The Jersey Democratic Alliance was launched in April 2005 by close friends and political allies Senator Ted Vibert and Deputy Geoff Southern. The party’s ethos is to represent the best interests of the island’s ordinary working people who, for generations, have been the backbone of Jersey’s prosperity. The JDA’s long-term objective is to provide an accountable, transparent alternative to a system of government made largely ineffectual by the conflicting interests of 53 individual States Members with no clear political ideology, and now dominated by a multi-millionaire ‘establishment’ elite.

Common-sense politics for common-sense people

The ideology of the JDA remains grounded firmly in the politics of moderate, centre-left Social Democracy, and is perhaps best summed up by new Party Chairman,Deputy Trevor Pitman as “Common-sense politics for common-sense people”.

In stark contrast to the traditions of the post war years, the JDA, in the elections of 2005, produced a manifesto outlining a coherent programme of policies, aims and objectives.

A number of these ideas have subsequently found their way in to Ministerial policy; the latest being the indexing of income tax exemptions in the 2008 Budget. The JDA has also led the way in opposing the introduction of the regressive taxation that is GST, being the only group in 2005 to put forward viable potential alternatives for debate. The party still favours these fairer alternatives to GST today

The 2005 Elections

With Senator Ted Vibert sadly forced to retire due to ill-health shortly before the 2005 elections the party faced a brief period of uncertainty. Several Council members left to form the short-lived and more rightist Centre Party. Those who held true to Senator Vibert’s original vision of ‘broad church’ publicly accountable social democracy remained. The JDA was not successful at the Senatorial election – an election notable for the huge financial outlay on campaigns by some wealthy candidates – but did achieve considerable success in the Deputies election the following month. Three JDA members were elected with a further two only missing out by the slimmest of margins. Perhaps most pleasing with a government so lacking in representation from young people, newcomer Shona Pitman topped the poll in St. Helier No. 2 to become the States youngest member at just 31.

Funding partnership with the internationally renowned Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust

The months since the spring of 2007 have been a period of real growth and development for the JDA, with membership rising to its highest level since the 2005 launch. The party knew that it would be difficult to compete effectively in the 2008 elections without a significant source of funding for their campaigns, so in March of that year, party representatives travelled to Westminster to meet with Trustees of the renowned pro-democracy organisation, the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust.

Impressed by the professionalism and democratic ideals of the JDA, the Trustees committed to provide the party with matching funding to the value of £28,000 to help the JDA promote democratic reform.

Leading the battle against GST

GST rally In July, the JDA teamed up with the Chamber of Commerce and the Jersey Hospitality Association to organise a public GST debate at the St. Helier Town Hall. In September, JDA members worked tirelessly helping to gather more than 19 000 signatures for the Jersey Consumer Council anti-GST petition. The subsequent rally on 8th September, saw the Royal Square packed with angry citizens. As usual, the public voice was largely ignored, as the States’ Establishment won a narrow majority to squeeze their legislation. It is our conviction that those politicians who chose to ignore the wishes of the people and support GST, did so at their peril. The public will not forget who they are Go to GST Litany of Shame.

Electoral Reform & a Public Vote for Chief Minister

2007 also saw the party bring two very viable proposals for electoral reform to the States Assembly. One of these was an attempt to allow the public to vote directly for its Chief Minister, and the other sought greater transparency in the process, by calling for the removal of the present secret ballot. Both propositions were heavily defeated, a fact that speaks volumes about the Council of Minister’s stranglehold on Jersey’s so-called independent politicians, and the Establishment’s (link to Definition of the Establishment) determination to hold on to power, ignoring the wishes of the island’s people by whatever means necessary.

2008 Elections

The last-ever separate Senatorial Election was a close race between an exceptionally large field. Although the JDA substantially increased our vote, we narrowly failed to gain any seats. However, the Deputies' Election was more successful. We saw newcomer Debbie de Sousa join serving Deputies Geoff Southern and Shona Pitman in St Helier No.2 and our erstwhile chairman, Trevor Pitman, took a seat for the JDA in St Helier No.1.

The JDA Today

2007-8 was a period of real growth for the JDA, with more young people in particular joining. We are now firmly established at the vanguard of the push for much-needed electoral reform to give Jersey the transparent and accountable government its people deserve. We have four excellent States Members within the Assembly, all carving out reputations for assiduous constituency work.

The JDA calls for all who genuinely wish to make Jersey a fairer, more prosperous place to look beyond differences and work together.