Majority of Guernsey Residents Reject Executive Style Government, Says Poll

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

08 April 2002

A poll conducted by the University of Bristol on government reform in Guernsey has revealed that the majority of residents favour a more streamlined committee style of government, rather than the 'top down' executive system proposed by the Harwood report.

The survey suggested that around two-thirds of respondents were in favour of the streamlined committee system proposed by the Joint Committees (the Advisory and Finance Committee and the Procedures and Constitution Committee), with only 1,000 of those questioned preferring no change to the current system of government.

The President of the Advisory and Finance Committee, Laurie Morgan, welcomed the results last week, stating that:

'Right from the beginning I have said that I wanted to hear what the people of Guernsey want, not what the politicians want. They have now expressed their view.'

Critics of the streamlining proposals have suggested that the poll results do not represent an accurate picture of what Guernsey residents want from their government, due to the relatively small number of respondents. However, the Joint Committees seem satisfied that the figures are representative enough.

Speaking to the Guernsey Press and Star on Thursday, Institute of Directors Chairman Eifon Thomas, who was a strong advocate of the Harwood executive government proposals, expressed disappointment at the results of the survey, but said that he was not surprised.

'There is a fear from people of the executive style government because of the many comments made by various people that too much power would be in the hands of a small group of people.' He continued: 'The man in the street will not look beyond that. Basically, they are saying they do not trust their politicians. They don't want executive style government but prefer to go with something a bit more wishy-washy.'

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