'He's not perfect' says Swinney amid Flynn ferry gas escape row

John Swinney has acknowledged that his under-fire Transport Secretary is not ‘perfect’ as calls mount for a probe into claims that Stephen Flynn tried to ‘cover up’ his own incompetence. In an interview set to be broadcast on the BBC ’s Laura Kuenssberg show on Sunday, Mr Swinney attempts to defend Mr Flynn following his car crash appearance at Holyrood’s transport committee last month. Mr Flynn was quizzed about a breaking story that the £150 million ferry MV Glen Sannox suffered a serious leak of flammable gas last year with 82 passengers on board. But a flustered Mr Flynn said he was unaware of the incident as he had been ‘FaceTiming’ his children instead of reading the news that morning. He then released a statement claiming he had not been briefed by civil servants. However, on Thursday, it emerged that, prior to the meeting, Mr Flynn had been sent details by officials. The First Minister tells Ms Kuenssberg he has confidence in Mr Flynn, who ‘recognised that he should have been across an issue to be in front of the transport committee and he remedied that right away’. Mr Swinney then adds: ‘Nobody’s perfect, nobody’s infallible.’ However, Scottish Tory deputy leader Rachael Hamilton said: ‘If Swinney thinks this is acceptable, it tells you everything about the standards he is prepared to tolerate.’ Stephen Flynn was quizzed about a breaking story that the MV Glen Sannox suffered a serious leak of flammable gas last year with 82 passengers on board ‘Flynn’s handling of the Glen Sannox gas leak, and the unanswered questions over what he knew before facing MSPs, raises serious questions about ministerial accountability. ‘Taxpayers have forked out a fortune for these ferries and deserve the truth, not another SNP whitewash. ‘If Swinney thinks this is acceptable, it tells you everything about the standards he is prepared to tolerate in his Government.’ Mr Flynn’s appearance at the transport committee on 9 September saw him claim he was not aware of a BBC Scotland News story published online more than nine hours earlier. It revealed how a faulty valve led to 700kg of flammable methane gas being vented from the side of the MV Glen Sannox while it was carrying passengers from Arran to Troon in June 2025. The construction of the Glen Sannox and its sister ship MV Glen Rosa, at Ferguson Marine has been marred by more than five years of delays, with the total cost for both ships increasing from roughly £97million to over £400million. Speaking to the committee last month, Mr Flynn said he had missed the report because he was facetiming his children before the meeting. On Thursday, a briefing document released via a freedom of information (FOI) request showed Mr Flynn’s office was contacted about the story twice in the half hour before the committee meeting began. The revelation has resulted in three opposition parties calling for a standards probe. Mr Flynn has been accused of trying to ‘cover up’ his own incompetence Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay has said Mr Flynn ‘should do the right thing and refer himself for investigation to the independent advisers to the Ministerial Code’. Meanwhile, Reform transport spokesman Graham Simpson said he believes Mr Flynn must now be ‘on a shoogly peg,’ adding: ‘[This] reeks of a cover-up.’ On Friday, Transport convener Willie Rennie, of the Lib Dems, who had raised the ferry issue with Mr Flynn on September 9, said: ‘We now have the solid proof there was briefing from officials, we have seen the evidence, so there is no point in denying the truth.’ Mr Flynn later took to social media to claim that, rather than proving he should have known, the FOI ‘confirms I was not briefed’. He added: ‘Jeez, if I’d known, I’d have given a damn sight better answer than I did at the time! An answer that wasn’t acceptable and nobody was more frustrated than myself about that.’ Mr Flynn was tipped as a future First Minister before his first few months handling the economy, tourism and transport brief saw his reputation shredded. During the summer, he also missed the crucial Aberdeen South by-election on June 18 which was caused by his resignation as an MP when he was elected to Holyrood. The SNP ended up losing the highly important seat to Scottish Conservatives MP Douglas Lumsden.