We now have a timetable and outline of long overdue legislation to afford people legal protection against discrimination. This will need to be advanced swiftly and carefully. Protection is needed, but the implementation must be respectful of our local businesses so as not to stymie their growth. I’d like to see a balanced approach and assistance to businesses to implement this agenda with speed and care.

We’re all living longer, and for this we are grateful. The challenge this presents is ensuring quality of care for those who need it and those who care for them. The States Long Term Care Fund is not viable and is projected to run out of money by 2040. We need to reimagine this fund, who can access it and how we fund it. To simply increase contributions isn’t an option, as this places an even greater burden on the young, many of whom currently struggle to get on the housing ladder. I would like to conduct a review of this fund that addresses the intergenerational unfairness. I also believe this review could consider support for carers, without whose unpaid work, the States’ finances would be in a dire situation.

Following the lockdown financial measures, we need to repay this money and once again start the work of building our reserves. I’ve always been vehemently opposed to GST or any other sales tax, but the financial situation is such that it would have to be one of several options under consideration. If additional taxes are to be levied, I believe these should have a sunset clause on them, repaying the cost of coronavirus, but not being used to grow government expenditure by the back door.

The role of government in the economy is to create an environment for businesses to thrive. The main enabler, in my view, is building our digital connectivity. I became a director of a mobile company here because of my firm belief in the advantages 5G would bring. We should embrace this technology and not stymie growth with over-burdensome regulation.

I was asked to become a director of Safer by Maggie Costen having worked on the issue while I was a deputy. The recent upturn in reported incidents during lockdown has highlighted the prevalence of this social ill in our society. It is a complex problem that needs a nuanced and holistic approach to create change. Most of the States funding is focused on providing support services to safeguard victims, but to effect change we must also appropriately fund change programmes for perpetrators, and to provide prevention and early intervention work to change social attitudes.

We must not forget that deputies are responsible for legislation. Legislation is rarely challenged or amended in the States. We need deputies who have the skills to scrutinise what will be their longest standing legacy. I successfully amended legislation during my last term and spent four years on the Legislation Select Committee, and feel comfortable with this often overlooked role.

I must confess that my position on this changed during the 2012 term. As a member of the States Assembly and Constitution Committee, I reviewed the whole history of Island Wide Voting debates and drew the conclusion that we should not embark on such a system of electing our government.
Today it is much more difficult to undo what has been done since the referendum delivered the result of having full island wide voting. But this doesn’t make it right.
With 119 candidates (more than was ever envisaged) hustings for a few, a very restricted template for a manifesto and a vast increase in cost for the candidates, we have made it ever more difficult for first time candidates to be heard and tested.

The former system afforded an opportunity for candidates to knock on every door on the electoral roll prior to the election. The electorate would have the opportunity to discuss matters with them on the doorstep and then test their mettle at the hustings. Candidates would produce their manifesto and distribute it at a reasonable cost, by way of example, my expenses for the 2012 election amounted to about £700, but this time, they’re likely to be over £2,000 due to the postage cost alone.

Having said all of this, I believe the island is tired of the debate around island wide voting, we’ve had a referendum and we’re embarking on a grand experiment with our democracy. Were I to be elected to the States, I would not be seeking to raise this as an issue, but were it to be raised by others, I would definitely vote to return to our former system of election.

We have a high number of young people who are given short term sentences by our courts. These are usually for minor infractions of the law, as evidenced by the brevity of their sentence. Having been sentenced for less than six months, the prison service don’t have enough time to engage with them, their cases aren’t passed to the probation service so we have no engagement with the professional services for any reform of character. The individual is then left usually without a job, homeless and dependent on the state; they’re also far more likely to re-offend, but for a greater offence next time.

Evidence shows that non custodial sentences are far more effective than short term custodial sentences. This therefore requires deputies to finally grasp the difficult issue of sentencing guidelines. Obviously this is an area that would require extensive consultation with both the Royal Court and the Magistrates Court, but if we don’t, we’re saying that as a community we’re content to see our young, who get caught making minor mistakes,  consigned to the scrap heap of humanity. I don’t believe we, as a society, hold such a belief, and I’d therefore suggest a reform of the criminal justice system to reflect the values we hold dear.

During lockdown we saw an increase in families and people taking to their bike to get around the island. It improves people’s general health, both physically and mentally and is the easiest way of getting around what is, after all, a fairly small island.

I’ve always been supportive of advocating greater use of bike travel and the number of additional bikes I see on the road or chained up in town, is heartening. But the trend of bike usage hasn’t been sustained at the lockdown levels and many state this is due to the number of cars on the road. The irony of course, is that those who switch from cycle to car due to the number of cars, are compounding the very problem they experienced.

I believe it’s time to finally introduce paid parking in town. I supported such proposals last time, and would support them again, having introduced paid parking for deputies during the 2012 term. The money raised from paid parking should be invested in better road infrastructure to make people feel safe in the saddle. The contraflow system around St Sampson High School was deeply unpopular when first suggested, but by now all residents I’ve spoken to would not want to revert to the old system. Therefore ensuring a contraflow system around each of our schools should encourage more children to cycle to school and more parents to feel good in the knowledge their child would be safe cycling to and from school, whilst getting healthier as well.

The review of education has been a painful processes over the past four years. We now have a review into mainstream secondary education and to prejudge it, by specifying a particular model, would be foolish in my view. I look forward to the release of the report and will decide accordingly on what school model should be adopted. But it is disappointing to see the debate on education focus on buildings rather than the content of education.

Two secondary schools that receive little attention are Le Murier and Les Voies, and we must ask how these fit into our educational model as well. What degree of integration is there between the mainstream and specialist secondary schools, and how we could enhance the offering to all pupils. I would expect these questions to be considered as well as the number of buildings.

There is a growing clamour for liberalisation of our drug laws in relation to cannabis, and it would be easy to present a black and white view of whether we should embark on such an experiment within an election campaign. Unfortunately I don’t believe we’re in full receipt of all the information of what liberalisation would involve.

Personally I could never support the decriminalisation of drug use, as this would remove the police from enforcing the law whilst allowing criminal gangs to line their pockets.

Leglalisation would be an option, but what are the issues concerning full regulation of the supply line, licencing of traders? Given card companies may prohibit the use of cards for the purchase of cannabis, would a cash based economy be something that could attract its own problems of theft, and what police resource would be required to deal with this issue? Would a cash based economy be open to abuse as money launderers, which in turn could be detrimental to our finance industry? What are our international obligations and are these discharged through Her Majesty’s Government, and if so, what view would they have of Guernsey causing them to be in breach of such international treaties? What is the view of our health and law enforcement professionals?

It is these questions that we would need to answer before we could embark on legalisation, as well as the question of taxation and cost. I would be supportive of a comprehensive review to answer all of these questions, and then be open to the findings of such a review.