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‘Closed for business’ goes national

THE claim that Guernsey is stifling business has found a wider audience.

In a story in the Daily Telegraph yesterday about last Thursday’s Institute of Directors conference, the newspaper reported how the meeting had contrasted Guernsey’s ‘can’t do’ approach with Jersey’s ‘can do’ attitude.
The national newspaper quoted Commerce and Employment minister Stuart Falla as saying that Guernsey does not want growth in the business sector.
According to the Telegraph, Deputy Falla said: ‘I laid down the challenge...if the business community wanted the greater level of growth, they had to have their voices heard. They have to make their case well. They can’t assume their voice will be heard if they whisper.’
IoD chairman Shelagh Mason said it was disappointing the newspaper had picked on the ‘closed for business’ angle.
‘Quite obviously, there is a concern that the national papers have picked up on this because the message that the IoD wanted to put out to the world was that we were open for business.
‘Now that Deputy Stuart Falla’s message has got out, it’s going to make our role even harder. But we want to make sure that the positive reaction we had from the debate also gets out.
‘For example, we have only just had announced this week that we have a record amount of funds on the island.
‘It’s that sort of message we want to make sure gets across.’
The Telegraph said that while jurors at the conference voted overwhelmingly against the idea that there was opposition to new business, Jersey was applauded for being more progressive. However, it did not speak to anybody from the event and merely used material already published elsewhere.
The newspaper also reported that the conference had called for a review of the cap on population expansion.
It reported that Deputy Falla said the business community had been silent on the ban on population growth, which he hoped would be overturned next summer.