19 incumbents stayed in, 12 lost seats they were fighting to retain. 2 returning former deputy candidates made it, 2 lost. All 8 formerly unsuccessful candidates failed to get their vote count high enough. 16 first-time candidates got in (nice going!), 20 didn’t make enough of an impact (including me!).
Congratulations to all who got in. Now the real hard work begins. Can you keep the public on-side over the next four years or will the public choose to change half of the assembly again? You must work more collaboratively. You must make a dent in the housing crisis. You must balance our books in a way that doesn’t send corporations, mobile millionnaires and those who cannot afford to live here away. You must not place further burden on small local businesses and families who are already struggling. You must do something about housing affordability and cost of living. You must encourage investment. You must make tough decisions on our air connectivity. You must build and maintain infrastructure. You must win back the trust of the people and part of that means maintaining a high public profile for the right reasons; let people know what you’ve been doing (it’s partly how Lindsay De Sausmarez topped the polls). I think you should also take steps to make the island more energy resilient and implement/improve social policies in a cost-effective way to make people’s lives more bearable. I think Guernsey needs to remain a respectable jurisdiction. I’ll be watching. It’s a tightrope walk, your life will no longer be your own and stuff will stick rather unfairly when you had little or nothing to do with it. Maybe I dodged a bullet after all.
To those who thought I was up to the tough task this time, thank you so much for your support. I will try again, probably in 2029. In the meantime, I won’t vanish from the public eye. Watch this space.
Tom Moore for Deputy 