Reform's big plans

Reform Jersey have launched their manifesto! At a launch event yesterday evening, RJ Chairman Sam Mézec presented the document to the general public for the first time, setting out the party's position on all the key issues.

I don't plan on writing a lengthy dissection of the whole manifesto - if you're interested then you can read it here - but I thought I'd discuss a few points which really caught my eye.

First and foremost, RJ's plan to reform the way St. Helier's parish democracy works is, I think, one of the most exciting parts of the entire manifesto. Currently, the local administration in St. Helier is, frankly, utterly archaic. The words RJ themselves use in their manifesto put it better than I ever could: "The democratic structure of the Parish administration in town is based on laws which are hundreds of years out of date and do not reflect the level of service provision which has been taken up by the Town Hall. The current system of electing two Procureurs du Bien Public and a Roads Committee is unnecessarily complicated and is not understood or valued by most St Helier residents". This is as true in other parishes as it is in St. Helier - I live in St. Ouen, for example, and virtually nobody outside of the usual parish grandees ever engage in or even understand the parish's local administration. Municipal elections are almost a covert affair - not publicised, not understood by the vast majority, they are barely elections at all, in the style of some 18th century rotten borough with perhaps 10 voters who invariably and unanimously back the incumbent. To counter this arcane and undemocratic system, RJ are proposing the establishment of a 'Conseil Municipal de St. Helier', a directly elected local council of unpaid 'Conseillers', with the power to make by-laws and "enhanced powers on local infrastructure, business licenses, planning and public entertainment".  This sort of radical reform is exactly what the parish system that we all take pride in requires to stay valued and relevant in the modern age - real, easy-to-understand local democracy which means that municipal services can be delivered with transparency and accountability.

The other position I found interesting was their policy on reducing the costs of GP visits. RJ's immediate policy on curbing the frankly outrageous costs charged by certain GPs (sometimes more than £40 to see your GP for a ten-minute checkup) is to reduce the prices for lower-income people, but they also commit to eventually reducing and eliminating these charges for everyone. This paragraph precedes their section on health: “Reform Jersey believes in the principle of a universal health service, free at the point of need. We believe that every Islander in need of treatment should receive it in a timely manner and without incurring costs". However, what was noted last night is that this objective to eliminate GP charges isn't a pledge - not because they don't believe in it, but because it might not be achievable in the short-term and they don't want to promise the electorate something they know they might not be able to achieve. Isn't it refreshing to see someone standing up and actually being honest, as opposed to the vague platitudes and impossible pledges usually spewed out by independent candidates?