New members elected to island's top committee

Deputy Steve Falla was proposed by the new P&R President Lindsay de Sausmarez

The States of Guernsey has elected four new members to the island's most senior committee.

Deputies Gavin St Pier, Steve Falla, Charles Parkinson and Jonathan Le Tocq were appointed to the Policy and Resources Committee (P&R) following a vote.

Proposing the four members, newly minted P&R President Lindsay de Sausmarez said they brought a lot of experience to the committee.

Le Tocq received 35 votes, St Pier and Parkinson received 31 each and Falla got 30 votes.

Deputies Jonathan Le Tocq, Charles Parkinson and Gavin St Pier have all held senior jobs before

The four new members of P&R will earn about £60,000 a year for the position.

It was expected Le Tocq would act as lead on external relations for the committee, while Parkinson was expected to be appointed as lead for the review of tax policy.

St Pier, the former treasury and resources minister, was tipped to act as treasury lead.

Former president of the Committee for Economic Development Neil Inder proposed the candidates for membership of P&R should answer questions from deputies.

However, returning deputy Sarah Hansmann-Rouxel said there was no need for them to face questions, as P&R members were not like committee presidents in their responsibilities.

Former Scrutiny Management Committee president Yvonne Burford agreed with Hansmann-Rouxel.

Inder's proposal was defeated after it received only 11 votes.