The next item of business is a debate on motion S6M-16845, in the name of Claire Baker, on reforming Scotland’s west coast ferry services. I invite those members who wish to speak in the debate to press their request-to-speak button.
14:52
Since I took on the role of Labour transport spokesperson, barely a week has gone by in which I have not been asked to comment on the latest development in the ferries fiasco. Time and again, there are reports of failings in the network, and the cracks—literal and figurative—are clear to see.
The cost to taxpayers of the Government’s mismanagement has been significant and the impact on those who rely on the services continues. Delays to the completion of the MV Glen Rosa mean that it will be eight years late. The four new ferries that are being built in Turkey are also delayed, and just this week there has been another blow, as the preferred bidder for the contract for the small vessel replacement programme is a shipyard in Poland rather than the shipyard in Port Glasgow.
Will the member take an intervention?
If it is brief—I do not have much time.
Is Claire Baker aware of the reasons why the ferries in Turkey are late?
It is recognised that the ferries in Turkey are late due to a multitude of issues. The issue in Scotland, however, is that the constant drip, drip of delays and problems with the ferry network mean that any delay in any part of the system has a significant impact on islanders.
With each press story, some people might have become hardened to the failings—as has been demonstrated by members in the chamber so far. However, for our island communities, they are not just headlines but lived realities. When a ferry service is cancelled, it is not just an inconvenience—it is damaging to the local economy, to businesses and to families. People miss hospital appointments; businesses lose customers and stock; and communities are effectively cut off. That lack of connectivity is not a minor inconvenience.
For too long, the Scottish Government has failed to plan properly for the renewal of the ferry fleet. The ageing vessels in the fleet are repeatedly out of service for costly repairs and there has been no long-term plan to replace them. That is not accidental—it was a political choice. The decision to not have a rolling renewal programme was taken in full knowledge of what the consequences would be. That neglect has deprioritised the programme and led to the situation that we are in, and island communities are living with the results.
Two years have passed since the Public Audit Committee’s damning report on the delivery of new ferries for the Clyde and Hebrides. It highlighted failures in governance, transparency, accountability and communication. Now, the decision to award preferred-bidder status for the small vessel replacement programme contract to a Polish shipyard has dealt another blow to the Scottish shipbuilding industry. Ferguson Marine had included that contract as a key part of its five-year business plan. Yes, other work is taking place and will be bid for, but the loss of that work risks undermining the future of the yard and the workers who rely on it.
What message does that send to the skilled workers and apprentices at Ferguson Marine? In all the committee inquiries, BBC documentaries and newspaper columns, the workers have rightly been recognised for their skills and commitment—they are not at fault.
Although the Ferguson Marine bid was rated highly for quality, that was not enough for it to secure the work in the face of price competition from overseas. That the procurement process focuses more on cost than on the wider value could and should be looked at. Scottish shipbuilding has long been a source of pride as a strategic industry that creates jobs, supports communities and preserves vital skills. The outsourcing of the contract is a wasted opportunity to invest in domestic skills and infrastructure.
The 10 per cent fare hike for passengers, which operators did not ask for, adds insult to injury for islanders. In her letter to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, the Cabinet Secretary for Transport argued that it was necessary to fund future vessels and infrastructure investment, but that only exposes the Scottish Government’s past failures to plan adequately. The burden of mismanagement is being shifted to passengers, who are now paying more for services that remain unreliable. That is a recurring theme across public transport.
We all want a public transport system—that includes ferries—that is accessible, available and affordable, but the Scottish Government cannot continue to repeat that message while taking actions that go against it. Affordable fares are essential to encouraging more people to use ferry services. The fact that the increase comes after a previous freeze is little comfort to those who rely on those services in order to live their lives. We need to look at how the fare structure is working, including the road equivalent tariff, and the potential for concessionary schemes that will increase the use of ferries among underrepresented groups.
If we want a ferry network that works for island communities, we also need to fix the governance structure. The split between Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd, Caledonian MacBrayne and Transport Scotland is chaotic and confusing, and it has allowed for the evasion of responsibility for failings. It does not provide accountability for the communities that are most reliant on ferry services and are most impacted when things go wrong.
Scottish Labour supports a direct award to CalMac for the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services contract, but we also seek assurances that that will not prevent any progress to improve governance. I know that, this morning, the cabinet secretary was due to meet unions, passenger groups and local authorities, and such engagement is to be welcomed. In her speech, I ask the cabinet secretary to provide an update on when a decision will be reached on the contract.
I hear that Labour will now support the direct award of the contract, but at a meeting of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, at which the Labour Party was represented, it was agreed that there would be a direct award only if the islanders approved that. Are you ignoring the islanders now?
Members should always speak through the chair.
I hope to hear from the cabinet secretary on that. I understand that she has had a meeting with passenger groups, local authorities, unions and islanders, and that there is support among some islanders for a direct award. I recognise islanders’ frustrations with the ferry service, and possibly with CalMac, but I believe that that is a result of the Government’s mismanagement of the ferry service. If people had a reliable, affordable service that they were happy with, there would be more support for a continuation of the contract.
We need to involve island communities and workers in decision making and ensure that proper, efficient and transparent procedures are in place. Island communities deserve more than apologies and excuses—they deserve action. Workers and communities must have a say in how the network is run.
The Government’s amendment sets out a position of openness to more fundamental reform, but progress needs to be made. Project Neptune recognised the complex arrangement of the tripartite arrangement, its perceived lack of accountability and the impact of that delivery and cost. The Audit Scotland report underlined the weaknesses in governance arrangements, but what actions have been taken to improve the areas that were identified as needing improvement? Is work taking place to explore the potential for more fundamental reforms?
