A retired judge has been paid more than £1million to chair the controversial Edinburgh Tram Inquiry, it has been revealed.
The government-funded probe started in 2014 with the aim of finding out why the project came in over budget and five years late. Nine years later and five years after evidence ended, the inquiry is yet to issue its final report.
However, opposition politicians are understood to have been furious on Wednesday night when it was revealed that Lord Hardie pocketed an 'eye watering' £1,056,181, reports the Record.
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After two years, the Scottish Information Commissioner agreed with the Record that Lord Hardie's earnings should be made public knowledge. On Wednesday, Transport Scotland also said it noted the decision of the commissioner.
They added: "We can confirm that Lord Hardie has been paid a total of £1,056,181.59 for his role as chair of the Edinburgh Tram Inquiry from 2014 when the inquiry commenced to the date that we received your request."
Last night, Scottish Labour transport spokesperson Alex Rowley said: "These eye-watering sums of public money raise fresh questions about how this inquiry has been allowed to fall into such chaos. Costs have spiralled and years have passed but we are still waiting for the report - it is farcical.
"We need to learn the lessons of what happened in Edinburgh, and this report must be delivered without any more delays or cost increases." , Ian Murray, Labour MP for Edinburgh South, said the cost of the tram probe was now similar to the cost of the inquiry into the Iraq War.
He said: "Given that it's clear nobody will be held to account, the public will rightly be wondering whether this has been a good use of public money, especially when costs are in line with the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War."
The tram inquiry was considered controversial from the start as although it was set up to establish why the network was five years late and more than £400million over budget at £776million, there was no prospect of criminal proceedings.
Former first minister Alex Salmond announced the inquiry in 2014 after the line between Edinburgh Airport and the city centre opened, having taken seven years to complete.
Salmond also expected it to be 'swift and thorough', yet a final report is still pending weeks after the three additional miles from the city centre to Newhaven opened.
Transport Scotland said it believed that Lord Hardie's fees were "personal data" and that "it would breach the principles of UK data protection legislation to release this information". The Record appealed the decision, arguing that the public have a right to know how taxpayers' money is spent, and pointed out that the salaries of public servants are in the public domain.
As Lord Advocate and then as a judge, anyone who wanted to find Lord Hardie's salary could do so in minutes. In its reply, Transport Scotland agreed there was a legitimate public interest but added: "Lord Hardie has maintained his opposition to the disclosure of the information requested and we consider that disclosure would be likely to cause harm or distress to Lord Hardie.
"We concluded that Lord Hardie's interests or fundamental rights and freedoms overrode your legitimate interests in obtaining the information."
A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: "Final costs will be published when they become available. The inquiry was established to look at how many mistakes or failures could be avoided in future major tram and light rail infrastructure projects and we look forward to receiving Lord Hardie's findings when they are made available."
Lord Hardie was asked for comment through the Tram Inquiry PR team.
A spokeswoman said: "Lord Hardie is being paid on the basis of a daily rate for the hours that he works on inquiry matters. The daily rate is the standard fixed by the Scottish Government for retired judges."
