The Scottish Conservatives have today stepped up their calls for John Swinney to explain to Parliament why he ignored expert advice and approved the award of a controversial ferry contract to Ferguson Marine.
Party Leader Douglas Ross has submitted a Topical Question - which he hopes will be selected by the Presiding Officer tomorrow – asking the Deputy First Minister to outline his reasons for giving the go-ahead to the deal. It also calls on the Scottish Government to finally agree to a public inquiry into the scandal.
The development comes after emails were released by the SNP Government highlighting John Swinney’s role in approving the deal and weekend reports that the completion of the two vessels - currently five years behind schedule – could be delayed further due to a rising number of faults.
Douglas Ross insists that, with the ferries fiasco growing murkier by the day, the Deputy First Minister has a duty to finally come clean to Scotland’s island communities, as well as taxpayers who are footing the bill of £250 million, and rising.
Scottish Conservative Leader Douglas Ross said: “There remain so many unanswered questions in this whole sorry scandal. But there’s one that won’t go away: Why did SNP Ministers ignore CMAL’s advice and award the contract to Ferguson Marine?
“In their latest botched attempt to pin the blame solely on disgraced former minister Derek Mackay - by releasing the supposedly key ‘missing’ email - the SNP succeeded only in confirming that then-Finance Secretary John Swinney approved the deal.
“After all the evasion and obstruction by the Scottish Government, it’s time for the Deputy First Minister to answer the simple but central question: why?
“The weekend revelations suggesting that these two ferries may never now sale due to the spiralling number of faults beggars belief and makes the case for a full, independent public inquiry unanswerable.
“The level of incompetence, corruption and cover-up is difficult to comprehend and our betrayed island communities and the taxpayer need answers now more than ever.
“I hope the Presiding Officer selects my question tomorrow; but, regardless, the Scottish Conservatives will strain every sinew to uncover the truth behind this appalling scandal.”
Notes
The Topical Question submitted by Douglas Ross for selection tomorrow is as follows:
“To ask the Scottish Government why the Deputy First Minister ignored CMAL’s advice and approved the awarding of the contract for building new ferries for use on the Skye and Arran routes to Ferguson Marine and whether the Scottish Government will agree to a public inquiry into the contract, following reports this weekend that CMAL may not take ownership of the vessels and that there could be further slippage in their completion date due to rising number of outstanding faults.”