First Minister John Swinney has publicly supported Transport Secretary Stephen Flynn amidst a dispute over whether Flynn was briefed about a gas leak on a CalMac ferry. Speaking in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday, Mr Swinney stated that emails indicated Mr Flynn had not been briefed prior to a Holyrood committee meeting last month.
Mr Swinney affirmed his confidence in Mr Flynn, acknowledging that the Transport Secretary "recognised that he should have been across an issue to be in front of the transport committee and he remedied that right away." He added, "Nobody's perfect, nobody's infallible."
Mr Flynn appeared before the transport committee on 9 September, where he stated he was unaware of a BBC Scotland News story, published online over nine hours earlier, detailing how a faulty valve led to 700kg of flammable methane gas being vented from the MV Glen Sannox in June 2025. He attributed missing the report to facetiming his children before the meeting.
However, a briefing document released via a freedom of information (FOI) request and published by the Scottish Sun and The Times on Thursday evening showed Mr Flynn's office was contacted twice about the story in the half hour before the committee meeting. Transport Scotland has since stated that the documents "made clear" Mr Flynn had "not been briefed on the issue" before his committee appearance, and the emails sent to his office were not shared with him.
Mr Flynn insisted on X that media reports claiming he received a briefing were false, writing: "This is not true. I should've seen the BBC news that morning - but the FOI confirms I was not briefed."