Arguments over funding essential public services and living within your means will be a central theme in the 2026 budget debate.
Deputy Gavin St Pier will take the stand as Policy & Resources’ treasury lead from today, setting out the island’s financial health and defending the measures the top political committee wants to take in the short term.
But the island will still be spending more than it brings in, meaning there will be a net operating deficit of £48m.
Five amendments seeking to alter tax and spend measures for next year have been submitted, and will therefore take up the majority of the States meeting, and these will be considered first.
Scrutiny President Deputy Andy Sloan finds himself proposing two and seconding one amendment, so his voice will be frequent throughout as he opens and responds to the various debates.
He is behind the first and most contentious challenge to P&R’s plans, and will try to convince the Assembly to freeze public spending in line with 2025, rather than increase day-to-day spending by millions next year.
It will provoke the ire of committee leads who would face large budget cuts if the move succeeds, with Health & Social Care and Home Affairs in line for the biggest squeeze.
They have already warned there would be cuts to services if their requests for additional cash are ignored, but Deputy Sloan will argue public finances are unsustainable and the States should cut its cloth accordingly.
Attention will then move to a much smaller matter – splitting out the annual spending of the Scrutiny Management Committee in the budget from the States Assembly & Constitution Committee.
Deputy Sloan will lead on this too, arguing it is a simple yet important move for the States department which is supposed to live and breathe transparency.
Motoring will be in the fray as Deputy Jayne Ozanne attempts to convince colleagues that there should be a real terms cut in the rate of fuel duty by 1% to assist low-income families who use the roads.
Policy & Resources have already made its opposition public, saying the overall impact on people’s pockets would be minimal and emphasising that a significant proportion of low-income households don’t own a car.
Deputies will then consider maintaining mortgage interest relief payments, with Deputy Aidan Matthews making the call to not withdraw States funding.
He wants the States to continue providing a maximum of £3,500 in tax relief on people’s principal private residence, while acknowledging it will cost increasingly large sums of money each year.
It’s estimated that continuing to provide this relief will cost an additional £0.6m in 2026, rising to £3.5m by 2029.
He has fears that the treasury may be overestimating the amount of revenue before any of the cash has been collected, and is calling for a more conservative approach.
The budget debate begins today and could run until 7 November.