WHEN Chief Minister Terry Le Sueur and the Council of Ministers executed a U-turn in the States over the issue of redundancy money for former Woolworths staff, it was a sign that the promised new era of greater responsiveness to the opinions of others might have arrived. Now a further sign comes in the shape of the draft Strategic Plan, a document which all Islanders may examine and then offer their ideas on the way in which it might be developed and refined.

There will, of course, be a touch of cynicism about the degree to which the Council of Ministers intend to be influenced by Islanders’ suggestions on the draft plan. ‘Consultation’ is, to an extent, a dirty word among the electorate because of the tendency of the previous administration to consult widely and then plough on regardless with their original strategies.

Only time will tell whether the present consultation exercise is worthy of the name, but at the very least, respect for the integrity that Senator Le Sueur has demonstrated through many years of political service demands that the public takes the offer of input seriously and responds accordingly.

Meanwhile, anyone who takes the trouble to study the draft Strategic Plan will discover that it provides valuable observations about the probable shape of Island life in the immediate future.

It is, for example, no accident that the first of the issues that ministers pledge to tackle is the economy and the need to protect it from the worst that the credit crunch and the global downturn can throw in our direction. Those studying the draft plan will not need to be professors of economics to understand that we are in for a very rough ride for at least the next two years and, quite probably, rather longer.

In our representative democracy we rely on our elected representatives to take the right decisions on our behalf. It is, however, right and highly desirable that they pay due regard to the people responsible for putting them in positions of power and trust.

This broad principle holds true in any circumstances, but the challenges now facing the Island mean that, more than ever, the government needs not only the confident support of the people but also access to insights they might have about coping with forthcoming difficulties.