Tale of two ministers - a year in Jersey politics

The year has been characterised by political drama, from a successful vote of no confidence in the chief minister to the drawn-out decision-making process over a ferry contract.

Ultimately the political conversation in 2024 has been dominated by the trials and tribulations of two ministers - current Health Minister Deputy Tom Binet and the Economic Development Minister Deputy Kirsten Morel.

Binet has been at the centre of the biggest political stories in Jersey this year.

He brought a vote of no confidence against Kristina Moore in January.

This was followed by him miscounting the number of nominations he received to run for chief minister himself - he only declared five, when in fact he had the six required to go forward.

At the time he said, "if you can't count to six you shouldn't be in the running" adding it was "18 months of work down the drain".

As health minister, Binet has taken Jersey a step closer to legalising assisted dying and made progress in moving forward Jersey's multi-site hospital.

Demolition work has been completed at Overdale and a planning application has been submitted. If the application is approved, spades could be in the ground next year.

The lack of progress made by a successive governments to build a new hospital has been a huge source of frustration for islanders and while there is still a long way to go, the health minister can point to some tangible success on this front, which is more than many of his recent predecessors.

The health service has seen a number of independent reviews which have found serious failings in some hospital departments.

Most notable of these regarded the rheumatology department, where a Royal College of Physicians review found some patients had been misdiagnosed or given the wrong medication.

These problems predated the health minister's time in office, but cast his department into the spotlight.

At times this year Binet been criticised for not being clear on key details and deflecting questions by saying clinicians and people with medical backgrounds would be better placed to answer.

As autumn came, Binet had a reprieve when the main focus switched to the island's economic development minister when the joint ferry tender process with Guernsey took an unexpected turn.

Guernsey announced on 30 October its preferred operator was Britany Ferries - the parent company of current operator Condor Ferries - while Morel said he did not have all the information he needed to make a final decision.

Over the next few weeks it became clear the two islands had very different views of the best way forward.

Using parliamentary privilege, the minister revealed to the States the concerns he had around Condor's financial situation and DFDS, while the stronger bid, had failed on a technical legal point which was something he could not fathom.

A new Jersey-only process was started in which DFDS was selected as Jersey's preferred operator meaning both islands had picked different companies to run their sea links.

Through a tumultuous few weeks the minister was questioned from all angles, but he was able to convince many in the States Assembly that Guernsey's decision had put him on a difficult path.

Morel will continue to play a key role next year and Brittany Ferries is taking him to court over his decision to award the ferry contract to DFDS.

While the minister has come through a bruising few weeks intact, any hope the scrutiny would fade once a ferry operator had been appointed have been dashed by the impending court case.

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