IT’S clear from the ‘Green Paper’ on population control that the policy group is split over denying future qualified residents the right to return home from abroad.

In fact, a majority actually favoured this draconian action, although they seemed to lack sufficient conviction to put it forward as a firm proposal.

So while those locals able to return now will keep that right – legislation can’t be retrospective – the treatment of future generations of islanders depends on the outcome of the present consultation and the subsequent States vote.

Politicians aren’t philosophers – although Aristotle thought they should be – but they often have to answer ethical questions. For example, should the interests of the community always outweigh the rights of individual citizens? The correct conclusion, in any civilised society, is an emphatic ‘no’. Certain human rights must always transcend political or economic objectives.

It can be hard for politicians to respect individual rights when they stand in the way of public policy. The temptation is to say: ‘The rights of the many outweigh the rights of the few.’ That may be true when weighing up genuinely comparable rights, but not when it’s the fundamental freedoms of individuals versus mere governmental convenience.

What’s all this got to do with the price of bean jar?

Well, the decision on whether to continue to allow Guernsey people the freedom to return home is exactly the sort of issue where ethics should be at the heart of political decision-making.

The pragmatic arguments in favour of stopping Guernsey people returning will no doubt be trotted out by some of our political leaders to justify a more illiberal regime:

l ‘There are thousands of islanders out in the world and if they all decided to return home, it would cause a population surge.’

l ‘If all Guernsey people came home to retire, it would put intolerable stress on our health and social services.’

l ‘We can’t have a real population control regime if 90% of the population are free to come and go as they choose.’

This is partly pure tosh and partly a classic case of politicians turning a blind eye to individual rights to make government easier.

Of course, if every islander who had forged a career in the outside world retired to a bungalow at Cobo it would cause a big demographic headache, but that wilfully overlooks two counter arguments.

The first is that Guernsey’s current system of five-year housing licences for essential workers gives the island a huge demographic benefit. We shamelessly – or cannily – make use of the skills of key workers while they are at the peak of their economic activity but then ensure they are not a burden on the island in their old age.

The proposed regime of four-year employment permits will continue this practice.

If we can’t reciprocate by looking after our own, then it’s a pretty poor show.

The second is that the sort of tidal wave of qualified residents arriving on our shores – conjured up by some to frighten us into intolerance – simply won’t happen. Obviously some Guernsey people will pursue careers outside the island and then return home in later life. Am I alone in thinking that there is nothing wrong with that? Good for them – welcome home, nice to see you again.

However, a fair percentage of the Guernsey folk who move to the UK, Australia or Canada end up staying there. That’s actually a strong, population-related argument for not putting them off leaving in the first place by threatening to slam the door behind them.

I’m sure that behind the closed doors of Frossard House, the arguments in favour of stripping Guernsey people of their birthright can seem oh so logical.

I only hope none of the supporters of this cruel suggestion ever find themselves permanently divided from family members because they’ve been denied the right to come home.

For the vast majority of those born and brought up in Guernsey, the island will always be their native place and their spiritual home, however long they spend away. Any people’s deputy who doesn’t understand that simple truth doesn’t deserve the title.

Of course, at the moment it’s only a consultation exercise. Nothing has been decided – but don’t be fooled into complacency.

It’s good that the Population Policy Group has backed away from making a firm proposal to exile islanders who spend a period of time away from Guernsey, but the idea hasn’t gone away and it should be strangled at birth.