Union boss Eric Holmes has called on the Chief Minister to fire Treasury Minister Alfred Cannan over plans for a shake-up of public transport.

The Unite union regional officer’s comments came as Tynwald prepared to debate proposals put forward by the public for the government to save money.

Those proposals under SAVE initiative include a plan for three-year integrated ’Transport for Mann’ strategy aimed at slashing costs by £1m.

A bus and rail action plan will see a £333,000 a year cut in government subsidy for transport from 2019-20.

Mr Holmes described the move as a ’Trojan horse’ designed to attack a section of workers who have already seen changes to the terms and conditions.

He suggested it risked an ’all=island mass strike’ as a worst case scenario and labelled the whole SAVE initiative as a ’pre-emptive strike against the Chief Minister, and his majority of Council of Ministers and Tynwald as a whole’.

Bus drivers last took industrial action in 2013 when they went on strike in a long-running dispute over changes to their contracts.

Mr Holmes said: ’Mr Cannan has deliberately chosen to continue his unstabling attacks on the fragile and hard negotiated economic balance with his warmongering tactics.’

But Mr Cannan said: ’I don’t think there’s a credibility attached to Mr Holmes’ comments.

’We have thoroughly explored the potential to find added efficiencies in our public transport system. The recommendation for more consolidation is a sensible one and a positive way forward.

’Clearly, we could have gone a lot further.’

A review by consultants examined a range of operating models from doing nothing to selling or franchising the service.

It found that overall the bus service was well run and that many areas for improvements or cost reductions had already been addressed by management.

But consultants found that salary costs at Bus Vannin were high compared with other bus operators.

They identified cost savings in crew schedules, staff terms and conditions and by prioritising routes.

It is understood that Mr Cannan had advocated transferring the operation of public transport to an arms-length company. But this didn’t win CoMin support.

More than 1,300 ideas put forward by the public as ways for government to save money.

But just eight have been taken forward for business case development, a report to this month’s Tynwald sitting reveals.

Mr Cannan accepted that the original savings target of £25m was over-ambitious and this has now been reduced to £15m, thanks to better than expected tax revenues.

Another SAVE proposal is the creation of a Public Defender Scheme, estimated to save more than £1m, which would see the creation of permanent, full-time criminal defence team to replace private lawyers, primarily in summary court cases.

This plan has been criticised by the Law Society, which said similar schemes in England and Wales has been a failure.

A spokesman added: ’The society has serious concerns on the cost benefits and the Manx citizens’ access to justice.

’The introduction of a PDU is viewed by the society as a one way street. Once set up, if it proves unsuccessful either financially or practically, it will be difficult if not impossible, to replace.’

Mr Cannan said he was not surprised that the Law Society was ’screaming and shouting’, given the changes would impact on its members.

He said those criticisms were premature given that, if Tynwald gives its approval, there would be formal consultation with the Law Society and Legal Aid Committee.

Tynwald unanimously voted to receive the update on the SAVE programme – but with an amendment by Tim Baker MHK that they ‘did not necessarily endorse any specifi proposals’.