Critics: It’s been a good week to bury bad news. Or try to
A flurry of government announcements breaking bad news days after the election and in the run up to Christmas was criticised yesterday.
Ministers revealed how the cost of completing two delayed Calmac ferries has more than doubled; the contract to run Scotland’s trains has been cut short; and the loss-making Prestwick Airport is to be sold, putting £40 million of Scottish Government loans in doubt.
Meanwhile, Audit Scotland released a series of worrying reports about a number of public sector organisations.
Joe Marshall, of think tank the Institute for Government, said a glut of announcements before Christmas is bad for scrutiny and transparency.
He said: “This is sometimes unavoidable but the practice should not be used to bury bad news, and with it, risk undermining parliamentary and public scrutiny.”
Meanwhile, at Westminster, ministers announced a controversial defence deal at 10pm on Friday and Andy Maciver, a former head of comms at the Scottish Conservatives, said: “If I was in government doing communications, this is what I would do. It makes sense.” A spokesman for the First Minister said there have been so many announcements because election rules prevented major announcements during the campaign.
However, opposition politicians criticised the timing. Jackie Baillie MSP, Scottish Labour’s economy spokesperson, said:
“There has been a flurry of announcements in the final days before Christmas in an attempt to bury bad news.”
Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Willie Rennie MSP said the Scottish Parliament will be ready to scrutinise the stories when recess ends on January 5. He said: “Ministers should expect to come to parliament to account for the steady stream of overdue and mismanaged projects and sudden U-turns.”