Jersey States Member Scorecard
Deputy for St Clement · Independent
No manifesto promises extracted for this term yet.
Deputy for St Clement · Independent
Candidate will work to restore ministerial political control and increase civil service accountability.
No recorded vote yet“Restore political control to Ministers and improve the accountability of the civil service” — Karen Margaret Wilson, 2022-2026 election manifesto
Deputy Wilson served as Minister for Health and Social Services under Chief Minister Moore from July 2022 until the government's fall in January 2024, giving her direct executive leverage on her promise. Within that role she lodged proposition P.86/2023 in June 2023 to establish an independently chaired HCS Advisory Board, explicitly framed as creating 'clear lines of accountability' and remedying a situation where the minister 'single-handedly' held executive directors to account; the States Assembly approved it. However, the board attracted serious criticism for cost (a fellow minister resigned citing 'indefensible misuse of taxpayers' money'), the Commissioner for Standards found Wilson had breached conduct rules during her tenure, and she lost the Health Ministry when the Moore government was ousted in January 2024. No evidence was found of a broader cross-government proposition or initiative by Wilson targeting civil service accountability and ministerial control beyond her health-sector work, meaning the wider manifesto goal went largely unaddressed at the systemic level.
Candidate will pursue healthcare revitalisation with affordable, needs-based facilities and controlled spending.
No recorded vote yet“Revitalise healthcare with facilities that are designed around what we need and can afford and bring the current level of spending under control” — Karen Margaret Wilson, 2022-2026 election manifesto
As Health Minister (July 2022 – January 2024), Deputy Wilson took several concrete steps toward needs-based facility redesign: she paused the costly Jersey Care Model for review, halted the single-site 'Our Hospital' project, commissioned a multi-site review (R.154/2022), and ordered an independent health board to address governance failures identified in sixty-one recommendations. A new phased multi-site New Healthcare Facilities Programme was formally announced in May 2023 and incorporated into the 2024–2027 Government Plan. However, the spending-control dimension of the promise was not achieved during her ministerial tenure: the Health Department faced a forecast overspend of £19–20 million in 2023 against a budget of approximately £250 million, driven by agency and locum costs, and the Health Advisory Board attracted criticism in late 2023 as an 'indefensible misuse of taxpayers' money', prompting a ministerial resignation from government. Wilson lost her ministerial post following the vote of no confidence in Chief Minister Moore in January 2024, leaving the facilities programme and funding-reform work unfinished under her stewardship.
Candidate will introduce legislation establishing quality standards for healthcare.
No recorded vote yet“Bring forward legislation that sets standards for quality of healthcare” — Karen Margaret Wilson, 2022-2026 election manifesto
Deputy Wilson served as Minister for Health and Social Services throughout the 2022–2026 term and oversaw the development of the Draft Regulation of Care (Jersey) Amendment Law (P.57/2025), which expressly addressed the recognised gap that 'there is no legislation which sets out general standards that health and social care providers are expected to meet to ensure that health care provided in Jersey is effective' (States Assembly proposition, 2025). The States Assembly passed the Act on 11 November 2025, and it received Royal Assent on 3 February 2026, entering the Register of Jersey as the Regulation of Care (Jersey) Amendment Law 2026. Funding to extend independent regulation to hospital, ambulance and mental health services was also approved in the Government Plan 2023–26 in December 2022, early in Wilson's ministerial tenure.
Candidate will address inequality in residency rights and improve conditions for Jersey residents.
No recorded vote yet“Tackle inequality in residency rights and create better conditions for people to build their lives in Jersey” — Karen Margaret Wilson, 2022-2026 election manifesto
No evidence was found that Deputy Karen Wilson took any specific action during the 2022-2026 Assembly term to tackle inequality in residency rights or improve conditions for people building their lives in Jersey. After her election, Wilson was appointed Health Minister under Chief Minister Kristina Moore's government (2022-2024) and subsequently served on scrutiny panels (Economic and International Affairs, Public Accounts, Family Friendly Review), with her public focus firmly on healthcare governance rather than population or migration policy. Reforms to Jersey's Control of Housing and Work (CHWL) residency status framework that were debated in 2025 were led by Assistant Chief Minister Carina Alves and Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham, not by Wilson; her 2026 re-election campaign cited housing costs and elderly care as ongoing concerns, with parishioners noting these issues had 'not improved in recent years'.
Candidate will invest in digital technology and skills development to improve productivity and public services.
