From John Dix.
MUCH is made of the fact that we do not have party politics in Jersey, with the exception of the noise made by the Jersey Democratic Alliance.

However, if you follow the activities of our representatives in the States Chamber, they divide neatly into three parties.

The most vociferous are the members of the Jersey Spending Party. Their chief characteristic is their raucous support for more legislation, more States services and the complete absence of any idea where the money to pay for their pet projects will come from, apart from a vague idea that rich people should pay. Anything which may impact on the standard of living of their supporters – such as reducing benefits to encourage them to work, or even asking them to pay a small amount of tax such as GST – is met with howls of protest and yet another petition demanding the end of this attack on their rights.

In the centre we have the Steady as She Goes Party. They believe that nothing much is wrong with the way Jersey is run. Following the advice of their civil servants, all of the services currently provided by the States are of a world-class standard and thus essential to the smooth running of the Island. Nothing must be done to rock the boat.

At the first sign of any calls for change to the status quo they are adept at conjuring forth committees of inquiry, public consultation processes and, the pièce de résistance, the appointment of outside consultants to report on all the reasons for maintaining the status quo.

The final grouping is made up of the Individual Hobby Promoters. They have a strong interest in their chosen speciality such as the arts, bicycle helmets, world-class architecture, climate change, doing what their mothers tell them, bringing propositions about matters debated and defeated any time in the last five years and other minority sports. They love banning anything that might be risky and worship health and safety.

Their favourite activity is tying up the business of the States with long-winded and carefully researched propositions, which generally result in more work for our civil servants, more reports and meetings, which all combine to deliver no measurable benefit except more costs and bureaucracy for the taxpayer to enjoy.

Perhaps it is time to move away from these parties. I would like to see a return to the time when all States Members were dedicated to the overall good of the Island. To achieve this they supported low tax, low spending government to provide basic but good public services.

They maintained tight control of all States expenditure and showed concern for all Islanders. This included looking after the interests of those workers who generate the wealth and pay the taxes, rather than just their own narrow base of supporters.