STATES Members were due to meet today to elect a new Council of Ministers.
Chief Minister-designate Lyndon Farnham has already announced his nominees for the roles, including the post of Housing Minister, which will be contested.
As promised both before and after winning the election last Thursday, Deputy Farnham’s list is “mixed”, with proposed seats for Reform Jersey, members of Chief Minister Kristina Moore’s previous government and several backbench Deputies and Constables.
Deputy Farnham has confirmed that he will appoint former Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet as his Deputy Chief Minister, weeks after Deputy Binet lodged a successful vote of no confidence in Deputy Moore.
Meanwhile, Deputy Farnham also hopes to replace the current role of Children’s and Education Minister with two new ministries: Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning and Minister for Children.
St Peter Constable Richard Vibert will be nominated to the existing role of Children’s and Education Minister, and when a new order is given effect, Deputy Robert Ward will be nominated as Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning.
Members can also stand independently for these key positions. Current Housing Minister David Warr is making a bid to remain in the role, challenging Deputy Farnham’s pick, of Deputy Sam Mézec. It was not clear last night whether other roles would be contested.
Deputy Warr, speaking to the JEP yesterday, said: “I have to defend the actions that we’ve taken and the journey that we’re currently on.”
He added: “It’s also important that we recently ran a consultation on the Residential Tenancy Law update. There is a great gulf between the two manifestos pledged and from the feedback we have received, it would be remiss of me not to defend those who stated their opinion in the consultation period. I am fearful that [Deputy Mézec] will ride rough-shod over all that work.”
One of Deputy Warr’s most recent pieces of work was a shared-equity scheme for first-time buyers which is designed to help Islanders get on the housing ladder. He said that there was “no guarantee” that the scheme would continue, saying: “The new administration may have a change of heart, which is of deep concern to me.”
