Ferguson Marine: Kate Forbes accuses Jim McColl of 'shifting blame' over disastrous ferry contract

The First Minister had come under pressure after Mr McColl doubled down on allegations the award to his Ferguson Marine Engineering Limited (FMEL) 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 Mr McColl 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.

But Ms Forbes said it was "entirely wrong" to say it the decision was rushed for political purposes and that the timetable "does not support that notion".

The announcement that Ferguson Marine was the preferred bidder was made at the end of August 2015 and the fact that it had finally been awarded the contract was given to SNP conference delegates on October 16.

"The contract was awarded in line with all of the procurement rules and practices in the normal way, as the Audit Scotland report confirms, and contrary to what Jim McColl said this morning it was the chief executive of CMAL and Jim McColl himself who signed the contract. This is a man with a clear interest in shifting the blame on others when the root cause, ultimately to the delays of these important vessels was the construction under FMEL."

Ministers are now pushing for Nicola Sturgeon to answer questions over the controversial deal this week.

Scottish Labour's shadow transport secretary Neil Bibby said asked in the First Minister's absence, if the award of the contract without a full refund guarantee, was discussed and agreed by the cabinet and if so were they made aware of CMAL's concerns. He also asked if the position to ignore CMAL was made by Mr Mackay alone.

But Ms Forbes sidestepped the question saying: "There has been debate on this subject, there has been a statement on the subject, I'm answering questions on this subject, I have answered press queries on this subject. So in terms of scrutiny, I think it the member will find that there has been significant scrutiny."

On Thursday Nicola Sturgeon told Holyrood the "buck stops with me" over the deal.

But she also highlighted that Mr  Mackay, who  would go on to oversee the nationalisation plan for the yard, was on holiday when the preferred bidder status was signed off. He resigned from the government in 2020 over messages he sent to a teenage boy.

The Scottish government published an email from October 2015 in which his permission is sought to go ahead.

Ms Forbes added:"In terms of the procurement process, as I said, the procurement process was undertaken in good faith following appropriate due diligence.

"There were no concerns raised at the point of announcing the preferred bidder in August 2015. And that is why the preferred bidder was announced based on the advice of CMAL, FMEL clearly scoring the highest score overall, when concerns were raised mitigations were put in place that is all very well documented."

Mr Bibby said: "That didn't answer the question I asked. I think it's evident that only the First Minister can clear up the questions about what went wrong here and who was involved when. We need honesty and openness about this.

"We cannot afford secrecy and cover up because taxpayers in the midst of a cost of living crisis are paying for the cost of this government's failure.

"Audit Scotland have pointed to a lack of information about the decision making process. This is very serious indeed."

Ms Forbes later said: "We've been open, we've been honest, we recognise, where things have gone wrong."

Mr Bibby has written to the Scottish Parliament's public audit committee to call for Nicola Sturgeon and Derek Mackay to be summoned to give evidence on the ferries fiasco.

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 to the BBC had he known of the objections from CMAL he 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."

The First Minister on Monday said: "I didn't say don't go ahead. I wasn't the minister taking the actual decision.

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.

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.

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.