Senator John Le Fondré has said that greater consultation on the matter was needed and the impact of Brexit required greater consideration. He has asked officials to establish a policy development board to review the matter and consult with industry.
Speaking during his first Scrutiny hearing as Chief Minister on Tuesday, Senator Le Fondré said, however, that he believes recent waves of immigration to the Island allowed by the previous government are not sustainable and tighter controls, including a new system of work permits, need to be introduced as soon as possible.
The topic was among a number raised during the new Chief Minister’s first public hearing before the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel, which he chaired during the previous States Assembly.
Other matters discussed included the allocation of ministerial responsibilities, tackling States bullying and working more closely with Guernsey.
During the hearing the panel’s vice-chairman, Deputy Steve Ahier, asked whether the population policy debate, which has already been long delayed, would happen as scheduled in September.
Senator Le Fondré said that it was ‘likely to be deferred’ and this was confirmed at Wednesday’s Council of Ministers meeting.
He said at the hearing that there were a number of items in the population policy proposition which he felt needed to be reviewed.
‘For example [criminal] record checking. We need to know what we need to do to put that in place sooner,’ he said.
‘One of the other things in the proposition is about modelling and getting data. There’s no reason why we can’t ask for modelling to be done already.’
The Chief Minister said that he believed the previous Council of Ministers had been responsible for excessive immigration to the Island and the current levels were not sustainable.
‘There is going to have to be some form of limit or target [for immigration]. It hasn’t been very successful to date,’ he said.
‘I think the target was around 325 [inward net migration] and on average we have had around 1,000 per year for the last four years.
‘In my view that is not sustainable. The challenge is, because the past Council of Ministers have allowed that level of migration, how do we then tackle that without damaging the economy? We need to get controls right.
‘And on 30 March we have Brexit and that is something we have to take into account as well.’
He added: ‘My view is that there should be some sort of work permits. But there needs to be better consultation than has taken place to date. There should be more flexibility within the work permit scenario.’
The hearing was also attended by panel chairwoman Senator Kristina Moore and panel members Deputy Jess Perchard and Constable Richard Vibert. Deputy Chief Minister Tracey Vallois also attended.
