Countdown to an election that must raise standards

Whether the decision to elect Deputies, Senators and Constables at the same time on 19 October 2011 will have much effect other than widespread confusion among voters and an unmerited diminution in the status of the Constables remains to be seen.

It is the kind of academic question to which the States have devoted an extraordinary amount of self-absorbed navel-gazing over the past few years, most recently just last week when they also agreed to reduce the size of the Assembly by four and introduce four-year terms of office.

Sadly, however, in doing so they have been engaged in the kind of exercise sometimes likened to rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. As the election countdown begins, the real issue which should be exercising the mind of anyone who cares about Jersey’s future is not how many Members of what kind are elected how often, but how on earth we are to dramatically improve the calibre of those coming forward as candidates.

After years of steady decline, Jersey is on the brink of a crisis in the overall quality of the States. The sad fact is that too few current Members have consistently displayed the combination of intellect, integrity and good will required to represent Islanders effectively in what, for a whole complex range of reasons, are extraordinarily challenging times.

Too many Members and opportunist candidates in recent years have appeared to approach States membership not as a privileged opportunity for public service but as a vehicle for airing their own hobby horses or enjoying playground jibes at those with whom they disagree.

Too many appear to lack basic respect for the parliamentary traditions and institutions they have inherited. Too many seem incapable of discussing genuine differences of opinion without resorting to personal abuse, glib dogmatic platitudes and juvenile conspiracy theories. Too many lack due humility, basic professional skills or the willingness to engage collaboratively with the big philosophical questions about what kind of community we want to create.

With honourable exceptions, this is not an impressive States Assembly, and Jersey deserves something better. The problem is how to achieve it. How, in the course of the next 12 months, can the prospect of getting involved in Jersey politics be transformed from an increasingly unappealing one into an opportunity capable of once again attracting the Island’s brightest and best?

In the continuing absence of full-scale party politics, there is no pre-election selection process for would-be Members to pass and, with election manifestos amounting to little more than hopeful wish-lists, no reliable way for the electorate to ensure they get what they think they are voting for. These shortcomings are compounded by the mercurial and marginal nature of the elections themselves, in which it is now possible for almost anyone to win a well-paid seat in the States on the basis of little more than a plausible manner and the gift of the gab.

These are not the hallmarks of the mature democracy which Jersey needs, either domestically or if – as it must for all our sakes – it is to be taken seriously on an international stage where the roles and relationships of the players are changing rapidly and demanding ever higher levels of performance from our political representatives.

Rose-tinted nostalgia is a dangerous trap but there can be little doubt that the average calibre of States Members has declined significantly over the last two or three decades. A glance down the list of States Members sitting in, say, 1980 will rapidly confirm that view.

It is no mere coincidence that the same period has seen the abandonment, albeit for sound theoretical reasons, of the principle of honorary service and the end of the consensual approach which for so long characterised Jersey politics. Given that we are now irrevocably in the era of the paid politician, however, the challenge is to find ways of ensuring that no one of suitable ability is deterred from seeking election by the climate of unpleasantness and disruption which has steadily developed since that era and must now be replaced by something more constructive and mutually respectful, whatever differences of policy and ideology there may be.

The next round of government reforms, proposed by Senator Alan Breckon, will go some way towards that by diluting the tendency to adversarial point-scoring inherent in the flawed ministerial system as it is currently constituted. They will not be enough in themselves to solve the problems, though. That can only come about through a major resurgence of interest in service to the Island among those members of the community capable of combining an appreciation of its proud history with a positive new vision of how it might once again become a united and contented community.

If that is to be achieved, Jersey simply cannot afford another drop in the overall quality of the States after next year’s elections. On the contrary, it is vital that the calibre starts rising again and keeps on rising, gradually restoring the Island’s confidence in the Assembly and ensuring that it provides clear, responsive and accountable representation worthy of a respected and self-respecting modern jurisdiction.

To paraphrase the words of the old political maxim, now (and not when the 2011 elections are looming and it is too late to do anything about it) is the time for all good men and women to be thinking about coming to the aid of the Jersey party. There has rarely, if ever, been a better or more important time for candidates of the right calibre to consider making that commitment.