Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 20 April 2022
I thank the Liberal Democrats for bringing the issue of ferries back to the chamber. Since we used our own debating time on ferries very little has changed. Islanders on Arran are still without a ferry because it has broken down again. No one has accepted responsibility for handing the contract for vessels 801 and 802 to Ferguson Marine Engineering Ltd against the advice of the Government’s own experts. No one has yet explained why that was done and no minister, former or current, has held their hands up—not Derek Mackay, not his then boss Keith Brown, not John Swinney, who signed the cheques, and not Nicola Sturgeon.
We might find out more when the Auditor General appears before the Public Audit Committee tomorrow. Who knows what we might hear if Mr Mackay is invited to give evidence?
We agree with the Liberal Democrat motion, which ultimately calls on ministers to be accountable and to fall on their swords if need be. Frankly, that should have already happened.
We have rehearsed the arguments about the Ferguson contract. The ferries are years late and vastly over budget. Had the Government listened to CMAL, islanders could have had new ferries by now, and the taxpayer would have saved a fortune. Ferguson’s might well have survived without needing to be nationalised, and we should remember that when it was nationalised, ministers had no idea what they were taking on. They did not know what condition the vessels were in. They went in blind and, frankly, it shows.