Gloves off at Grouville

6 October 2005

Once again, a parish hall was packed to overflowing. And for the first time things really got moving – the stronger candidates are finding their feet, and the weaker ones are starting to look like they’re falling by the wayside.

This meeting had everything: the longest question ever in the history of Jersey hustings (probably), the shortest answer of the campaign so far (ever heard a politician answer a question with a single word?), loads of rhetoric and hyperbole, accusations of ignorance, laughs, jeers and even a question about an elephant. Wish you’d been there?

The speeches

We mainly heard re-runs of standard speeches, although a couple of candidates managed to pull off the good old “I’m a Grouville boy, me” gambit to curry local favour. But this seemed like a discerning audience.

Highlights of the speeches included Ben Shenton’s “I don’t want to be a bystander” construction, which was well-crafted. This is a confident political speaker who has a real rapport with audiences. And he’s managing to keep an optimistic outlook: “There’s nothing wrong with Jersey that can’t be fixed with what is right with Jersey.”

Jim Perchard has really improved his delivery and stature. Maybe it was the results of our poll yesterday that gave him a confidence boost, but this is a different man from the Senatorial debutant we saw at St John.

Gino Risoli has long since left behind his exclusive focus on transparency – he is now covering more ground, but the substance is limited. He urges the electorate to “trust in your good self.”

Once again, Deputy Jerry Dorey’s intellect and speaking skills shone through, but it’s too hard to discern clear policy positions. Deputy Dorey needs to take a few positions to avoid being bland. You can’t really hope to be everything to everyone.

Senator Terry Le Sueur reflected lightly on perceptions that he might be a quiet man. “Still waters often run deep,” was his comment.

The questions

In the longest question of the hustings so far (more a speech in two parts than a single question, in actual fact, so we’ve had to paraphrase), a parishioner asked, “Is the quality of life of everyone in Jersey threatened by the increase in annual company registration fee, as proposed by some candidates? Is the increase in resources directed to compliance activities in finance and beyond depriving business of revenue-generating resources?”

The company fees part of this question revealed much about the candidates’ attitudes towards and understanding of the finance industry. Ben Shenton, an industry professional, said that he thought Guernsey’s decision to increase annual company fees to as much as £1000 would result in a flow of business to Jersey, so Jersey should keep its fees low. Roger Bisson agreed. In what might have been a quotation from a Frank Walker speech, Senator Syvret told the audience that Jersey “can’t have policies that will deter finance.” Let’s hope the declared chief minister candidate really means it. But it was the candidates of both the JDA and the Centre Party who exposed themselves on this one. All four supported an increase in the company fee to £750. In a memorable moment which demonstrated a fundamental misunderstanding of the activities of the industry, Senator Paul Le Claire said “these companies spend more than that on coffee.” It was reminiscent of Tony Keogh’s similar comments in a recent JEP column. You miss the point, Senator Le Claire. After Kevin Lewis, Denise Carroll and Deputy Geoff Southern had all echoed the sentiment, one was left wondering whether any of them had actually consulted the industry on the proposed increase. “I don’t think they’ll baulk at £750,” said Denise Carroll. Perhaps she should ask.

On the compliance question, referring to his lengthy experience in finance, Ben Shenton described the cost of compliance as “ridiculous.” Many of the candidates (de Faye, Le Sueur, Cohen, Perchard) talked of the need to achieve good regulation that balances the finance industry’s needs of competitiveness and international reputation.

Do the candidates believe that the areas zoned as “important open space” in the 2002 Island Plan should not be rezoned as built-up areas?

Senator Syvret used this opportunity to remind the audience of his undoubted credentials as an environmental campaigner. He, like others (including Perchard, Southern, Risoli, Travert) pointed out that this issue is linked to immigration which they felt must be controlled to constrain new development. Freddie Cohen and Senator Le Sueur pointed out that a recent housing needs survey had identified the need for an additional 2000 units of accommodation, Senator Le Sueur observing that this was to meet the needs of local residents and not immigrants. They agreed that this need had to be balanced with understandable calls for constraints on development. Housing president Deputy Terry Le Main used the opportunity to assure parishioners that homes will only be built in designated areas in the Island Plan. Senator Le Claire impressed the audience with a one-word answer: “Yes.”

A parishioner asked the candidates what they planned to do about “the elephant:” climate change.

