THE Policy Council might need to be given more powers if the consensus system fails to tackle challenging issues, according to Treasury minister Charles Parkinson.

His comments follow a letter signed by 27 deputies rejecting executive government which was published by the Guernsey Press.

Deputy Parkinson (pictured) was not among those signing the letter.

‘Our consensus government is on trial,’ he said, adding that he was committed to trying to make this style of government work but that the previous year had cast serious doubt over whether it really could.

‘I considered carefully whether to sign the letter in support of consensus government but, in the end, concluded that I could not do so,’ he said.

He said the debate over the States Strategic Plan, of which he is chairman, would reveal whether fundamental change was necessary.

The SSP would be the cornerstone of the successful development of the consensus model, he said, by representing the collective views of the members of the States and translating those views into an agreed programme of action.

‘However, some of the events of the first year of this States give me cause for concern that the 47 members of the States may not be able to coalesce around an agreed, and practical, programme.