Edinburgh Tram Inquiry: Solicitor denies trying to keep politicians in dark

Nick Smith warned in an email to new boss Alastair Maclean "be very careful what you impart to politicians"

A lawyer in charge of the council's legal team has denied they tried to keep politicians in the dark over the state of work on the Edinburgh trams.

Nick Smith warned in an email to new boss Alastair Maclean sent during the height of the fiasco "be very careful what you impart to politicians".

The trams inquiry heard he sent the email on 8 January 2010.

However, he denied this was an attempt to keep councillors in the dark about the scale of the problems.

Mr Smith said the email was about him wanting to ensure councillors received correct information through the recognised routes.

The trams were originally designed to run for 15 miles by 2011 at a cost of £375m, but a truncated nine-mile service opened in 2014 at a cost of £776m - with interest charges expected to push the final bill to about £1bn.

The inquiry is investigating the delays and cost overruns that led to the project being delivered late and over budget.