Alex Salmond: Derek Mackay not to blame for ferry fiasco

Alex Salmond has insisted former transport minister Derek Mackay is not to blame for Scotland’s ferry fiasco.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was last week accused of “throwing Mackay under the bus” for signing off a disastrous contract to the Ferguson Marine shipyard for two ferries without standard financial guarantees.

The ships are now due to be delivered five years late with one expert telling The Sunday Post last week the cost could hit £400m, four times the original estimate.

But Alba leader and former first minister Salmond said Keith Brown, who was cabinet secretary for infrastructure, investment and cities, signed the deal and that it was approved by Sturgeon.

Salmond told: “I think it’s very convenient to lump everything on Derek Mackay. I know for a fact that when the key contract was signed he was on holiday. It was another minister, his boss, who signed it.”

Audit Scotland last week issued a excoriating report into the unfolding shambles on the Clyde, revealing a raft of concerns but, most crucially, the decision to ignore experts and sign off on the contract with cash guarantees. Auditors expressed surprise there was no written record of who took the decision or why.

Mackay resigned as finance secretary in February 2020 after it was revealed he had sent messages to a teenage boy on social media.