MINISTERS need to explain why decisions made by the previous States Assembly have been ‘disregarded’ by the new government, Reform Jersey has said.
Deputy Sam Mézec has accused the new Council of Ministers of failing to enact agreed propositions – citing three in particular that have not been progressed.
In an open letter to Chief Minister Kristina Moore, Deputy Mézec said that Members needed to be able to decide whether delays or a diversion from approved policy was acceptable, but that ministers had failed to provide any reasoning for the delays.
He said: ‘The States Assembly is the sovereign decision-making body of Jersey, and the government is appointed by the Assembly to carry out its will. Government ministers are not entitled to unilaterally abandon decisions made by the Assembly. Where a government wishes to change policy, it can bring a rescindment motion to the Assembly to ask for permission to change course. Where a government feels it is unable to meet deadlines set by the Assembly, ministers can present themselves to the Assembly with an official statement and take questions from Members so they may test whether this is justifiable or not.’
He said that a proposition from his Reform Jersey colleague Deputy Montfort Tadier calling for the Housing Minister to ‘publish options for introducing an empty property tax by the end of September’ remained outstanding. Deputy Mézec said: ‘Before the end of September, the minister wrote to Deputy Tadier (the bringer of the original proposition) to explain that this deadline would be missed. He then belatedly shared this communication with the rest of the Assembly.
‘There may well be a reasonable explanation as to why the minister is unable to fulfil this Assembly decision, but no full explanation has been provided to States Members and no opportunity to question the minister on this has been provided.’
He also added that a debate on whether the Island should permit assisted dying had been scheduled to take place in October, but no proposition had been lodged meaning it could not be debated before the end of the month. He added that States Members were not informed of this delay and only found out about it through reports in the media that the debate would be pushed back to March next year.
The Reform Jersey leader also cited a proposition calling for the Treasury Minister to bring forward legislation to remove GST from period products. The government’s recent mini-budget contained proposals for period products to be made available for free.
However, Deputy Mézec argued that the original proposition still stands. He said: ‘Since your election as Chief Minister, you have stated your intention to introduce a system for providing menstrual sanitary products for free. Reform Jersey supports this proposal. However, this does not supersede the decision of the Assembly to have GST removed from these products. Alongside the existence of a system for providing these products for free, some businesses may continue to sell them. The States has resolved that GST should not be charged in those instances, and no decision to the contrary has yet been made.’
He called for ministers to deliver official statements during this week’s States sitting – due to begin this morning – and allow for Members to questions them on these matters.
‘The government must respect the supremacy of the States Assembly in our Island’s decision-making process. If previous decisions of the Assembly are to be disregarded by the government, you must provide adequate opportunities for the Assembly to have its say and determine whether we support the government’s will or if we wish to insist that the original decisions are maintained. Democracy must prevail,’ Deputy Mézec said.
