Nicola Sturgeon has accused Douglas Ross of "making things up" during a heated debate at First Minster's Questions on the ferries fiasco.
The First Minister hit back at the Scottish Tory leader after he accused her of not taking responsibility for further delays to two CalMac vessels.
An update sent to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee from the Ferguson Marine CEO, David Tydeman, on Wednesday said the date for handover for 802 will be pushed back again from December next year to the first quarter of 2024, while the Glen Sannox may be subject to "one to two months of slippage".
It comes after an Audit Scotland report revealed earlier this year that both ferries are five years late and at potentially two-and-a-half times the initial cost. The Port Glasgow shipyard went bust in 2019 and had to be nationalised as a result.
Ross said: "I don't think Nicola Sturgeon will ever be on very strong ground speaking about ferries because she is incredibly saying that the £84 million projected in the letter to the committee of this Parliament and spoken to her government ministers a week ago is going to be scrutinised.
"That's basically the First Minister saying it is going to be an £84m increase for three months. I'm not sure what scrutiny of these estimates she is going to come up with other than saying that a three month delay is basically costing taxpayers about a million pounds a day.
"The government seems to have given special treatment to a political adviser and ally. This looks like corporate fraud under a stench of political corruption, but nobody has been sacked. The government says nobody is responsible and nobody is to blame."
Sturgeon said her government will "alway take responsibility" for its actions, while she also accused Ross of "making up things".
She added: "Douglas Ross is now reduced to simply standing up and making up things that I've said in answers to questions. I will never apologise for the actions this government has taken to save the jobs of the people who work at Ferguson's shipyard.
"Perhaps unlike counterparts in other governments I will alway take responsibility for the actions of this government."
This week, new allegations have surfaced that the yard had sight of a more than 400-page report setting out the technical requirements for the vessels before it was awarded the contract.
According to the BBC, it was given to the yard by a design consultant, something that its former owner, Jim McColl, said would have put them in a "very strong position" to win the contract over the five other bidders.
Large parts of the document had been copied verbatim into the Ferguson Marine bid, the report stated.
Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) rejected claims there had been "preferential treatment" offered to Ferguson Marine given the body's board voiced its strong opposition to the yard being awarded the contract over the lack of a builder's refund guarantee.
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