Reform Jersey wary after election 'misinformation'

The acting leader of Reform Jersey said some successful candidates in the recent general election were among those "cheering on anonymous posters that had clear misinformation".

Deputy Lyndsay Feltham said she believed the spreading of misleading information meant the party lost out with sitting candidates like former leader Sam Mezec and former education minister Rob Ward failing to get re-elected.

Feltham, who served as social security minister in the previous government, said the misleading information came from The Messina Group, a political consultancy firm hired by the political movement Value Jersey.

Value Jersey declined to comment, while The Messina Group has not responded to the BBC.

Days before Election Day on 8 June, the Jersey Electoral Authority warned islanders to be "careful in believing what is written" in online posts after complaints about misleading comments.

Feltham said: "We've got people now in the States Assembly that were cheering on anonymous posters that had very clear misinformation, that were organised by a UK consultant."

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.

One candidate who endorsed Value Jersey's principles, Samantha Gleave, was criticised for posting videos that blamed Reform Jersey candidates in St Helier South for not fixing lights in Havre Des Pas.

Reform said this was the responsibility of the infrastructure department not its members who represented that area.

Feltham said the party would need to consider "very carefully" taking up any offered ministerial positions, especially if Value Jersey candidates were also at the ministerial table.

Value Jersey is a political movement that launched in October and hired the services of The Messina Group, a political consultancy, to advise on its campaign, messaging and strategy.

Value Jersey insists it is not a political party, however, it produced a manifesto and while no candidates officially ran as Value Jersey candidates, several endorsed the movement's principles.

It is unclear how many candidates endorsed Value Jersey in the election but there were at least 10 who said they endorsed the movement's principles.

As it is not a party it did not appear on ballot papers.

Feltham said if she were to serve in government again, she would "need to have conversations with the people in Value Jersey around what they knew about the tactics that The Messina Group were playing during the election campaign".

"We know that some of them were very positive about those tactics," she said.

"We know that some were seen on a regular basis with Messina Group members of staff.

"It comes down to trust."

Feltham also questioned how much Value Jersey would have paid for the Messina Group's services.

"An organisation such as Messina does not come cheap," she said.

"It's not cheap to have two members of staff coming over from the UK staying in Jersey for weeks on end.

"They will have travel, accommodation, sustenance costs all of that as well as their professional costs.

"Now we have a set of politicians who are telling us they want to cut spending in government but aren't being open and transparent around fees that they have been involved with that has gone out to a UK consultancy firm which has managed messages throughout this campaign and probably before."

The rules around election expenses for candidates says there is a base limit for expenses depending on the role the candidate wishes to stand for.

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

Candidates may spend an additional 13p per person on the electoral roll in the constituency they wish to represent - which for senatorial candidates is the entire island.

As a political movement Value Jersey is not subject to the same rules as political parties when it comes to donations.

Feltham was asked by the BBC about the funding Reform Jersey received from Unite the Union.

Feltham said: "We've got £20,000 from Unite the Union, that wouldn't scratch the surface about the amount of money that's require for the type of consultancy that The Messina Group give.

"That's just about covered our election expenses which were things like the leaflets, the posters, we had some other advertising that that covered and we are very open and transparent about that."

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