Candidate spending to be capped at £3,000

Guernsey's next general election will be the second time the voting has been done on an entirely island-wide basis

Candidates standing in Guernsey's general election next year will be limited to spending £3,000 on their campaign.

In a close vote - won by 19 votes in favour ahead of 18 against - deputies approved a proposal from Deputies Steve Falla and Sue Aldwell to limit spending.

In 2020 candidates had been allowed to spend up to £6,000 with parties limited to £12,000.

As well as lower limits for candidates next year, the vote also approved limited spending by political parties to £3,000.

President of the States Assembly and Constitution Committee Carl Meerveld said the introduction of lower limits was like "pulling the drawbridge up behind ourselves".

Deputy Neil Inder agreed, he felt lower limits were not fair and labelled attempts to reduce candidate spending limits as "cynical".

Earlier this year deputies scrapped the £500 grant for candidates.

An attempt to reintroduce it was not debated, after Deputy Lester Queripel unsuccessfully tried to lodge an amendment.

Deputy Steve Falla said it was not worth following the rules set out during Guernsey's first island-wide general election in 2020

Deputy Falla said the 2020 election "was a guniea pig election and with a clearer picture of 2025 we now know what people want".

He said: "We don't need to stick to the 2020 rules and perpetuate the clunkier elements of that election."

Analysis by the BBC in 2021 showed the lowest-spending candidates in the first island-wide general election were the least likely to succeed.

Health and Social Care President Al Brouard said the proposal to reduce spending "felt like big brother", meaning candidates "could only use the government handbook" which is sent out by the States of Guernsey with all candidate manifestos in.

He urged people to reject the calls for a lower limit and allow people to campaign how they liked.

Despite being directed by the States earlier this year to bring proposals for DBS checks for election candidates, SACC did not bring those proposals forward for next year's election.