Scotland on Sunday

Contractors on the new Scottish parliament building at Holyrood are to keep working over the Christmas holidays in a bid to keep the controversial £401m project on schedule. Up to 50 staff will carry on working at the site, concentrating on key aspects of the programme which threaten to delay the completion date beyond the target of next July. The construction industry traditionally takes a two-week break over the Christmas period, but project bosses ordered the extra work in the hope they can avoid the embarrassment of fresh delays.