Ministers ‘wasting public cash over yard’ says ex-MP
A FORMER Labour minister has accused the SNP Government of ‘headline-grabbing political opportunism’ at taxpayers’ expense after it nationalised a shipyard.
Ex-trade and construction minister Brian Wilson criticised the decision to take Ferguson shipyard on the Clyde into public hands.
And the Scottish Government admitted yesterday that it still does not know how much it will cost for the shipyard to complete the long-delayed project to build two CalMac ferries.
Mr Wilson, a long-serving former MP for Cunninghame North said ministers should be held to account for wasting public money.
Writing in the Sunday Post, he said: ‘Wasting other people’s money is not a victimless political crime. The Ferguson story is a good example of how headlinegrabbing political opportunism has consequences not only for taxpayers but also communities which depend upon vital public services.’
The shipyard in Port Glasgow, Renfrewshire, was first saved from administration in 2014, days before the independence referendum, in a deal brokered by Alex Salmond.
It has subsequently been handed £45million of loans by the Scottish Government. On Friday, Finance Secretary Derek Mackay announced it was being taken into public hands to secure its immediate future.
The £97million contract to build two CalMac ferries has stalled because of a dispute between site operator Ferguson Marine Engineering Limited (FMEL) and Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL), a Scottish Government quango responsible for ferries and harbours, over who pays extra costs associated with the project.
Last week, billionaire Jim McColl, of FMEL’s biggest shareholder Clyde Blowers, said he would have needed to pay an extra £100million on top of the original estimate of the project to get it completed.
Mr Wilson said CMAL has ‘been at the centre of one botched job after another – yet is never held accountable’.
He added: ‘While decisions taken by CMAL involve hundreds of millions of pounds, I can find no record of any Holyrood committee or Audit Scotland taking a serious look at their record of performance – far less of any minister accepting responsibility.’
Asked when the two ferries would be completed and how much it would cost, the Scottish Government said ‘developing a revised cost analysis and timetable which thoroughly establishes all the actions required to complete vessels 801 and 802 as quickly as possible will be one of the main tasks of the shipyard’s new board’.
Mr Mackay said: ‘Alongside the newly-appointed turnaround director who will take steps to stabilise the business and support the recruitment of an incoming management team, I have formed a Programme Review Board to establish a programme to ensure the completion of the ferry contracts.
‘We are working to put in place a management team which will refocus all efforts on completing this vital contract.’
‘One botched job after another’