SNP the butt of the joke as MSPs burst out laughing at Humza Yousaf grilling in FMQs

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and the Scottish Conservatives' Douglas Ross could not resist poking fun at the First Minister over the SNP’s donations scandal when asking questions about ferries and the criminal justice system.

Ross, who represents the Highlands & Islands as an MSP and Moray as an MP, said: “Only a party that bought a camper van for £100,000 could think that paying hundreds of millions of pounds for two massively delayed ferries is a good deal and we all know from the scandal engulfing the SNP that they really struggle with finances but this is getting ridiculous.

“So, will the First Minister stop the secrecy and be honest for a change. How much higher is the real cost to taxpayers going to be to deliver these two ferries?”

Yousaf replied: “I’m not sure I will take too many lessons on financial literacy from the party of Kwasi Kwarteng and Liz Truss, Presiding Officer.

“But on the important issue that Douglas Ross is absolutely right to raise in this chamber, what I have said is there is rightly a process of due diligence under way.

“That process will conclude in the next few weeks and of course we will make known what the result was of that due diligence.”

Ross responded: “On every front, the SNP is engulfed in scandal, secrecy and a shameful waste of money.

“They are groaning about a waste of money when the First Minister has just accepted how much this is going to cost taxpayers.

“This week the SNP’s ex-treasurer Colin Beattie said ‘it wasn’t me gov’ when he was asked about the notorious camper van before abruptly changing his mind and Humza Yousaf has said he isn’t sure if Scottish Government Ministers are using burner phones.

“That’s what the First Minister said. This is all starting to look like an episode of Line of Duty.”

Ross prompted an intervention from the Presiding Officer after picking up a photograph from 2016 to show Yousaf’s own involvement in the ferry scheme as the then-Transport Minister.

“It’s a sign of Douglas Ross’ real desperation,” Yousaf said.

“Pathetic, schoolboy tactics. An inability to address what is a very serious issue.”

Sarwar, an MSP for Glasgow who once served as Ed Miliband’s Shadow International Development Minister, opened his question by saying: “I know the First Minister has spent the last few weeks thinking about financial mismanagement and the criminal justice system, so today I’d like to ask him about the overspend in the project to replace Barlinnie prison.

“Because the issue of financial mismanagement is not just about how the SNP run their party, it’s about how they govern our country.”

He also quipped: “This is a 300 per cent increase in costs at a time when inflation is running at 10 per cent.

“Even an SNP treasurer can tell you those figures don’t add up.”

The First Minister responded by saying: “Any sensible suggestions about the cost overruns I can explore but it is astonishing that Anas Sarwar suggests that these global factors as well as domestic factors in relation to inflation don’t have any bearing on construction cost, I think that is not the reality.

“Of course, what has not helped our economy is a hard Brexit which is now supported by the Scottish Labour Party, quite unbelievably too.”

Yousaf also took aim at the Labour Party over private finance initiative schemes.