THE first hustings meeting in the Deputies’ elections was held last night for the 11 candidates chasing four seats in St Helier No 3 District.

The meeting was the first of the hustings campaign, which moves on to St John tonight and to St Brelade on Friday before a packed five days for candidates next week.

At last night’s meeting at First Tower School, before an audience of around 100 people, the candidates were asked about the Waterfront development, their biggest priorities for the district, whether new developments should only be allowed with mains drains coverage, why change was needed, who they wanted for Chief Minister, the ban on campaigning in schools and whether the Senatorial results were an endorsement for ministers or a cry for more progressive government.

District issues including the closure of the Bellozanne incinerator and the future of the site, the smell from the sewage works and the lack of a permanent youth centre were all raised.

All four sitting district Deputies are standing again. They are: Transport Minister Guy de Faye, Assistant Transport Minister Jacqui Huet, Assistant Education Minister Ben Fox and Assistant Housing Minister Jackie Hilton.
The new candidates are: Consumer Council officer Suzette Hase, former hotelier Steve Beddoe, former shopkeeper David Beuzeval, former Highlands lecturer Mike Higgins, plumbing and heating contractor Colin Russell, former Headway chairman Andrew Green, and psychiatrist Gil Blackwood.

Hotelier Robert Weston asked the new candidates why they thought the district needed a change in Deputies, and asked the sitting Deputies why they should remain.

Deputy Fox said that although he was a sitting Member, he still wanted change. He said that he wanted more emphasis on building a skilled workforce through better and more diverse training and getting people back into work.

Miss Hase said that all four Deputies were part of the ministerial system and that she did not feel represented by them. She said new vision and ideas were needed from people who understood what it meant to live on a tight budget.

Mr Beddoe said more of the 2001 Clothier Report should be implemented. He said that there should be fewer States Members, and that Constables should lose their automatic seats and have to stand as Deputies if they wanted to be in the States.

Mr Beuzeval said that the Island needed change because Islanders were not being listened to by the current 53 States Members. He asked what had happened to the promised Migration Policy – adding that he agreed that the Island needed some immigration but they had to be the right people who would add something to the Island.

Deputy Huet agreed that the Island did not need 53 States Members, adding that she had consistently voted to reduce the number. She also wanted more done to stop people with serious criminal records coming to Jersey.

Mr Higgins said that the Island needed change because there was a ‘built-in establishment majority’ – adding that three of the four St Helier No 3 Deputies always kept the ‘party line’.

Deputy Hilton said that she was an independent politician who was not afraid to vote against ministers. She said that an example was her consistent vote against the 3% GST sales tax.

Mr Russell said that the fact that so many people were standing was a ‘backlash’ to the Senatorial election results that had left so many Islanders disappointed. He said that Islanders wanted change and did not feel they were getting proper representation.

Mr Green said that district residents were sick of being let down by the States and the Council of Ministers. He added that a work permit system was a change that he would work towards.

Deputy de Faye said that real change was about changing policies, not personalities. He said that in his six years representing the district that he had delivered on his promises and shown himself to be trustworthy.

Mr Blackwood said that he and the rest of the community had been manipulated and cheated by the States – although he allowed an exception for Deputy Hilton. He said the States had reneged on commitments for a Freedom of Information Law, and that the new immigration policy had disappeared.