Sir Tom Hunter and Lord Willie Haughey have both spoken candidly about the furore surrounding Scotland’s ferries and the nationalisation of its railways.
With the row escalating over the Ferguson Marine yard, which has been beset by design issues, with ferries five years late and costs having more than doubled to at least £240 million, Lord Haughey commented: “It’s inevitable we’ll have a public inquiry. There’s been too much said and too much finger pointing. People are now looking for answers.
“I’m not saying it’s a good idea. Actually, I think it’s a waste of time. All public inquiries are a waste of time but we’re going to have one.”
Lord Haughey also noted the ship building facility’s last two orders had gone to foreign countries, adding: “It doesn’t look as if we have the yard on solid ground. We haven’t built anything yet that’s sustainable.”
Sir Tom Hunter said: “We all know what went wrong here. Stephen Boyle at Audit Scotland has spoken openly about a weakness of process, of governance and of transparency. Do I believe a public inquiry would shed any more light on it? No, because the Government would just hide things.
“I have no confidence we would get any more light shed into this and it’s a disgrace.”
With ScotRail back in public ownership for the first time in 25 years, the train operator will be run by a company owned by the Scottish Government. The previous operator, Dutch firm Abellio, had its franchise terminated early amid scathing criticism of the quality of the service.
Sir Tom said: “The bottom line is I don’t know how to run the Government. The Government doesn’t know how to run a business. Never the twain should meet. This is going to end in disaster.”
Lord Haughey commented: “My worry is that the Government obviously are not happy with performance and value for money, however I just hope they’ve learned from where they’ve got it wrong in the past.
“I hope the people they put in place to run the railways are better, in their opinion, than the people who were running it. I hope they get someone who knows how to run trains!”
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