1. The

Daily Mail has today reported that Scottish National Party minister Jenny Gilruth, who is sat just behind the First Minister, might have broken the ministerial code. The former Minister for Transport, whom Humza Yousaf promoted to be Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, changed plans that had been agreed for 18 months, with just weeks to go. The original plans would have involved a small closure to rail services around her constituency for a few days just after Christmas last year, to allow essential upgrades to happen. Jenny Gilruth appears to have forced a change in order to give preferential treatment to her constituents, at a higher cost to taxpayers and far more disruption to passengers. Does the First Minister think it acceptable for a minister to make a political decision for her own benefit instead of acting in the interests of all of Scotland?

Douglas Ross is making a very serious accusation. Of course, if there are any accusations that the ministerial code is being broken, they will be appropriately investigated so, if Douglas Ross is making such an accusation, we will appropriately investigate it. However, I do not believe that the way in which Douglas Ross has characterised the situation is at all correct.

On Sunday 21 May, ScotRail’s new timetable will come into effect. That is another important step, as Scotland’s railways continue to recover.

What does that have to do with the question?

The First Minister:

Such timetable changes happen regularly. When Jenny Gilruth was Minister for Transport, they happened for the correct reasons, according to the investigation that I did this morning, when the story that Douglas Ross talked about came into the public’s consciousness.

We have invested heavily and significantly in railway services. We are proud to have taken ScotRail back into public ownership, and every decision that we make—every decision that any transport minister under this Government has made—is for the benefit of the entire railway network, including passengers up and down the country. I do not believe that the way in which Douglas Ross has characterised the situation is what took place, but I will, of course, investigate the issue further.

Let us just clear up some of the things that the First Minister said. He said that he is going to investigate, but he also said that he investigated this morning and sees no fault in what Jenny Gilruth did.

He also questions my characterisation of what happened, so let us go through some of the pages and pages of the freedom of information emails that we have seen. A freedom of information response makes it clear that, instead of a few days of closures after Christmas, Jenny Gilruth pushed for changes that would lead to six weeks of disruption, including four full weekends. [

Interruption

.]

Jenny Gilruth is very keen to intervene, but I am just reading out what we have received—[

Interruption

.]

Mr Ross, give me a moment.

I am absolutely sure that I do not need to remind members of the rules regarding behaviour in the chamber. I would be grateful if we could adhere to those rules.

Jenny Gilruth seems to have a lot to say about this. It would be interesting to hear what she has told the First Minister, because ScotRail advises in these emails that the plans that Jenny Gilruth put forward would mean that 9,000 more customers every day would be disrupted. ScotRail reviewed the decision and concluded that there would be

“greater costs with more customers disrupted or inconvenienced with a revised access plan”.

Jenny Gilruth’s decision to scrap those changes appears to have cost the taxpayer at least £1 million.

Scottish Rail Holdings board papers, also released under FOI, state:

“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”.

How can Humza Yousaf defend Jenny Gilruth when she went against the advice of Network Rail, ScotRail and Transport Scotland?

The First Minister:

First and foremost—as I remember well from my time as transport minister—whenever such decisions are made it is crucial that we engage with communities. [

Interruption

.] It is so crucial that we engage with communities to understand from them what the impact of any potential closure will be. [

Interruption

.] I can hear groans from the parties at the sides of the chamber at the mention of engaging with communities, but we always engage with our communities when it comes to any potential disruption to our transport network.

The proposed decarbonisation works on the vital rail line would have caused significant disruption right across the whole east coast of Scotland, including for passengers travelling across—yes—Fife, but also to Dundee, Perth and Aberdeen. [

Interruption

.]

The Presiding Officer:

Members!

The First Minister:

The former transport minister has stated that she was not content that everything was being done to minimise inconvenience over a busy festive period when people were rightly travelling up and down the country to see their loved ones, particularly in the context of disruption that was taking place due to industrial action at the time. Therefore, and rightly in my view, she asked Network Rail to postpone the works—which it agreed to do—in order to give time to engage with the communities that would be impacted by the closure.

For me, whoever the transport minister is—whether it is Jenny Gilruth, as was previously the case, or the current transport minister—it is vital that the needs of passengers are always front and centre when such decisions are made. That was clearly the case when Jenny Gilruth made that decision.

