Reform that needs a rethink

It is nevertheless true that Option B, which involved the retention of the 12 Constables and six ‘super-constituencies’, won the day and it is this that Treasury Minister Philip Ozouf is now seeking to resurrect by calling for amendments to that structure and a new vote.

It is without doubt true that, as St Helier Constable has said, the States would be a complete laughing stock if they attempted to stage a new reform referendum. Unfortunately, they would risk similar derision if they were persuaded by Senator Ozouf to tinker with the basic proposal so that Option B could be squeezed in spite of a level of popular support which was, to say the very least, lukewarm.

That support, coupled with the generally lamentable turnout in the referendum as a whole, points to a feature of the whole reform controversy which States Members appear not to have taken on board – it is not an issue anywhere near the top of the public’s agenda for change.

Members are also in danger of falling into the trap of trying to tamper with governmental structures in a piece-meal way that is highly unlikely to produce satisfactory results. What is needed – if reform is still to be regarded as a priority – is a complete rethink and a truly coherent plan that genuinely and manifestly advances Island democracy.

Meanwhile, if ordinary many Islanders are continuing to devote attention to a process which appears to be of more compelling interest to politicians than to the man in the street, the predominant emotion likely to be affecting them is nostalgia. You do not have to be a conservative backwoodsman to look fondly back to the days when government by committee was in force.

That system was the butt of criticism and many were prepared to accept the idea that it was not streamlined enough for modern, thrusting 21st century Jersey. With hindsight, many may now feel that post-Clothier, we did no more than jump from the frying pan into the fire.