Politicians should carry ferries can
ANOTHER one bites the dust, as they say. The latest chief executive of Ferguson Marine, David Tydeman, has been sacked (“Ferguson Marine: Ferry fiasco firm chief sacked amidst new delays”, heraldscotland, March 26). He is just the latest in a long line to be held accountable for delays and rising costs regarding the two ferries. Mairi Mcallan, the Economy Secretary, said she was focusing on getting the ferries finished and driving down costs. A bit late for driving down costs when one ferry alone now has a price tag of almost £150 million (at time of writing – by the time this is printed, who knows?).
The problem is that those ultimately responsible are the likes of Keith Brown, the then-cabinet secretary for infrastructure, investment and cities, who is still sitting in Holyrood drawing a taxpayer-funded salary, and
Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf, who as first ministers allowed this sorry saga to drag on and on. They should be held to account and be forced to resign for their part in this debacle.
The then-economy secretary Neil Gray had an opportunity last year to stop the work on ferry 802 following a value-for-money assessment. He admitted it would be cheaper to buy a new ferry elsewhere but carried on regardless, wasting taxpayers’ money. The plug should have been pulled on this years ago. More and more good money is being thrown after bad to try to save face.
I hope those mentioned hang their heads in shame if the ferries ever do start taking passengers. They have wasted so much money and time on a doomed project rather than making the right decisions at the time to build ferries suitable to the routes and with finalised plans.
Jane Lax, Aberlour.
THE United States names its massively expensive new warships after its recent political leaders. Should Scotland not do this with the Glen Sannox? There is still time to rename her the “Nicola Sturgeon”. Would this not be an appropriate gesture?