John Swinney today insisted there was no political motive behind the SNP’s fateful decision to award the contract to build two ferries to Ferguson Marine.
The Deputy First Minister – standing in for Nicola Sturgeon at FMQs – was challenged by Scottish Conservative Leader Douglas Ross to explain why he ignored the warnings of experts and approved the award of a contract to build two CalMac vessels to Ferguson Marine.
The two ferries are currently two-and-a-half times over the original £97million budget and five years behind schedule for delivery.
Mr Swinney, who was Finance Secretary at the time, declined to explain the reasoning behind the contract award but claimed “there was no political motive” behind it.
He also insisted that disgraced former Transport Minister Derek Mackay took the decision to award the contract to Ferguson, despite email evidence showing Mr Swinney himself signed off on the deal.
Douglas Ross said Mr Swinney’s fingerprints were all over the disastrous decision, and warned that Scotland’s railway network faced a similar chaotic fate as the ferries in the wake of the SNP’s nationalisation of ScotRail and the subsequent timetable cuts.
On the ferries fiasco, Scottish Conservative Leader Douglas Ross said: “John Swinney signed off these ferry contracts that have cost taxpayers £250 million so far and denied islanders the ferries they need.
“He needs to finally tell the Scottish public why he signed off this deal.
“John Swinney charged ahead despite ferry experts warning against the contract. Despite the legal advice that they tried to hide, warning of the high risk of the contract being challenged and ruled ineffective.
“Despite the contract missing a key safeguard that is an industry standard. Despite the fact the jobs at Ferguson were already safe, because the yard had plenty of other options for work.
“Despite there being no agreed design for the ferries. And despite the Ferguson bid being the most expensive of them all.
“It seems obvious to everyone why the SNP signed off this deal – they wanted the political praise from keeping the yard open ahead of an election, so they ignored all the alarm bells.
“It looks an awful lot like the SNP made a dodgy deal and now they’re covering it up. It was the best deal for the SNP, not for Scotland.”
On the ScotRail timetable cuts, Douglas Ross said: “ScotRail is going the same way for commuters across the country as the ferries deal went for islanders.
“One in three train services have been cut, just weeks after the SNP Government nationalised our railways.
“Earlier this week, in a rare move, business groups including the Scottish Tourism Alliance, Scottish Financial Enterprise, Scottish Chambers of Commerce, Scottish Retail Consortium and Institute of Directors united to warn of the harsh impact their members are facing from ScotRail cuts.
“Delays, last-minute cancellations and reduced services are causing real problems for passengers.
“It’s high time SNP ministers stopped wringing their hands. They must get ScotRail and the train drivers’ union around the negotiating table until a deal is thrashed out to end this chaos.”