Tasmania’s premier vows to make governing work “no matter how hard it gets” despite a major fracture in the balance of power keeping the Liberals in charge.

Two MPs from the Jacqui Lambie Network on Saturday parted ways with the party to serve as independents in Tasmania’s lower house.

Miriam Beswick and Rebekah Pentland are among crossbenchers Jeremy Rockliff’s minority Liberal government relies upon to stay in power, and he has promised to continue so as to avoid another election and maintain business confidence.

In a statement on Saturday afternoon, Mr Rockliff said he would make it work, saying he was committed to stability and certainty.

“I pledged to work with the parliament that the Tasmanian people elected,” he said.

“That’s what I have done, and will continue to do.

“I will not resile from this, no matter how hard it gets or whatever challenges are thrown my way.”

Ms Beswick and Ms Pentland have “squandered” a golden opportunity to hold the government to account, their former party said in a statement.

“(They) have made it clear that they no longer represent the Jacqui Lambie Network’s values of accountability, transparency and integrity,” the party said.

The two MPs said they were “no longer aligned” with the network founded by Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie, while Ms Beswick denied her values have changed.

“Our relationship with Jacqui has unfortunately deteriorated over the past few months and it’s now best if we represent our electorates as independents,” she said.

Ms Pentland said the pair reject assertions they no longer stand for accountability, transparency and integrity as “they’ll continue to guide every decision we make”.

Labor leader Dean Winter said his party had been “expecting the implosion” of the party, also known as JLN.

“Jeremy Rockliff has been talking up minority government but the stability he promised is already gone,” he said.

One condition of JLN agreeing to prop up the Liberal government, in power since 2014, was a deal for an independent report into the state’s finances.

Economist Saul Eslake’s analysis painted a bleak picture of the state’s budget and found the Liberal government was “entirely to blame” for the state’s economic deterioration.

He estimated net debt would rise to more than $16 billion in 2034/35, more than 25 per cent of gross state product, unless tax reform is implemented.

The report is set to loom large over parliament’s return in a fortnight, with the state government due to respond when the budget is delivered on September 12.

This post was originally published on Michael West.