AS WE reach the middle of August and continue to hope for a summer it is easy to forget the States debate in July, which was dominated by the Government Business Plan. When the House meets again next month, it is important that it begins to put some of this planning into action.

At last month’s meeting, 13 of the 14 priorities laid out in the plan were approved – hopefully not an omen. It was launched as a working document, but while incomplete it was intended to better provide for direction of resources in future. The debate proved it not to be universally popular, with some concerned that it wasn’t a completed document that was being debated.

Few would question the benefit of having a clear strategy, although when you have so many priorities it is difficult to remember them, let alone address them all, and it sometimes becomes difficult to prioritise the priorities. I have therefore selected three, actually the first three that were debated, that seem particularly relevant to business in Guernsey and which need to be pursued once the politicians return.

The first is to preserve the island’s independence and identity. Sometimes we undervalue the contribution of Guernsey’s uniqueness to the generation of business and even in my short time here, we may have been too quick to make changes. How many times at a lunch with business visitors have you discussed Sunday trading, paid parking (or at least, for now, free parking) or the local currency and language?

We also clearly need to preserve our independence. We have enjoyed some success in defending against challenges from outside – the handling of the EU Savings Directive was one example. Recently, there has been fresh pressure from the US seeking to ‘stop the abuse of tax havens’.

We underestimate the impact of any perception that we are losing our independence, be that political or fiscal, at our peril.

The second priority debated was the economy and I include in that the Strategic Economic Plan (as distinct from the Government Business Plan). A key part of this is taxation, a subject close to my own heart. We really do need to press ahead with bringing more clarity to the zero-10 regime. My own views on the need to raise more revenue are also well documented.

We are expecting more detail next month to follow the limited amount released in July. Hopefully that will start to bring much needed clarity to our approach.

As well as tax, it covers issues such as housing and infrastructure. One concern is the drive for economic growth while at the same time limiting, or rather eliminating, population growth. With due deference to priority one, those responsible need to look long and hard at a policy which stifles the very growth essential for the future prosperity of the Island. Perhaps it is time for a fresh approach to the problem.

The third is States spending, the other side of the basic economic equation which affects every household, business and government. You need to set what you spend in accordance with what you earn or what you seek to earn in accordance with what you spend. Setting the level at which you do both is the more difficult challenge.

While whether it is accurate can be debated, there is a widely held view that States spending is too high, not helped by the overly ambitious targets set when the zero-10 strategy was published. As an island, we need to be clear on what services we want and then find ways of paying for them.

These and many other priorities (and I have no wish to lessen the importance of some of the others, including climate change, health and education) have been debated and agreed. We now look to our politicians, with the support of business and the community, to take the appropriate actions to ensure the Government Business Plan becomes more than just that.