An emergency debate about the future of pre-schools in the Isle of Man has failed in its bid to defer units being transferred to private ownership.

Speaker of the House of Keys Steve Rodan brought forward the matter yesterday (Wednesday) as 'an urgent matter of public importance'.

He wanted the Department of Education to continue running the 11 pre-schools around the Island for another 12 months.

As things stand - they'll stop running them at the end of August.

Mr Rodan says while he accepts cuts have to be made, children should not be the first to suffer and front-line services need to be protected

But despite the motion failing, he believes it has served a significant purpose.

The second part of Mr Rodan's motion calling for the family and mobile library to remain open also failed.