IN the build-up to the recent States election it became apparent that one of the big issues of concern to candidates and voters alike was immigration. This is hardly surprising – an Island of only 45 square miles with manifestly limited resources will never have the capacity to cope with a limitlessly expanding population.

Unfortunately, one of the reasons why so much interest was expressed in immigration and population issues at the hustings, in candidates’ literature and in responses to the JEP survey examining policies was the tendency for the present Council of Ministers to sweep the matter to one side.

It would be wrong to say that our ministers – who remain in office until a new executive emerges in the new Assembly – have actually ignored the subjects of immigration and population. However, few would claim that they have grasped the nettle with any firmness. True, a new system of residency categories has emerged, but there have been few signs of any new mechanisms of control that are likely to have much real effect.

It has, meanwhile, been suggested that powerful voices in the soon-to-be-replaced Council of Ministers are ideologically inclined to be suspicious even of those immigration targets which are part of declared policy. The argument that if business needs more personnel to grow it must have them has certainly been advanced. So, too, has the argument that government must ensure that sufficient people are in employment to cope with the pressures of the ageing population.

The trouble with the first of these arguments is that in its most extreme laissez-faire form it pays scant attention to the effects that a burgeoning population would have on the environment, infrastructure and the quality of life. The second argument is flawed to the extent that new members of the workforce recruited to meet the needs of an ageing population will themselves grow old in due course – presumably setting up a permanent chain of demand for more and more young immigrants.

Jersey had, of course, solved the problem of excessive immigration through housing regulations. We now have to admit that these are outmoded because of their divisive nature and, quite possibly, their status in terms of Human Rights law. That said, we need provisions that are as robust and reliable as the old system if the nature of Island life is to be protected.

It is now up to the new States Assembly, with its many Members who have assigned great importance to the immigration issue, to come up with original thinking and effective new policies.