Swinney accused over shipyard’s ‘uncertain future’ after ferries contract lost

John Swinney has been accused of leaving Ferguson Marine workers facing an “uncertain future” as he came under fire after the shipyard lost out on a contract to build seven smaller ferries for CalMac.

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay blamed the loss of the contract on the “dodgy deal” given to the Port Glasgow yard to build the Glen Sannox and the Glen Rosa ferries – which ran years late and went massively over budget.

He accused the First Minister, who was finance secretary at the time, of having “personally signed off on a process that was not just flawed but corrupt”.

But with the yard now publicly owned, Mr Findlay claimed that “under the direct control of John Swinney’s Government, they are unable to compete”.

He challenged Mr Swinney after it was announced this week that a shipyard in Gdansk, Poland, is the preferred bidder for the new contract for seven vessels.

Mr Swinney said he would “love the vessels to be built at Ferguson” but added the Scottish Government had to go through a competitive tendering process for the work.

Raising the issue at First Minister’s Questions in Holyrood on Thursday, Mr Findlay insisted: “These vessels could and indeed should have been built here in Scotland.

“Ferguson Marine could and should be fit to win these kind of contracts, because for decades, before the SNP had anything to do with it, Ferguson built ferries on budget and on time.

“After nationalisation the SNP had a duty to get Fergusons back into a position to win contracts legitimately, and they have failed to do so.”

He said that in awarding the contract for the Glen Sannox and the Glen Rosa to Fergusons, the Scottish Government had “let down” both islanders and taxpayers.

There would not have been a Fergusons yard trading just now if I had not intervened over 10 years ago to try to secure the future of the yard, and I make no apology for doing that.

Mr Findlay told MSPs: “The First Minister’s fingerprints are all over this scandal from the very beginning.

“He signed off on a dodgy deal that has let down islanders, taxpayers and shipyard workers who face an uncertain future.

“Scotland was once world leading in shipbuilding. And now we are losing CalMac ferry contracts to Poland.”

But Mr Swinney defended the Government’s decisions, telling Holyrood: “There would not have been a Fergusons yard trading just now if I had not intervened over 10 years ago to try to secure the future of the yard, and I make no apology for doing that.”

He said Fergusons had lost out to the Polish yard after a competitive tendering process he said had involved “companies in Scotland and in other countries” and was “consistent with the terms of the procurement legislation that the Government must follow”.

Asked directly if his actions from a decade ago were “causing Scottish shipyards to lose contracts to eastern Europe today”, Mr Swinney replied: “If the Government had not intervened when I took actions in the past, when the yard faced difficulties, there would be employees who would not have had a livelihood for the best part of a decade.

“I know that doesn’t much concern Russell Findlay because he represents a party that has destroyed the industrial base of Scotland under the awful leadership of Conservative governments in the United Kingdom.”

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar meanwhile said the decision to award preferred bidder status to the Polish yard shows Mr Swinney believes Scotland to be “incapable of building its own ferries”.

With a previous contract for CalMac vessels having gone to Turkey, Mr Sarwar accused the SNP of failing to live up to its “stronger for Scotland” slogan.

“With the SNP it’s contracts going abroad,” he said.

“This week it’s jobs for to Poland, four years ago it was jobs for Turkey – so much for Stronger for Scotland.

“I want the ferries to be built here in Scotland, I want the investment to be here in Scotland, I want the jobs to be here in Scotland.”

Mr Swinney stressed Ferguson Marine had been part of the competitive tendering process for the latest contract, telling MSPs: “It follows from that, I believe that yard is perfectly able to build the ships, because they’re part of the tendering process to put in a bid that was credible and to be considered.

“What ministers cannot do, is ministers cannot operate outside the law.

“We’ve got to follow the procurement law that is in place, we’ve got to follow the legislation as part of the UK Subsidy Control Act, which is an obligation on all of us to make sure that ferry tenders are determined on the basis of an open procurement process.

“Whilst I would love the vessels to be built at Ferguson, of course I would love that to be the case… but I’ve got to make sure we procure our ferry vessels in accordance with the legislation that’s in place in the United Kingdom.”