SAVINGS of just under £6 million will be achieved by the redundancies of workers from the Isle of Man steam and electric railways, according to the government.

Minister for the Department of Community, Culture and Leisure, David Cretney, disclosed the figure this morning in the House of Keys.

However, the figures were hotly disputed by the MHK who raised the question - Bill Henderson (North Douglas).

Mr Henderson claimed that the cost of taking on sub-contractors to carry out the work previously handled by the five staff made redundant were very similar to the original cost.

He said, “If this work is now contracted out at considerable cost and then the men are given redundancy payments, pensions payments and then the men may seek the jobseekers’ allowance, surely the savings in real terms are absolutely negligible?”

Mr Cretney said that  it was difficult to assess the costs but the savings he had been given showed that long-terms savings made would eventually be just under £6 million.

“The reluctant decision to make the men redundant had been made for business reasons before the VAT crisis”, he added.