Deputy Gollop joins Islanders Association

Friday 06 April 2018

Another deputy has joined the political organisation, The Islanders Association.

Guernsey's first political group was set up earlier this year by Deputies Carl Meerveld, Joe Mooney and Peter Ferbrache.

Deputy John Gollop has now joined them, after Deputy Barry Paint also recently announced he had too.

In a statement, The Islanders Association said it "is proud to announce that Deputy John Gollop has joined the Association to help develop and promote its efforts to fundamentally improve the functions and effectiveness of our Government."

Deputy Gollop said: "I am supporting The Islanders Association because I believe that it represents a real opportunity to significantly improve the focus and effectiveness of the States, to increase co-operation between deputies and the public and hopefully attract members of all ages."

The Islanders Association was pitched as being "Good for Guernsey" at two meetings meetings held earlier this year.

Its fundraising campaign was also launched last month, with a target of £150,000 to invest in establishing and marketing the association. At the time, Deputy Meerveld said it was a short term goal that they were hoping to achieve before June, at the Association's official launch meeting. From then on, donations would be made directly to the group and membership fees would also be paid.

Amongst other things, some of the money will go towards a recruitment and fundraising marketing campaign which will run until the inaugural Islanders Association meeting planned for June when it will be formally established and its members will determine its objectives, policies and operational structure. 

As well as focusing on fundraising and memberships, the Islanders Association's initial objective is to campaign for the adoption of island-wide voting at the public referendum, which is scheduled to be held on October 10 this year.