Kate Forbes is a bit rare among Sturgeon ministers, as she is capable but also open and honest. On Tuesday, she also appeared angry. Perhaps this was because – like the rest of us – she thought the Prime Minister should have personally refuted the accusations made against her by one of Scotland and Britain’s most prominent businessmen. Or maybe it was because she thought her boss had been misled by Jim McColl, whose Clyde Blowers group had taken over Ferguson Marine, the last shipbuilder in the Lower Clyde. Mr McColl had told the BBC Scotland that the only reason Ferguson had been awarded the contract to build two ro-ro ferries was to ensure good publicity at an SNP party conference. The agreement, he added, had been “accelerated for political capital”. It now emerged, in an Audit Scotland condemnation report, that the contract had been awarded to Ferguson, even when the shipbuilding company – CalMac, which also belongs to the taxpayer – had expressed concern that the standard safeguards had been complied with. is absent from the winning bid of the yard. And even Mr. McColl said he would not have entered into the contract if he had known the shipping company was not happy with the terms, saying, “How can you work with a buyer who does not want to be there?”
“Completely wrong”
The initial cost of the ships was 97 97 million, but after a series of serious problems, the final bill is likely to exceed 250 250 million and is expected to be delivered five years late. Ms Forbes insisted it was “completely wrong” for Mr McColl to claim that the order was for “political reasons”. However, the Finance Minister’s proof of this statement could only be what his learned friends would say were “rumors”, given that in 2015, when it was announced to the acclaimed delegates at the SNP’s annual conference, he had not even been elected as an MSP. Labor’s Neil Bibby complained about the First Secretary’s absence and demanded that Sturgeon return to Holyrood before the end of the week, as he was the only person who could answer all the questions about the contract. Last week, the prime minister said it was not her, but Derek McKay, then-Transport Minister, who signed the 2015 contract. However, he is no longer a minister, having resigned in 2020 after being accused of sending inappropriate messages to a boy. years and did not run for the Scottish Parliament in 2021. It now turns out that Mr. Mackay was on vacation when the contract was finalized and, in a new twist on a seemingly endless epic, it was another minister, Keith Brown, who signed it. If she has no other royal engagements, I wonder if La Sturgeon could enlighten us.
