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The culture of Government appears to be quite tight, so it would be safe to assume that there were channels of communication.

Obviously, you were not there for the unveiling of preferred bidder status. However, it was said that you would take the lead on that announcement. Subsequently, something changed. Would it have been the First Minister’s office’s decision to press for that to be announced at a high-profile photo-shoot style event rather than, as Mr Middleton said, through the issuing of the usual contractual letters?

Are you a bit concerned that you were not there for the awarding of preferred bidder status but that everything seems to have hung on that decision and that there is a sense that, in effect, what happened afterwards was almost a fait accompli? With regard to the position of the Scottish Government and the First Minister, given that these documents have come to light, are you concerned that you are being lined up to be the fall guy—that this is operation blame Derek Mackay?

Mr Mackay, you said that all options on nationalisation had been exhausted, but I challenge that. Jim McColl said that he put to you a Queen’s counsel’s report that showed that a financial restructuring would have meant that he, FMEL and the Government would have split any future risk, potentially saving the taxpayer £100 million. He says that he gave you that report and that you either ignored it or dismissed it without taking legal advice. Is that correct?

You have mentioned financial risk. There was an element of political risk in the decision, in that the contract was being awarded to a well-known businessman who was aligned to the Scottish National Party, the party of Government, and to the independence cause. What were your thoughts at the time about awarding such a high-profile contract to such a figure, who was clearly known to have connections to the party of government?

Good morning, Mr Mackay. Thank you for appearing before the committee.

In his report, the Auditor General identified a major issue in relation to insufficient documentary evidence, which has been a concern for the committee. Subsequent to the report’s publication, there was documentary evidence to suggest that you were responsible, and a release came out to suggest that you were responsible for taking the decision. We now know who took the decision, but we do not know why.

Do you think that there is still some documentary evidence out there that might give us further information as to why the decision was taken, first to announce Ferguson’s as the preferred bidder, and secondly, to award the contract despite the misgivings about a full builders refund guarantee?

Prior to your going on annual leave, did you get the impression that the preferred bidder status would likely be awarded to FMEL, and that that was the direction of travel? Were you comfortable with that?

Okay.

Did you get the impression that the First Minister was actively involved in the negotiations at that stage, or at least was being well briefed about the discussions about reaching the preferred bidder status?

Who else has a share in that responsibility, would you say?