McLetchie: angry at latest increase

The Scottish parliament building costs are to top £300 million, it has emerged.

According to Holyrood officials the building will face an additional £28.2 million in costs - largely, it is claimed, due to increased security and bomb-proofing required following the September 11 attacks.

According to a document which will be presented to MPs this week, the additional security measures have led to delays and additional costs.

"Meeting these requirements has led to considerable delay in some areas and we are at a stage in the project where delays themselves cost a lot of money, over and above the material cost of reinforcing the structure," says the report.

The Conservatives reacted angrily to the latest increase in the cost of the project.

Party leader David McLetchie said: "When will this fiasco end? We were told five years ago that the new parliament would cost a maximum of £40 million.

"But as blank cheque after blank cheque has been negligently signed by the government, we now know that the true cost will be almost eight times this original figure."

Margo McDonald, the nationalist MSP and long-term critic of the new parliamentary building, has called for an urgent debate on the latest revelations.

She had demanded the resignation of members of the Scottish Parliament's Corporate Body - the committee which is overseeing the new building project.

"They should resign and if they don't, which they won't, they should be thanked for their time spent on the project and asked to leave," said McDonald.