A VOCAL backbencher has claimed it is preposterous for certain deputies to try and use the recent fuel-scare situation to demonstrate a need for executive government in the island.

Deputy Matt Fallaize, a fierce critic of the Policy Council in the past for exceeding its mandate, said he was fully supportive of its decision to act without prior States approval when purchasing two fuel-carrying vessels in order to safeguard supplies to the island.

Deputy John Gollop said in last week’s Guernsey Press that backbenchers were often ‘kept in the dark’ and that this incident showed that Guernsey needed to elect the right leaders and move towards a more executive government.

In responding to those comments, Deputy Fallaize admitted that he was fiercely opposed to executive government and insisted that this fuel situation actually showed that Guernsey current system works.

‘Based on the information provided thus far, I think it had little option but to act as it did, and to do so decisively, in order to safeguard the wellbeing of the people of Guernsey,’ he said.

‘But whether one agrees or disagrees with the purchase of the tankers, it is preposterous to suggest that this incident demonstrates the need for the chief minister or Policy Council to assume more executive authority generally.’