WITH the States in its summer recess, it’s a good time to assess the ‘class of 2008′. Last August was far too early to judge the mettle of a new House with such a large number of new members.

One year on, they’ve tackled a range of challenging issues and most islanders will have formed an opinion on their performance. Here’s mine.

A few months ago I was in despair. The States seemed totally incapable of making a difficult decision. They were behaving as if money wasn’t an issue, while huge budget deficits loomed.

No policy could be approved if it upset more than 50 islanders.

To cap it all, childish and ignorant behaviour was leading to numerous code of conduct referrals. I even found myself muttering that cliche, ‘this must be the worst States ever’.

Not a good state of affairs for a parliament facing the biggest financial challenges for a generation. With zero-10 coming into effect and the annual loss of £100m. in corporation tax, you had to be as blind as a welder’s dog not to realise that very tough financial decisions were needed.

Every opportunity had to be taken to contain expenditure and raise revenue, before budget deficits exhausted our reserves. Then along came the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression. You had to feel sympathy for the new States, faced with this double-whammy, but how did it react?

It overturned the decision on student loans. No one wants to saddle students with debt, but with so many more youngsters going on to higher education the current system is unaffordable.

It overturned the decision on paid parking. We all like the idea of free long-term parking spaces, but if the user doesn’t pay for them, the taxpayer must.

It refused to rationalise primary schools, even though there were clearly more places than children. We all admired the heartfelt campaigns by the excellent schools threatened with closure, but looked at objectively, it’s clear the wrong decision was taken.

It also agreed increases in income tax allowances of 5.5% for this year and 4% for next year.

It’s been classic popularism.

I’m certainly not saying the States should ignore public opinion, but naturally we all want low taxes and good services and the sums simply don’t add up. Sometimes in a democratic dialogue our representatives need to tell us some home truths instead of always running scared of every campaign group.

Just lately there are signs that the States is finding its backbone. After more than a decade of dithering, members have agreed a way forward on rubbish disposal. We must now hope the island can respond with the waste minimisation and greatly increased recycling needed to prevent the ‘second line’ of incineration. If not it will cost us far more than the previous Lurgi proposals.

They’ve also agreed to increase the pension age to 67, a regrettable but necessary step.

However, the biggest challenge of all remains closing the gap between income and expenditure. That is going to mean unpopular decisions on both sides of the balance sheet which we are all going to hate.

Islanders will need to be realistic and the States will have to be far more hard-headed than it’s been so far.

Our economy is still very strong but the days of bread and honey have gone forever and we must adjust.

Is the previous States to blame for the ‘folly of zero-10′?

I was a reluctant but strong supporter of that policy then and remain so today. Put simply, we had no choice.

Some suggested we shouldn’t take part in a ‘race to the bottom’. Stripped of its pejorative rhetoric, that meant we shouldn’t remain a competitive place to do business.  Of course we had to be in that race, but I agree that we didn’t need to try to lap all the other competitors.

The problem facing the current States in dealing with fiscal policy is familiar. It has to deal with the world as it is, not as it wants it to be. That means tackling a budget deficit of tens of millions of pounds. It’s going to be a bumpy ride and I remain hugely sceptical over whether this States can show the resolution needed.

However, while our financial challenges are the biggest the island has faced in decades, compared with most other countries they are quite minor – it’s just a culture shock for Guernsey to be strapped for cash.

Four out of 10. Must do better.