Stuart Syvret

Stuart Syvret
Stuart Syvret at St Helier Parish Hall at the nominations for Senator, September 2011
Minister for Health and Social Services
In office
Dec 2005 – Sep 2007
Preceded byNone
Senator
In office
Nov 2005 – Apr 2010
ConstituencyJersey
Majority15,131 (13.1%)
Personal details
NationalityBritish
WebsiteEX-SENATOR STUART SYVRET BLOG

Stuart Syvret is a former Jersey politician. He held elected office as a member of the States Assembly from 1990 to 2010. From 1999 to 2007, Svyret had executive responsibilities first as president of the Health and Social Services Committee and, after the 2005 constitutional reforms, as Minister for Health and Social Services in the Council of Ministers. He was dismissed from ministerial office in September 2007 and returned to the backbenches until he was disqualified from membership of the States in April 2010 due to his absence from the island. He has been involved in a series of legal proceedings, as a defendant in a criminal prosecution in Jersey and as a claimant in judicial review and civil claims in Jersey and London.

He has been described by journalists as "the 'bete noire' of Jersey politics",[1] a "self-taught intellectual",[2] an "agitator",[3] "critical of the finance industry",[4] "one of the island's most outspoken senators"[5] "a rarity, an anti-establishment Jersey politician",[6] "a maverick politician"[7] and having a "ludicrous vision of a corrupt state bent on limitless cover-ups, victimisation and systematic injustice".[8]

  1. ^ "Suspended senator Syvret unrepentant". International Money Marketing. 20 September 1996. Syvret is a cabinet maker by trade but considers himself the "bete noire" of Jersey politics.
  2. ^ Braid, Mary (22 November 1998). "Focus: Welcome to Wall Street-on-Sea; Britain's tax havens are under scrutiny. But in the strange little world that is Jersey, warnings are going unheeded". The Independent (print): 23. Mr Syvret irritates the establishment. The cabinet-maker and self-taught intellectual comes from outside the elite and runs rings round an assembly served by small businessmen and farmers.
  3. ^ "Leader: The tax debate has a long way to run". International Money Marketing. 22 January 1999. This has implications for Jersey too, and agitators such as Senator Stuart Syvret are arguing that both islands should be 'taking the appropriate decision for themselves rather than wait and have decisions imposed upon us.'
  4. ^ Walsh, Conal (29 June 2003). "Jersey locals in revolt over bid to keep offshore status: The haven's removal of all business taxes would hit consumers hard". The Observer. A proposal to impose a sewerage tax, rising eventually to pounds 300 a year for an average household, was widely pilloried. Senator Stuart Syvret, who has been critical of the finance industry, last week succeeded in winning for the States (Jersey's parliament) the right to debate any proposed 'stealth taxes'.
  5. ^ Campbell, Duncan (5 July 2004). "'We don't need to prostitute our island. The tax haven is pushing us down a black hole': Jersey is facing unprecedented economic and political upheaval". The Guardian. p. 4. Stuart Syvret, one of the island's most outspoken senators, whose proposals for alternatives to tax-haven status are to be debated tomorrow, agrees. "I know it's a political cliche, but we are at a crossroads," said the young cabinet maker-turned-politician. "There are profound changes going on."
  6. ^ Breen, Suzanne (2 August 2008). "'The Jersey way': covering up years of abuse and murder;". Sunday Tribune (Ireland). pp. N15. Stuart Syvret is a rarity, an anti-establishment Jersey politician.
  7. ^ O'Brien, Carl (1 March 2008). "Jersey's dark secret". The Irish Times. p. 1. The allegations of a cover-up have led to a major rift in the island's political establishment. Stuart Syvret, a maverick politician who was dismissed as minister for health by other ministers,
  8. ^ Editorial (8 April 2009). "Overkill that will backfire". thisisjersey.com. Archived from the original on 15 April 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)