Hall and Houghton hit back at department

In a joint statement release within the past hour, the two MHKs stressed a complete communication breakdown between themselves and Mr Karran over recent months, which led, they claim, to their opinions not being considered regarding changes to pre-school provisions.

They also say that, on a fundamental level, they were never given instruction from the minister regarding their specific roles within the department.

Mr Hall and Mr Houghton say they were ‘horrified’ at Mr Karran’s ‘adamant course of action’ on the legislation, despite their very clear and vocal objection to it.

They also claim the minister ‘appeared to show a lack of understanding of the subject matter’ and also received poor advice from the civil service.

They state that they presented their objections to the Chief Minister and suggested other options, which were soon rejected while Mr Karran gave them no support.

Zac Hall was formally suspended from the Liberal Vannin Party, of which Peter Karran is leader, by the party's chairman Roy Redmayne last night.

We’ll have more reaction from the joint statement on tomorrow morning’s news updates.