Two crucial and familiar business and economic topics have been very much in focus in the last week, both of which have in recent times been the subject of fiery political debate.

There has been much to contemplate in relation to the future of the Ferguson Marine shipyard at Port Glasgow on the back of the announcement last Monday by the Scottish Government’s Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) that it intends to award the contract for seven small, fully electric vessels for CalMac to Poland’s Remontowa Shipbuilding.

Ferguson Marine had made it through to the final stages of the tender process, in which there were five bids.

All too often amid all the politicking over Ferguson, the importance of the hundreds of jobs at the yard both to employees and their families and to the Inverclyde economy seems to be overlooked.

The yard has been under the ownership of the Scottish Government since it was nationalised in 2019. And large cost overruns and lengthy delays on the contract awarded by CMAL back in 2015 for Ferguson Marine to build the Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa ferries for CalMac have ensured the shipbuilder has become a political football.

Point-scoring is one thing but it is utterly lamentable when this noise drowns out crucial aspects of what is being talked about.

In this regard, the comments of Conservative MSP Sue Webber about Ferguson........

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