IT’S A cliche to say the States of Guernsey should be representative of the community it serves. In other words, it should have 50% women, an age spread reflecting the island’s general demographic, deputies from both a business and an employed background, and a fair representation of both locals and settlers.

I’m not sure I agree with this utopian vision. Clearly we need far more women in the States. More than half of our population is female and they’re equally as competent as men, so any parliament that contains only a small proportion is obviously missing out on significant talent.

That’s not to say that anybody should vote for women candidates just because they are women – they definitely shouldn’t. Nor is it saying that the current female deputies are better politicians than their male colleagues. Like the men, they are a distinctly mixed bag. I’m not even suggesting that it’s harder for women to get elected. Statistically it’s clearly not, but there are simply far fewer female candidates.

I don’t know what the answer is – certainly not positive discrimination. Perhaps the whole way local politics works needs to change to be more attractive to women. All I know is that the current male dominance of the States is a bad thing. Not only because half of Guernsey’s talent is female but also because we lose out on fully tapping into the different – but equal – insights which the feminine intellect provides.

As for the age spread of deputies, I think it’s naive to expect there to be an equal number of 20-somethings to 60-somethings for two reasons. With the exception of a few sad anoraks – myself included, back in the day – few young people will want to stand.

Spending your time debating fiduciary laws, paid parking or pension schemes is about as interesting to the average 21-year-old as watching girders rust. When you also consider that a deputy’s pay struggles to service a big mortgage it’s easy to understand why many talented islanders – if they are interested in politics at all – prefer to contribute when their main career is over, or at least winding down.

Indeed, States members’ pay is often quoted as the main reason for Guernsey’s States not being as representative as it should be. I certainly thought that when I first went into politics in 1982. The position of people’s deputy was then largely honorary, with only a modest system of allowances. Looking around at a House dominated by wealthy business people and retirees, I was convinced that a proper salary would change its make-up radically. I was wrong. Thirty years on, a deputy’s pay is now at least comparable with the average wage, but there has been no discernable change in the typical make-up of the States.

For some the answer is even higher pay to attract high- flyers. In reality, though, the island is too small to afford an elite political class and our government either needs to be ‘semi-amateur’, as it is at present, or else far, far smaller.

It would be possible to design an affordable, fully professional political structure in an attempt to attract the most talented into the States. Say, five ministers, each in charge of a super-department, working long hours, taking huge responsibility and earning £120,000 a year.

They could be joined in the States by nine ‘backbenchers’ earning, say, £60,000. That would give us two deputies per electoral district and cost slightly less than our current system.

The problem is that it feels far too narrowly based, even for those who, like me, are convinced the current States is too big. And there is still no guarantee it will attract highly talented people, especially with the lack of job security.

We could end up with the worst of both worlds: deputies who are very highly paid but mediocre.

There are two main problems that any attempt to arrive at a truly representative States runs into. The first is that those actually wanting to stand are not at all representative. Not mainly because of pay, working hours or anything so pragmatic – it’s far more because you have to be a bit odd to want the job and all that goes with it in the first place.

The second is the electorate. Ultimately, the voters choose their own representatives. Occasionally we might scratch our heads at some of their choices and their selection may not be fully representative of the Guernsey community – but hey folks, that’s democracy.