Names of Proposers and Seconders
- Pamela McDonald
- Matthew Liot
- Antonia Christine Liot
- Liana Summers-Shaw
- Jon Spence
- Natasha Da Silva
- Gavin McDougall
- Laura Mezec
- Claire Gisler
- Yannick Guillemot
I am standing for Deputy for St Helier South as a Reform Jersey candidate.
I am 40 years old, Jersey born and raised. I have worked for a large private company for the last 18 years, currently holding the position of Operations manager. In my time at the company I have been part of the employee and health and safety forum, and the Union rep.
Why am I standing?
Watching the cost of living in Jersey spiral out of control, I have become increasingly concerned that we do not have the right people making the decisions to combat this crisis. I believe that the current government is out of touch with the majority of Islanders and cannot see the hardships that many working families are facing.
Now is the time to remove GST on essential items, like food and water, and make large finance companies pay GST on services provided by local businesses.
I am staggered that a 1 bedroom apartment costs, at least, £1,200 a month to rent. How can we say that there isn’t a problem with our private rental sector if someone on the minimum wage would have to work 130 hours just to pay their rent?
I am someone that is very fortunate to have my own 1 bedroom apartment, paying a mortgage, however my wife and I have watched our dreams of owning a small house disappear from our reach. If we were only to aspire to a 2 bedroom apartment, we would have to triple our mortgage.
What hope do your children or grandchildren have of owning their own home?
Jersey has a population issue, not just of over-population but with an ageing population and a skills shortage. We need to establish a permit system where we get the right people for the right jobs for the right length of time. These permits should belong to the person and not the business, as we need businesses to have better succession planning and start training and upskilling their local workforce.
Our current government seems to only be paying lip service to caring for the environment, with no real appetite for investing in the change we urgently need. We need a multifaceted approach, from reducing carbon production to removing carbon from the atmosphere.
We need to use our green spaces and sea-beds to effectively sequester carbon from our atmosphere, and generate as much of our own power as possible using renewable sources.
We need to consider the use of environmentally friendly fuels, like hydrogen, for home heating and transport. We could offer our Island as a test bed for localised hydrogen production, supply, and testing buses and lorries.
Our tax system is broken, favouring the wealthy and putting pressure on the middle earners. We will scrap the discounted top rate of tax and make the rate, after allowances, the same for everyone. We will do the same with Social Security, removing the cap on higher earners and their employers.
Please see our full manifesto at www.reformjersey.je