Time for Talk?

The "Time for Change" meeting got underway this weekend. According to Nick Le Couteur on BBC Radio, this is going to be the start of a new political party, the "Reform" group. He was also saying they were committed to doing away with GST, although when pressed, he had no alternatives.

Montford Tadier was also interviewed. He was concentrating on the Clothier kind of reforms needed in his talk, or the bits in the interview, and how it was disappointing that only 50 people came, and a lack of young people.

Robert Duhamel was quoted as saying that Jersey was very good at complaining about the status quo, but not very good at translating that into action for change, in terms of voting.

My comments, for what they are worth:

a) Do we need yet another political party? We have the JDA, and the last election saw the JDA and Centre Party played off against each other, to the detriment of both. A split vote in any electoral district is always bad on a first-past-the-post voting system, as both history and mathematical analysis of voting systems (see a recent New Scientist for a summary) have shown.

b) If we need a party like "Reform", I would suggest a simple affiliation, e.g. reform of the states, as for instance, along the Clothier guidelines. One or two very basic objectives, rather than getting all kinds of other baggage (no GST etc) on the way, which I am afraid will only lose support. In the long term, most people will grudgingly accept GST because there is nothing better proposed, and the GST issue muddies the waters over electoral reform. In the post-War period, the States were reformed (no Rectors or Jurats) because the movement to change it was committed just to that. A loose affiliation means lots of people can sign up to it, but also have their own independent ideas on other matters.

c) Existing parties, like the JDA, need to be working on clear policy guidelines if they are to get anywhere in the next elections on party lines. In particular, how would they improve existing systems to help the least well off. What would do with micro-adjustments, and what needs a complete re-think?