Lawrie Hooper has announced his dramatic resignation as Health and Social Care Minister.

In a personal statement to Tynwald this afternoon, Mr Hooper said resigning was the ‘only card I have left to play’.

‘I had hoped it would not come to this,’ he said.

‘But it has become clear that I am no longer able to affect change from within the Council of Ministers and as I fundamentally disagree with the course of action that I believe has been decided upon, I have no option but to resign.’

Mr Hooper said he was now convinced that the Chief Minister’s ultimate aim was to ‘ try to privatise our health service’. ‘That’s not something I can support,’ he said.

‘I cannot in good conscience continue to serve as Chief Minister who has set out to both publicly and privately undermine my ability to do the job that is required, to undermine the ability of the Department of Health and the Manx Care board to operate effectively and who refuses to accept responsibility for the consequences of these decisions.’

He said it had become clear in recent weeks that Chief Minister Alfred Cannan did not welcome his views, and that his views and those of the Mr Cannan over the future of the NHS had ‘increasingly diverged’.

Mr Hooper said that last week, the Council of Ministers had been asked to confirm their commitment to a free at the point of use NHS. ‘They would not give that commitment,’ he said.

He said he had hoped that Ministers, having been presented with the potentially serious impacts of healthcare cuts, would change course. ‘Unfortunately, the high risk of patient harm that was clearly highlighted did not have any such effect,’ he said.

Reacting to Mr Hooper’s announcement, Mr Cannan said: ‘It’s abundantly clear that the difference between his idealism and the reality of the position that Manx Care finds itself in is a bridge too far for him.’

He told Tynwald that privatisation of the Manx NHS wasn’t being pursued but that other funding models should be considered. ‘Don’t dismiss things on the grounds of ideological position,’ he urged members.

‘We need to understand whether or not healthcare needs additional funding and we need to give consideration as to how that is going to be paid for,’ he said.

Mr Hooper is leader of Liberal Vannin which issued a statement following his resignation.

It said: ‘It is of extreme concern that the Chief Minister is not willing to listen to the views of others, and is set on a potentially destructive course of action that can only lead the Isle of Man into crisis.

‘It has become increasingly clear that the Chief Minister is set on destabilising our National Health Service and Liberal Vannin have become convinced his ultimate aim is to privatise healthcare on the Isle of Man.

‘This is not a position that Liberal Vannin are willing to support. We believe in a comprehensive free at the point of use health and care system, not in charging people for core healthcare services.

‘Liberal Vannin is proud of the work that we have managed to achieve in government over the last three years both within healthcare and with broader government and it is with regret that we must leave so much of this work unfinished.

‘Liberal Vannin took up a role in government as we believe that only by working together can we effect real and lasting change and whilst we were effecting this change we were willing to continue to work with the Chief Minister and his government.

‘However, nothing can outweigh our commitment to our core principles which we are not willing to compromise.’