Derek Mackay to return to Holyrood to be quizzed on ferries ‘fiasco’

Former finance secretary Derek Mackay is to return to Holyrood to face questions from MSPs on the delays to two CalMac ferries.

Mr Mackay was transport minister when the contract was approved to build two ferries at the Ferguson Marine shipyard in Port Glasgow.

He later went on to become finance secretary – but quit the job dramatically on the morning of the Scottish budget in February 2020 after it emerged he had been messaging a teenage schoolboy on social media.

The former MSP has not been seen in Holyrood since then but will be back on Thursday when members of the Public Audit Committee will question him about issues surrounding the contract for the two CalMac ferries.

After the contract was awarded in 2015, the construction of the two CalMac ferries was plagued with delays and the shipyard had to be nationalised.

The two vessels, the Glen Sannox and the as-yet-unnamed Hull 802, were originally due to be completed in 2018, but have since been delayed until at least 2023 and costs have more than doubled from the original price tag of £97 million.

Scottish Conservative transport spokesman Graham Simpson welcomed Mr Mackay giving evidence but insisted a full public inquiry was needed to find out what had happened.

Mr Simpson said: “The Ferguson Marine fiasco has already cost the public purse a quarter of a billion pounds with no ferries yet to show for it – and frustrated taxpayers and island residents are sick to death of the SNP passing the buck.

“Throughout this entire scandal, the SNP’s favourite strategy has been to try and pin all the blame on former MSP Derek Mackay, despite emails from their own civil servants telling a different story.

“So it’s welcome that the former transport minister will now face parliamentary scrutiny, to hopefully shed some more light on this murky saga.”

He added: “This appalling scandal goes far beyond just one individual. Ministers at every level of this SNP government are embroiled in this and only a full public inquiry will get to the heart of what actually happened.”

Liberal Democrat MSP Willie Rennie said: “Every SNP minister, past and present, has been avoiding the question of why warnings about the ferry deal were ignored.

“To date, these errors have has cost islanders and taxpayers five years and £250 million.

“I hope that Derek Mackay will use his return to parliament to shed some light on who is to blame for the time and money that has been lost.

“Maybe then ministers will finally do the honourable thing and promise to quit if there are more cost and time overruns.”