SURVIVAL IS INSUFFICIENT

An opinion piece by Ryan O’Connell – first published on 23 May 2026.

I have nothing against any of the Value Jersey candidates personally. When it comes to voting, I’m voting for issues I align with, and I don’t align with the following Value Jersey propositions. I’m assuming these are their two main propositions, because the candidates refer to them at every given opportunity.

One: A new, low cost supermarket.

Personally, I don’t think this is achievable. Just recently we’ve seen the failure of the Tesco/Sandpiper partnership, and I can’t see how doing the same thing again makes any sense.

Where are we going to put this supermarket? I’ve yet to see any serious suggestions, probably because candidates know there is no good location to choose from.

St Helier is groaning at the seams, and the last thing we need is another large build, associated traffic congestion, and inevitable parking issues (recent Grande Marché events come to mind!).

What about building Somewhere Else? Here we run in to even more issues. Outside of St Helier, any business struggles for footfall. Even IN St Helier, businesses struggle for footfall. You’re expecting people to make a special trip to visit the supermarket, but wait, many people don’t have cars!

After all, aren’t we constantly told things like “you don’t even need a car, living in Jersey.” Certainly it has been a struggle to get developers to include any parking spaces in new builds. A car park space is the ultimate sign of prosperity, and you will see them being advertised for sale/rent on a regular basis.

I struggle to picture a family of four, all on bicycles, managing to do their weekly shop. Perhaps I lack imagination.

What about getting the bus? I have my doubts about the coverage of buses. For three years I lived in West Centre, St Helier. Surely a good place to catch a bus? I would wait at the bus stop by Furniture World, and half the time it just wouldn’t turn up. I would ring the bus station help-desk, and the answer would be (and I wish I was making this up) “the driver went a different route today.” Anecdote aside, I know that there are numerous other issues with the bus service across the whole Island.

And then we come to item number two: New Businesses.

Value Jersey candidates love to bring up the notion that what we really need is a load of new businesses set up by local Islanders.

Let’s ignore the fact that a high percentage of businesses fail. Before that even becomes an issue, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that no one has any money! The very last thing we need is a suite of new businesses opened on credit. Lest we forget, giving credit to people that couldn’t actually afford it helped tank the global economy as recently as 2008.

Now imagine that instead, we focused on wage security and wage growth. I have some extra money in my pocket, and I spend that at a local business. They pay their staff. The staff get a living wage, so they then have a bit of money spare to spend in other local businesses. Now we have a thriving economy where every £1 spent is generating a multiple, and stimulating the economy with every transaction.

Oh yes, I almost forgot. Value Jersey represents a cabal of the best and brightest, with deep pockets, and yet somehow opening a local bank account proved to be to much of a hurdle. That certainly doesn’t engender confidence.

So, I won’t be voting for Value Jersey. I will be voting for the Reform candidates in my district (St Helier Central – Carina Alves, Les Carpenter, Catherine Curtis, Lyndsay Feltham), for Rob Ward as Connétable, and for Sam Mézec as Senator.

(This piece has not been paid for or sponsored by Reform in any way. Ryan O’Connell is a member of Reform, and a member of Unite).