WATCHING the States Assembly descend into chaos last night was the most vivid demonstration of the twisted values of deputies supposedly voted into office to help run the island.

Instead of applauding last minute moves that opened the island’s lifeline airport and prevented economic and reputational ruin, members complained that they had not been told of the developments.

The final irony was the chairman of the States negotiating body protesting about interference by ministers ‘in the delicate negotiations regarding the airport firefighters’.

What was lost on the Public Sector Remuneration Committee and its supporters – but not islanders – is that its ‘delicate negotiations’ have taken two and a half years to achieve nothing other than to provoke the firefighters to walk out.

The Guernsey Press had it confirmed by two shop stewards yesterday that, bar for the last-minute, temporary settlement agreed with Public Services as their employer, the airport would still be closed. ‘There was no going back,’ one said.

Yet for the members who attacked Chief Minister Lyndon Trott in the Chamber last night, nothing was more important than their being sidelined in the affair.

Islanders, especially those caught up in the airport dispute, will struggle to comprehend the logic of deputies’ outrage. At a time when action was needed to get the planes flying, members are calling foul because someone had the audacity to take a decision.

Business leaders, particularly in the financial services sector, were aghast that an industrial relations problem was allowed to escalate into a strike. It led one to question the value of being in Guernsey. That members of government are so unfocused on real priorities will appal them.

Using the island’s emergency powers to resolve the dispute was wholly appropriate because of the need to protect the island’s economic interests.

The real issue for States members, however, was that the Emergency Powers Authority, a subset of the Policy Council, appeared to have got involved and yesterday was payback time for the Policy Council buying two fuel tankers without telling members.

In other words, the economic survival of Guernsey is less important than the ego of deputies.

Government last night hit rock bottom.