ZAC Hall MHK will discover whether he has been expelled from the Liberal Vannin Party on May 2.
The Onchan representative was suspended from the party on Sunday. The party said then that he would be ‘brought to account’ for failing to adhere to the party’s manifesto.
The May 2 meeting will decide what sanctions to impose. Chairman Roy Redmayne confirmed that could mean he would be expelled from the party.
The news comes after Mr Hall and fellow member for education John Houghton MHK (Douglas North) absented themselves from a crunch debate on pre-school nurseries last week.
In Tynwald last week, Speaker Steve Rodan tabled a motion calling for teacher-led government nurseries to continue but the court voted instead to back Education Minister Peter Karran’s to privatise the pre-school service.
Following a Council of Ministers’ meeting, Mr Hall and Douglas North MHK John Houghton were sacked from the department for breaching the government code on collective responsibility by failing to support Mr Karran.
Then in a statement released on Sunday, Mr Redmayne said: ‘As chairman of the Liberal Vannin Party I have informed Zac Hall that he has been suspended forthwith from the party.
‘The Chief Minister had no other course of action but to dismiss Mr Hall and Mr Houghton from their positions as political members of the Department of Education as their behaviour on the April 17, 2012, was reprehensible and struck at the very heart of our democracy.
‘They had no respect for the debating chamber or the President by making themselves absent from a debate to which they both had responsibility to contribute. What could they have contributed to that debate? They offered no alternative solution to the nursery education scheme, only criticisms to it and had no plan other than to request more money which they knew was not available.
‘The public of the Isle of Man should be under no illusion. Both MHKs, since taking their positions in the Education Department, have continually undermined Mr Karran’s and the chief executive’s efforts to bring about an affordable and universal nursery school service on the Isle of Man.’
Mr Redmayne added: ‘I take exception to claims made in public that Mr Karran was unable to manage his department, after the debates on the 3rd and 17th April. It is self-evident that his political departmental colleagues were way beyond any management control and this led to them being sacked.
‘The Chief Minister called for unity from our politicians in the face of huge financial losses in revenue which will affect not only us but future generations. The Liberal Vannin Party will continue to support the Chief Minister in finding a solution to our current fiscal difficulties, but question those who elected him to office why they cannot support the difficult decisions which have to be made to ensure future generations’ prosperity.
‘The party has to concede that Mr Hall has not performed to the high ideals that we set ourselves when our party was formed six years ago. Mr Hall led us to believe that he supported the party system and would promote our ideals. As a matter of mandatory procedure he signed his acceptance to the Liberal Vannin constitution and national manifesto and was willing to abandon his career as an airline pilot to represent the people of Onchan and Liberal Vannin.
‘I also assure you that Mr Hall will be brought to account for his actions and his failure to adhere to our manifesto.’
The pre-school nurseries issue cost Mr Karran all three of his department’s political members. Dudley Butt MLC resigned over the issue last month.
In a joint statement following their sacking from the department, Mr Hall and Mr Houghton claimed Minister Karran had been badly advised over education cuts – but they admitted that they may have got it wrong by not taking part in last week’s debate.
They said: ‘Despite recording our objection to the proposals, we were horrified that the minister was adamant to take a course of action without the support of any of the departmental members.
‘The minister appeared to show a lack of understanding of the subject matter and the real value of teacher- led nursery opportunities for children and that its withdrawal would result in lower standards. We believed it was a short-sighted, regressive step that will be very hard to reverse in the future and will have a detrimental effect on the progress and attainment of pupils in the long term.’
They added: ‘As we were largely removed from the decision-making process, did the civil service leadership support the Minister of Education and Children sufficiently as they tried to develop options?
‘We do not believe the minister received good advice or support from them. The bureaucratic response to budget reduction was simply to cut non-statutory provision.
‘In fact, informed analytical consideration, not rushed decision, was needed. We were concerned that this decision was being made without first consulting and fully discussing the proposals with teachers and head teachers who would be affected by the changes.
‘They were left largely on their own to shoulder the burden of parents’ anger and concerns about a policy decision that was not of their own making, and about which they knew nothing until it was too late to prepare an adequate response, which they were confronted with at very short notice.’
The MHKs continued: ‘We did not want to be dishonest to Tynwald by supporting a policy we couldn’t endorse in the form being proposed, but with consideration for the minister, we decided at the time it was appropriate to remove ourselves from the debate and abstain from the vote.
‘However, with the benefit of hindsight, we regret that we were not present in the court in order to be able to vote in support of Mr Speaker’s motion. We have been taught a lesson which we have learned. We recognise that it would not have made a difference to the outcome or our own positions in government.’