Yesterday, the States voted down by 26 to 21 a motion of censure brought by Senator Sam Mézec over the Council of Ministers’ ‘failure’ to implement an amended proposition which required the government to publish a report by the end of April outlining what guidance it had given to the Jersey Development Company to maximise the proportion of affordable homes in Waterfront redevelopment proposals.
Addressing the Assembly, St Martin Constable Karen Shenton-Stone said: ‘We are all in a pandemic. That is no excuse. We cannot use a pandemic to excuse all our behaviours.’
She said the censure was ‘deserved’ by the government.
Senator Mézec said in his proposition that the Council of Ministers had missed several chances after the April deadline to produce the report.
But Housing Minister Russell Labey said it did not ‘merit a vote of censure’. He added that this was one part of a three-part proposition that had not been implemented on time and that ‘some explanations’ had been provided.
The Council of Ministers formally apologised in official States comments lodged this month, but said that parts of Senator Mézec’s proposition had already been implemented, including bans on buy-to-let investors, and added that the ‘circumstances are not sufficient cause for a vote of censure’.
Deputy Kirsten Morel said he agreed that the ‘government often ignores the will of the Assembly and that is not in my view a place we should ever allow the government to be’.
Deputy Mike Higgins added that the delays pointed to ‘systemic failing in the way the States operates as a whole’.
However, Deputy Judy Martin said the Council of Ministers ‘never held the Assembly in contempt’ while Senator Lyndon Farnham told Members he ‘never’ witnessed ‘anything but a strong will by the Council of Ministers to deliver’.
And responding to the proposition, Chief Minister John Le Fondré said: ‘Let’s be really really clear – we apologise for the failure to meet the date.’
He added that it was ‘not a matter we have taken lightly’ and there was work under way on a ‘decision tracker’ to track and monitor whether propositions and amendments had been implemented.
In his closing statement, Senator Mézec said April was the government’s own deadline in the amended proposition.
He said: ‘The government did not adequately explain itself or allow itself to be held to account on what the Assembly had very clearly told it to do. Are States decisions optional?’
