MIKE DUN    JAB – Jersey after BREXIT
INDEPENDENCE OR WHAT?

* On 23 June the UK voted for BREXIT – to leave the EU.
* Although vital to Jersey’s future, we had no voice in that decision.
* The UK has just two years to draft new deals with the EU and other places – including Jersey.

This Senatorial vacancy allows me to offer my services as an elected representative for that same two-year period only.
I have fifty years of political and campaigning experience.
I do not need training and am not seeking a cosy career at public expense.
If elected, I will speak with and for the public in and outside of government – in Jersey and beyond – stimulating and organizing discussion and negotiation as needed and challenging government policies and secrecy where necessary on BREXIT.

The importance of BREXIT should not be under-estimated.
If elected, I will however, still carry out my “all Island” duties to the electorate within the States and challenge the unfairnesses and obvious inequalities in this community that need addressing.

BREXIT raises a catalogue of new problems. We are all involved.
Nationality, passports, immigration, right to work, farming and fishing, travel, international standards and agreements are just some matters that we must resolve.

After BREXIT the UK government collapsed. The UK political system remains in turmoil.
The futures for Scotland and Ireland are uncertain. Shockwaves have been felt across the world.
Gibraltar and the Falklands are apprehensive for their security.
All the British Overseas Territories – such as the Caymans and BVI – are anxious. Mostly their economies are built around “Finance Activities” which are ever more unpopular and resisted across the world, especially since the “Panama Papers” revelations and Anti-Corruption Conference in London.

Jersey’s “finance” dominated economy is already vulnerable but our relationship with the EU is based upon outdated, obscure Protocol 3 arrangements which were covertly negotiated by others in the 1970s.
The EU (EEC) was then just 9 countries. Today it is 28 and the world is very different.

* Jersey is not a “sovereign state”. We do not have national negotiating status.
* We rely upon Senator Bailhache and others from Jersey to transmit our views to London.
* The new Prime Minister says she will take note of our views “where appropriate”.
* Such an arrangement is not satisfactory.

Reporting to Scrutiny (27 July) Senator Bailhache said the UK BREXIT decision “was off the earthquake scale” yet Jersey had been planning for it “for two or three years.”
On independence he confirmed that we must “be prepared for any eventuality” but hoped to maintain Protocol 3’s “status quo” terms.
Yet, he proposed a Jersey “Monetary Authority” and a “Commission” to appoint judicial officers.
Why?

* If elected I will find out and ensure that such decisions are only made after consultation.
* I will resist secret moves towards constitutional changes or independence.
* I will promote reforms that are necessary in a democratic society in the 21st century.

NB The 27 July Scrutiny Podcast is not yet published