# The anti-GST rebellion was real. The anti-GST promises were not Canonical URL: https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/insights/2026/08/23/anti-gst-rebellion-real-promises-were-not Published: 2026-08-23 By: Bridgehead Research Sector: Corporate > Twelve Guernsey deputies campaigned against GST. Only three wrote a manifesto promise a vote can actually test, and two of those are already ruled broken. Findings from the new Guernsey Deputy Scorecard. Bridgehead Communications has launched the **Guernsey Deputy Scorecard**, a free public site that sets every manifesto promise from the 2025 election against every recorded vote of this States term, deputy by deputy. All 610 promises made in the official manifesto booklet are tested against all 246 recorded votes taken since the term began, with the full methodology published alongside them. The first finding is not about how deputies voted. It is about what they wrote. _ The Guernsey Deputy Scorecard homepage. ## The findings at a glance - Twelve deputies positioned themselves against GST last summer. On the wording they actually published, only three made a promise a vote can test. - Of those three, two have already been broken. [Deputy Tom Rylatt](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/tom-rylatt)'s and [Deputy Sarah Hansmann Rouxel](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/sarah-hansmann-rouxel)'s promises are ruled broken; [Deputy Lee Van Katwyk](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/lee-van-katwyk)'s is kept. - [Deputy Mark Helyar](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/mark-helyar) backed GST only on condition of its progressive protections, then lodged an amendment to strip the income tax and social security elements back out. It was not reached in July and remains undebated when the States return to the tax package on 30 September. - No sitting deputy has missed more votes without excuse than [Deputy David Goy](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/david-goy): 39 of 246 divisions this term, with no reason on file for any of them. - The quietest deputy has spoken 325 words in a year. [Deputy Bruno Kay-Mouat](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/bruno-kay-mouat), across six speaking turns in four sittings out of 25. The Gettysburg Address runs to 272. - More than half of every promise made is still untested: 334 of the 610 have never met a recorded vote, thirteen months into a four-year term. In February, on the eve of the first GST debate of this term, [Deputy Liam McKenna](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/liam-mckenna) told the Guernsey Press: “I'm begging the deputies who stood on a manifesto of no GST to be true to their word… If they don't vote the way they stood on their manifesto booklet, then I think it's a question they should be asked.” Nobody has asked it. From today, anyone can. _ The scorecard, ranking deputies by promises kept. ## The promises that were never promises Last summer's election was widely read as a revolt against GST. Twelve deputies' manifestos set them against it in one form or another. Read back today, most contain no promise at all. [Deputy Marc Leadbeater](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/marc-leadbeater) wrote “I have firmly opposed GST”, then, two sentences later: “While I'm not ruling out GST forever, it must be the last resort, not the first.” [Deputy Garry Collins](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/garry-collins) wrote the loudest line in the booklet, “GST — NO thank you! GST will hurt the poorest and most vulnerable in our community”, and in the very next bullet recast it as timing: “With high cost of living now, why introduce GST in the middle of a housing crisis?” [Deputy Steve Falla](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/steve-falla) wrote “I have never voted for GST which is due to commence in July 2027.” The next sentence begins “Whether or not that resolution of the States survives…” Others hedged in the same way. [Deputy Adrian Gabriel](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/adrian-gabriel) “generally” opposes GST, “on its own”. [Deputy Tina Bury](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/tina-bury) supports fair tax solutions “that may mean GST”. [Deputy Marc Laine](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/marc-laine) promised only to “avoid the worst of GST”. None of those sentences can be broken by any vote cast when the debate resumes. That is not an accusation of bad faith: manifestos are written quickly, and hedged language is often honest language. But it means the document voters were asked to judge them on cannot, in most cases, be used to judge them at all. Three deputies wrote plainly. Deputy Tom Rylatt promised a tax system “that ensures business and high net worth individuals pay their fair share before a consumption tax (such as GST) is imposed on islanders”. He has since voted against that promise three times: Pour on Proposition 1b in February, setting GST at 5% on all foodstuffs, and Contre in July on Amendments 14 and 19, each of which would have stripped GST out. The fair-share reform he said had to come first has not happened. The scorecard rules the promise broken. Deputy Sarah Hansmann Rouxel wrote “If elected, I will work to restore trust, drive genuine reform, and only then — with a credible government and a credible plan — should we ask Islanders to accept any new form of taxation.” She voted Pour on Proposition 1b in February, advancing GST at a 5% standard rate, without that reform or trust having been demonstrated. The scorecard