government and a panel of business leaders delivered a generally upbeat assessment of how the new House is settling in. That, perhaps, was no great surprise.
Unless they are very unlucky or accident-prone, all incoming administrations enjoy a honeymoon period and this States is no exception. Long may it continue, the chief minister, who was there, must be thinking.
What was particularly positive was the view shared by the panellists that the calibre of the new States is high. After some fears about the number of new faces coming in and about the candidates themselves, the business view is that a ‘good’ States has emerged.
The real test, however, will be when the House has to deal with something difficult and, as some of the new members also present at the IoD event highlighted, the current system of dealing with matters piecemeal is guaranteed to create difficulties.
Student loans are a case in point. Because these are an emotive and unpopular issue (and because the last Billet report on it was spectacularly poor), the new House is returning to it. As things stand, there is every chance the decision will be overturned. It is also likely that the same members scrapping loans will then vote against Education receiving extra funding to top up the existing grants system.
It might not turn out to be the first banana skin for the new States, but it is definitely one in waiting. A similar concern is the political make-up of the assembly. It would be misleading to say there is a left-right split, but views on some key issues are increasingly polarised and the current decision-making process does little to resolve the tensions.
As in student loans, if a sizable number of members do not like a particular outcome, it is very easy to take it back to the House in a political war of attrition until the ‘right’ decision is reached. So what is lacking is a system that delivers a democratically reached strategy that can simply be implemented by the Policy Council.
And introducing it means further reform to the island’s system of government.
Why more reform is still needed
AN INSTITUTE of Directors seminar yesterday considered – admittedly slightly prematurely – the first 100 days of Guernsey’s new government and a panel of business leaders delivered a generally upbeat assessment of how the new House is settling in. That, perhaps, was no great surprise.
Unless they are very unlucky or accident-prone, all incoming administrations enjoy a honeymoon period and this States is no exception. Long may it continue, the chief minister, who was there, must be thinking.
What was particularly positive was the view shared by the panellists that the calibre of the new States is high. After some fears about the number of new faces coming in and about the candidates themselves, the business view is that a ‘good’ States has emerged.
The real test, however, will be when the House has to deal with something difficult and, as some of the new members also present at the IoD event highlighted, the current system of dealing with matters piecemeal is guaranteed to create difficulties.
Student loans are a case in point. Because these are an emotive and unpopular issue (and because the last Billet report on it was spectacularly poor), the new House is returning to it. As things stand, there is every chance the decision will be overturned. It is also likely that the same members scrapping loans will then vote against Education receiving extra funding to top up the existing grants system.
It might not turn out to be the first banana skin for the new States, but it is definitely one in waiting. A similar concern is the political make-up of the assembly. It would be misleading to say there is a left-right split, but views on some key issues are increasingly polarised and the current decision-making process does little to resolve the tensions.
As in student loans, if a sizable number of members do not like a particular outcome, it is very easy to take it back to the House in a political war of attrition until the ‘right’ decision is reached. So what is lacking is a system that delivers a democratically reached strategy that can simply be implemented by the Policy Council.
And introducing it means further reform to the island’s system of government.
Article posted on 5th July, 2008 - 9.29am