Scottish Labour's Anas Sarwar reveals plan to save Ferguson Marine jobs after 'SNP ferries clusterf***'

The Scottish Labour leader’s pledge comes after a Holyrood committee warned that SNP ministers’ slow pace of investment at the yard “raises serious questions” about the Scottish Government’s commitment to the beleaguered site.

Last year, SNP ministers promised to invest £14.2 million in the publicly-owned yard to improve its machinery in the hopes of boosting the chances of the firm winning more contracts after the much-delayed and over budget ferry Glen Rosa is handed over.

But the majority of the funding is yet to be seen at the yard, prompting bosses to rescind offers for new purchases.

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In a letter to Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes, the Public Audit Committee expressed its “disappointment” at the pace of the investment.

Mr Sarwar has bluntly criticised the Scottish Government’s handling of the saga. He said: “This is a ferry fiasco SNP clusterf***, it genuinely is.

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“We’re not building ferries here at home, even though we are shipbuilding masters.

“Look at the contrast. We’ve just secured a £10 billion shipbuilding deal from the UK Labour government, working with Norway, that’s going to secure shipbuilding jobs on the Clyde for the next 15 years and support 2,000 workers.

“This SNP Government can’t even get ferry procurement right when we are the masters of shipbuilding. So we’re not getting the money side of it right.

“Secondly, we have a well-skilled workforce - these are great workers, highly-skilled workers, well-paid workers that feel let down. This is not the blame of the workforce, this is a lack of leadership and government incompetence.”

The Scottish Labour leader warned "they're not getting the procurement process right”, and “not getting the support of the workforce right”.

He said: “They’re not building the right ships and therefore we’ve got an ageing fleet. We have far too many ferries getting cancelled, so we don’t have a functioning ferry system. It is an absolute mess.”

Asked what he would do to fix the situation if he wins next year's Holyrood election, Mr Sarwar said: “We’ve got to change the governance relationship. Right now we’ve got Ferguson's on one side, Transport Scotland on the other, CalMac on the other and CMAL on the other.

“We’ve got to collapse this over bureaucratic system that’s about shifting blame rather than taking responsibility.”

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He added: “Secondly, ministers have to be held to account for their decisions and they have to take responsibility.

“Third, we have to change our procurement systems so we can actually procure those ships here rather than build them in Poland and Turkey. That, in itself, will secure the jobs for the future. That requires looking at how we package up the procurement, how we support the workforce.”

The Scottish Labour leader said a government under him would move to protect the yard.

He said: “Do we want to see the jobs protected? Yes. But that requires a different approach from the government rather than this mess that John Swinney is presiding over, which is frankly embarrassing.

“For a global shipbuilding nation, these guys can’t even get the basics right.”

An SNP spokesperson said: “This bizarre rant shows that Anas Sarwar is clearly feeling the pressure – and given he is heading for third place and has just been sidelined by Keir Starmer it’s no wonder.

“The SNP taking Ferguson Marine into public ownership saved the last commercial shipyard on the Clyde and more than 300 jobs. Anas can’t substitute swearing for substance.”