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A Week in Politics
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By my count, at least ten of the new Members will vote for it next time around. And the next time around won’t be too far coming either. But the significance of that goes beyond GST on food – it means that the gap between the Council of Ministers and everyone else has narrowed.
And that’s good news. It means a more balanced House, and a political environment where the centre has shifted to, well, the centre. That’s not to say that it’ll get any less rowdy and shouty in there, or even that the new States are objectively better than the current lot – although to my mind they are, with one big exception.
More on that later.
They’re a slightly more diverse bunch of politicians – 11 women instead of ten, and three of the new intake are in their 20s. The latter bit is significant. If there’s anything that can encourage younger voters to get involved in elections – and in Jersey terms, that means anyone under 40 – it’s the presence of younger people in the States.
Too many numbers make me dizzy but here’s some that are pretty easy to digest. The terms of office of six out of ten ministers end a week today.
Two decided not to stand again. I’d have bet pretty good money on Chief Minister Frank Walker and Home Affairs Minister Wendy Kinnard not getting re-elected, but we’ll never know for sure. Two of them were fairly unceremoniously rejected by voters, Education Minister Mike Vibert finishing ninth out of 21 Senatorial candidates, and Transport Minister Guy de Faye coming ninth out of 11 in St Helier No 3.
Of those who got in, Economic Development Minister Philip Ozouf dropped from first place in 2002 to fifth place in 2008, and Social Security Minister Paul Routier dropped from third to fourth. That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement of ministerial government – either in principle or policy – is it?
OK, here’s the exception. With absolutely no disrespect to Phil Rondel, who’s always struck me as a principled man, a dedicated servant to his parishioners and a hard worker, the loss of Pat Ryan from the States is a big deal.
There are probably about five Members in the current, but soon to be replaced, line-up who you can rely on for an honest opinion backed up by solid facts without the near-mandatory partisan twist.
Deputy Ryan is one of them. The Corporate Services Scrutiny panel that he led produced reports on GST, ‘zero-ten’ and the deemed rental proposals, the aborted sale of the Jersey College for Girls site and bovine semen importation were good examples of what Scrutiny should be.
That’s without the occasional sessions where the panel would call in the Chief Minister or the Treasury Minister for a grilling on a series of random subjects – which yielded the ‘we accidentally shredded £2,000’ admission from the Treasury department which was one of my favourite stories of the year.
He’s not perfect – he described himself as the States’ ‘financial guru’ not so long ago, which is the kind of nonsense we can all do without. But Deputy Ryan gave up a seat in St Helier to run a near-unwinnable race against Deputy-elect Rondel on a point of principle because he thought a Deputy should stand where he lives. Fair play to him, but he’ll be a big loss.
THAT is an example of a big loss, but losses don’t come any smaller than the way Suzette Hase lost to Deputy Ben Fox in St Helier No 3. After a recount, just one vote separated fourth and fifth place – and getting a seat in the States or not.
Minutes after the result was announced – after, apparently, consultation with the Deputy Judicial Greffier and the Bailiff over spoiled papers resolved in her favour – Miss Hase gave a magnanimous, dignified and statesmanlike response to reporters saying that she accepted the result, and would be back in three years.
Compare and contrast that to the response of three sitting Deputies in the district – poll-topper Deputy Jackie Hilton, Deputy Jacqui Huet and Deputy de Faye – who refused even to talk to some reporters on the night. Not to labour the point, but regardless of the results, they all got a full day’s pay to be representatives of the public that night. Not talking to the press after the election results were announced? Not really magnanimous, dignified or statesmanlike, is it?
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