The scandalous debacle of Scotland’s ferries fiasco has rumbled on for some time. It is almost a decade since Nicola Sturgeon announced the takeover of the Ferguson Marine shipyard by the Clyde Blowers billionaire, Jim McColl. He was the preferred bidder to build two new dual-fuel car ferries for the state owned CalMac island ferry service. They never materialised. The ferries saga has been the longest-running procurement scandal since the SNP entered government in 2007.
Now, First Minister Humza Yousaf, who was transport secretary when things started to go wrong in 2018, thinks he has finally hit on a solution: privatising the beleaguered shipyard on the Clyde. But there’s a snag: one of Scotland’s largest unions is furious.
GMB Scotland seem to think the government should keep hold of Ferguson Marine whatever the cost. Their senior organiser, Gary Cook, says selling off Scotland’s only remaining civil ship builder would be ‘sabotage’.
Thus ends (well, maybe) the most serious procurement disaster in the history of the Scottish parliament
In Yousaf’s defence, it is high time this mess was tidied up.
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