AFTER a deathly-dull Tuesday, the States Chamber stirred into life yesterday during tetchy exchanges between Reform Jersey representatives and their opponents.
When three Reform Members were elected to ministerial roles, they would have settled for this as a nice problem to have: adversaries lining up to take pot-shots at Housing Minister Sam Mézec for his cosy collaboration with the mover of a proposition who happened to be a party colleague.
Deputy Raluca Kovacs was the mover concerned, having proposed that the minister should develop a new policy on social rented housing by next January in order to ensure that from the following January – 2027 – rents should be set at a level that did not cause rental stress, defined as household members having to spend more than 30% of their income on rent.
Deputies Kovacs and Mézec had subsequently discussed an amendment which kept the review, but removed the January 2027 requirement, a tactic seized on by Deputy Alex Curtis, who argued that the amendment watered down the amendment to such an extent that it was questionable whether it would be worth debating.
The St Clement representative said Deputy Mézec had taken a very different approach to a recent spat with old adversary and predecessor Deputy David Warr – “cooperation versus combat” was the description used.
Deputy Jonathan Renouf said the amendment was a fudge that stripped the original proposition of all meaning, while Deputy Philip Bailhache complained that there was no clarity about how much the proposed changes would cost.
“What are we doing here?” asked Deputy Philip Ozouf, who described himself as “flabbergasted, surprised and confused”. A fair point, some observers may have thought.
Other Reform representatives were lining up to defend their colleagues. Education Minister Rob Ward said there was no chance anyone would be able to deflect Deputy Kovacs from her principles: “I’ve tried, it does not work,” he rued.
Deputy Montfort Tadier dismissed the criticism of his party as “deliberately heavy weather by a would-be opposition rabble”, while Deputy Mézec resisted the urge to rise to the baiting, sticking to a restrained observation that his critics were “making a mountain our of a molehill”.
Although he pleaded guilty to favouritism, in that Deputy Kovacs was “without doubt one of my favourite States Members”, the minister added quickly – and cheesily – that the other 47 came a close second.
After just over two hours of debate, the minister’s amendment passed comfortably by 32 votes to 12, leaving those from the alleged “rabble” to retire and lick their wounds.
