MHKs have voted to adjourned a debate on Legislative Council amendments to the Local Government Bill until March.

New Infrastructure Minister Tim Crookall said this would give him time to ‘consider options on how to progress the Bill’.

But his predecessor Dr Michelle Haywood, sacked from her role, said the House of Keys needed to be assured that the new Minister would deal with it ‘as soon as he can’.

She said it was needed to be in place before the contract to manage the Northern Civic Amenity site expires at the end of March, after which the DoI could have to pick up the bill, which could run to over £0.5m.

Mr Crookall said he wanted to rebuild trust with local authorities who are opposing the Bill’s controversial clause 5.

But a comment by Dr Haywood about corruption will hardly help smooth ruffled feathers.

She told the Keys: ‘The issues the Bill addresses, conflict of interest, transparency and governance standards have not diminished with time.

‘If anything, they become more pressing with the prospect of corruption in our local authorities still being a pressing one.’

Onchan MHK Rob Callister said Dr Haywood had ‘at long last lifted the veil’ of the true intentions behind clause 5.

Focus of critics’ concerns is clause 5 which it is argued will allow central government to compel local authorities to deliver additional services, without guaranteed funding.

This clause was not in the original Bill but added in as a Keys amendment by Ramsey MHK Lawrie Hooper in response to Bride Commissioners pulling out of the Northern civic amenity site.

Legislative Council subsequently voted to introduce new safeguards.

MHKs voted to assign the Bill to the new Minister who pledged to consult with the local authorities ‘on the clear legislation needed’ and to return to the Keys by March 10.