Central Scotland MSP and Shadow Minister for Transport, Graham Simpson, has called on the SNP Government to hold a full public inquiry into their failure to renew Scotland’s ageing ferry network.
The call came from the Scottish Conservative member as he led a debate in parliament yesterday (23rd March) on the delay and ever-spiralling costs in delivering two new vessels being built at the nationalised Ferguson Marine shipyard.
The debate coincided with the publication of a damning Audit Scotland report this week which highlights a “multitude of failings” by SNP Ministers.
With Scotland’s island communities continuing to suffer as a result of an old and unreliable fleet, Mr Simpson said it was time for accountability. He also demanded an explanation as to why the two ferries were still nowhere near ready four years on from their original delivery date, with costs having more than doubled already.
Scottish Conservative Shadow Minister for Transport, Graham Simpson MSP, said: “Scotland’s island communities have suffered enough as a result of the SNP’s epic incompetence.
“The very least they – and all Scottish taxpayers – deserve is a full, independent public inquiry into the SNP’s ferries fiasco.
“Audit Scotland’s report is damning in its criticism of SNP Ministers – not least on why they ignored warnings about the financial risk in awarding the contract to Ferguson Marine to build these two ferries in the first place.
“There is no end in sight to this shambles. One report this week estimated that these ferries could eventually cost £400 million – more than four times the original £97 million figure – and that it could take nigh on a decade from the contract first being advertised to the vessels finally being ready to take passengers. That’s simply unacceptable.
“The latest in this litany of disasters was the discovery that cables installed were too short and had to be ripped out. No one has accepted blame for that – or, indeed, for anything in this whole debacle.
“Ministers and others senior figures have moved on but nobody’s head has rolled. There is no accountability - not just at Ferguson Marine, but in the entire ferry system and, especially, in Government.
“The only way to get to the bottom of this national scandal is a public inquiry”.
