Marc Leadbeater

Personal Statement

Since becoming elected in 2016 I have worked in various areas across the States. I have sat on Home Affairs the entire term and last year I was honoured to be made Vice-President. I have represented Home Affairs on many sub-committees including the Population Management Review Panel, Brexit Sub-Group, Brexit Transition Group and Children & Young Peoples Plan. I have also assisted many in our community when they have needed help.

• Economic Recovery
• Education
• Housing
• Mental Health
• Drug Policy
• Waste Strategy

Manifesto

Economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic: Strategic Investment in capital projects, support for emerging sectors and other targeted economic stimulus initiatives are needed. There are great revenue raising opportunities ahead of us in emerging industries such as local CBD cultivation and production, and there are several other potential industries that could flourish in Guernsey - in areas such as the blue economy as one example. Guernsey’s waters have always been rich with an abundance of marine life. Aside from the puffins and plethora of sea birds, it’s common today to see seals, dolphins and even tuna skipping through our waters. We should be capitalising on this natural phenomena, there should be access to a fund for individuals and businesses wishing to enhance Guernsey’s offering in this area. A little investment from government via a simple grant or loan scheme would kick-start the Bailiwick’s blue economy which in turn would, apart from enhancing our tourist offering, be another strand of revenue for the island.

Secondary education estate: We need to work with stakeholders and agree on a 3 school model. The 1 school 2 site proposals need to be consigned to history so we can move forward with an education estate that provides equal opportunities, in an environment where all students are supported and no one gets left behind. Large schools of 1400 – 1500 students are not what we need.

Housing: We desperately need more affordable housing and Extra Care facilities such as Le Grand Courtil. Policy GP11 in the Island Development Plan was supposed to deliver more units by making developers hand over a percentage of their sites for social housing – that has failed miserably and since 2016 no units have been built through this policy. The larger sites that we already have earmarked for affordable housing must be developed.

Mental Health Provision: In July 2019 Guernsey Mind published a report called “Your Voice” an independent review into mental health provision in the Bailiwick. There are many recommendations within that report, and number 8 states that the Committee for Health & Social Care (HSC) should “Implement a 24hr crisis care service, including a psychiatric liaison team in emergency departments and alternatives to inpatient care”. The lockdown and other restrictions placed upon our community have highlighted that this type of service is critical. Law Enforcement are having to dedicate significant amounts of time to dealing with those with mental illness, who may even not be guilty of any offence. Pressure needs to be applied to the next HSC committee to ensure that the recommendations of the Guernsey Mind review are progressed and not kicked into the long grass.

Drug Policy: When I came into the States in 2016 it was difficult to have educated conversations about drug policy with some of the longer serving deputies – no disrespect intended. Over the course of the last few years, as other jurisdictions have shifted their policy position, we can at least now debate these issues using factual evidence and statistics. Let’s take prescription drugs for an example, far more people in Guernsey are addicted to them than there are addicted to illegal drugs. In recent years some good work has been done in the reduction of prescriptions and monitoring of drugs such as Fentanyl, but it’s not enough as people are still dying. Changing the culture of reliance on prescription medication will play an important role in reshaping policy, and so will ending the prohibition on cannabis. In Canada where cannabis use was legalised in 2018, statistics show that youth consumption has fallen by half since the introduction of the regime. Exactly the same can be seen in the USA, each state that has legalised cannabis use for the adult population has seen youth consumption plummet. Experts say there are 3 reasons for this. Firstly, it’s harder for young people to obtain cannabis in a legal market, secondly, when it became legal it was no longer “cool”, and thirdly and most importantly, they invested some of the millions of dollars the governments made from the industry into harm-reduction campaigns and educational work with young people. We have the evidence now to base our policy on. We can use the experiences of our Commonwealth cousins in Canada, and shape our policy to enable us to educate our young people and protect them from the harm that drugs can bring. Education and regulation is the only way we can achieve this.

Waste Strategy: I voted against our current waste strategy. I’m not saying it’s all bad because collectively we’re recycling more now, but at what cost? The current black bag sticker price and the annual standing charge come nowhere near meeting the operational cost of the strategy. Thankfully the agreement with Geminor is only for a 3 year period which gives us the ability to look at other options. One thing we know is that whatever happens we will be turning our non-recyclable waste into Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) - the Waste Transfer Station cost us £32m. We need to be looking to Jersey where they have a huge incinerator and not enough waste to feed it.

This government will have some extremely important decisions to make. The effects of the pandemic on business and the wider community will reverberate throughout this term and beyond. Mitigating the financial and social costs of Covid-19 is fundamental to the future prosperity of our island. The Assembly will have to adopt a strategic approach to investment in capital projects and support for business. We must not though forget about social & environmental investment. We need to learn “lessons from lockdown”, and use the experience to better shape our infrastructure and protect our environment – and I want to be part of this team to deliver a better Guernsey for us all.

I expand on these and other topics on my website www.marcleadbeater.gg. I want to be able to continue the work I have been doing since 2016. I want to deliver on key issues such as justice, and build back better utilising progressive methods of raising revenue rather than defaulting to hiking taxes all the time. A forward moving island needs a forward thinking government.