A former Chief Minister says the government should be putting ‘services first’ following a reshuffle in the Council of Ministers.

It was a chaotic day in Manx politics on Monday, when Treasury Minister Dr Alex Allinson was made to step down just weeks before delivering his fourth Budget, while Infrastructure Minister Dr Haywood’s departure followed shortly afterwards.

Tony Brown, who’s now Chair of Castletown Commissioners, believes the two new ministers in Treasury and the Department of Infrastructure, Chris Thomas and Tim Crookall, will have to ‘work quickly’ to make new changes, including to next month’s budget.

He adds that residents have ‘suffered enough’ with increased costs of living and hopes the changes will benefit the island.

Mr Brown said: ‘Any Chief Minister is going to make changes that they feel appropriate to be able to manage and operate the executive government, and that can happen at any time.

‘Government isn’t about money. Government is about service first. I think there is a need to change back to that and not just concentrate purely [on what], from an outside point of view, seems to have been cost first, service second.

‘The new ministers will find it difficult to make any substantial changes before the general election, but that doesn’t mean they can’t.

‘I'm sure that we will see quite a flurry of small but important changes made very quickly.’

The new Infrastructure Minister Tim Crookall said he will be ‘resetting’ the department’s relationship with local authorities, which Mr Brown said had become ‘strained’.

‘I don't think we could pretend there hasn't been a problem with the previous minister,’ Mr Brown added.

‘Local authorities have been frustrated at not being listened to at all, and I think it's just built up.’

EMMA DRAPER