Member's Blogs

Dear Chief Minister, I write to you with regret, in accordance with Article 22 of the States of Jersey Law 2005, to resign my position as Minister for Children and Housing.

Since Reform Jersey launched the concept of our New Deal for Jersey I have heard various comments from its opponents questioning the cost of our plans. Some people like to refer to Reformanomics, or ‘socialists throwing money around and increasing taxes to pay for it’. I have been quite disappointed (but not surprised) that opponents haven’t entered into a more robust discussion around the concepts and principles that the New Deal is founded upon. This is a pivotal time, and it is crucial that we have well informed debate about these things that isn’t reduced to the character limit of a Tweet.

If someone had told me 15 years ago that in 2020 I would be making the case for party politics in Jersey, never mind being Chairperson of the Island’s only formally constituted political party, I would have laughed out loud and firmly told them they were wrong. In all likelihood I would have said something along the lines of ‘Party politics won’t work in Jersey, we like to vote for individuals, we vote for people and that works for us. We get a good spread of views within the States, voted in by people that vote.’