MINISTERS were apparently hours away from resigning over the prospect of being forced to cut £12m from next year’s budget.

Chief Minister Frank Walker says that his Council of Ministers would have had to ‘seriously consider their position’ had the amendment by the Public Accounts Committee gone through during this week’s Business Plan debate. The amendment, withdrawn by the committee after seven hours of debate, would have cut £12m from the 2008 spending plans, and £116m over the next five years. At one point it looked as though the vote on the amendment would be close, but Senator Walker’s promised support for a package of efficiency cut reviews convinced the PAC to withdraw it. Senator Walker has stopped short of saying in today’s Saturday Interview that the ministers would have gone, but it is understood the matter had been discussed by ministers and that a majority of them would have resigned rather than make the cuts, which would inevitably have meant job cuts. In the interview, Senator Walker says: ‘If it had gone through, the Council of Ministers would have had to sit down and very seriously consider its reaction. I am not saying we would have had to go. All I will say, and all I can say, is that we would have had to sit down and seriously consider our position and our reaction.’