This was to be, he promised, a new direction for government - but with only months left of this administration is it now just too late?

Making an urgent statement in Tynwald, embattled Alfred Cannan defended his decision to sack two government Ministers and announced the revision of some major policy commitments.

‘We need to leave behind a legacy where we’ve done the best for our people and the best for our economy,’ he told the court.

The 9.9% hike in the minimum wage proposed for April has been ditched in favour of a more modest 5% rise and, as an alternative way to help those on low pay, personal allowances will be significantly increased.

Addressing the public gallery directly, Mr Cannan said businesses had highlighted concerns that the minimum wage policy would severely damage the economy and potentially lead to closures and job losses.

He told of a recent visit to a café kitchen to speak to the owner and her staff.

‘She was nearly in tears when she told me how much this was going to cost her business.’

She had told him how she was struggling to afford to pay herself above her staff and said he was unsurprised to find that even her staff were haranguing him for threatening their jobs.

Mr Cannan said: ‘As Chief Minister I have tried to coalesce around a direction of travel I thought was not right but had majority Council support.

‘It’s my view that the Council of Ministers as a collective group has moved forward in a direction that would not necessarily receive a democratic mandate. I had to make a decision as to whether change was needed.’

The Chief Minister framed the policy division between him and his former cabinet colleagues as friction between left and right.

He said the minimum wage committee’s recommendations had been ignored in the name of ideology.

‘I’ve heard the shrill voices of socialism ringing around these chambers during these debates. They’ve sent a shiver through the economy,’ he said.

Noting the reaction of dissenters in the chamber, Mr Cannan said: ‘The left wing can laugh and chuckle and smile but there are businesses out there who are fearful for the future.’

Another key policy shift is the pause being put on the controversial roll-out of 20mph zones.

The Chief Minister said the mover of the policy - Central Douglas MHK Ann Corlett - had acknowledged it had gone ‘way beyond’ her original intentions

Ousted as infrastructure minister, Dr Michelle Haywood pointed out it had been a Tynwald resolution - while the minimum wage was a key action in the Island Plan for which the Chief Minister was primary author.

She asked he ‘just didn’t understand’ the implications of that proposal or if he had ‘always planned to cop out at the final hurdle’.

Dr Alex Allinson, sacked as Treasury Minister, followed a similar theme, asking when the commitment to merge the minimum and living wages as set out in the Island Plan had been deemed no longer attainable and needed to be scrapped.

Mr Cannan told the court: ‘You get to a point when you have to listen to what is going on in the economy.

‘If you want to proceed cloth-eared, put that tin helmet on, without recognising the impact of what you are doing, then you are absolutely foolhardy.’

The lone voice of support for the Chief Minister came from the unlikely direction of Onchan MHK Julie Edge, clearly pleased that Chris Thomas was now Treasury Minister, who praised Mr Cannan for standing up to give his statement.

Ms Edge said median earnings, on which the proposed minimum wage is based, had been skewed by the size of the public sector.

Mr Cannan agreed and highlighted concerns at why public sector pay is now running at 28% or so above average earnings in the private sector.

Tim Glover (Arbory, Castletown and Malew) wished the Chief Minister a happy birthday but added: ‘I’m not sure how happy it’s going to be.’

He said he was astonished to learn that he had been informed of the two sackings before the Ministers themselves had been told.

‘Was that an act of leadership or the act of a coward?’ he asked.

Fellow Castletown MHK Jason Moorhouse suggested things had been left too long. Mr Cannan replied: ‘I think I should have sacked the Ministers earlier. He’s entitled to that view.’

Rob Callister (Onchan) said: ‘A lot of people outside this chamber can’t wait for September to come. Something has to change.’

Joney Faragher (Douglas South) asked whether members could reasonably expect to be consulted before policies agreed by Tynwald are publicly reversed.

‘This court will be consulted because some of those matters will have to come before the court for votes’, Mr Cannan replied.

Lawrie Hooper (Ramsey) accused the Chief Minister of being ‘economically and financially illiterate’ and had ‘pinned the future of his administration on another substantial policy u-turn’.

‘It’s just the latest in a long line of policy u-turns from this government but he’s pinning his whole future on that.

‘If Tynwald turns round and says “actually we don’t agreed with this new direction the Chief Minister is proposing, will be resign?’ he asked.

Mr Cannan retorted that Mr Hooper ‘thinks everybody’s illiterate except himself.’

‘He thinks everybody’s a clown, he thinks everybody’s insane unless the policy comes from him. I’ll just take it with a pinch of salt.’

Mr Glover asked how the promised more dialogue and more engagement will look for the next six months compared to the past four and a half years of the administration.

With a new Treasury Minister installed only one month before the Budget is due to be delivered, the Chief Minister pledged more open engagement including with Tynwald members.

‘There will be a lot of engagement about the Budget,’ he said.

‘We must do our best for business, for society and for everybody across our island nation.’