By Richard Digard
Look anywhere and it’s self-evident that running an organisation – be that commercial, charitable, sporting or governmental – is pretty difficult. That’s why you’ll find it easier to name the laggards than the high-fliers.
Criteria and context matter, of course. Which is why Denmark consistently lists as one of, if not the, best-run countries in the world. It’s the least corrupt, (according to Transparency International), with a strong social welfare system and free healthcare and education; high government efficiency and low bureaucracy; strong economic competitiveness and business-friendly policies; excellent public services with high trust in institutions.
Forget corruption for a moment. Despite what anyone might tell you to the contrary, it’s not a serious issue in these islands. But how would you rate your own States on the other “tests” listed here? How well performing, in other words, are the States of Jersey and the States of Guernsey?
And before you ask, yes, this has been triggered by the “Ferrygate” fiasco, which has cost both Jersey and Guernsey a coherent shipping service with adequate inter-island links. It’s also why I think there’s an urgent need for an independent review of the process that gave neither jurisdiction the connectivity it wanted or required.
As John Henwood noted here on Saturday, it was pretty obvious at the outset that there were some conflicts before negotiations even started – Guernsey with financial skin in the game owning a ferry and Jersey (allegedly) wanting shot of Condor. So the fundamental question is why even enter a joint process if the required outcome was unobtainable?
What’s done is done, but Channel Island residents and taxpayers deserve to know how and why a joint approach foundered on the rocks. Not only is it of importance now, it has wider significance for the future. Only the most jingoistic believe these islands are of a size and scale to be truly autonomous.
It is only historic happenstance that left us in the fortunate position of being self-governing while protected and represented on the global stage by Great Britain. That support is weakening – even if only because the constitutional relationship with “the Crown” becomes more arcane as the years tick by – and the cost and complexity of acting as micro-states increases over time.
Yet Ferrygate has made the prospect of serious co-operation between the islands even less likely. Again, CI residents are entitled to know – independently and believably – why that’s the case. For solid, inescapable reasons? Or because of the capricious nature of politicians?
Few, I think, believe the quality of government in Guernsey has improved in the last 20 years (the last significant reforms were in 2004) while more recent events have questioned the competence and capability of the bureaucracy that informs Deputies and carries out their policy directions.
I’m not close enough to the States of Jersey to make a similar statement here but I note the Jersey Opinions and Lifestyle Survey Report 2024, published in December, shows that trust in the Assembly has collapsed to 4.3 out of ten. Perhaps more worryingly, the longer someone has been here, the even less faith they will have in Deputies and the political process.
This lack of trust in politicians isn’t unique to Jersey or Guernsey, of course, but the smaller the jurisdiction the more obvious and damaging it becomes. That, I guess, is why Mark Boleat’s Policy Centre Jersey has Lord (Gus) O’Donnell, former head of the UK Civil Service, coming over next week to discuss with others how to restore trust.
They have their own views on how to go about that but for me it’s built when people believe their leaders act in islanders’ best interest, act fairly and deliver results. How can two ferry services and no inter-island connectivity be in our best interests?
I’d also say that competence is a pretty strong requirement for trust to exist. And yet even Dr Andrew McLaughlin, Jersey’s interim States’ chief executive, says the Island is doing things (with your money) when there’s no real need to. As he put it, that’s doing things that “are discretionary and not the essential role of the state and not public safety”.
That’s why the need for a review of the ferry decision is pressing – so islanders can have confidence that people in authority over them acted sensibly, on the basis of factual information and in good faith with the best interests of both islands at heart.
Why do I labour this? Simply because of the importance of competence in effective government and the formidable list of problems coming down the line that will need care, skill and judgment to resolve.
Real earnings – Harold Wilson’s “the pound in your pocket” – fell by more than 3% between 2020 and 2024, migrant and seasonal workers are needed to fill new and additional jobs but accommodation costs are too high, while public expenditure is growing.
Jersey’s financial reserves are too low, the Stabilisation Fund is effectively exhausted and healthcare costs are rocketing, well above OECD country levels. As the Fiscal Policy Panel warned in September, “76% of the Budget’s total expenditure growth for 2025-2028 is being spent in the Health and Community Services Department. This rate of growth in healthcare spending is not sustainable…”.
Two other recent developments need to be factored in as well. The first is Jersey’s birthrate falling to its lowest level for 80 years, fully 10% below the previous year’s total, and the other – related, given the Island’s dependence on migration – is that fewer than half of those who arrived here five years ago have stayed.
Whether you view that as good or bad is slightly academic. The point is that falling birthrates and the reluctance (or inability, for whatever reason) of people to stay here increase reliance on attracting ever more people to the Island, something that is already difficult, but they don’t want kids here either.
This has implications for the Island’s demographics, dependency ratio (those working and thus supporting those who aren’t) and healthcare costs, all of which the FPP says needs attention now.
None of these are simple issues to address. I’d say the biggest, after unaffordable housing, are the ageing population, uncontrolled public expenditure and the expanding role of the States itself.
Selecting a ferry company to service two islands in the Channel should have been an easy task. For some reason it wasn’t and we need to know why to have any confidence for tackling these even bigger issues in the future.
- Richard Digard is a former editor and director of the Guernsey Press and Star and has recently retired as chairman of Guernsey Post Ltd. He has been a Douzenier of the Vale Parish in Guernsey since 2016 and is a consultant and media commentator.
