Questions linger over Value Jersey's use of consultants

In Jersey's June election, six seats were won by candidates endorsing Value Jersey. The group is not a registered political party, but a policy-focused movement, meaning it is not subject to existing rules on election expenses. Candidates published their election expenses in August but despite these declarations some questions remain over how much Value Jersey paid political consultancy The Messina Group. Value Jersey said it "followed the law" throughout the process.

Value Jersey was one of the biggest success stories of Jersey's election despite not even being on the ballot paper.

The political movement had a manifesto and provided campaign support to candidates who supported their policies. It was not a registered political party.

The group had a commercial contract with a political consultancy, The Messina Group, to advise on its election strategy and messaging.

While three Value Jersey candidates declared costs paid to the Messina Group in their election expenses, it has not been clarified how much the group paid the Messina Group for their services.

Neither Value Jersey or The Messina Group have commented on the cost of the commercial contract between them when approached by BBC Jersey.

As Value Jersey is a political movement and not a political party, it is not subject to election spending rules, but candidates who endorse it will have to adhere to spending limits.

This allows up to £4,146 of spending for senatorial candidates and up to £2,517 for connétable and deputy candidates.

Candidates associated with Value Jersey won six seats at the election.

Of the nine election candidates who endorsed Value Jersey, three mentioned paying The Messina Group in their expenses.

Senator Serena Guthrie said she paid the consultancy just under £1500 for its services while Deputy Gerald Voisin and Deputy Samantha Gleave paid it £745.

The other Value Jersey affiliated candidates including unsuccessful ones declared they paid for a Value Jersey support package.

Deputy Philip Romeril, who endorsed Value Jersey explained the support package included some support from the Messina Group and he said he submitted the relevant invoices in his returns to show this.

Two of the Value Jersey endorsing candidates who didn't get elected, also received donations from successful candidates endorsing the same group.

At least one senior member of the Messina Group is known to have been on the ground in Jersey during the campaign period.

Politicians have questioned the cost of hiring the firm.

Infrastructure Minister, Deputy Jonathan Renouf wrote a LinkedIn post after the elction which said: "My understanding is that Messina don't take contracts less than £50K and other political consultants reckon that the VJ contract could be worth 100K or more.

Reform Jersey co- leader, Deputy Lyndsay Feltham, said: "We know that some of the elected members received help and support from The Messina Group but the figures in the returns don't add up to the cost such a group would charge in a commercial contract.

"So the question is what was the cost of the whole of that contract? What was the purpose of bringing over The Messina Group? And what were they paid to do? Who paid the shortfall if the contract cost far more than what we are seeing in the returns?

"There were at least two Messina group members who were here for the duration of the election."

Joe Twyman is co-founder of Delta Poll, a public opinion consultancy who specialise in political research and he was surprised The Messina Group had become involved in Jersey's election.

He said: "I think inevitably that would cost quite a serious amount of money. And so where that money has been raised and where it has come from, is an interesting question.

"The amount they cost will depend very much on the amount of involvement that various people within the consultancy have.

"They can be just a couple of junior people working remotely or you can have a number of the most senior people working on the ground.

"The prices can range from anything from £10,000 to £20,000 all the way up to millions of pounds, particularly in the case of the United States where many millions of dollars is spent on political consultants every year.

"In Jersey, spending I imagine would be less than that, but you never know because often these things are covered by commercial contracts and so we never find out the true figure."

Even if Value Jersey was subject to election spending rules, if the contract between Value Jersey and the Messina Group was signed outside of the election period defined in Jersey election law, then the cost doesn't need to be declared.

Dr Michael Marett-Crosby from the Jersey Electoral Authority (JEA) said: "What happens outside that is not subject to the provisions of that law.

"Now, it's open to the States Assembly to consider changing that and the JEA will make a series of recommendations."

The election expenses were published in August and the JEA has asked an auditor to go through them in further detail.

Marett-Crobsy said: "The expenses claims are going to be the subject of detailed scrutiny.

"We need to be clear at all times who is standing, who is not, and how money is being used in our election."

The Messina Group advised on strategy and messaging, and some of the tactics associated with them have been criticised by other politicians.

Reform Jersey was angered by leaflets that said "Stop Reform's Mega-School" even though the planned school development at Millennium Park had received support from across the States Assembly.

The BBC has verified the printing of the leaflets was paid for by an employee of The Messina Group.

Value Jersey said in a statement: "We have always been open about bringing in professional support to help us make the case for change effectively.

"We have followed the law, maintained an open dialogue with the Greffe, and taken our responsibilities seriously throughout."

The Messina Group has declined to comment.

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