rules the promise broken. Deputy Lee Van Katwyk headed a section of his manifesto simply “NO to GST”. His promise is scored kept. The deputies most exposed by this exercise are the ones who wrote plainly. ## The condition, and the amendment to delete it Deputy Mark Helyar campaigned for GST, not against it, calling GST-plus “the fairest means of raising revenue”. He attached one condition: “I am not in favour of GST without these additional elements”, meaning the lower income tax rate, the social security allowance and protection for pensioners. On 7 July he lodged Amendment 8, with [Deputy Andy Sloan](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/andy-sloan), to exclude “the income tax and social security contribution proposals” and the associated rate and threshold changes from the package — the very elements his own condition demanded. It has not been voted on: the debate adjourned on 17 July before it was reached, and it is live again on 30 September. His verdict has not moved and will not until there is a division. The scorecard scores recorded votes, not intentions. ## Guernsey's quiet man turns up the volume. All 325 words of it. 870,886 words have been spoken in the chamber across 25 sittings since July 2025. Deputy Bruno Kay-Mouat has contributed 325 of them, in six speaking turns across four sittings out of 25. Almost a fifth of everything he has said this term is a single passage, on the Government Work Plan on 30 January: **“I must however question why we continue to go to the Rolls Royce shop to buy a car. We could in fact go to the Mini shop to buy a car, or even better still we could review our need to buy a car and buy a bicycle, or even better walk and save the funds for a greater need.” It is not quite “Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” Then again, Lincoln got through Gettysburg in 272 words, and Deputy Kay-Mouat has had a full parliamentary year to beat that by 53. He is not an absentee: he has taken a side on 92% of recorded votes, a better attendance record than four deputies who have spoken more than fifty times as much. He turns up and votes. He just does not talk. ## Deputy “Goy-ne Fishing” corrected three things about his page. His attendance was not one of them. _ David Goy's page on the scorecard. Deputy David Goy did not vote, with no excuse on file, on 39 of the 246 divisions taken this term — 15.9%, the highest unexcused-absence count of any sitting deputy. Every deputy was sent their page before launch and asked to correct anything wrong on it. Deputy Goy took up the offer at length, in two emails citing specific amendments and disputing how three lines on his page were worded. One held up: a mislabelled amendment, now corrected. His own response appears alongside all three, unedited. He holds no committee seat, so committee business is not the explanation for the other 39 absences; he did not raise them. In fairness, he was not idle on tax policy: four substantive alternative proposals, all ruled out of scope before a vote on their merits could be taken, a ruling other deputies called disgraceful. None of that explains the 39 absences; nothing on file does. He has lodged six amendments this term. A seventh, formalising the current arrangement, would not shock anyone. Committee attendance appears on the site only because the Guernsey Press obtained and published it. The States rescinded the duty to compile and publish members' attendance by resolution on 31 March 2022. ## Key statistics by policy area Alongside the promise record, the scorecard collates the island's headline statistics across the economy, housing, healthcare, education and crime, in several cases assembled as a single series for the first time. Every chart carries its full source listing and can be downloaded or embedded. - **Economy.** Real GDP fell 2% in 2023 even as the nominal figure rose 5% to £3,488m. Real growth has averaged well under 1% a year since 2013; had the economy grown at Jersey's pace over that period, 2023 GDP would have been roughly £683m higher. Finance and insurance alone contributed £1,304m, 37% of the total. The States, which had never borrowed before 2013, have since taken on a £330m bond and a £225m credit facility. - **Housing.** 62 net new homes were created in 2025 against a States target of 313 a year, the weakest year of the decade. Deputies made 153 manifesto promises on housing between them; 93 have never met a recorded vote. - **Healthcare.** A&E saw 89% of patients within four hours in 2024, six points below the 95% standard and the seventh consecutive year below it. The inpatient waiting list fell 21% in 2024, to 2,207. - **Education.** The GCSE measure reported since 2008, five or more passes including English and Maths, ended at 67.2% in 2022 and was then discontinued; its replacement, Attainment 8, has fallen four points in seven years to 44.7 in 2025. - **Crime.** Recorded crime has been rebuilt into a single 2008–2025 series from eleven overlapping annual reports, a chart no official source has ever published. There were 2,215 recorded crimes in 2025, against a 2009 peak of 2,954 and a 2016 low of 1,389. ## What each deputy wrote on GST Verbatim from the States' official Election 2025 Combined Candidate Manifesto Booklet. Twelve deputies set themselves against GST in some form. Only the first three wrote a forward commitment that a division can test. - [Deputy Tom Rylatt](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/tom-rylatt): “we must create a fairer and more sustainable tax system, one that ensures business and high net worth individuals pay their fair share before a consumption tax (such as GST) is imposed on islanders.” A sequencing commitment. **Broken.