WHEN 27 deputies wrote to this newspaper last June declaring their commitment to the way the States of Guernsey currently does business, they had this to say:

‘Consensus government ultimately relies on deputies working in a collegiate, collective manner, which encourages compromise and pragmatism, and militates against extremism.’

They added that such a pure form of democracy required deputies to act and vote according to their conscience on every item of policy, ‘something which we believe is very healthy and worth retaining’.

Given the expensive muddle the States has got itself into over the Suez incinerator plan, there is something ironic about those words, especially the contention that, ‘it tends to foster a closer, more direct relationship between States members and the people who elected us – our parishioners’.

Since the majority of islanders appear to be opposed to incineration and a minority of States members voted to prevent that from happening, the island is now faced with the prospect of a majority of members thwarting their wishes.

If those behind the latest requete are correct and Environment Department members decide this time to ignore the legal advice given to them not to vote, the £93m. Suez waste treatment solution will be back on track and government will have performed its most spectacular flip-flop to date.

More than that, its reputation and credibility will be in shreds – and it will have lost what little esteem islanders held it in, whether opposed to incineration or not.

What this reveals in distressingly embarrassing terms is how the freedom for members to fight over every point every time it can be brought back to the Assembly, combined with no sense of discipline or pragmatic acceptance of previous votes, is actually government’s biggest weakness.

And even if the latest petition succeeds and there is a ‘true’ majority decision, the issue will not end there. The anti lobby is too big, too representative of island opinion and too well funded to give up now.

What is becoming very apparent is that this States simply cannot take difficult decisions.