POLICY COUNCIL ministers should submit themselves for re-election, according to a campaigner against cabinet government.
Deputy Matt Fallaize failed at the last States meeting in his attempt to have responsibility for implementing changes related to the Fundamental Spending Review placed with individual departments, not the council.
The States rejected his amendment and gave the council cabinet-style powers to bring about the necessary changes, which should result in savings of more than £70m. during the next five years.
Deputy Fallaize (pictured) has now suggested that the States ought to have the opportunity to re-elect the council because its mandate has changed.
‘In the interests of democracy, I think there must be a strong case for the Policy Council submitting itself for re-election,’ he said.
‘The role of the council has now changed very significantly.
‘When I voted in the ministerial elections of May 2008, I voted on the basis of the council’s role as it was then. I did not, for example, elect the minister of Housing to develop policy and present it to the States for approval in the areas of education, health or environment.’
Deputy Fallaize said in yesterday’s Guernsey Press that the States decision to award the Policy Council cabinet-style authority had ripped apart the island’s system of consensus government.
‘Members of the Policy Council elected in 2008 do not have an explicit mandate from the States to lead with cabinet-style powers, but that is what they have been given with this latest States decision,’ he said.
‘It is a question of securing a democratic mandate and being accountable on that basis.’
Article posted on 11th November, 2009 - 2.29pm
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