ANY suggestion that the future for the Island’s youngsters does not get enough focus would have been hard-pressed to draw that conclusion had they attended the hustings for St Clement Deputy.
A number of the questions from the floor specifically spoke to facilities for young people – whether that be within education, sports or housing.
In fact, it was one of the rare occasions during the 2026 election campaign trail where the cost-of-living crisis appeared to be shunted down the agenda – although the struggles Islanders face financially was still an underlying thread.
Seven candidates took the stage at St Clement Parish Hall vying for three seats.
Incumbents Deputies Karen Wilson, Barbara Ward and Alex Curtis lined up alongside the Reform Jersey duo of Noah Jervis and Mick Robbins and independents Joanne Vandermerwe-Mahon and Lindsay Ash, who is seeking a return to the Assembly having lost his seat in 2022.
Mr Jervis, who at 22 years old would be one of the youngest ever States Members if elected, opened up proceedings by speaking about how “proud” is he to have grown up in St Clement and the Island. However, he said he was standing because he felt “let down that our island has been neglected” by people being “priced out”.
Speaking about using the Island’s rich heritage to retain young people, he said: “I want people of all ages to engage in our culture, arts and heritage. Making music, arts, history and language more accessible today creates a more vibrant Jersey tomorrow.”
Deputy Wilson, who served as Health Minister as part of Deputy Kristina Moore’s government, said: “My focus is a fair deal for St Clement where every resident feels supported, listened to and properly served,” while pointing to her achievements during the previous term as both a minister and a Scrutiny panel member.
She added that would continue to champion parish matters, and pointed out her sustained campaigning for the Le Squez Youth Centre to back up her claim, while also advocating for better housing and improved better support for elderly Islanders among her core priorities.
Mr Ash took a more light-hearted approach reflecting on his failure to be re-elected as a St Clement Deputy in 2022. “When you are successful you don’t ask too many questions. The voters are fantastic, your policies are fantastic” he said. “But when you lose, you tend to question an awful lot of what you did wrong – Was it your haircut? Was it your tie? Was it your suit? Was it the fact you didn’t wear enough deodorant? These things all go round.”
He added that the likely answer was that he did not do not enough to tell people what he had done when in government and sought to outline his successes as Assistant Treasury Minister before criticising the current ministers for “inaction” on Fort Regent, Le Rocquier School sports centre, the Broad Street development and “most farcically” the Hospital.
Overregulation was the focus of Joanne Vandermerwe-Mahon’s speech as she revealed that she was standing for Deputy because “life on this beautiful island has become too complicated”.
While stating that St Clement will “always be my focus and my priority”, she hit out at government bureaucracy which, she said, has left Islanders facing significant barriers in accessing medical care and records, completing their tax returns and trying to launch businesses.
“Overregulation is crushing hope, creativity and initiative,” she added.
Deputy Barbara Ward, who was elected in 2022 and has since served as an Assistant Health Minister, said that she would seek to either continue in her current role or take on the Health Minister position if her bid for a second term is successful, stating she can “hit the road running with reliability and continuity.”
“We need this new hospital built – to be fully staffed and up-and-running,” she said. “The health team have developed good working relationships which is fundamental in such a large organisation, especially when we have many challenges ahead of us.”
Traffic and speeding, more green spaces, improving youth club and sports facilities are the key issues affecting the parish she added.
The second Reform Jersey candidate, Mick Robbins – a former police officer and scrutiny panel officer – said that Islanders are coming under increasing pressures and that he is “worried” about what life in Jersey is becoming.
He said: “People are doing everything they are taught to do. They are working hard, raising families, paying their taxes and playing by the rules and yet more and more people feel like they are falling behind.”
The final candidate to address the packed crowd was Deputy Alex Curtis – who like Deputies Wilson and Ward before him, is seeking a second term in the Assembly.
He said that when he stood for the first time in 2022, his four key priorities were protecting our island, managing costs, supporting a diverse economy and increasing minimum standards for housing.
Outlining what he had done in the previous four years to help address those aims, Deputy Curtis said “while being an Assistant Chief Minister for digital I managed spend carefully,” he says, before discussing his roles on scrutiny panels and the Planning Committee to back up his aims of managing costs and protecting the island.
After each candidate was given five minutes to make an opening speech – which is at least two minutes more than has usually been the case at other hustings – the microphone was passed to the floor to allow for questions.
The one minute timer for all seven to answer each question meant that some of the answers were a little rushed – with Deputy Curtis and Ms Vandermerwe-Mahon speaking noticeably quicker at times in an attempt to get through some fairly weighty topics inside 60 seconds.
A key theme that formed throughout the questioning was opportunities for young Islanders, with around half of the allotted time for the Q&A spent discussing Jersey’s future.
All candidates spoke positively about the offering at Highlands College, with a number wanting to see more vocational options for Islanders.
When specifically asked about post-16 education and pathways to enter the workforce, Ms Vandermerwe-Mahon said that she was shocked to discover that there is only one non-fee-paying school that offers A-Levels while both Mr Ash Mr Robbins spoke passionately about expanding the offering at Highlands, while praising the work that is carried out there.
Deputy Curtis said that the funding for academic study against vocational learning is “imbalanced”, while perhaps the most radical suggestion came from Deputy Ward who suggested that the school leaving age should be upped to 18.
For Mr Jervis, the answer was not just about education but about utilising all the Jersey has to offer to make Jersey attractive to young people. One solution he put forward was a deposit saving scheme to improve housing options.
Deputy Wilson, meanwhile, stated that there is a disconnect between the education and courses on offer in Jersey and what the local job markets needs. “We need a better understanding of where those career pathways need to be,” she said.
Islanders will head to the polls on Sunday 7 June.
