THE Chief Minister has insisted her government respects States Assembly decisions, after being accused of ‘disregarding’ them.
Deputy Kristina Moore was responding to an open letter sent by Deputy Sam Mézec earlier this month, which accused ministers of failing to progress three proposals in particular – on assisted dying, an empty property tax and the removal of GST from period products.
Deputy Mézec said the Council of Ministers needed to explain why decisions made by the previous Assembly had been ‘disregarded’.
Deputy Moore said Deputy Mézec’s letter served as a ‘helpful reminder of the need for the executive to keep Members fully and properly informed of the progress being made in implementing the Assembly’s decisions’.
She added: ‘In the cases you have raised, there is no intention other than to fulfill the Assembly’s decisions, and where appropriate ministers are returning to the Assembly to request approval for a revised or new approach.
‘Please be assured that, as Members of the Assembly ourselves, ministers will maintain full respect for our parliamentary democracy.’
In his letter, Deputy Mézec said that a proposition from 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 Moore highlighted that Housing Minister David Warr made a statement at the last States sitting, confirming he had ‘met the requirement of the proposition to initiate the necessary arrangements for the preparation of an options paper’. Deputy Warr had also written to Deputy Tadier in September, she said, and the housing minister told Members the wording of the proposition did not ‘infer an absolute deadline’.
A debate on whether the Island should permit assisted dying was scheduled to take place in October, Deputy Mézec said, but no proposition had been lodged meaning it could not be debated before the end of the month.
Deputy Moore admitted that the debate was now expected to take place next year, and that Members had ‘not been directly informed’ over final proposals not being lodged in time for an October debate.
But, she added: ‘I am comfortable that the delay to March 2023 is appropriate and being undertaken for good reasons and intentions.’
This would allow more time for stakeholder engagement and a 12-week public consultation, ‘which can take full account of the ethical, moral and practical complexity of this matter’, she said.
Deputy Mézec also cited a proposition calling for the Treasury Minister to bring forward legislation to remove GST from period products, arguing that the original proposition still stands, despite the government’s recent mini-budget containing proposals for period products to be made available for free.
Deputy Moore said: ‘As you know, this was a proposition which I brought during the last Assembly with the intention to reduce period poverty.
‘As part of the 100-day plan, I have now ensured that menstrual sanitary products are made available for free. The intention of my proposition has therefore been achieved and exceeded.’
She added that the Government Plan, if approved, would replace this earlier commitment.