** - [Deputy Sarah Hansmann Rouxel](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/sarah-hansmann-rouxel): “If elected, I will work to restore trust, drive genuine reform, and only then — with a credible government and a credible plan — should we ask Islanders to accept any new form of taxation.” A conditional sequencing commitment, tested when GST advanced without that reform. **Broken.** - [Deputy Lee Van Katwyk](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/lee-van-katwyk): headed a section “NO to GST”. **Kept.** - [Deputy Aidan Matthews](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/aidan-matthews): hedged on GST generally but absolute on one point — “it should never be applied to essentials like food” — and has lodged an amendment to zero-rate food. **Kept.** - [Deputy Steve Falla](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/steve-falla): “I have never voted for GST which is due to commence in July 2027…” — a statement of past record, followed by a sentence contemplating GST surviving. - [Deputy Marc Leadbeater](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/marc-leadbeater): “I have firmly opposed GST… While I'm not ruling out GST forever, it must be the last resort, not the first.” - [Deputy Garry Collins](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/garry-collins): “GST — NO thank you! GST will hurt the poorest and most vulnerable in our community.” - [Deputy Adrian Gabriel](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/adrian-gabriel): “I generally oppose the introduction of a Goods and Services Tax (GST), as, on its own it will disproportionately affect lower-income households.” - [Deputy Tina Bury](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/tina-bury): “I support practical, fair tax solutions, that may mean GST, but first I want to see corporate tax reform and the closure of income tax loopholes.” - [Deputy Steve Williams](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/steve-williams): “I am not in favour of GST however the States must increase its income…” - [Deputy Marc Laine](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/marc-laine): “only if we can boost the economy fairly can we avoid the worst of GST.” - [Deputy Paul Montague](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/paul-montague): GST-plus “cannot be implemented unless it has wider public support… it must be part of a broader, fairer tax strategy.” - [Deputy Andy Cameron](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/andy-cameron): “Set up a commission to find alternatives to GST.” A pledge about a commission, not a vote. - [Deputy Mark Helyar](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/mark-helyar): stood apart, campaigning for the package — “the fairest means of raising revenue… I am not in favour of GST without these additional elements.” Seven of these are recorded as mixed rather than kept or broken: Gabriel, Cameron, Collins, Van Katwyk, Helyar, Bury and Williams. The mitigations attached to the package remain live both ways — [Deputy Helyar](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/mark-helyar)'s Amendment 8 (with [Deputy Andy Sloan](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/andy-sloan)) would delete them, while Amendments 10 and 12, lodged by [Deputy Gavin St Pier](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey/deputy/gavin-st-pier) and Deputy Rylatt, would protect and uprate them. All three are still to be taken when the debate resumes on 30 September. Every point value and threshold is published, and readers who disagree can re-rank all 39 deputies by their own weighting. Deputies were given the site before launch; twenty-one corrections are logged publicly, named and dated, including Bridgehead's own errors and the ones it declined to change. Any deputy can attach a response to any verdict without the verdict changing. ## What Will Walter said ** “The most revealing thing we found is not who broke a promise. It is how few promises were written in a way that could be broken at all. Twelve deputies campaigned against GST and three of them wrote something a vote can test. “Read together, those manifestos were a masterclass in saying just enough to be heard as anti-GST while committing to almost nothing. I am not accusing anyone of setting out to deceive. But the effect on a voter reading that booklet at the kitchen table is the same either way: you come away believing you have a promise, and you do not. “That is not a scandal. It is something worse. It is normal, and until now it was invisible. Nobody is paying for this and nobody commissioned it. I grew up in Guernsey and this is the kind of thing an island of 64,000 people should already have.” “None of that is really the headline, though. Attendance and manifesto wording get the attention, but they are not what I built this to settle. The two things that will actually decide whether this island has a future are whether the economy grows and whether anyone can afford to live in it, and both are where I want scrutiny to land next.” The Guernsey Deputy Scorecard is free at [bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey](https://www.bridgeheadcommunications.com/guernsey), with sections covering the Scorecard, Rankings, Speaking Activity, Economy, Crime, Healthcare, Education, Methodology, References and Corrections. Headline figures as at 23 August 2026: 39 deputies tracked, 610 manifesto promises, 246 recorded votes, 276 promises tied to a vote, and verdicts of 248 kept, 11 mixed, 4 broken, 13 abstained, and 334 with no bearing vote so far.