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Nick Le Cornu

Nick Le Cornu, a founding member of pressure group Time4Change, believes there's a crisis of public confidence in the government and that policies not personalities should count.

As a lawyer he says he understands the importance of the finance industry and would like to see political, economic and social reform.

Manifesto

Fellow Islanders!

I am a Lawyer, a Jerseyman and a Patriot.

I am one of the founder members of Time4Change, the movement that organised the demonstration in the Royal Square on 8th March to protest against our government鈥檚 mishandling of the child abuse tragedy.

Criticising government and authority is always difficult; sometimes it is necessary.

The charge against government is the lack of accountable supervision of custodial facilities. It is not the physical abuse of the children per se that is the scandal.
Government allowed human rights violations to occur against children in their care.听
We must have justice for the victims; justice for the perpetrators without a witch-hunt and closure for the island.

For the future, we must have structures in place that protect human rights be it in childcare, orphanages, schools, prisons or police custody.

I am 50 years of age, Jersey born and educated at Victoria College.
I read History at Warwick University and became a Solicitor.
I practiced law in the City of London before returning to Jersey in 1993 and have since worked in Finance. I am married to Irina who is from Ukraine and our son Rudick has just graduated in economics.

Jersey鈥檚 Housing Law has been in place since 1949 yet the housing problem is no better now than it was 50 years ago. The existing Housing Law and Regulations are actually making Jersey鈥檚 housing problems worse because 10,000 working people and their families are paying just to live in lodgings. Housing Qualifications should be reduced to 5 years now, combined with a positive plan to adequately house all residents of Jersey.

GST is the child of Zero Ten and part of a tax model that is undermining the state鈥檚 tax base. Finance institutions and their foreign company clients should be taxed in an equitable manner and not in a more privileged way than the people of Jersey. Taxation should be based on what the community actually needs and not levied to cover shortfalls created by the privileges given to companies.The poor and working people are certainly disproportionately hit by GST. However, everybody who earns income and lives in the island is negatively affected by GST. There are alternatives to GST and these must be revisited, not just dismissed so as not to offend the wealthy.

The issue is essentially whether the island is here to serve the financial sector鈥檚 needs for low taxes, for which the government is willing to sacrifice the welfare of all but the wealthiest islanders, or - the financial sector is here to serve the islanders.

I believe Jersey needs wide-ranging reform and new politicians who will not only listen to the people, but do what they promise when elected.

A new culture of openness, accountability and honesty between politicians and the people must be created. We are all tired of government cover-up and spin; of manipulation and misinformation.

I am not frightened of challenging authority. I am not deferential to my betters. I am brave and courageous.

Please vote for Nick Le Cornu to give a voice to the working people of this our island.