Call for Edinburgh trams chief pay-off to be made public

A Labour MSP hit out at the “secrecy” surrounding Edinburgh’s troubled trams project as she called for details of the payout its former chief executive received to be made public.

Richard Jeffery stood down as the chief executive of Tie, the body responsible for managing delivery of the trams, last May.

A legal agreement reached when he left the job prevented both him and Tie from discussing his employment - meaning details of the payout he received have not been made public.

However Kezia Dugdale, a Lothian MSP, said the trams project was not a “normal, run of the mill contract” as she called for the information to be made available.

The Labour MSP has been demanding a public inquiry into the project, arguing this would “get to the bottom of the matter”.

Ms Dugdale told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland: “The simple fact is that people in Edinburgh, across Scotland, are fed up of the secrecy around the trams, it’s why I called for a public inquiry nine months ago and why I’m still waiting.

“There’s hundreds of people in traffic jams across Edinburgh today, banging the wheel, wondering why they don’t have this information in their hands.”

Ms Dugdale insisted the information should be made known because the payout came from public money.

She said: “This figure should be in the public domain because it has come from their taxes.

“We know the trams have overrun and overspent and people want to see the project finally delivered. It’s back on track at the moment but we need to know the facts and we need to learn the lessons once and for all.”