Chief minister pledges to help working families

Support includes providing free nursery care for two to three-year-olds

The previous government "tried to do too much and ended up achieving little", the new chief minister has said.

Deputy Lyndon Farnham published his top 12 priorities and said the government would be prioritising support for working families.

In an interview with the BBC following the announcement, he said support would include offering two to three year olds free nursery care.

Mr Farnham said he could not confirm when the support would begin and added it would be phased in due to a shortage of nursery places, and that young children with additional needs would be prioritised.

The council pledged to continue the previous government's plans to provide healthy meals in all States schools, and it said it would also plan to make GP appointments cheaper for patients.

Mr Farmham said also said the government planned to protect women, revitalise the town centre, and replace the minimum wage with a higher-rate living wage by the end of their term in office.

He said: "I’m looking very carefully at where the government is spending money and we are going to reprioritise to make sure we aren’t spending where we don’t need to, and we are going to focus on spending where it's going to be felt and benefit islanders most.

“A big part of this plan is emphasising all the rest of the work of government carries on as normal, the environmental agenda is a big part of the business as usual we are doing.”

Mr Farnham said his council did not want to promise a list of things they could not guarantee, referring to the previous council's 100 day plan.

He said: "I think the previous government produced a 100 day list with dozens, if not hundreds, of items that needed to be done, and that can be a trap that this government didn’t want to fall into."

The previous Chief Minister, Deputy Kristina Moore said the new government was "making unnecessary swipes" at the previous council, and that they were "not recognising that they have benefitted" from its "preparatory work".