the blame lies squarely with the Scottish government. I am not blaming the SNP for this. They are in fact a minority government and the other parties should have joined forces to insist that the yard was able to quote and helped them to win the order.

I am fed up of "investing in infrstructure" being quoted as a good way to help our country to get through economic downturns. Keynesian economics basically said that when the people were poor and unable to spend any money because they were unemployed, and bosses were not able to invest because they were trying to cut costs rather than expand, the government could borrow and spend money on big labour intensive projects. The key part of the strategy was that the money being spent was given to local suppliers and local people. The Forth Crossing was a classic example of failing to to apply this principle. The steel came from China so it actually produced employment for Chinese workers rather than Scottish/British workers in the steel industry.

We are in the process of doing exactly the same with the off shore wind farm production facilities at BiFab. The equipment is needed but it isn't going to be made in Scotland and even the Greens and Mark Ruskell are complaining about the decision not to continue to support this enterprise. Would have even better if it had been Mike Russell!

The Scottish Greens also accused ministers of "hiding behind state aid rules", with MSP Mark Ruskell saying: "There are plenty of examples across Europe of countries protecting their own supply chain through smart investments, so ministers cannot continue to hide behind state aid rules."