By Phil Romeril
FOR too long, the conversation around our island’s political system has been dominated by frustration. We, the voters, feel unheard. Our elected officials seem to be fighting among themselves. And the civil service, a vital public asset, is often viewed with suspicion, seen as a self-preserving machine rather than a servant of the community.
This breakdown – a fissure in the “trust triangle” connecting politicians, civil servants and the public – is not the result of malicious intent. It is the result of a systemic failure: the chronic absence of a single, shared, strategic plan. We have leaders, but we lack cohesive direction. And where democratic direction falters, chaos – and, eventually, distrust – takes root.
The problem starts the moment a politician walks through the door. Imagine a team of architects arriving to build a skyscraper, but each one has a different blueprint. That is, effectively, how our Assembly operates. Politicians, often elected on individual mandates, enter office without a collective, binding programme to guide their actions. This creates an immediate and pervasive strategic void.
This void is the primary source of the system’s dysfunction. It fragments decision-making, ensuring that the Assembly never operates with maximum efficiency. More critically, it leaves a power vacuum that is inevitably filled by the permanent administration.
This is not a criticism of the dedicated men and women of our civil service. They are simply responding to the environment they find themselves in. When politicians fail to provide clear, united, high-level direction, civil servants – especially those in mandatory and managerial layers –must step up to fill the operational gaps.
But when the administration is forced to assume strategic leadership roles that rightly belong to our elected representatives, the public perception shifts. The civil service is no longer seen as delivering policy; it is seen as making policy, inviting accusations of meddling, overreach, and a self-preservation instinct that trumps the Island’s needs. The strained relationship between the political and administrative sides of government is not due to too much oversight, but too little clear, strategic direction.
This institutional malaise has consequences far beyond policy papers. It discourages capable people from entering public life. When the system is perceived as broken, resistant to change, and lacking in purpose, the most talented individuals – the very people we need leading the charge – simply decline to stand for office. We lose critical leadership at the source.
The solution is not to simply elect fresh faces. The solution is to introduce a binding, shared framework that demands cohesion from day one. What’s more, enabling the people of Jersey to shape a co-ordinated policy programme to which our politicians can work together following their election has not only the potential to improve the public impression of both our politicians and civil service, but also offers the public the ability to hold the latter both to account when it comes to delivery in government.
This type of initiative represents a critical shift from fragmented electioneering to united, purpose-driven governance. It proposes that, before the next election, prospective candidates must align themselves behind a clear, Islander-built policy slate. This is a commitment mechanism that tells the voter: “We are a team, and this is exactly what we promise to deliver.”
Crucially, the plan would be born from the Island’s community itself. It will start with tangible, immediate priorities – most urgently, cost-of-living solutions – before expanding to a comprehensive, strategic programme for the entire term. This clarity allows voters to make an informed choice based not on personality, but on collective capability to deliver tangible outcomes.
Once elected, the programme transforms into an essential mechanism of public accountability. The programme would act on behalf of the Island to ensure that officials remained committed to the slate they signed up for.
This clarity liberates both politicians and the administration. The politicians’ role becomes precisely what it should be: setting a clear, defined strategy, establishing accountability structures, and empowering civil service leaders to execute. It allows politicians to hold the administration accountable for delivery, rather than getting bogged down in counterproductive operational micromanagement.
The expected outcomes are profound. We will rebuild trust between voters and politicians by delivering visible, cohesive results. We will strengthen the civil service by providing the clear strategic leadership it craves, allowing its focus to return entirely to service-oriented outcomes. We will replace the atmosphere of systemic dysfunction with one of democratic purpose.
The chronic absence of a common plan has resulted in managerial voids, strained relationships, and deep public scepticism. The time for individual election promises is over.
We must demand a cohesive, unified commitment to a plan built by Islanders, for Islanders. The initiative outlined above is not just another policy idea; it is the structural fix required to restore trust, empower our government, and ensure our political ecosystem finally begins working for us, instead of against itself. The future of effective governance relies on every candidate and every voter aligning behind a shared blueprint for success.
Jerseyborn Phil Romeril qualified as a pharmacist in 1987, studying at Aston University in Birmingham and returned to the Island to run a pharmacy business which operated in both Jersey and Guernsey. From 2016, he established a social enterprise to develop and deliver the Call & Check scheme. Phil co-founded the Policy Centre Jersey in March 2023 and held the role of secretary until recently stepping down. Recently, he co-founded the Island of Longevity initiative, which launched in May 2025 and was involved in the launch of Value Jersey in October of this year
