Plan to make new States more collaborative than its predecessors

Monday 19 October 2020

The new President of P&R said there is "no magic" to making the States work better together, as he plans more "open dialogue" about the challenges the island faces.

Deputy Peter Ferbrache said there are 39 "sensible and intelligent people" making decisions in the States "excluding myself" and that he is keen to draw on their expertise and guidance as much as possible.

As part of his approach, he would like to hold regular meetings with committee presidents, including the States' Trading Supervisory Board, that he considers “just as important as any other committee.” 

He said that “the door will always be open, we would try and have a cohesive, balanced way forward, because that has been lacking, with no criticism of anybody.”

Pictured: "There's no magic in it, it's communication, communication, communication" - Chief Minister Peter Ferbrache's plan for a united and collaborative assembly.

But the Chief Minister does not want the assembly to be filled with ‘yes men’ – he is quite keen to seek the “comments and wisdom” of a wide range of people in his new role, and is not afraid of being convinced he’s gotten something wrong.

To that end, his picks for fellow Policy & Resources members reflect a "coalition of all talents", including people who may not have necessarily voted for him to take the Chief Minister role. He has earmarked Heidi Soulsby, a member of outgoing Chief Minister Gavin St. Pier's prospective committee, as his number two, calling her a "truly excellent and very able Health President."

He has also recruited Guernsey Party leader Mark Helyar, current External Affairs Minister Jonathan Le Tocq, and new member David Mahoney, in a team he hopes represents "different interests and different opinions." 

Well what a week! Became first female Deputy Chief Minister and eldest sprog got a first. Proud Mum.

— Heidi Soulsby #MoveForwardTogether (@HeidiSoulsby) October 18, 2020

Deputy Ferbrache's selections reflect his intention for the States' to "move forward collaboratively," and hopes that keeping an open dialogue will prevent the new assembly from becoming fractured in the way the previous assembly did.

“It would be unrealistic to say that there won’t be disagreements. But where we have those disagreements, we must do so civilly, in a balanced way. We can get angry with each other today, but we must be friends again tomorrow.”

Pictured top: The 2016 States' Assembly is considered to be one of the most divided in living memory, which the new Chief Minister is hoping to remedy by inviting the "guidance and wisdom" of his colleagues.