Guernsey is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands,located 27 miles (43 km) west of the Cotentin Peninsula,Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey,which includes five other inhabited islands –Alderney,Herm,Jethou,Lihou and Sark –and many small islets and rocks. The bailiwick has a population of 63,950,the vast majority of whom live on Guernsey,and the island has a land area of 24 square miles (62 km2).
Politics of the Bailiwick of Guernsey take place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic British Crown dependency.
Sark is an island,part of the Channel Islands in the southwestern English Channel,off the coast of Normandy,France. It is a self-governing British Crown Dependency,with its own set of laws based on Norman law and its own parliament. It was a royal fief until 2008. It has a population of about 500. Sark has an area of 2.10 square miles (5.44 km2). Little Sark is a peninsula joined by a natural but high and very narrow isthmus to the rest of Sark Island.
St Sampson is a parish of Guernsey,an island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey,directly north of St Peter Port. It is on the north-west and north-east coasts of the island and is split into two sections,intersected by Vale.
Sir Philip Martin Bailhache KC is a Jersey politician and lawyer who has served as a Deputy for St Clement since 2022 and the leader of the Jersey Liberal Conservatives party.
The States of Guernsey,officially the States of Deliberation and sometimes referred to as the Government of Guernsey,is the parliament and government of the British Crown dependency of Guernsey. Some laws and ordinances approved by the States of Guernsey also apply to Alderney and Sark as "Bailiwick-wide legislation" with the consent of the governments of those islands. All enactments of the States of Guernsey apply to Herm as well as Guernsey,since Herm is directly administered by the Bailiwick of Guernsey.
The Chief Minister of Guernsey chaired the Policy Council,which consists of the heads of each of the ten departments of the States of Guernsey. Guernsey operates a system of consensus,committees-based government. The Policy Council is explicitly not a cabinet and has relatively little executive authority compared to a cabinet;instead,its main function is policy co-ordination. The Chief Minister also spoke for the island externally in political matters.
Laurie Morgan was a Deputy of the States of Guernsey,the parliament of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. He was Guernsey's first Chief Minister and was elected to the post in May 2004. His term of office was due to expire in 2008,when the next General Election was due. It was announced on 31 January 2007 that the Chief Minister and the Policy Council were to resign. The resignation followed a highly critical report,after the Fallagate scandal,regarding why the lowest tender to build a new clinical block at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital was withdrawn.
Guernsey operates a system of government by committees and consensus. The States of Deliberation is both parliament and executive,but it delegates some of its executive functions to policy-specific committees,which are known as States Departments,each of which is run by five political members,all of whom have equal voting power.
The 2008 Guernsey general election was held on 23 April 2008 to elect 45 members of the States of Guernsey. 18,576 voters or 40.58% of the eligible population of 45,772 turned out and cast a total of 89,239 votes;there were 10 blank papers,35 spoilt papers and on average 4.8 votes were cast. Of the 28 standing deputies all but two,were re-elected to the house;this means that 19 of the Deputies-Elect are new to the chamber. Five of the 12 candidates who had stood unsuccessfully in 2004 were elected in 2008.
Jonathan Paul Le Tocq is a politician in Guernsey in the Channel Islands.
Fallagate was a political scandal in Guernsey in 2007,over the desire by Deputies of the States of Deliberation to appear corruption free. The desire to appear corruption free cost the island's 40,000 taxpayers £60 each,and the resulting scandal led to the resignation of Laurie Morgan,the then Chief Minister of Guernsey,and the Policy Council,a committee of the States.
The Council of Ministers is the collective decision-making body of the Government of Jersey,formed by the Ministers of the States of Jersey and the Chief Minister. The council co-ordinates policies and administration,especially policy affecting two or more ministers,prioritises executive and legislative proposals,and presents a "Strategic Plan for Jersey" for approval by the States Assembly.
Gavin Scooter St Pier is an elected deputy in the States of Guernsey and former president of the Policy and Resources Committee.
The Policy &Resources Committee is the Senior Committee of the system of government in Guernsey. It was created on 1 May 2016 to replace the Policy Council of Guernsey.
Future Guernsey,formerly Guernsey Partnership of Independents until November 2021,is a political party in Guernsey founded in August 2020 by Gavin St Pier,Heidi Soulsby and Lyndon Trott.
The President of the Policy and Resources Committee,also known as the Chief Minister of Guernsey,is the head of government of Guernsey and chair of the Policy and Resources Committee. The head of government is not directly elected by the people but rather by the legislature,the States of Guernsey.
Peter Terence Richard Ferbrache is an elected Deputy in the States of Guernsey,the parliament of Guernsey in the Channel Islands,and former president of the Policy and Resources Committee.
Heidi Soulsby MBE,is a politician from the island of Guernsey. She has been a deputy of the States of Guernsey since the 2012 Guernsey general election and was the First female Deputy Chief Minister of Guernsey.
