FORMER ferry fiasco shipyard chief Jim McColl has said he would not have signed the disastrous £97m contract to build two CalMac ferries if he had known the extent of opposition to it.

The First Minister is to come under new pressure today after Mr McColl doubled down on allegations the award to his Ferguson Marine shipyard firm was made swiftly because the SNP wanted to announce it at their autumn conference in October 2015.

Public spending auditors said ministers approved the calamitous ferries contract despite being warned that it carried “significant risks” for taxpayers as it lacked usual financial safeguards including a builders' refund guarantee.

And he said that he believed the decision to to overrule advice from experts and sign off the contract was made by the First Minister along with then transport minister Derek Mackay.

Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL), the state-controlled firm that owns and procures CalMac’s ferries wanted to pull out of the contract weeks after the Inverclyde shipyard firm was named as the preferred bidder.

There have been concerns that Mr McColl's assertions could lead to legal challenges from the firms that lost out in the procurement process as it appeared set up to favour Port Glasgow-based Ferguson Marine.

The tycoon said had he known of the objections from CMALhe would have pulled out.

He said: "How can you work with a buyer who doesn't want you to be there?

"CMAL were strongly opposed to this. They are the gatekeepers here and they should have been respected.

"What happened subsequently is costing the taxpayer a huge amount of money that could have been avoided."

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is expected to face further questions over whether she directly sanctioned the signing off of the contract. 

"I didn't say don't go ahead. I wasn't the minister taking the actual decision, she said in an interview on Monday after having told MSPs "the buck stops with me".

She insisted the procurement process for the ferries was all in order and the deal had nothing to do with political gain.

"Jim McColl is flatly wrong to say that," she added.

"This was a contract that was awarded in line with all of the normal procurement rules and practices. It's also a contract that Jim McColl signed on behalf of his company.

"There have been real problems with the construction of these vessels. The delays to the completion of the vessels, the cost over-runs. All deeply unsatisfactory and lots of lessons to be learned there.

"But as I think the Audit Scotland report said, there was nothing untoward in the procurement of the contract at the time."

The contract for Glen Sannox and an unnamed vessel known as Hull 802 was awarded a year after businessman Jim McColl stepped in to rescue Ferguson, the last commercial shipyard on the River Clyde.

The first ship was meant to enter service on the Arran route in the summer of 2018 but is not expected to be ready until next year at the earliest - five years late. Hull 802, destined for an Outer Hebrides route, has gone the same way. The latest estimated cost for both ships is at least around a quarter of a billion pounds, off an original fixed contract price of £97m.

The Herald:

Mr McColl has previously accused the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon of announcing the contract publicly before a price had been agreed and told the Herald last year that the SNP wanted to make political capital out of it.

He has also said that he believed he was a "pawn" in the Scottish Government's attempts to save the yard and while denying cronyism, that he got the contract due to his connections with previous SNP leader Alex Salmond and that the SNP government favoured the yard, and not him personally.

SNP ministers have come under consistent criticism over the awarding of the ships contract after it emerged Ferguson Marine submitted the most expensive bid for the work out of six competing yards, but won through with the highest specification and quality.

In an interview with the BBC, Mr McColl again talked of the “fabulous propaganda exercise” by SNP ministers who he claims rushed through contracts for political capital.

“Ferguson’s has absolutely top-class management who did a great job," he said. "They have been unfairly criticised and again I think this is clearly for political purposes to put the blame on to them, rather than the government accepting responsibility.

“Derek Mackay was not available at the time to sign off but he was actively involved with the first minister around the order for Ferguson. I believe it was Keith Brown at the time who signed it.”

Giving evidence to MSPs at Holyrood over two years ago, Mr McColl said he was “stuck with” a cut-price contract for two ferries after it was announced prematurely by Nicola Sturgeon.

The Herald:

The tycoon said the First Minister publicly put a price of £97m on the pair of passenger ships while his firm were asking for £105m.

Mr McColl then alleged his firm was told by CMAL, the buyer of the two vessels - there was no more room for negotiation because the contract had been announced.

He added that after she made the announcement in August 2015 he was told “you’ll just have to accept it” and was left with no option but to agree to deliver the vessels at the lower price.

But Mr McColl says he was “shafted” by the Government and called for a public inquiry into the ferry fiasco scandal, with witnesses placed “under oath”.

Ministers carried out a takeover after Jim McColl-led Ferguson Marine went into administration in August, 2019 following a dispute with CMAL over sprialling costs and "unforeseen complexities" over the ferries project.

Ministers believe they were acting in the public interest in taking control of Ferguson Marine, as it saved the yard from closure, rescued more than 300 jobs and ensured that the two vessels under construction will be completed.

During the weekend it emerged then Mr Mackay who would go on to oversee the nationalisation plan for the yard, was on holiday when the ferries contract was given the green light and it was Keith Brown, who is both deputy leader of the SNP and justice secretary in Ms Sturgeon’s cabinet, was asked to approve it in August 2015. At that time he was cabinet secretary for infrastructure, investment and cities.

The news of the Ferguson Marine contract win was given to SNP conference delegates on October 16, two months after the Ferguson Marine was declared the preferred bidder by the First Minister.

The Herald:

Audit Scotland said last week that ministers awarded the CalMac ferries contract to Ferguson Marine despite "severe misgivings" of their ship owners and initial concerns about the yard's inability to provide financial guarantees.

The auditors probe revealed that the Scottish Government was unable to provide any documentary evidence explaining why the decision was made.

It said that ministers sanctioned giving the contract to Ferguson Marine in 2015 despite the yard being unable to provide “mandatory refund guarantees” for the financial risk to CMAL.

It criticised a “multitude of failings” in the delivery Glen Sannox and Hull 802 which are now over five years late.