Humza Yousaf denies ferries contract was awarded for political purposes

A Scottish government minister has denied claims a £97m contract to build two ferries was awarded for "political purposes".

Humza Yousaf, a former transport minister who now holds the health brief, told BBC One Scotland's The Sunday Show that he did not agree with the assessment of Jim McColl, who owned the yard which won the contract.

Mr McColl believes the SNP rushed through the contract without safeguards because it wanted good publicity at its party conference in 2015, according to a report by The Sunday Times.

It quotes the businessman as saying: "The audit report has revealed we were given the contract for political purposes. Everything was about the optics and timing the announcements for political gain."

The ferries will be five years late and could cost more than £250m - the additional costs will have to be picked up by the taxpayer.

  • Scotland