There has been an angry reaction from within the House of Keys to a letter, copies of which have been sent to railway staff at the Department of Community, Culture and Leisure, telling them they have been provisionally selected for compulsory redundancy.

North Douglas MHK Bill Henderson is highly critical of the wording used, and claims the minister, David Cretney, has no right to be approving such measures.

He describes the letter as 'insensitive', and claims the redundancies are planned at a time when the department is looking for people to fill other positions, and 'paying huge amounts of overtime' to other staff.

Mr Hendersn says there is no need to sack anyone, because the Island isn't in that much trouble.

Yesterday (Thursday), Mr Cretney said he had obligations to both the railway staff and the Island's taxpayers to ensure his department was run more efficiently.