Meeting of the Parliament 18 May 2022
Thank you, Presiding Officer. Dearie me. It is my intention to stick to the facts of the matter at hand and not to the flawed interpretation from some people in the room.
Last week, the Scottish Government published the exchange of 9 October 2015 and set out that the Deputy First Minister spoke with officials following the approval by the Minister for Transport and Islands earlier that day. The short note of that meeting, which is in the email trail, confirms that the decision was taken by Mr Mackay.
It reads, “He”
—the Deputy First Minister—
“now understands the background and that Mr Mackay has cleared the proposal.”
The submission noted that the Deputy First Minister had approved the financial implications and the budget availability in his role as Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy at that time. That documentation has been published since 2019.
The matter was a major part of last week’s First Minister’s question time, as the chief whip of the Conservative Party has alluded to, and of a topical question this week. The issue has been discussed numerous times over the past week, and if other members wish to discuss it further, I encourage them to use the usual routes, as we have done in the past.