Meeting of the Parliament 04 March 2026 [Draft]
I thank the Liberal Democrats, particularly Jamie Greene, for bringing the debate to Parliament. Over the past 10 years, he and I have shared many committee meetings where we looked at hulls 801 and 802, and it is those vessels that I will concentrate on today.
When I was at school, when we were learning about history and Henry VIII, we were taught a little rhyme that went, “Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived”. When it comes to teaching how the Government handled hulls 801 and 802, we will be reminded that it was a case of, “Redesigned, replaced, repurposed”. When it comes to ministers, or anyone in Transport Scotland or CMAL, the one “R” that is missing from that saying is that no one was removed.
I am sure that I do not need to remind members of the many ministers who have presided over the ferries fiasco. We have had Derek Mackay, Humza Yousaf, Graeme Dey, Jenny Gilruth, Kevin Stewart and Fiona Hyslop, who, in her second incarnation when it comes to ferries, seems to be doing a lot better. We have had cabinet secretaries in the form of Michael Matheson, Màiri McAllan and now Fiona Hyslop again.
In all the time that I have been considering the ferries issue, I have not seen anyone being fired over this fiasco. I do not need to remind members, because we have already been reminded, that the contract was awarded in 2015, and it was 2017 when the—as it appeared to be at that stage—floating bathtub that was to become the Glen Sannox was launched. When those contracts were awarded, we knew that most yards across the world were working on the basis of five stage payments when it came to ferries, but—oh, no—the Scottish Government decided to work with 18 stage payments. When the yard was eventually nationalised, we paid £82 million of the £97 million, but we did not even have a ferry that was fit for purpose.
Then things got progressively worse. We end up now, as we have been told, with £460 million having been spent on the ferries, with additional loans to Ferguson Marine of £15 million and £30 million. Interestingly, no one knew that the two loans were going ahead; they went ahead sort of independently.
If we look at the total money that has been spent on the Ferguson Marine yard, it is about £1.5 million per employee. Members should let that sink in—£1.5 million per employee. Do I begrudge them that? Not a bit of it, in the sense that it is not the employees who are at fault here but the management, together with the Government’s failure to manage the situation. Let me be clear: the Government might think that it can argue that we have value for money, but, when the Glen Sannox was insured the other day, it was insured for £50 million. That is the rebuild cost. We know that building it has cost four times that amount. The market says that it would cost £50 million to replace the Glen Sannox, but look at how much we have paid.
As we come to the end of the debate, my question is, who has lost their job? No one in Transport Scotland. I can point to one or two civil servants who have moved sideways and then been promoted to other jobs. I can point to a few ministers who have moved sideways and then been promoted to other jobs. One or two ministers have disappeared out of the Parliament for other reasons, but we will not go into that.
What have the islanders got for that? They have lost business and they have lost out on receiving care—they have genuinely lost out. For that, the Parliament should be ashamed. I hope that the Government will hang its head when it comes to this ferry fiasco.
Before I close, I will just say that I have appreciated the companionship of Fiona Hyslop in the Parliament. I have enjoyed working alongside her—not always with her, and sometimes against her—and she has always done so with good humour, which has made my time in the Parliament all the richer.