Isle of Man minister made the right decision to resign, says MHK

The Isle of Man's former treasury minister "made the right decision" to step down after facing criticism by an employment tribunal, an MHK has said.

David Ashford resigned from his role on Friday in the wake of the ruling, which found a top medic was unfairly sacked for whistleblowing.

Chris Thomas MHK had previously called for the former health minister to leave the Council of Ministers.

He said Manx politics and public policy would now be in a "better place".

Mr Ashford, who headed up the health department through the pandemic until October last year, was found to have been over-reliant on information from the department's chief executive, who was found to have blocked medical director Rosalind Ranson's access to politicians.

Mr Thomas said the Douglas North MHK's departure from the Council of Ministers was "inevitable after the tribunal found those conclusions".

"If you have all those things said about you, to me you've got to walk away, regroup, because your position has been questioned. So I'm glad he's made that right decision," he added.

As a result of the tribunal ruling, the island's chief minister Alfred Cannan outlined a series of reviews to assess the performance of the civil service and the structure and size of government.

Mr Thomas said while Mr Ashford deserved credit for acknowledging "the public mood", he was "disappointed" with the potential reforms announced and called for them to go further.

"This is about better management of the public service by stopping bullying and protecting whistleblowing disclosures," he said.

However, following "due process matters" for every public servant, he said, adding: "Anything less would cause next year's crisis."

"Now we need to fix healthcare and replace unfairness with harmony in the public service," he added.

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