Guernsey needs to develop a proper framework for political parties in the future, says the leader of Forward Guernsey.
Deputy Gavin St Pier is seeking re-election at this summer’s island wide vote, as a member of the only political party to so far declare its intention to field candidates.
Forward Guernsey has four candidates intending to be nominated so far. Together they say they will be endorsing the manifesto of Future Guernsey – a political ‘think tank’ which consulted local residents last year to find out what the island needs to set as its priorities.
Deputy St Pier told Express that Forward Guernsey has no links to Future Guernsey, and that everything the two organisations have done is within the regulations set by the States of Guernsey.
“There’s no funding stream, there’s no reliance on any of (Future Guernsey’s) resources that they have, and that is the way that it needs to be in accordance with Guernsey’s electoral law. We absolutely have to be rigidly compliant with that, we understand that, and that provides the reason for the being no contact between the two.”
Deputy St Pier explained that Forward Guernsey meets all of the regulatory requirements laid down by the current laws, but he thinks those laws should change.
“The other thing, in relation to to the whole question of the regulation of political parties and expense rules and everything else is, as with many things in Guernsey, because there’s never been a requirement for it before. Frankly, what’s there is not fit for purpose. So there is no regulation of political parties. All there is, is a registration process and then a regulation around spending in an election period. There’s no constraint, for example, on donations, where the donations come from, inside the island or outside the island, or the extent of those donations, the purpose of what they can be used for, none of that exists. And frankly, if we are to move into an era of more organized professional politics with other political parties, which may well be the case in the future, then we will absolutely need to ensure that, we have a proper framework that enables that to take place.”
Deputy St Pier said changing the rules around political parties is important but it’s not a party priority at this stage.
“It’s not something that we’ve discussed as a group. I mean, I’m offering that as my personal view and my personal experience up to this point, but I think it would be the responsible thing to do to initiate that kind of discussion and debate quite early in the new States, so that actually by the time you get to the next election, you do have a proper framework. But let’s face it, the whole focus of the Future Guernsey manifesto is on the island’s priorities, so we have to recognise where some of these things fit in terms of the prioritisation of government work. But on the other hand, you do need to have a proper architecture in place if you’re going to have a well functioning democratic process and system.”
A “fairer tax system” is now “critical”
He was once in charge of Guernsey’s finances, but if he’s re-elected this June, Gavin St Pier says it is now “critical” that the island’s tax system is made fairer and that the States prove to the public that it is run as efficiently as possible.
Although he is endorsing the Future Guernsey manifesto as a member of Forward Guernsey, Deputy St Pier told Express that one of his own political priorities will be to deliver a fairer tax system for everyone.
“The Future Guernsey manifesto has been built recognising that the six priorities are all interlinked and that you can’t really touch one without having an impact on the other. So it’s quite hard to sort of rank or prioritise, and that’s not the basis on which the manifesto has been built. Clearly the housing crisis is a central issue which has built up over the last four years and as others have said in the previous term, when the population hadn’t really moved, the economy was in a different place, actually housing wasn’t as high a political priority and a public priority as it has subsequently become. But absolutely that there is some significant issues there. But for me, actually producing a fairer tax system is absolutely critical to us now.
“We know that our tax system is unsustainable in terms of of meeting our future needs, but I also know, having been responsible for the Treasury for eight years that, frankly, we tinkered because that’s all we could do. We tinkered with the tax system in order to raise a bit more revenue here, we expanded the scope of zero 10 from banks to include all financial services, we changed the rates of property taxation, and so on. But we were really, frankly, just tinkering around the edges.
“A fundamental review of our tax system is absolutely what is needed now, because all of those changes over the years, the change in the demographic composition of the island – in other words, an older population with fewer people, and a smaller percentage of those people still working, puts a greater and greater burden on the younger generation, which is not only unfair, but also ultimately is unsustainable. So we absolutely have to address that, and that, for me, is one of the things that I’d like to see change in the next term.”
Deputy St Pier explains in more detail how he intends to do this in our podcast, below.
LISTEN:
Gavin St Pier and Tom Rylatt discuss Forward Guernsey and their own political aspirations with Laura Clayton.