Former transport minister Derek Mackay signed off on the contract for two ferries that have been hit by five-year delays and hundreds of millions of pounds of overspends, Nicola Sturgeon said, although she stressed the “buck stops with me”.
The Glen Sannox and hull 802 were due to be produced in 2018, but will now enter service in 2023 at the earliest, costing at least £240m, according to an Audit Scotland report published this week.
Finance Secretary Kate Forbes updated Holyrood on Wednesday, laying out the further cost overrun and delay, which she said was due to an issue with cabling that was purchased before the Scottish Government saved the yard building the ships from closure in 2019.
But in an interview later with the BBC, Forbes could not say which minister signed off on a contract the watchdog said carried “risks” and did not include a refund guarantee.
Asked about the contract by Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross at First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, Sturgeon said Mackay’s position at the time was “a matter of public record”, but she stressed her Cabinet is one of “collective responsibility”.
Mackay quit Holyrood on the day he was due to deliver the Budget in 2020 after details emerged of more than 100 inappropriate messages he had sent a 16-year-old.
Ross told the First Minister it is “convenient that the person getting the blame is no longer here”.
Sturgeon rejected the accusation that she was throwing Mackay “under the bus”, and said: “This is a government that operates by collective responsibility and I am responsible, ultimately, for all of the decisions that the government takes – the buck stops with me.
“I am not defending the cost overruns, the delay around the construction of these ferries – it is completely unacceptable.
“But at all points, the motivation of this government has been to save jobs, save the shipyard and make sure that these ferries - albeit late and that is a matter of deep regret - can be delivered, and that is what we continue to focus on.”
Ross went on to repeat calls for a public inquiry into the procurement and construction of the ferries – which would add to the inquiry by a Holyrood committee as well as the Audit Scotland report.
An attempt by his party to pass a motion at Holyrood calling for such an investigation was defeated on Wednesday.
Ross said: “With her ultimate responsibility, can she tell us why there is not going to be a public inquiry into this whole scandal?
“We need this public inquiry because Audit Scotland tried to get answers and they couldn’t.”
Ross referenced a passage of the report which said: “There is no documented evidence to confirm why Scottish ministers were willing to accept the risks of awarding the contract to (Ferguson Marine), despite (Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited’s) concerns.
“We consider that there should have been a proper record of this important decision.”
Ross added: “This is one of the most reckless decisions ever taken by a Scottish Government, so far costing a quarter of a billion pounds of taxpayers’ money – why can’t the body charged with scrutinising public spending get a shred of evidence to justify your Government’s decision?”
In response, Sturgeon pointed to a recommendation in the report which calls for a “review” to be undertaken when the vessels are complete, adding: “The Scottish Government will consider what form that further review will take, we will consider that carefully and of course we will report to Parliament in due course.”
Ross went on to describe the issue with the ferries as “one of the worst public spending disasters since devolution”.
Scottish Labour MSP Neil Bibby MSP commented: “Nicola Sturgeon pointed the finger at her former Transport Secretary before accepting that the buck stops with her – but both dodged scrutiny last term by refusing to appear before a Parliamentary inquiry.
“They must come before the Public Audit Committee to explain their roles in this sorry affair and shed some much needed light on how we got here.
“We need to get to the bottom of this scandal, which has wasted millions of pounds of taxpayer money, deprived island communities of desperately needed ferries, and done lasting damage to Scotland’s shipbuilding industry.”
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