Andrew Niles elected to Policy and Resources

Deputy Andrew Niles has been elected to Guernsey's most senior political committee, Policy and Resources.

It follows the resignation of Deputy Gavin St Pier, who stepped down as Vice-President of P&R after he and his wife were arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office and offences under the Reform Law.

Niles beat Deputy Hayley Camp and St Pier with 23 votes.

The States backed a move by Deputy Mark Helyar to make the voting public, unlike the usual secret ballot for committee elections.

Niles said the new role would be an "interesting challenge".

"I had a really nice detailed conversation with Lindsay de Sausmarez on Sunday, it was a nice afternoon so we went for a walk along the cliffs," he said

"I made it very clear that I thought that I could help Policy and Resources because I'm different, because possibly I think about things differently.

"A lot of the work that we've done around the financial growth strategy for Economic Development also plays into a broader growth model for Guernsey, so it'll be interesting to see how we can adapt and dovetail that work."

Niles did not comment on whether he wanted to become the committee's treasury lead - the post his predecessor had held.

The voting was 23 for Niles, 11 for St Pier and five for Camp with one spoilt vote.

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