Chief Minister John Le Fondré is understood to be among the senior members of government supporting Jersey Alliance, which was registered as a political party by the Royal Court on Friday and will hold a launch event on Tuesday.
Deputy Lindsay Ash confirmed that he was taking on the role of membership secretary, alongside Deputy Gregory Guida as chairman, Deputy Rowland Huelin as treasurer and former election candidate Mary O’Keeffe as party secretary.
Deputy Ash, the incumbent Assistant Treasury Minister, said that since being elected in 2018, he had increasingly come to the view that Jersey needed a party system to enable the government to get anything done.
He said: ‘The government is limited to 18 members by the Troy rules and that means it will always be a minority government and continually have to compromise.
‘The new-hospital project is one example. If there had been a party with an overall majority ten years ago, we could have picked a site and it could have been built by now, saving the Island millions of pounds.’
Deputy Ash said Jersey Alliance would not operate a party-whip system prior to the general election, at which point he anticipated that at least 30 candidates would canvas for Islanders’ votes.
In addition to the three elected States Members serving as party officials, Jersey Alliance is understood to have the backing of Senator Le Fondré, Treasury Minister Susie Pinel, Social Security Minister Judy Martin, Education Minister Scott Wickenden, Assistant Chief Minister Richard Buchanan and Assistant Economic Development Minister Hugh Raymond, as well as Trinity Constable Philip Le Sueur.
Jersey Alliance is the Island’s third political party to be officially registered, joining Reform Jersey and the Progress Party.
A launch also took place earlier this month for the Jersey Liberal Conservatives, described by co-founder Sir Philip Bailhache as a ‘movement’ which could evolve into a political party during the build-up to the election.
