Jenny Gilruth did not break ministerial code - Humza Yousaf

The first minister said Jenny Gilruth had acted "entirely legitimately" in a bid to minimise disruption

First Minister Humza Yousaf has concluded that Jenny Gilruth did not break the ministerial code when she was transport minister.

The Scottish Conservatives claimed she had broken the code by delaying vital rail works, costing taxpayers £1m.

Tory leader Douglas Ross claimed Ms Gilruth had "given preferential treatment to her constituents" in Fife.

Mr Yousaf has now written to Mr Ross saying he is "confident" there was no breach of the rules.

He said Ms Gilruth was "acting entirely legitimately" in a bid to minimise disruption to the public.

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During First Minister's Questions in May, Mr Ross called for an urgent independent investigation into the claims Ms Gilruth intervened inappropriately to delay a rail upgrade for purely political reasons.

The row centred on proposed line electrification work between Edinburgh Haymarket and Dalmeny, which would have caused eight days of disruption from Boxing Day last year.

It was part of a "decarbonisation" scheme to replace diesel trains with electric units on rail routes from Edinburgh to Fife.

Ms Gilruth, MSP for Mid Fife and Glenrothes who is now education secretary, asked for the work to be postponed.

The Tories said officials told the Scottish government this would lead to an extra £1m in cost and cause disruption to 9,000 passengers a day due to the work taking place at non-holiday times.

Mr Ross said that a freedom of information response the party had received made clear that, "instead of a few days of closures after Christmas, Jenny Gilruth pushed for more than six weeks of disruption, including four full weekend closures".

He added that it looked like a "clear-cut sackable offence".

During FMQs, Douglas Ross held up emails obtained by a freedom of information request

In parliament he read out Scottish Rail Holdings Board papers, which stated: "The board is asked to note that Network Rail and ScotRail chose to do the work at this time precisely to minimise the number of passengers impacted, and Transport Scotland were fully aware of and endorsed this approach."

He said the board papers also showed that Chris Gibb, who worked in the rail industry for more than 40 years and chaired ScotRail in 2022, raised concerns over "micromanagement by Scottish ministers, advisors and officials".

Mr Gibb resigned just a few weeks after Ms Gilruth's decision.

At the time, the first minister said there would be an appropriate investigation but added that the situation was not as Mr Ross described, saying the decision was made for the "correct reasons" in order to benefit the "entire network".

'Total whitewash'

Mr Ross described Mr Yousaf's investigation as a "total whitewash".

"This response is shamefully weak from Humza Yousaf," he said. "Any impartial assessment can clearly see that Jenny Gilruth breached the ministerial code.

"That states that ministers should not be involved in decisions which affect their constituency, but Humza Yousaf has totally ignored this.

"Despite struggling to answer questions over her actions when I pressed him at FMQs, he's now rowed in full square behind one of his key cabinet ministers."

Mr Ross added: "Less than three months into the job, Humza Yousaf is showing time and time again he's incapable of taking tough decisions against his colleagues when they are clearly in the wrong."