"No reason to resign from Scrutiny or Party"

Wednesday 04 November 2020

Deputy John Dyke will not be resigning from the Guernsey Party or the Scrutiny Management Committee, it has been confirmed, following suggestions that his political affiliation made him unsuitable for the States position.

Deputy John Dyke was elected to Scrutiny a fortnight ago alongside fellow newcomer Deputy Simon Fairclough and President Yvonne Burford.

Deputy Burford stated that she would leave the Guernsey Partnership of Independents if successful in her bid for the presidency and has subsequently followed through on that pledge. 

The Guernsey Party has now made a public statement in light of suggestions that Deputy Dyke, a member of its parliamentary group, should do likewise to avoid potential conflicts of interests in his role on Scrutiny.

Deputy Dyke should stand down, if the perceived conflict is the party then you can’t recuse yourself because of political friendships time & time again.

— Barry Brehaut. (@BrehautBarry) November 2, 2020

Pictured: Former deputy Barry Brehaut does not think Deputy Dyke can be a member of both the Guernsey Party and the SMC.

Without a review of the parliamentary rules in light of the emergence of political groups, the party said that Deputy Dyke's resignation would be premature and unnecessary. 

"There is nothing in the rules requiring elected members of SMC to stand down from being members of a political party," they said in an official statement.

"If Deputy Burford as the President of SMC has chosen to voluntarily resign from the Guernsey Partnership of Independents then that is entirely her prerogative to do so.

"However, in our view her potential conflict of interest still remains, having been recently elected as a States member as a member of that said party less than a month ago. She will still be a recent former member of that party regardless of having resigned."

Westminster select committees have members across different parties. Indeed Jeremy Hunt chairs Health & Social Care Select Committee and has done a good job of holding Tory Govt to account on COVID.

— Heidi Soulsby (@HeidiSoulsby) November 2, 2020

Pictured: GPoI founding member Deputy Heidi Soulsby cited examples in the UK of politicians holding their party peers to account in scrutiny roles. 

If the parliamentary rules need to be reviewed by the States Assembly & Constitution Committee, the party said it would "welcome" that, however, it is resolute in its view that any rule changes must be carried out "through the due and proper process."

The group is confident that Deputy Dyke is well-qualified to make decisions over where and when his political affiliation might lead to a conflict of interests.

"Deputy Dyke is a highly experienced international lawyer and is very capable of both recognising and handling any actual or perceived conflicts of interest.

"We are very confident that if there is any potential conflict of interest then Deputy Burford will be able to assess the position accordingly. We feel that any suggestion that she might be unable to do this would be an insult to her competency."

Pictured: Deputy John Dyke is a member of the Guernsey Party and has no intention of stepping back from the political group.