Guernsey States elects Lyndon Trott as senior politician

Deputy Lyndon Trott was elected after three rounds of a secret ballot

Deputy Lyndon Trott has been elected as the new President of Guernsey's Policy and Resources Committee (P&R).

A motion of no confidence was lodged after P&R failed to get its plans for tax reform approved by the States, with deputies voting by 23 to 16.

The other candidates for the top role were Deputies Rob Prow, Peter Roffey and Charles Parkinson.

The candidates and their nominators spoke to the assembly and faced an hour of questions before the secret ballot.

Mr Trott has served in the States since 2000, including as treasury minister from 2004-2008 and as chief minister from 2008-2012.

There were three rounds of voting. In the first round Mr Parkinson was eliminated after a vote of 13 for Mr Trott, 15 for Mr Prow, seven for Mr Roffey and five for Mr Parkinson.

In the second, Mr Roffey was eliminated after a vote of 19 for Mr Trott, 16 for Mr Prow and five for Mr Roffey.

In the third round the vote was 21 for Mr Trott and 19 for Mr Prow.

'Voted for change'

Deputy David De Lisle said the result was "obviously going to be between" Mr Trott and Mr Prow, and he thought "either of them can do a good job".

Mr Prow said he was "very pleased with the amount of support" he received, and he would "certainly support" Mr Trott.

"I'll be very interested to see how he's going to deliver on what he set out to do," he said.

Deputy Gavin St Pier said the States "got to the right outcome", and that he "remained interested" in a role within P&R.

Deputy Sasha Kazantseva Miller said: "The assembly has voted for change, I don't think we got the full mandate for the P&R president actually.

"It was much closer than I thought it would be, so I think it's going to make it even more challenging to create the assembly, the future P&R and to breach that divided assembly."

Deputy Simon Fairclough, one of Mr Trott's nominators, said he was pleased with the result, but that he had "no desire" to join P&R himself.

Deputy Neil Inder said it was "democracy in play", but that he was also happy with the result.

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