ISLANDERS gathered at Grouville Parish Hall on a balmy Thursday evening to listen to three prospective candidates make their case to be Deputy for Grouville and St Martin.
Battling for the two available seats are incumbents Assistant Chief Minister Rose Binet, International Development Minister Carolyn Labey and former Education Minister Scott Wickenden; with all three candidates standing on an independent ticket.
Mr Wickenden kicked off proceedings by pointing to a disconnect between the cost-of-living crisis and perceived political inaction.
“Yes, government is complicated, but struggling to pay the bills is not – that’s painfully simple,” he said. “That’s why this election matters: it’s not about what’s on a spreadsheet, it’s about kitchens and shop tills at the end of every month.”
Outlining his vision for a more economically secure Jersey, the former Assistant Chief Minister said the government “must rediscover discipline”.
He proposed that less money be spent on “vanity projects like the carbon neutral roadmap” and called for a review of duties on fuel, alcohol and tobacco.
Parishioners also heard Mr Wickenden rail against a lack of accountability across the senior civil service.
He later added that small businesses are being “smothered in every direction” by rising wage pressures, energy costs, regulation, recruitment challenges and inflation.
“Increasing the minimum wage by £4.35 is not a policy that is rooted in any reality”, he concluded.
Deputy Labey struck a more outward-looking tone during her opening speech, with a focus on improving Jersey’s standing in the international community.
Like Mr Wickenden, she too called for “financial disciple” to be restored and said Jersey has “drifted too far towards trying to mimic larger jurisdictions”.
She argued that the Island needs to “reform the often unpredictable banking process” and “support entrepreneurs and enterprise”.
The Deputy, who was first elected in 2002, also referred to her setting up of the Grouville Gazette, Grouville Community Support Group and a similar community support group in St Martin.
In her speech, Deputy Binet expressed her “frustration” at “the amount of time it takes” to get things done in government.
“If a business worked at the same pace, it could not survive, not even for a short amount of time”, she contended.
Indeed, much of her speech focused on the clumsy machinations of political office: with both the ministerial form of government and the current number of States Members coming under fire.
In terms of policy, she spoke positively about ongoing efforts to digitise healthcare and offered the Health ministerial team – of which she is part – as a model for successful, collaborative governing.
Continuing on the theme of health, Deputy Binet said Jersey needs “better planning” for its ageing population, before noting the “huge possibilities in the medical technology sector”.
Questions were then opened to the floor; with parishioners quizzing the candidates on topics including structural deficits, rates assessments, fuel duty and SEND provision in schools.
The three candidates found themselves generally singing off the same hymn sheet, but didn’t dovetail quite as neatly when responding to a question about the need to “control” Jersey’s population.
Deputy Labey said that the Island is “getting to the point that we do not have enough people to do the jobs that we have got over here, and we are not going to have enough people to work in nursing homes, for instance”.
Evidencing her point, she stated: “I was on the beach on the weekend, and the ice-cream shop shut at about 3 in the afternoon – hot day, shut, no staff, so it is a very difficult balancing act.”
Deputy Binet, on the other hand, said “we should be looking at where we are taking the staff from that we require in the care homes and in hospitality”.
“Because at the moment they’re coming from many, many different countries and I’m just concerned that this Island is promising people access to their own languages [and] access to their own culture.”
She added that school teachers might find it “difficult” trying to teach in schools with “around 40 different languages” to contend with.
Answering the same question, Mr Wickenden said that he works in hospitality with a “very diverse staff” who are often more prepared to work unsociable hours.
“Unless we are going to close down the restaurants and the bars we need to find our workforce from somewhere, because we’re just not finding it locally”, he claimed.
What made everyone giggle?
One audience member stuck his hand up to ask one last question before instantly hesitating: “It won’t make any difference anyway”, he quipped.
What made everyone groan?
A few groans followed Deputy Binet’s candid admission that politicians often “have to vote for some things that you don’t think are perhaps right” in order to pass a budget at the end of the year.
