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At the time, were you aware that negotiations were still going on with CMAL?

I appreciate what you say about the mitigations giving the best contract for FMEL, but I think that CMAL would still have preferred to cancel the contract. The situation has been described as a systematic failure in Government to record crucial information, and there is a lack of accountability. The people suffering are islanders. What lessons have been learned from the situation and what actions have you taken to ensure that such a fiasco does not happen again?

There were so many red flags in advance of the announcement being made and the contract being issued, and they all seem to have been ignored. I have not seen your briefings, so I do not know whether you have not been briefed enough but, when Derek Mackay was asked whether he was concerned about the lack of a full builders refund guarantee, he said:

“Of course I was concerned, because the paper gave reason to be concerned”.—[Official Report, Public Audit Committee, 8 September 2022; c 25.]

On 26 September 2015, Erik Østergaard said:

“a newly established shipyard with no track record at all of building ferries of this size, is an unsecured risk”.

The CMAL board said in a letter:

“The Board feel it is their absolute duty to point out the risks to their shareholder and in that respect would expect approval, should SG wish this project to proceed, and to receive direction to that effect.”

There were lots of red flags, but it seems that the contract still went through.

So, it was you who took the decision.

So, before you made the announcement, you were aware that there were issues with the builders refund guarantee.

Morag McNeill from CMAL said that it became aware on 21 August 2015 that FMEL could not provide a guarantee and that the preferred option was to go back to the tendering process. She said that, at the CMAL board meeting on 25 August,

“Transport Scotland was clear that the announcement was going ahead.”

When asked whether CMAL was happy to go forward, she said:

“Our preference was to retender. We were authorised by our shareholder to proceed. That was an instruction to proceed.”—[Official Report, Public Audit Committee, 30 June 2022; c 13, 5.]

Was there an interest from the Scottish Government to award the contract to FMEL? Was it a kind of jobs for the boys situation? There has been talk of the relationship between the Scottish Government and Jim McColl. Was there an interest from the Scottish Government to award the contract?

Good morning, First Minister. I want to go back to the announcement of the preferred bidder. Can you tell us why you personally announced FMEL as the preferred bidder for the contract and whether that is something that you would normally do?

Did you instigate that, or did somebody—a transport official, a minister or a cabinet secretary—come to you?

When did you first become aware of the issues with the builders refund guarantee? Was it that week?

I would like to see more.