THE Ferguson's shipyard 'turnaround boss' who presided over a further delay to the CalMac fiasco ferries has invoiced taxpayers to the tune of nearly £2m for two years' work.

When he leaves his post next month, with Glen Sannox and Hull 802 still far from completion, Tim Hair will have sent bills to the Scottish Government since January 2020 totalling £1,982,000.

A Freedom of Information investigation by the Telegraph has revealed that Mr Hair's fees and expenses claims for February alone — when he is due to depart on the 11th — comes to £43,000.

His remuneration package — which dwarfs the £205,000 salary of replacement CEO David Tydeman — has today been slammed as a 'political scandal' by a prominent Inverclyde councillor.

Alba's Chris McEleny said: "Mr Hair had one job and he did not deliver it.

"He was supposed to be a 'turnaround director' but the only thing he turned around during his tenure at the yard was his bank account.

"It is galling that he has been allowed to become a millionaire out of this debacle."

Council leader Stephen McCabe described Mr Hair's forecasted pay as 'a whopping amount of money'.

Mr McCabe added: "It is more than twice as much as Boris Johnson wasted on investigating his daft plan to build a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland.

"The cabinet secretary for finance and the economy [Kate Forbes] must demonstrate to the Scottish Parliament that this expenditure has represented value for money for the public purse — and that Ferguson's is very much on the road to recovery."

Under Mr Hair's leadership work on the two CalMac ferries at the nationalised Ferguson Marine yard — which were already five years late — last year slipped a further 15 weeks behind schedule.

In his final update to Holyrood on December 23 he warned of the potential of further delays to the delivery of the vessels.

He told the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee: "As noted in previous updates, much of the equipment for the ferries has been installed since 2016 and may have deteriorated since then.

"Although surveys, remediation and replacement have taken place under government ownership there is an unquantifiable risk that equipment problems may emerge during commissioning."

MSP Stuart McMillan — who last year called for a 'change in management' at the yard — said: "While the pandemic obviously had an impact on the yard, it had an impact on every part of society.

"I would have expected more progress to have been made during Mr Hair's time at the helm — but that said, anyone driving past the yard recently will have noticed a marked improvement in both the Glen Sannox and Hull 802.

"When Mr Hair's yearly remuneration came to light previously, I said that if he got the job done, I could understand why he was compensated so well.

"Although progress has been made at the yard and three vessels have been finished under Mr Hair's management, I still expected more bearing in mind the large salary Mr Hair received.

"My focus is on the future of the yard, local jobs and more ships being built."

Councillor McEleny said: "We now have a new boss coming to the yard and I hope the first thing he brings with him is honesty.

"Can these two ferries ever be completed with the amount of design changes that CMAL imposed upon them?

"Were they even fit for purpose to be ordered by CMAL in the first place when LNG fuel will likely be phased out by the end of this decade?

"Mr Hair leaves the yard a rich man but it's time for the Scottish Government to guarantee Ferguson's a rich future by directly awarding the yard the renewal of the entire CalMac fleet."