Reform Candidate for District 1, St Helier

 

Political Campaigner, Nick Le Cornu

St Helier No.1 By-Election

 Social reform campaigner to stand for Deputy

Havre des Pas resident, Nick Le Cornu, is to stand for election for Deputy in St Helier No 1 district.

Mr Le Cornu is a qualified English Solicitor, has practiced commercial law and litigation in the City of London. He now specialises in employment law and is currently assisting Union members with employment issues.

He is also the Secretary of the Jersey Human Rights Group, which campaigns for greater equality and anti-discrimination measures.

‘Social and Political reforms are now urgent,’ says Mr Le Cornu.

‘In recent years, we have seen a decline in the standard of living of ordinary islanders as the tax burden has shifted from corporations to personal taxation. We need to elect States Members who want to change this.’

‘My priorities will be:

-          To improve the quality and affordability of private and social rented accommodation.

-          To implement statutory maternity and paternity leave.

-          To oppose any suggestion of an increase in GST.

-          The fight for a true ‘living wage’.

-          End the overuse of zero-hour contracts.

-          Investing in Fort Regent, with improved access from Snow Hill – this is vital.

-          Managing population growth.

-          Fair representation for St Helier.’

 

Mr Le Cornu was also active in the Option A campaign, the option which St Helier

backed2:1 against 'option B' - which would have left St Helier greatly under-represented.

 

Holocaust Memorial Day 2014

The events of the Second World War and all acts of Genocide and hatred will be remembered - but also those act of kindness that took place in the face of such human depravity. Wreaths will be laid in Jersey following a memorial service at the Maritime Museum, in St Helier. I am honoured to be laying a wreath on behalf of the Jersey Human Rights Group this year.


I am posting a link to the official UK HMD site. Please take a moment to visit and watch the moving video.

'Today is Holocaust Memorial Day. A day for everyone to remember the millions of people killed in the Holocaust, under Nazi Persecution and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur. 27 January marks the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp.
On HMD we honour the survivors of these regimes of hatred and challenge ourselves to use the lessons of their experience to inform our lives today.

Visit http://journeys.hmd.org.uk/ to mark the day online.'

Reform: Last Chance Saloon...

Below is an adapted version of an email I have sent to States Members today.

'The gerrymandered mess, Option B+, has been put forward by its proponents as a ‘last chance saloon’ for achieving any change for 2014.

However, this is not true. Those States Members truly wanting to improve our system, and not wishing to take two steps back, need only support p.171/2013 - Introduction of the Single Transferable Vote and Alternative Vote - as recommended by the Electoral Commission and its advisor, Dr Alan Renwick.

STV and AV can work with any system and was proposed when the EC themselves were hoping suggesting multi-seat constituencies to potentially run alongside the single seat constituencies of the Constables.

By way of example, the merits are laid out in the appendices to the report (HERE), however one simple example of why we need AV is given below:

(I ask Deputy Martin for forgiveness in advance…)

In 2000, a by-election took place in St Helier no.1. The results were as follows.

Election date: May 2000^[1]

• Judy Martin 190 votes
• Harry Cole 182 votes
• David Pipon 165 votes
• Geno Gouveia 134 votes
• Chris Whitworth 36 votes

Total no. of valid votes cast: 707.

The winner, Deputy Martin, was therefore elected with 26.9% of the vote. In other words, 73% of those who voted did not vote for Deputy Martin.

Subjectively, I am very pleased that Deputy Martin won, but there is no way of knowing whether she was the most popular candidate overall.

One has to question the effect on democracy and subsequent apathy when over 70% of the electorate were not listened to, because they were not given a choice, once their preferred candidate was out of the picture.

This position is made even worse when multiple-seats are involved.

I look forward to your support this week.

Kind regards,

Montfort '