No recorded vote yet“Improve productivity and customer care through investment in digital technology and the skills of islanders” — Karen Margaret Wilson, 2022-2026 election manifesto
Deputy Wilson served as Minister for Health and Social Services from July 2022 to January 2024, during which the pre-existing Electronic Patient Record programme went live at Jersey General Hospital in May 2023, and a government-wide digitisation project was funded at £2.18m; however, she had suspended the Jersey Care Model and its parallel Digital Health Project on taking office, and no independent evidence surfaced of her personally championing digital technology investment or workforce skills initiatives beyond the Health portfolio. The broader Jersey Digital Skills Strategy 2023–2028 was delivered by Digital Jersey as an arm's-length body, and the Government of Jersey IT Strategy including an IT Skills Academy Programme was published in August 2025, after she had left ministerial office. No scrutiny reports, ministerial statements, or press coverage directly attributes delivery of this manifesto commitment — productivity and customer care through digital and skills investment — to Deputy Wilson's own actions.
Candidate will support improved wages, living conditions, small businesses, hospitality and agriculture.
No recorded vote yet“Invest in our most valuable asset – the people who live here – by improving wages, living conditions, support for small businesses and vital industries like hospitality and agriculture” — Karen Margaret Wilson, 2022-2026 election manifesto
During the 2022–2026 Assembly term, Deputy Wilson served as Health Minister under Chief Minister Moore from July 2022 until January 2024, focusing her ministerial output on healthcare governance reforms, not wages, small businesses, hospitality, or agriculture. After leaving ministerial office she served as Vice-Chair of the Economic and International Affairs Scrutiny Panel and tabled written questions on the minimum wage and agricultural loans in October 2024, but no evidence was found of her lodging any proposition, amendment, or scrutiny report specifically targeting improved wages, living conditions, or sectoral support for hospitality or agriculture. The living-wage transition adopted by the Farnham government from 2024 onwards was driven by the Minister for Social Security and the Minister for Sustainable Economic Development, and Wilson's own 2026 re-election campaign continued to cite cost-of-living and housing conditions as unresolved concerns, suggesting she acknowledged the promise remained largely unfulfilled.
Candidate will pursue a fairer taxation system for Jersey.
No recorded vote yet“Develop a fairer approach to taxation” — Karen Margaret Wilson, 2022-2026 election manifesto
Throughout the 2022–2026 Assembly term, Deputy Wilson served primarily as Health Minister (July 2022 – early 2024) and thereafter on scrutiny panels focused on health, family, and economic affairs; no propositions, budget amendments, or ministerial statements attributable to her on fairer taxation were found in statesassembly.je, digitalstates.je, Bailiwick Express, or Jersey Evening Post records. Jersey's substantive tax reforms during the term — including the move to independent taxation and GST adjustments — were driven by the Treasury Minister and other Members, with no traceable contribution from Wilson. Pre-election reporting ahead of the June 2026 election (Bailiwick Express, June 2026) summarised her record without referencing any taxation work, and she was re-elected and appointed Scrutiny President with no mention of delivery on this pledge.
Candidate will develop inclusive policies to improve rights, reduce inequality and protect the environment.
No recorded vote yet“Design inclusive and socially responsible policies that improve rights and reduce inequality and show care for our communities and environment” — Karen Margaret Wilson, 2022-2026 election manifesto
During the 2022-2026 Assembly, Deputy Wilson served as Minister for Health and Social Services (July 2022 – January 2024), where she launched parish-wide engagement roadshows, established an independently chaired HCS Advisory Board with a focus on inclusive culture and patient care, and engaged on social care access and health rights. After the change of government in early 2024, she served on scrutiny panels including the Economic and International Affairs Panel (covering financial inclusion matters such as cash-payment access for vulnerable islanders) and, from February 2025 to June 2026, she was a member of the Family Friendly Legislation Scrutiny Review Panel, which reported in January 2026 on the adequacy of family-friendly employment rights. No independent evidence was found of her leading standalone disability-rights, inequality-reduction or environmental policy legislation, and the broad environmental component of the promise appears unaddressed; her conduct as Minister was also censured by the Commissioner for Standards in December 2023.
Have your say
Public commentary and ratings from readers on how Karen Margaret Wilson is doing. This is not Karen Margaret Wilson’s own response.
No comments yet. Be the first to rate this member’s term so far.
Comments open soon. Sign-in for this feature is still being configured.
