Over these last few months, Jersey has faced our greatest public health crisis in a century, and now we also face our second major economic crisis in just over a decade.
We find ourselves at a crossroads, where the decisions made now will fundamentally affect the future wellbeing of our island. This is a time where bold action is required, if we are to ensure that Islanders livelihoods are protected.
Throughout this crisis, islanders have faced restrictions and hardship that most of us have not seen in our lifetimes. We have been unable to see our loved ones, many have lost their jobs and incomes, and we have faced growing anxiety and stress in the face of an uncertain future.
We have persevered in order to protect one another from the coronavirus.
But through this difficult time, we have also seen the very best of our society.
Whilst tens of thousands of islanders adhered to strict lockdown requirements, our front-line workers dedicated themselves to serving and protecting the public, sometimes in circumstances which were unsafe for their own health.
Our voluntary sector and networks have stepped up in a co-ordinated effort on a scale never seen before, to support the most vulnerable.
The government intervened directly in the economy to provide an unprecedented package of support for businesses, to prevent mass unemployment and destitution.
These actions have shown what is possible for our community, if we come together in our time of need to provide for one another.
Our mobilisation of efforts will see us through the rest of this health crisis, and we will have to conduct a recovery programme to get Jersey back on its feet.
But we must accept that Jersey had serious problems before this crisis hit. Problems which were often made worse by government policy. Simply going back to what we had before is not good enough.
The previous decade in Jersey had seen a huge growth in the gap between the rich and poor, with poverty rising and wages stagnating. Despite record numbers in work, productivity had been steadily declining, and we had just had a year of pay disputes in the public sector.
What economic growth we did have was based on an unsustainable population policy, and the proceeds of that growth were felt only by a small number of people at the top of the income scale.
All of this happened because of an ideological drive for austerity, which has proven to be a complete and utter failure.
The question must be asked, if we can mobilise our efforts to deal with a health crisis, why can’t we mobilise our efforts to deal with the crisis in living conditions, with the crisis in housing costs or with the climate crisis?
This is not a question of reality; it is a question of political will.
This crisis has shown that what many considered was impossible before was actually possible all along.
We froze rents. We made primary health care cheaper. And we directly subsidised struggling businesses.
We did those things because they were essential. We must now adopt the same approach as we rebuild our economy, because securing people’s living standards is essential too.
But we will not achieve that through wishful thinking or platitudes. Only with a clear vision to coalesce around will we be able to achieve this change.
Today Reform Jersey is proposing a New Deal for Jersey. This is a vision for Jersey’s recovery from coronavirus that puts people first.
This plan takes inspiration from those who came before us, and learns the lessons of history, that you cannot cut your way to prosperity. It is only by investing in people and services that we create prosperity which we can all enjoy.
The New Deal proposes a phased approach, based on the Three Rs; Relief, Recovery and Reform.
I will go through each phase in turn.
The first phase -
Relief – We must continue to support Islanders in the immediate aftermath of the crisis. Many Islanders are hurting, having suffered from hardship which was not of their making. People have lost their jobs and incomes, businesses have failed, and many have racked up debt. If these people are not helped, we will see the recession prolonged and the economic crisis exacerbated.
We say that there must be no cliff edge where people suddenly lose the financial support they have had to rely on, before their livelihoods have been restored. The government must not allow people to fall into destitution. To do otherwise would be short sighted and cause unnecessary pain.
This means not withdrawing the benefits being paid to unemployed people who may struggle to find work.
It means continuing to provide greater subsidies for access to primary health care, for people who are ill.
And we believe that it also means freezing rents until proper rent stabilisation regulations can be implemented, and not allow islanders to face the prospect come October of paying rent, a rent rise and rental debt, which will prevent them from contributing to our economic recovery.
The second phase-
Recovery – Transforming our economy and public services to drive up the standard of living.Before the crisis, our economy was not working in the interests of our whole community. This is a sickness which must be corrected in a new economic framework if we are to secure our long-term sustainability and wellbeing.
But as well as addressing the structural problems which have delivered us a decade of frozen living standards and growing inequality, we must prepare our economy for the challenges of the future. With any economic stimulus package that is created, there must be a focus on green jobs and digital skills.
This means investing in skills and education, not just for our young people, but for those who want or need to reskill to seek new job opportunities.
This means the government playing a leading role in getting people back into work. Either through working directly with businesses to support people into jobs or creating those jobs itself.
It means ending the scourge of insecure and low paid work, which too often is suffered by those in care roles or front-line jobs which have proved so essential in the crisis. We must abolish unfair zero hours contracts and bring the minimum wage up to a living wage.
It means factoring in cost of living pay rises into our normal budgets, rather than year after year of effective pay cuts.
The final phase –
Recovery – Ensuring that we build systematic resilience for future crises. Jersey’s journey through the coronavirus crisis was made easier by the fact that previous generations had paid into large reserve funds which Jersey was able to fall back on to stabilise our situation and provide cashflow for emergency response actions. But our ability to pay back into the reserves will be hampered by a broken tax system which held back our access to those funds.
And getting new support packages up and running, like the co-funded payroll scheme and the agreement between the government and the GPs, took too long and exacerbated the crisis. In the event of a future crisis, the government must be able to implement a response swiftly to ensure that the damage done is as limited as possible.
Our States-owned companies were beacons throughout this crisis, able to change their plans to accommodate the needs of islanders in the crisis, such as scrapping planned price increases and even increasing internet speeds for those working from home. This demonstrates that this ownership model is a success to be proud of and should be used for other key enterprises which are too important to be left in the hands of venture funds which have no purpose other than to extract wealth from Jersey to shareholders outside of Jersey.
We must create a clear ‘Crisis Response Plan’ which can be ready to be implemented in the event of a future crisis, so there can be clarity and confidence from Day 1.
We must reform our tax model, so the wealthiest islanders and corporations pay their fair share, and do not leave the burden falling on people who can scarcely afford it already.
We must incorporate primary healthcare into the public sector, so we are able to ensure islanders health needs are met all year round, and so that our GPs can be mobilised in a time of crisis.
Relief, Recovery and Reform, will be our mantra for how Jersey can come out of this crisis stronger and more together, and help create a fairer society for us all.
Some will say this is all a pipe dream. Some will dismiss it with abuse, rather than take on the ideas.
These people will be those who measure Jersey’s success by it’s GVA and by the number of high net worths who want to live here, rather than on Islanders happiness and wellbeing.
Let’s be clear, this New Deal will challenge vested interests who were quite happy with how things were before. Those who benefited from tax privileges, the broken housing market and exploitative employment regulations, will not accept an alternative. They will fight to oppose it.
But they do not have history or justice on their side.
Their plan after the 2008 financial crash failed, and it will fail again if it is tried now. That is why we need a New Deal.
We believe that we have a community out there in Jersey which is feeling inspired for something better. As we have gone out every Thursday evening to clap for our frontline workers, we know that they deserve more than just our gratitude. They deserve our commitment that we will honour their dedication and sacrifice by creating a fairer society for us all to enjoy.
We have a choice between another wasted decade on austerity or to build on the momentum we have now to bring people together around a New Deal which ushers in a new era of prosperity. Succeeding generations will be condemned to a poorer future if we do not learn from our history, and make the wrong decision.
We hope you will join us. Thank you.
