MHK sacked from heath department by ministers

Chris Thomas was appointed as a member for the health department on 18 October

One of two Members of the House of Keys appointed to the Department of Health and Social Care has been dismissed after after he backed a vote of no confidence in the chief minister.

Chris Thomas was announced as a departmental member alongside David Ashford on 18 October following the resignation of former health minister Lawrie Hooper.

But the Council of Ministers said his vote against Alfred Cannan and his declaration to stand for the role if it were vacated had "undermined" their relationship.

The Douglas Central MHK said he was "disappointed", because despite not backing him in the vote, he supported Cannan's work to control health overspends.

The island's health care provider's finances have been in the spotlight following the confirmation of a predicted overspend of £16.8m, on top of its £346m budget, this financial year.

Last month Hooper resigned in a row over £5m of wide-ranging planned cuts by Manx Care to reduce costs.

Cannan subsequently took over the portfolio, as interim minister, appointing the two new members.

Shortly afterwards and ahead of the confidence vote Thomas announced his candidacy and then backed the no confidence motion, which the chief minister went on to survive on 29 October.

Government code

Cannan said it was "regrettable" that Thomas’s recent actions had "required the Council of Ministers to take this step".

He said the government code "clearly sets out the importance of a positive and productive relationship between a minister and members" of a department.

Thomas had "directly undermined that relationship", and "ethically" should have resigned from the role "when he undertook these actions".

In response to his dismissal, Thomas, who had previously called for reforms to the health care body's governance, said he was "disappointed" by his sacking as he had accepted the role to contribute to the turnaround of healthcare, which was "of vital importance to our island".

He said although he disagreed with some aspects of Cannan's leadership, during the confidence vote debate he has "complimented him on how he had personally involved himself in the healthcare turnaround and he was delighted to work with him on that basis".