Anger over Army sporran contract

A Perth firm will make sporrans for the regiment

A row has broken out over a £1.4m contract to supply 5,000 sporrans to the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

The contract originally went to an English firm, but the work has now been subcontracted to a company in Perth.

However, an Edinburgh sporran manufacturer has claimed he was never given a chance to bid and his local MP is calling for a change to the system.

The Army said it had followed European public procurement rules throughout and the contract was advertised properly.

The contract initially caused controversy when it was awarded to Ammo and Co of Birmingham, which only makes the metal fittings for sporrans.

It has now sub-contracted the work to Morrison Sporrans.

However, Scott and Sons - which claims to be the biggest sporran manufacturers in the world - insisted it knew nothing about the contract and was never given a chance to bid.

The Army said the work was advertised in both the EU Journal and the MoD Bulletin.

Edinburgh Labour MP Nigel Griffiths said the case showed that the system was flawed.