This is getting worse for the First Minister. He is now saying that Jenny Gilruth was right to do this. He also said that Jenny Gilruth, as the former transport minister, thought that there were problems with the matter. Well, we come to another email from 19 October 2022, which states:

“Ms Gilruth understands why they are doing it but it is not going to land well.”

She agreed with the proposal, but was worried about how it was going to land with her constituents. She should not even have been involved in the decision. She should have recused herself because of the clear potential for a conflict of interests.

Concerns were raised about the minister’s actions. One civil servant, whose name is redacted in this FOI response, said:

“It might be wise to be clear why this is appropriate for Fife in particular, because other areas might expect similar”.

The political interference might even have forced a senior executive to resign. [

Interruption

.] Chris Gibb worked in the rail industry for more than 40 years. He chaired ScotRail in 2022. He resigned just a few weeks after Jenny Gilruth’s decision—after he advised against the change. In board papers that we have seen, he raised concerns about political interference and

“micromanagement by Scottish Ministers, advisors and officials.”

First Minister, did Chris Gibb resign because of Jenny Gilruth’s inappropriate actions?

The First Minister:

Douglas Ross is once again making really serious accusations without, I am afraid, any evidence. [

Interruption

.] He is hoping, because he is undoubtedly desperate, to throw as much mud as possible—[

Interruption

.]

The Presiding Officer:

Members!

The First Minister:

He will throw as much mud as possible and hope that some of it sticks. I say to Douglas Ross that conflicts of interests and the Conservative Party are definitely not a combination that he should look to raise. [

Interruption

.]

In response to Douglas Ross reading out the emails, I say that he is being selective in what he reads out. He forgets to mention that the disruption that would undoubtedly have been caused because of the works would have affected passengers travelling across not just Fife but to Dundee, Perth, Aberdeen and other parts of the network, too. As is absolutely right, I would expect my transport minister and any member of the Government to ensure that they take account of all those who might be impacted and affected.

I say to Douglas Ross that he should look at the facts, not just throw around mud hoping that some of it will stick. Speculation, to be frank, does not help anyone in the chamber and certainly does not help passengers for whom we are committed to improving the rail network.

What did not help passengers was the former Minister for Transport’s decision. She was emailed on 7 November 2022 at 17:40 and told by ScotRail that there would be greater costs and that more customers would be disrupted and inconvenienced with the revised plans. There will be at least £1 million extra in associated costs and 9,000 additional passengers every day will be affected because of the decision that she took, so the First Minister can cut out all that rubbish about standing up for passengers when it is clear that the decision that Jenny Gilruth took led to a poorer service.

It looks like there has been a clear breach of the ministerial code. Jenny Gilruth is smirking at that; well she might, because the First Minister already seems to believe that she is innocent. However, the ministerial code states that a minister “must keep separate” the role of a minister and their role as a constituency MSP.

This case looks not just like preferential treatment in the constituency but a truly awful decision that will cost taxpayers millions and lead to greater disruption. Five months on, the essential works that Jenny Gilruth delayed have still not happened. It looks like a clear-cut sackable offence. At the very least, it needs more than the First Minister looking at it over breakfast: it needs an urgent investigation now. Will the First Minister confirm to Parliament right now that he will launch an investigation into his minister today?

The First Minister:

To my understanding, this is not the first time that the issue has been raised. I think that it was raised months previously, as well. Of course, I was not First Minister at the time. As I said in response to Douglas Ross’s first question, I will look at the accusations that are being made.

I say to Douglas Ross that Jenny Gilruth was not and is not also the MSP for Dundee, Perth or Aberdeen. The decisions were taken because the works would affect railway passengers right across the network, particularly in the north-east of Scotland. [

Interruption

.]

The Presiding Officer:

Members!

The First Minister:

From the information that I have in front of me, it seems to be pretty clear that Jenny Gilruth made those decisions so that disruption would not affect more passengers right across the network. I would have expected her to do that at the time and would expect the current Minister for Transport to do it. When vital works, particularly on decarbonisation, have to take place, we have to ask how we do them in a way that minimises disruption, particularly during the busy festive period.

I say to the Conservatives that we take the ministerial code extremely seriously, which is not something that could be said about them in any way, shape or form.