Jersey's States Assembly approves 2024-2027 budget

The budget was approved after three-and-a-half days of debate

Jersey’s States Assembly has approved the 2024-2027 budget, after a debate lasted three-and-a-half days.

Politicians voted 33-13 in favour of ministers’ proposals, as amended by backbenchers.

The government intends to raise £1.2bn and spend £1.15bn on public services in 2024.

Chief Minister Kristina Moore said the plan would “provide some stability”, but the leader of Reform Jersey Sam Mezec said it lacked “any coherent vision for solving the big crises that Jersey faces”.

Chief Minister Kristina Moore said the plan would “provide some stability”

Under the measures agreed by politicians in 2024:

• The budget for Jersey’s Health and Community Services Department will increase by 15% to £287m

• Children, Young People, Education and Skills will get £207m, a 9% rise

• The Infrastructure Department will see its budget rise by 27%, to £57.2m

• The budget for the Cabinet Office will go up to £79.2m, an increase of 18%

The first-time buyer stamp duty threshold will rise from £500k to £700k, a £10m shared equity scheme will help up to 60 families on to the property ladder, and tax allowances will increase.

A scheme through which children receive free GP appointments will be extended to all full-time students, and work will begin on a “substantial redevelopment” of Jersey’s drainage network. Ministers intend to introduce a new tax to fund ongoing improvements to drains, potentially by 2026.

Government departments will be asked to make £13m of savings, of which £3m will be used to increase support for the farming and fishing industries.

Meanwhile, alcohol duty will rise by 4.5%, and fuel duty will be frozen.

But concerns have been raised about a lack of funding for States of Jersey Police, which will receive £27.4m in the years 2024-2027.

Politicians rejected calls for £2m earmarked for government IT systems to instead be used to increase teachers’ pay, amid strikes by members of the National Education Union.

'Ambitious plans'

Speaking ahead of the vote to approve the amended plan, Ms Moore said: “What we have learned in our first 18 months in office is that delivery is difficult.

“The greatest way to achieve the most is actually by focusing and by considering very carefully where the greatest impact can be delivered and how that can be achieved.

“We all have a huge list of things that we would like to do but long lists very rarely are delivered in their entirety."

Ms Moore said the government plan needed to provide focus and stability.

She said: "[It needs] to start to correct the wrongs of the legacy that we have encountered, to stabilise our budgets and put us on a strong footing so that we can now move forward with our ambitious plans for the island.

"With our wind farm opportunity, with our future economy programme - which is the government’s answer to preparing for the demographic challenges that we see ahead of us; by focusing on our desire for economic growth.”

Reform Party Leader Sam Mezec said the plan lacked "any coherent vision for solving the big crises that Jersey faces"

Deputies Lyndon Farnham, Mary Le Hegarat and Max Andrews joined the 10 members of political party Reform Jersey in voting against the budget.

Mr Mezec said: "[It] has virtually nothing to say on the number one crisis facing the island which is the housing crisis, apart from one referral to something that was actually secured several years ago.

"It contains at its heart a refusal to accept what every right thinking person knows, which is that our spending model and our taxing model don’t go together and are not working properly.

“I think that it’s time that Jersey had a genuine better way, not the sham that we have right now which has claimed to be a better way but has turned out to be more of the same."