A Week in Politics

Except that they aren’t and they won’t.

The question of exactly how it is that politicians spent much of the sitting debating these utter trivialities is a lot more interesting than the debates themselves – especially when you consider that one of the biggest political decisions of the week didn’t get as far as the States Chamber, and in fact only got as far as the Housing Minister’s desk.

Unfortunately, Senator Terry Le Main didn’t make it back from Tenerife in time for the end of the six-week Christmas break that States Members have been enjoying, so he wasn’t around to talk to the States about his move to give essentially-employed Islanders (J-category staff) the right to buy or rent any property they want.

That’s a big change. It means more demand in the housing market, it will make Jersey a much more attractive place for skilled people to come to work, and it means that the J-category licences that employers control have become a lot more valuable.

It’s also very strange. The announcement of the change claimed that it was mandated by a States decision in 2005 – before ministerial government even started. There’s never been any hint that the Housing Minister retained this power, I don’t remember him ever saying he planned to do it, and the out-of-the-blue timing of the whole thing just adds to the mystery.

But then, mystery abounds when it comes to States Members. Just what possesses Deputy Trevor Pitman to lodge propositions for debate in the Island’s parliament about whether ministers should get free BlackBerrys and raising the quorum from 27 to 33 is more mysterious still.

‘I don’t consider it trivial,’ he told Members in his speech on the BlackBerry proposition. It was a view that put him in a distinct minority, which is where he stayed when the vote was taken.

Just what he thought either proposition would do to help anybody for the better is the biggest mystery of all.

It’s nonsense like this that will accelerate moves to make the States more efficient with time limited speeches and debates, and restrictions on the number of propositions that can be lodged.

Deputy Pitman is by no means the only backbencher without the ability to pick the fights he can win, research and time a proposition well, and pitch it so that it appeals to enough Members to win. Those are abilities that Senator Alan Breckon and Deputy Bob Hill – for example – have developed to the point where they are not guaranteed success when they take something to the States, but they know that they will be taken seriously.

Instead of wasting his time and everyone else’s – and doing absolutely nothing to help the causes behind the proposals – Deputy Pitman might consider picking their brains on how it’s done properly.

Another strange decision was the move by the Environment Minister Freddie Cohen and the seven members of his planning application panel to cry off the Plémont debate, claiming that a vote might compromise them with regard to their upcoming decision on the latest plans for the site.

The proposal to buy the site was beaten by four votes, so there were enough votes among the absentees to swing the decision. And admittedly the decision was a tough one – it amounted to losing a beautiful part of Jersey’s coastline for ever, or lashing more than £14m on a derelict hotel site in a year in which States workers might face redundancy. It’s not a decision that I would have wanted to make.

But Senator Cohen and his panel get paid good money to make these decisions, not to duck them. And the question of how the principle of buying the Plémont site and judging a planning application within formal guidelines could get mixed up in their minds is a concern.

The sad thing is that some months ago, the panel showed the judgment and bravery to reject officer advice and turn down a previous application for the site. Their judgment and bravery were sorely lacking in this case.