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A poll of the island's business leaders has shed light on their wavering confidence in Government – and who they would have to replace Kristina Moore in the top job.
Around 200 Chamber of Commerce members gathered last week for a Christmas lunch – and after a few glasses of mulled wine, they seemed more than willing to reveal what they really think of Jersey's government...
The lunch event took place last Wednesday at The Royal Yacht, and brought together Jersey's business community for a lookback at 2023.
The highlight of the event was an array of 'on the spot' quiz questions which gathered opinions on local issues including Government, teacher strikes, and the potential wind farm.
Express took a look at the results...
One of the questions asked business leaders to mark the Chief Minster and her Government.
Pictured: Almost a quarter of respondents described the current Government as 'worse than the last lot'.
44% of respondents voted them as 'just okay', whilst 22% agreed they are 'worse than the last lot'.
13% described them as 'woeful' and 10% voted for 'please close the door behind you'.
10% agreed that the Chief Minster and her Government are 'pretty good', but just 2% described them as 'fabulous'.
A similar mistrust in Government was reflected in the recently published Jersey Opinions and Lifestyle Survey 2023, which showed that two-thirds of islanders disagreed with the statement “I trust the Government to make fair decisions”.
Pictured: Every year, Statistics Jersey asks about the experiences and opinions of islanders as part of the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey to help inform Government policy.
Just two-fifths (38%) trust the Government to work in Jersey’s best interests, and less than a third (29%) of adults reported they trusted the Government to listen to people’s views before taking decisions.
Chamber of Commerce Christmas lunch attendees were given the opportunity to take this a step further and imagine an alternate reality where Kristina Moore is not Chief Minster and vote for their favourite replacement.
Former Chief Minister Ian Gorst came out top with 30% of the votes, and Deputy Chief Minister Kirsten Morel was a close second with 23%.
Pictured: A returning former Chief Minister Ian Gorst was the favourite among business leaders.
Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet got 13% of the votes, whilst Reform Jersey leader Sam Mezéc won 12% – beating Social Security Minister Elaine Millar, Education Minister Inna Gardiner, Home Affairs Minister Helen Miles, and former Assistant Chief Minister Andy Jehan.
Looking to the future of Jersey's economy, the majority of business leaders described themselves as 'worried'.
Pictured: A total of 62% of respondents voted 'Seriously... I'm worried' about the future of Jersey's economy.
One-third of respondents said they were 'cool about it', only 3% agreed that they were 'very confident', and 2% admitted they were packing their things.
As well as the island's Government and the economy, business leaders were also given the chance to express their opinions on other key issues including teacher strikes, the ongoing hospital drama, the Broad Street traffic debate, and the potential wind farm.
A whopping 84% voted 'yes' to having a wind farm in our waters – and the Broad Street and hospital themed questions had similarly clear winners.
Two-thirds agreed that Broad Street shouldn't be open to traffic, and the same amount said that, knowing what they know now, they would have built the new hospital at People's Park.
Pictured: Two out of three respondents said, knowing what they know now, that the new hospital should have been built at People's Park.
However, teacher strikes was a more divisive issue.
Just under half of business leaders agreed that teachers should 'stop striking and go back to back to work', whilst 34% voted that 'we sympathise and support you striking to get a better pay deal'.
17% appeared to misunderstand the point of striking, and called for teachers to 'only strike during the school holidays'.
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