"Completely over the top"

Thursday 11 June 2020

Deputy Victoria Oliver has said she is baffled by the "completely over the top" reaction of some of her fellow States members to comments she made on social media about Guernsey Police and cannabis laws in particular.

The four other political members of Home Affairs have lodged a motion against her to get her removed from the Committee.

It centres around a dispute between herself and them, over comments she made on Facebook relating to Deputy Marc Leadbeater's involvement in a company growing cannabis for medicinal usage.

She does not think her comments were unreasonable and although she has apologised to Deputy Leadbeater for any upset caused, and has removed her comments, she refused to publicly retract them and apologise.

Now, the Home President, Deputy Mary Lowe, the Vice President; Deputy Leadbeater, and Committee members Deputy Jeremy Smithies and Deputy Paul Le Pelley, have asked the States to terminate her position on the committee with immediate effect, at the earliest opportunity.

That could happen during next week's States meeting.

Pictured: You can read the Express report on the dispute HERE.

In response to the motion to have her sacked from the Committee for Home Affairs, Deputy Victoria Oliver issued a statement to Express, which is published in full below: 

"I am really disappointed and upset that my President and fellow members of Home Affairs are trying to have me removed from the Committee.

I am baffled that States colleagues are having to spend time sorting out an internal committee matter at a time when we as an assembly are facing some of the biggest decisions in generations.

I have always made clear that so long as cannabis remains a controlled substance the current law must be enforced. I have never tried to undermine the police in any way. Any suggestion that I have is simply untrue. 

I still stand by the view I expressed in the Facebook post that the public is getting mixed messages: Guernsey takes a zero tolerance approach to the personal possession of small amounts of cannabis, yet the Vice-President of the Committee for Home Affairs is a director of a company which grows cannabis on an industrial scale. Of course I understand the differences between cannabis in its different forms, but I still think the public perception is that there is some inconsistency and I am concerned about how this reflects on the States. 

Pictured: Deputy Marc Leadbeater (far left) has spoken publicly numerous times about his involvement with a company growing cannabis for medicinal purposes.

I admit that what I wrote on Facebook probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but I’m only human. As soon as I understood the upset that the post had caused within the committee I took it down. I apologised to Deputy Leadbeater and the Head of Law Enforcement for any offence I may have caused – which was of course never my intention.

As a relative newcomer to the States, I don’t know all of the rules of procedure off by heart but to me 37(7) appears to be a way for dealing with persistent trouble makers who are seeking to undermine the effectiveness of a States committee. That’s not me. Over four years I have thrown myself into my role on the Home Affairs Committee and have always given it my all, challenging where I felt challenge was necessary.

To me, the Committee trying to remove me is completely over the top, and hurtful, but I am happy to leave the final judgement on that to my fellow States members. I’m concerned that this is being blown out of all proportion and risks distracting deputies from the far bigger issues on our agenda. I don’t want to compound that by trading views through the media in the days ahead. Please therefore accept this statement as my final word on the matter until the States are, unfortunately, required to debate it."

Pictured top: Deputy Victoria Oliver.