Nicola Sturgeon has “utterly” refuted allegations that a decision to award a major ferries contract to an ally of the Scottish government was “jobs for the boys”.
The first minister told MSPs there was nothing improper about her government’s decision to give a £97m contract to build two ferries in 2015 to Jim McColl, a financier who had advised Scottish ministers on the economy and was a political ally of her predecessor, Alex Salmond.
