States to save £12 million? There may be trouble ahead

These cuts are to span all departments, they say. And there will be ‘a proper budget for court costs’, instead of having to ask for ‘extra funds’ each year, according to the press release issued by the communications unit.

Some might say this is not before time, given that there are now so many civil cases going through the Royal Court relating to the Island’s international finance industry – including one reported by Bloomberg this week involving at least £100 million and the government of the Congo. These proceedings, surely, must be costing Jersey’s public purse a not inconsiderable sum in court time, if not money.

So where are these States cuts to be made? Take Economic Development as an example. Will they be cutting back on the £2.4 million-plus awarded to the finance industry, to enable private firms to promote themselves in Hong Kong, India, the Middle East, Russia and so on? (I believe our Treasury Minister and various chief officers thoroughly enjoyed their foray overseas.)

No, in short. Instead, Economic Development will be cutting that old chestnut, school milk. That will save them a couple of thousand. Then there’s the tourism industry, which has already been cut substantially over the past couple of years.

There’s the lifeguard at Havre des Pas pool, television subtitles (tough if you’re deaf), the proposals for a financial ombudsman – now we never believed they would allow that to go ahead, did we? – and the axing of any plans for renewable energy, a green idea that we also knew they would never give any backing to.

So what are they left with? Well, there’s that spanking new tourism building near the bus station, the one tourists have to trek miles to find.

And their own nice new offices, of course, all built under the direction of our now Treasury Minister, plus the Jersey Enterprise offices packed with people Just Waiting To Help You Grow Your Business. Except that few want or are able to start a business in a recession – and in any case the banks are not keen to lend businesses any money.

And tax increases will surely follow.

Not forgetting that the European Union has not approved Jersey’s very own zero-ten tax scheme and that no one is entirely sure what that might mean in the longer term, despite Chief Minister Terry Le Sueur’s repeated assurances, during his time as Treasury Minister, that the EU had fully accepted the viability of the scheme within the Code of Conduct on business taxation.

Guernsey seems to think that there is no option but to tax every company at ten per cent. Just how competitive that might turn out to be is debatable, in a global industry like financial services.

As the song goes, there may be trouble ahead. As it stands, there is likely to be big trouble ahead.