THE Ferguson Marine shipyard has yet again been in the news in the last few weeks - and again, unfortunately, for the wrong reasons.

The sacking of David Tydeman marks the end of another episode in the story of the ferries fiasco at Ferguson Marine.

His departure is perhaps not completely shocking: Mr Tydeman is one of a number chief executives or turnaround directors to come and go over the course this nine-year-saga.

And with him, disappointingly, goes the hope that the Glen Sannox will finally be ready by the end of May – problems with its fuel system are making that increasingly unlikely.

As I have stressed before, it must be understood that while the ferries mess is the fault of many, it is absolutely not the fault of the Ferguson Marine workforce.

The workers at Ferguson Marine have a strong track record of building smaller ships on time and within budget. This mess has been flung upon them, and last week’s developments have only made it worse.

Ultimately, as a publicly-owned company, responsibility for the shambles at Ferguson Marine lies with the Scottish Government. But not one minister – and we’ve had many – overseeing the progress of the Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa project has taken any responsibility or shown leadership here. Mairi McAllan’s failure to even properly explain the reason for Mr Tydeman’s sacking is just another example of this.

At this time, the workforce need stability. They need assurance that when the current project is finally done, more work will come their way.

To secure future contracts however, as the GMB union has clearly stated, the shipyard needs investment in facilities to improve efficiencies. So far, the Scottish Government has failed to commit to providing this.

This is urgent and important and ministers need to stop their indecision. Mairi McAllan needs to step up, invest in the shipyard and secure the workforce’s future.

Failure to do so will be the very definition of the Scottish Government setting up the workers and new management team to fail.