IWV referendum expected to go ahead as planned

Monday 22 January 2018

Some concerns have been raised over the planned referendum on Island Wide Voting in the aftermath of the decision to go for a two-school model of secondary education.

Deputy Matt Fallaize who is the President of the States Assembly and Constitution Committee is expected to move to the Committee for Education, Sport and Culture following his successful amendment against the official proposals for a three-school model.

Deputy Fallaize has told Express that if the current Committee for Education, Sport and Culture resigns, as four of the members have said they intend to do, and if the States elect him onto any position on a new ESC board then he would in due course consider whether to continue with his other committee responsibilities.  He says he has not "given that much thought at this stage".

With regards the planned IWV referendum which is expected to be held in June, so any changes can be introduced before the 2020 election, Deputy Fallaize said:

"The draft referendum law is going before the States shortly.  I will present it as President of the SACC.  I hope the States will support it.  Continuity is normally helpful during a major project, but I’m hardly indispensable and if circumstances arise in the future which cause me to leave the presidency of the SACC I am sure a committed successor would be found".

During and since the debate on the future model of secondary education there have also been some concerns raised about the structure of Guernsey's government. Deputy Gavin St Pier and others have commented on personality politics and whether political parties would enhance the island's governance. 

Deputy Fallaize said: "I have no strong view about whether parties or alliances would make government in Guernsey better or worse, but I think any transitional period before they became fully established could be complicated and challenging".

As Vice-Chairman of the temporary States’ Review Committee, which oversaw the changes to the structure of government which coincided with the 2016 election, Deputy Fallaize said: "In any event I think the current structure of the States is a vast improvement on the pre-2016 structure.  Going backwards is unthinkable:  why would we want to divide scrutiny into several different committees or set up a separate treasury committee or increase the number of principal committees by tearing apart common responsibilities or increase the number of deputies?"