Deputy to propose States tightens its belt

The States of Guernsey should be required to cut spending and make savings, a politician has said.

Deputy Rhona Humphreys is set to submit a motion to target 1% savings - which she said was about £20m a year - in States budgets in the next three years.

She said she would lodge an amendment to Policy and Resources' government work plan, which is due for debate later this month.

Humphreys said it was important the States committed to cutting costs and her amendment comes ahead of a debate on tax reform, which may lead to a goods and services tax (GST).

Humphreys said "we also need to put our bit into the pie and cut our spending" if a GST was to be introduced.

The deputy is a member of Forward Guernsey, a political party signed up to the Future Guernsey manifesto, which included a commitment to "introduce a 1% reduction in baseline spending for each year from 2026, saving Guernsey more than £25m a year by 2029".

An attempt to freeze States spending at 2025 levels for the 2026 budget failed last year.

The States agreed to cut spending this year by about £4m during a debate on the 2026 budget and the focus of States chief executive Boley Smillie has been on reducing the use of consultants.

Humphreys said she was not targeting cuts to front-line services.

"They do all need to look up their spending and see if they can find savings anywhere," she said.

"But if we can take the 1% across the board, and actually target it and perhaps do more across the back-line services, less across the front-line services, I think that's something that's entirely manageable."

A number of other amendments to the government work plan are also set to be submitted - including proposals to change workplace rules for civil servants, a move to make economic growth a priority and a proposal from deputy Marc Lainé to review the senior management structure of the States.

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