Guernsey chief minister "embarrassed" by ferry spat
Guernsey's chief minister has said he was embarrassed by a spat between Channel Island politicians over proposals for an inter island ferry service.It follows a disagreement between Guernsey's head of economic development Neil Inder and Jersey's economic development minister Kirsten Morel over a possible solution to provide freight transport links between the islands.During a Chamber Of Commerce lunch, the chief ministers of Guernsey and Jersey were asked if they were embarrassed by the row between their economic development ministers.Jersey's Lyndon Farnham said he was "disappointed but not embarrassed" while Guernsey's Lyndon Trott said he was "more embarrassed than Deputy Farnham".
The chief ministers were talking to business leaders in Guernsey about the importance of inter-island cooperation on Wednesday when they were asked about the disagreement between Morel and Inder.Inder had said he was angry Morel had told the media Guernsey did not seem as positive as Jersey over the inter island ferry plan proposed to them by FerryBridge.
'Disappointed but not embarrassed'
Guernsey's chief minister Lyndon Trott told the BBC he was embarrassed by the spat. "One of the first things I learnt in politics is that there are few things that can't be sorted out over a cup of tea but also it's important that proper business is not conducted on the front page of the local newspapers," he said." I think while the spat was regrettable, the positions are held strongly."However Trott insisted inter island relationships were stronger than ever."The good news is there is an overwhelming amount of time we spend working cooperatively, collaboratively and positively and I genuinely expect that to continue significantly into the future," he said.Farnham said he was "disappointed" but not "embarrassed" by the disagreement and it was important the islands looked at moving forward."What we have to do now is work together to ensure, in the fullness of time, that we can get an improved inter island service for passengers and cars," he said."I'm sure that Brittany Ferries and DFDS and Jersey and Guernsey are committed to that and we have other third party operators that want to come in and provide services."
However, Murray Norton, the head of Jersey's Chamber of Commerce, described the spat as "politically immature"."I think it's disappointing for Channel Island collaboration and I think its fairly unfitting of two politicians, whilst they might have deep seated views of their own island and we all have those," said Mr Norton. "But we've got to see the bigger picture and we look at our politicians to act much more maturely and to act a little bit more dignified I think."Inder is one of 82 candidates standing in Guernsey's general election - see a full list here.
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