THE Scottish Conservatives are calling for a new deal to be drawn up after a £10 billion agreement between the Scottish Government and Chinese firms collapsed.
State-backed companies SinoFortone and China Engineering Group No 3 (CR3) are believed to have withdrawn from the Memorandum of Understanding apparently blaming a “climate of hostility” over a deal they signed with Nicola Sturgeon.
When the news of the collapse emerged at the weekend, the Scottish Government said opposition parties “should be ashamed” of their role in the wake of a series of negative press reports relating to the deal.
CR3’s parent firm was singled out by the Lib-Dems, Labour and Amnesty International for human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo and faced allegations of “gross corruption’’ by the Norwegian Oil Fund.
“We did not consider that the MoU had been cancelled but were aware that SinoFortone felt they could not move ahead at that time in the climate of hostility they faced from other parties,” said a spokesman for Keith Brown, the cabinet secretary for the economy, jobs and fair work.
“However, they continued to believe in the benefits for Scotland of an infrastructure partnership with China and we remained committed to pursuing these opportunities. The MoU is about building relationships with a view to investment and we remain committed to it.
“We are sorry if the partners consider the MoU to be cancelled and we remain open to working together on projects in the future.
“The opposition should be ashamed of themselves if their actions, in search of cheap headlines, have put up to £10 billion of investment at risk. The Scottish Government will do everything we can to make sure that Scotland is open for business.
“It would be helpful if opposition parties joined us in making the case for Scotland, rather than doing Scotland down.”
Last night Tories accused the SNP of “bungling” and urged a “calm assessment” to find out if “a potentially lucrative deal with China can be reached”.
The party’s shadow economy secretary Dean Lockhart said: “This whole episode has shown the SNP just can’t be trusted with economic matters. It thought it had struck gold, tried and failed to keep it a secret, and now doesn’t seem to know what’s going on.
“It doesn’t just look amateurish for the SNP, it damages Scotland’s credibility too.
“We now need a calm assessment of all this to see if a potentially lucrative deal with China can be reached. These things can’t be allowed to fall through because of SNP bungling.”
The Liberal Democrats said the Scottish Government should be “ashamed”, and called for Scottish ministers to make a statement to Parliament to shine a light on the deal.
The party’s leader Willie Rennie said: “Ministers must explain what recent discussions they have had with these Chinese companies, what lessons they have learned from this sorry episode and what new arrangements will be put in place to attract ethical investment for Scotland.
“The SNP has a chance to inject some much-needed transparency for something that has been clouded in secrecy.
“If anyone should be ashamed it should be the Scottish Government. Throughout this whole process, groups such as Amnesty International and Transparency International expressed concerns but the SNP covered their ears and ploughed on regardless. They showed a casual disregard for human rights.”
In June, Rennie and Labour’s Neil Findlay questioned the First Minister on the deal.
Rennie asked her in the Holyrood chamber: “Can the First Minister give a guarantee that there will be no Scottish Government contracts with CR3?”
Sturgeon said: “There are no particular proposals at that stage right now, and therefore, in a sense, Willie Rennie is asking an entirely hypothetical question.”
Findlay also pressed her at the time, asking: “Will the First Minister join me in calling on the economy committee or the external affairs committee to look not just at the China deal, but also the Qatar deal as well?”
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