Nicola’s swan song: Sturgeon takes her final First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood today as the SNP squabbles over who will succeed her and she faces criticism over role in island ferry fiasco
- The bitter fight to replace her as FM and SNP leader is threatening to split party
- And today Ms Sturgeon herself came in for what may be a final piece of criticism
- She has been singled out for criticism in a damning Holyrood ferry inquiry
Nicola Sturgeon will bow out of Holyrood today as she takes her final First Minister’s Questions ahead of her successor taking over on Monday.
But any hopes that the SNP leader might have had of a calm and orderly handover of power to her successor appear to have been dashed.
The bitter fight to replace her in both roles is threatening to split the party between progressive and conservative wings over issues including trans rights.
And today Ms Sturgeon herself came in for what may be a final piece of criticism – over her role in a ferry scandal that has cost the taxpayer millions.
She has been singled out for criticism in a damning Holyrood inquiry into a deal for boats to serve island communities in the west of Scotland, which are now five years late and whose price tag has nearly tripled to almost £300 million.
Nicola Sturgeon will bow out of Holyrood today as she takes her final First Minister’s Questions ahead of her successor taking over on Monday.
The bitter fight to replace her is threatening to split the party between progressive and conservative wings over issues including trans rights.
Today Ms Sturgeon herself came in for what may be a final piece of criticism – over her role in a ferry scandal that has cost the taxpayer millions.
The devastating analysis by the public audit committee also criticises serious failings by the Scottish Government which ‘badly let down’ taxpayers and island communities.
Ms Sturgeon, 52, will take part in her final FMQs at noon, where she will face off against Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.
Afterwards she will give her final statement to parliament as Scotland’s First Minister and on Friday will carry out her last official engagement.
Her resignation triggered the SNP’s first leadership election campaign in nearly 20 years, since she became leader of the party in 2014 after the resignation of Alex Salmond.
Kate Forbes, Humza Yousaf and Ash Regan are all in the running to be the next first minister with the ballot for SNP members set to close at noon on March 27, with the new leader being appointed the next day.
Today’s ferry report comes after MSPs on the committee spent nearly a year gathering evidence over the contract for two ferries at Port Glasgow’s Ferguson Marine.
It follows an Audit Scotland report revealing the final cost of the vessels remains ‘uncertain’.
It added current estimates ‘suggest further funding of around £9.5million may be needed, meaning a total cost of £293million’. When a £45million loan is taken into account, the bill to taxpayers is £338million, against the original contract value of £97million.
Today’s ferry report comes after MSPs on the committee spent nearly a year gathering evidence over the contract for two ferries at Port Glasgow’s Ferguson Marine.
The report highlights ministers approved Ferguson Marine Engineering Limited (FMEL) being named as preferred bidder in August 2015 and this was announced by Ms Sturgeon.
Detailed negotiations took place in September and up to October 8 that year, when ministers approved the award of the contract.
In evidence to the committee, Morag McNeill, interim chairman of Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL), said she would rather the preferred bidder status was granted ‘on a confidential basis and for there not to be a public announcement’, which ‘made negotiations more difficult’. The committee report said: ‘The committee is not convinced such a public announcement was necessary or indeed appropriate for this project, especially at that time… We believe that this almost certainly weakened CMAL’s negotiating position with FMEL.’
The report added: ‘It also remains unclear why the First Minister led on the preferred bidder announcement and why the First Minister’s press release and associated social media communications did not reflect that there were ‘significant negotiations to be concluded’.’ The report said the launch of one of the ferries, the Glen Sannox, in November 2017, attended by the First Minister, was premature.
Scottish Tory transport spokesman Graham Simpson said the report ‘shows up a series of failures on an unprecedented scale’.
He said: ‘This sorry business is one of the most disastrous and shameful legacies of Nicola Sturgeon’s period as First Minister.’
Committee convener Richard Leonard, the former Scottish Labour leader, said: ‘The people of Scotland have been badly let down by this project.
‘There have been collective failures at government and agency level from the start. It has been dogged by a lack of transparency, by ineffective governance arrangements, by poor record keeping within the Government and by baffling communication failures.’
