Time for States to "stop wasting money on vanity projects"

Thursday 01 October 2020

Outgoing deputy Barry Paint has fired a parting shot at Government, accusing it of throwing away public money on "vanity projects" and "expensive consultants who achieve nothing".

The Castel representative is retiring from politics next month after 12 years in office.

His overriding emotions about the current States term are disappointment and, at times, consternation.

"I think that some of the main achievements in the last four-and-half years can only be explained in a negative way - very few are positive proposals in the last four-and-a-half years," he said. 

Four years after the States voted to abolish selection and move towards a new system, the future of education remains unclear.

Pictured: Deputy Paint was left fuming when the States rejected what he said was a "solution" to an injustice against widows who remarried someone without a Guernsey pension.

Deputy Paint is steadfast in his belief that the States was wrong to transform local education in the first place.

"We had an education which worked very well with three secondary schools a Grammar school and two collages," he said. "I was hoping to keep it as it was, simply because it worked well for all and satisfied most people."

It's a vote he lost and the Castel Deputy - who hadn't originally planned to stand in in 2016 - has found himself increasingly at odds with States policies as the years have passed. 

One decision he has particularly struggled to accept is the defeat of a requete which would have brought an end to "discrimination" against widows who have remarried someone without a Guernsey pension.

"The States has robbed these women of what they should have been entitled to," said Deputy Paint of the rules of entitlement to Social Insurance Benefits.

In his view, some of his colleagues have been more concerned with advancing their own "vanity projects".

"This virus has no doubt put a huge burden on local finances in many ways and demised the available funds considerably and we know that the Government will have to curtail its spending," he said.

"Yet we are still seeing some deputies continuing to put forward their pet projects. The lack of wisdom there is unbelievable."

"Any future States will have to agree on priorities that are very necessary and stop spending on unnecessary vanity projects, expensive consultants that achieve nothing at all, or heaven forbid, tax the population higher, which won't go down very well in my view.

"Only lately the Assembly was asked to agree to look into taking out bonds on people's properties that had a value over £350,000 to pay for old age care, which went down like a lead balloon and was thrown out thankfully."

A straight-talker who never minces his words, the lifelong seafarer, fisherman and former harbour pilot says the States needs deputies with different experiences and different points of view who will scrutinise the States' decisions.

"I have challenged various things that the States have put up for approval. We are all different of course so I think that challenge is clearly needed."

Pictured: DPA member Deputy Paint has raised several questions about the quasi-judicial political body and whether votes in the States compromise the members' ability to judge planning applications without bias. 

Having signalled two years ago that he would retire at the end of this term, the west coast resident feels that the sun has finally set on his political tenure.

"People don't always believe it, but it is a 24/7 job. I don't take calls after 10pm and before 7am, but I have people calling me all the time, even now, people asking me who they should vote for. I'll tell them "it's up to you who you vote for, all I can do is tell you who I am voting for." I had someone who called me up asking my opinion on all of the candidates one-by-one."

It is an all-consuming position and Deputy Paint, who will soon turn 73, is looking forward to focussing fully on his family life. 

"I'll be doing more at home as me and my wife look after our grandchildren. I'll be able to do more work around the house and I'll also be doing a lot more fishing."

And while he hopes to unwind from some of the political issues that have dominated the last decade of his life, you haven't heard the last of Barry Paint.

"I'll still be following politics," he assured me. "I'll be keeping a close eye on things."