Second ferry deal is not a blank cheque - minister

The decision to press ahead with the construction of a second ferry at Ferguson shipyard is "not a blank cheque", a minister has said.

Economy Secretary Neil Gray said the Port Glasgow yard would have been put "in jeopardy" had the ferry, known as Hull 802, been built elsewhere.

A review found that finishing the ship does not represent value for money.

Opposition MSPs have described the Scottish government contract as an "utter fiasco".

Two ferries were ordered in 2015 when the yard was owned by Jim McColl, a pro-independence businessman who rescued it from administration a year earlier.

The build ran into trouble and the ships are now more than £200m overbudget and six years late.

Mr McColl and the government-owned ferry procurement agency CMAL blame each other for the problems.

Ferguson shipyard was nationalised in 2019. The first ship, Glen Sannox, is due to be delivered to operator CalMac in the autumn.

The second ferry. the as-yet unnamed Hull 802, is expected in summer 2024.

Mr Gray told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland that the controversy had been a "really difficult episode" for the Scottish government.

He said: "The situation would have been made much worse had I taken a different decision yesterday not to proceed with 802 and have re-procured it elsewhere.

"That would have put the yard in jeopardy.

"Arguably more importantly than that, it would have put at risk our commitment to our island communities who need these vessels to serve them."

Mr Gray said commercial shipbuilding on the Clyde would have ceased to exist if the yard had not been nationalised, but acknowledged that the ferry delays had caused "undeniable anger".

The minister said he wanted to see a "commercially successful Fergusons" but said issues such as spiralling inflation were having an impact.

"I made that explicit to the chief executive yesterday that we must ensure that we protect the costs as far as possible," he said.

He added: "It's absolutely not a blank cheque."

On Tuesday Mr Gray told MSPs that completing the vessel was the fastest way of delivering more capacity to Scotland's west coast ferry fleet - which has been beset with relatability issues.

He said that while the value for money review concluded it could be cheaper to procure a new ferry elsewhere, it would lead to significant delays, as it could not be deployed before May 2027.

Scottish Labour's transport spokesman Alex Rowley MSP told the BBC that the government's decision was the "best route" to get the ferries completed.

But he added island communities had been badly let down and called for lessons to be learned.

"Had the workforce been listened to we might not have been in this mess," he said.

Willie Rennie of the Scottish Liberal Democrats said the ferry deal was an "utter fiasco" but said Mr Gray didn't have a choice but to press ahead.

He added: "I am deeply worried that we are writing a blank cheque, but I'm afraid this is the position that the SNP government have got us in."

Scottish Conservative Highlands and Islands MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston said Mr Gray's statement was "pretty humiliating".

Mr Halcro Johnston said: "The Scottish government have had years to get this right and they have failed again and again."

At Westminster, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack also entered the row and said the Scottish government had let island communities down.

Mr Jack told MPs: "Ministers should always spend tax payers money efficiently, even if it means losing face."

The repeated delays to Glen Sannox and Hull 802 have had a major impact on the resilience of the ageing CalMac fleet, which has been hit by frequent breakdowns and soaring maintenance costs.

Last year a BBC Scotland documentary - The Great Ferries Scandal - presented evidence that the procurement process may have been rigged in favour of Ferguson Marine.

The investigation also questioned the quality of the design presented by Ferguson, even though it was given top marks by CMAL's evaluators. CMAL has denied any impropriety.

Meanwhile, CalMac said customers have experienced "intermittent issues" logging into a new online ticketing platform on its launch day.

It said it was working to resolve the problems as soon as possible.