Guernsey’s deputies will be asked to decide whether one of their own should be suspended from the States at their meeting later this month.
That meeting, due to start on 26 November, has been set for the latest showdown involving Deputy Gavin St Pier.
He has already been found guilty of breaching the States Members Code of Conduct with a recommendation that he be suspended from the States for 25-days. States members themselves will now have to decide if they back that decision or not.
If they do back the decision then Deputy St Pier will be excluded from any States related work immediately, until just before Christmas.
Deputy St Pier is facing the 25-day suspension after being found guilty of breaching the States Members’ Code of Conduct following a complaint lodged against him by Dr Sandie Bohin.
The politician and the paediatrician have been in conflict since at least 2022 when Deputy St Pier named her during a States meeting as he tried to get the States to support a motion to debate an annual document detailing the regulation of doctors, based on personally held concerns with the safeguarding of children.
More recently, Deputy St Pier confirmed the number of complaints he has received about Dr Bohin in a telephone call with a national newspaper journalist earlier this year.
That led to the latest Code of Conduct complaint against Deputy St Pier.
The Standards Commissioner decided that he had again breached the States Members’ Code of Conduct and recommended a 30-day suspension.
However, when Deputy St Pier appealed that decision his view was partly upheld with the recommended suspension reduced to 25-days.
In response to a query from Express, he maintained the suspension will be disproportionate and he intends to challenge it when the States debate the issue later this month.
“I am under no illusions. Many States Members’ starting point will instinctively be that they would want to follow the recommendation emerging from an ostensibly independent process.
“But it cannot be right or proportionate to suspend a democratically elected representative for 25 days simply for confirming facts already held by a journalist. Sanctioning deputies who are doing their job in representing community concerns, cannot be in the public interest.
“This story isn’t primarily about me. It ought to be about the families who have experienced trauma in the hands of a secondary healthcare system that is culturally resistant to responding appropriately to anything perceived as criticism or challenge.
“In debate, I will lay out the case strongly as to why the Commissioner’s recommendation must be rejected.”
If he is suspended, Deputy St Pier will not be able to:
- enter the States Chamber or its precincts when the States are meeting;
- take part in any meeting or other matter relating to the States or a Department or Committee of the States;
- sign any report, requête or other document relating to the business of the States; or
- ask any question pursuant to Rule 14 of the Rules of Procedure.
The States will debate the motion to suspend Deputy St Pier during the meeting due to start on 26 November.