This one provoked some surprising answers and some fundamental disagreements. Roger Bisson believed that action on climate change was beyond the scope of action by Jersey and its politicians given the overwhelming impact on emissions of the USA and China. Senator Le Claire disagreed, referring to his late cousin Gerard Le Claire whose motto had been “think global, act local.” “The Centre Party is pretty green,” said Senator Le Claire. Jerry Dorey said he believed in the power of culture change, implying that individual action would be more powerful than government coercion. Gino Risoli warned gloomily that “the world can do without human beings.” Denise Carroll pointed to the JDA’s environmental policies in its manifesto. Among the specific policy ideas were the punitive (Jim Perchard’s tax on high-emission vehicles) and the incentive-based (Freddie Cohen’s incentives for renewable home energy and Roy Travert’s tax breaks for low emissions cars.) Senator Terry Le Sueur observed that Jersey was already taking its international environmental obligations seriously and that environmental taxes were being considered. Deputy de Faye pointed out that Jersey’s emissions from electricity generation were very low because we buy nuclear power from France. This gave Senator Syvret the chance to showcase his in-depth knowledge of the issue with a warning that in his view nuclear power wouldn’t be the answer because the required pace of building of new stations couldn’t keep up with the pace of growth of energy consumption. Deputy Terry Le Main left many gasping when he confessed to know little about climate change and said he had too much to do every day to worry too much about it.

A questioner compared Jersey’s fiscal situation with the Isle of Man, which has VAT at 17.5%, and is apparently less susceptible to fiscal changes as a result. He asked whether those candidates who oppose GST were taking a huge gamble with Jersey’s future prosperity.

This one produced some cracking quotations, some tough language and a heated exchange or two. Senator Le Claire got the ball well and truly rolling by telling the audience that the need for GST was “all a load of bull.” His Centre Party colleague agreed, observing that “the easiest way to avoid a black hole is not to dig one in the first place.” Deputy Southern of the JDA got his crystal ball out and claimed that Guernsey had got it right by deciding not to introduce GST. Gino Risoli said he didn’t know if we really have a £100m fiscal black hole and he didn’t trust the people who told him we do.

In a slightly more sober vein, Deputy Jerry Dorey pointed out that financial services is a mobile industry and that Jersey can’t afford to “play hardball” with it. He said there were no easy answers to the fiscal deficit, and that those who said there were were frauds. Senator Terry Le Sueur observed that there is a global trend from direct to indirect taxation and that this had been an important factor for him in proposing GST as part of the fiscal strategy. Ben Shenton said he believed that the future was bright for finance and reiterated his belief that Guernsey would shed business to Jersey as a result of its decision to reject GST and increase company fees. Senator Syvret reiterated his previously expressed preference for focusing new fiscal measure on what he calls the “accommodation industry,” including a “windfall tax” on property capital growth. Several candidates (Perchard, Travert and Cohen) emphasised the need to control public spending.

The gloves really came off when Deputies de Faye and Le Main laid into the two political parties. To howls of laughter Deputy de Faye launched a stinging attack on the “Jersey Disaster Alliance” and “the party that meets in a phone box,” saying that they were both out of touch with the real world. “They believe in Robin Hood,” he said, adding that they wanted to rob the rich to pay the poor, but that in the end they’d end up robbing themselves. Deputy Le Main agreed: “Don’t believe them!” he urged the audience.

If employers are to be granted licences to import labour, couldn’t it result in an influx of cheap labour threatening local jobs and causing an increase in public spending on unemployment benefit?

Once again, Senator Le Claire was very quotable. “They’ll employ who they want and you can bet your bottom dollar they won’t want us.” Who does he mean by “us”? His colleague Kevin Lewis also wrapped himself in the Jersey flag, raising the spectre of a flood of immigration from Turkey if it joins the EU. He mentioned this twice in the evening. Deputy Geoff Southern warned of an imminent house price spiral caused by the new Migration Policy. Voices of calm reason came from Deputy Dorey and Senator Le Sueur who denied the earlier allegations by JDA and Centre Party candidates that the States had “abdicated responsibility” to businesses and that there was a “target” of 500 new immigrants a year. Both bemoaned what they saw as the misrepresentation of the Migration Policy by its opponents. Roy Travert told the audience he supported Senator Syvret for Chief Minister. Back on immigration, Deputy de Faye urged the audience to recognise the value to Jersey of its immigrant population. Senator Syvret agreed, but commented that he was concerned about what he saw as the apparent inaccessibility of good jobs for locals. Jim Perchard asked why Jersey didn’t provide better incentives for local students to study in the UK and then return to Jersey professionally qualified. Ben Shenton drew an analogy of immigration control as a tap. “What you want is people you can trust with their hand on the tap.” He, like others, gave the example of health workers as needing a pragmatic and flexible approach to immigration control. Deputy Le Main brought some excitement to proceedings when he again turned on Senator Le Claire, saying that “he speaks absolute rubbish.”

This campaign is starting to shake out. Strengths and weaknesses are becoming clearer, and the power of morale is starting to show. We’re just over halfway through the hustings tour. The blandness is disappearing. Get to a parish hall before the last one on Monday 17 October!

Read our previous hustings reports and find the dates of the remaining meetings here.