Late First Minister would be 'horrified' at Scottish Parliament bill, says aide

Published on Friday 1 May 2009 09:42

DONALD Dewar would never have embarked on the controversial Holyrood parliament building if he had known it would cost so much, his chief press aide has claimed.

David Whitton, now a Labour MSP, says the late First Minister would have been "horrified" at the final 414 million bill for the building.

In a radio documentary to be broadcast this weekend, he says there was "no way" Mr Dewar would have agreed to spend so much money on the new home for the parliament.

Mr Dewar, who served as Scottish Secretary in the run-up to devolution, was the driving force behind the Holyrood project, choosing both the site and the architect.

When he died in October 2000, after just 17 months as First Minister, the cost of the building had already rocketed from initial estimates of 10m-40m to 195m, and was expected to rise further.

Mr Dewar had opted for the Holyrood site at the last minute after a fierce public debate on the merits of two other options, Leith and Calton Hill. He believed it was symbolically important for the new parliament to have a new building.

He also chose Catalan architect Enric Miralles and his "upturned boats" plan from a shortlist of possible designers for the historic construction.

However, costs quickly began to escalate from the 10m-40m figure Mr Dewar included in the devolution white paper.

The Scottish Office formally handed over responsibility for the project to the parliament itself in June 1999, but many problems were traced back to earlier decisions, including the "fast track" procurement contract adopted which meant construction began before the design was completed. This was intended to speed up building work, but was widely blamed for causing delays and incurring extra costs.

Mr Dewar was also instrumental in blocking a move in April 2000 to call a temporary halt to the project, because of cost concerns, so other options could be considered.

In the documentary, however, Mr Whitton rejects the idea the building could eventually have proved Mr Dewar's downfall.

He says: "He certainly didn't believe it should cost as much as it did. If somebody had said to him on day one, 'You want a new building, it will cost 400m', he would have said, 'Forget it'.

"There is no way he would have spent that kind of money on it.

In his independent report on the Holyrood project, published in September 2004, Lord Fraser said Mr Dewar could have adopted a "more leisurely" timetable for the building without endangering the devolution scheme.

He also raised the issue of whether Mr Dewar should have asked more searching questions on costs at the time of the handover in 1999.

The Decade of Devolution is broadcast on Forth 2 at 10am on Sunday.