Deputies Soulsby and Brehaut face Code of Conduct complaints

Saturday 17 February 2018

Two of Guernsey's senior politicians are facing an investigation into comments they made on Twitter after Code of Conduct complaints were lodged against them.

The complaint was formally lodged with the Code of Conduct panel on Friday 16 February and both deputies confirmed to Express that evening they are aware of the action taken against them.

Earlier, during the afternoon, a spokesman for the States Members’ Conduct Panel had confirmed that "two complaints asserting that a Member of the States has broken the States’ Members’ Code of Conduct have been received by this office."

The spokesman explained:

"One is against Deputy Brehaut and asserts that he breached clauses 8 (Members shall at all times conduct themselves in a manner which will tend to maintain and strengthen the public’s trust and confidence in the integrity of the States of Deliberation ...) and clause 9 (Members shall at all times treat other Members … with respect and courtesy and without malice, …) in a Twitter exchange on 9 February by what he said about the three school campaign and in particular Deputy Carl Meerveld."

The spokesman continued:

"The other is against Deputy Soulsby and asserts that she breached clauses 8 (Members shall at all times conduct themselves in a manner which will tend to maintain and strengthen the public’s trust and confidence in the integrity of the States of Deliberation ...) and clause 9 (Members shall at all times treat other Members … with respect and courtesy and without malice, …) in a Twitter exchange on 4 February by what she said about Deputy Gollop."

The spokesman explained that both complaints will now "be considered in accordance with the terms of the Code of Conduct."

Pictured: Deputy Barry Brehaut

In response, Deputy Brehaut, the President of the Committee for the Environment and Infrastructure, told Express:

"I understand a member of the public has taken issue with me referring to a 'Guerilla' marketing campaign led by the former Vice President of ESC, Deputy Carl Meerveld, as unethical,  I stand by those remarks, it was unethical.

"The public must have confidence in all communications emanating from the States of Guernsey. It was simply wrong to give the impression a site potentially funded by the tax payer was a community led project, rather than a covert campaign initiated by members of ESC.

"This is a vexatious complaint that I hope the Code of Conduct panel will deal with swiftly."

Pictured: Deputy Heidi Soulsby

When asked for a response, Deputy Soulsby, the President of the Committee for Health and Social Care, told Express:

"This is nothing more than a vexatious attack on my integrity. That light hearted comments should have been twisted and used to attack me is a damning indictment of both social media and the current state of Guernsey politics.

"The level of personal abuse I have received on social media is beyond anything I have ever encountered before and were I to have posted any of those comments then a Code of Conduct would have been valid. I did not and I would not, as anyone who knows me would testify.

"I will not comment further until the Panel have reached their decision."