Reliability issues are a huge concern, which is reflected in the responses to the consultation on the islands connectivity plan: 88 per cent of respondents said that the first priority should be improving reliability and increasing resilience. The Government’s amendment points to the high percentage of services that have been delivered. I ask that the cabinet secretary confirm whether those figures take into account all routes and include services that have been removed in advance. We know that previous analysis by the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership—HITRANS—found that statistics included services that had been removed and, as a result of vessels being sidelined for long periods, the published figures did not reflect the lived reality of passengers.
Scotland’s ferry network is crippled, and island communities and Scottish shipbuilding are paying the price. Chronic mismanagement, poor planning and a lack of accountability have left communities cut off and workers without certainty. We know that delivering a modern, affordable ferry network is essential. That requires a proper fleet renewal plan, fair fares and a governance reform that gives communities and workers a real say.
I move,
That the Parliament deplores the continuing economic and social damage inflicted on Clyde and Hebrides communities through the Scottish Government’s failure to provide adequate ferry services; calls on the Scottish Government to reconsider its decision to impose a 10% increase in fares on Scottish Government funded ferry services, contrary to the recommendations of the delivery companies; is concerned that no Scottish yard has been selected to deliver any of the ferries in the Small Vessel Replacement Programme; believes that the governance structure for west coast ferry services has failed, and calls for the award of a new Clyde and Hebrides ferry contract to be accompanied by a fundamental reform of governance, which puts island communities and workers at the heart of decision making and accountability.
14:59
This debate allows the Opposition to attack the Government, but it also provides an opportunity to highlight the significant progress that this Government is making to enhance and improve ferry services in Scotland.
We recognise that there are challenges in the network—those mainly relate to issues emerging from annual overhauls and the delayed return of the MV Caledonian Isles—and I apologise to communities that are impacted by them. All members in the chamber should acknowledge the commendable work of the CalMac crew and port teams in continuing to deliver services. In the previous reporting period for contract year 8, they delivered 95.8 per cent of scheduled services.
We expect MV Caledonian Isles to return to service in April, when she will operate from Ardrossan following requests from the local MSP, Kenneth Gibson, and local communities for that service to continue for as long as possible. A parallel service will run from Troon, with MV Glen Sannox.
The budget that has been agreed for 2025-26 means that we will be investing up to £530 million in the delivery of ferry services and ports works. That is £530 million investment for our island communities that the Labour Party and the Conservative Party refused to support in the budget. The Government provides around two thirds of service running costs, which, remarkably, means that we can keep many fares cheaper now, in 2025, than they were in 2006-07, when Labour was in power.
We have the MV Glen Sannox operating on the Arran route, and we will see delivery of the MV Glen Rosa and the four new vessels that are under construction in Turkey. CMAL continues to work with the yard to ensure that those vessels are delivered as soon as possible. I regularly meet and receive updates from CMAL, and I discussed the matter with the chief operating officer earlier today, stressing the importance of getting those vessels into service. That will enable us to increase capacity and reliability in the fleet as well as splitting the Little Minch routes into a two-vessel service and providing a resilience vessel in the major vessel fleet.
CMAL has, of course, also moved to lead-bidder stage on phase 1 of the small vessel replacement programme, which will bring a further seven new electric ships into operation across the network. That is a live procurement, so I cannot comment on it, but I can say that those seven new vessels will improve connectivity and resilience for island residents, business and communities, and their electric operation will contribute to reduced carbon emissions and make ferry travel more sustainable.
As the Deputy First Minister told the chamber yesterday, Ferguson Marine will understandably be disappointed by the outcome of the current procurement. However, the yard continues to be supported by the Scottish Government in considering future investment and is actively pursuing a number of commercial opportunities, and its business strategy does not rely on solely on one contract.
What weighting was social value given in the tender procedure?
We are currently in a standstill position on that procurement, so, quite clearly and quite responsibly, I cannot comment on the procurement process at this time.
We are also progressing the business case to replace the MV Lord of the Isles. Taking all those investments together, around 37 per cent of the CalMac fleet will be replaced with new vessels in the next few years. Further, we are also progressing the business case and procurement of two new freight vessels for the northern isles, meaning that we will be placing orders for 10 new ships in under 12 months. That will bring a step change to fleet replacement.
On ports, work is well under way in advance of tenders for new port facilities at Gasay, for Lochboisdale and at Port Ellen. Work on other ports continues. The potential purchase of the Ardrossan port is in commercial negotiations.
The direct award of the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services contract, on which we are making good progress, provides considerable flexibility for input from communities and workers. Indeed, only this morning I attended a round-table event with the ferries community board, trades unions, CalMac, CMAL, Transport Scotland and local authorities that was set up to further harness that essential input and hear stakeholders’ priorities and ambitions for the direct award. The eventual contract will be public service focused and structured with a direct role for islanders.
There are current challenges in the network, but with six new large vessels being delivered, 10 new vessels to be procured in the next 12 months and extensive ports and harbour works, supported by £530 million investment this coming year alone, this Government is working hard to provide the resilience, reliability and sustainability for the future that people, businesses and island communities need and deserve.
Will the member take an intervention?
The cabinet secretary is concluding.
I move amendment S6M-16845.2, to leave out from “deplores” to end and insert:
“recognises the challenges that have faced a number of island communities with ferry service disruptions but notes that CalMac crews delivered 95.8% of services in the last recorded contract year; welcomes the provision of over £530 million in 2025-26 for maintaining and improving ferry services, replacing vessels, upgrading ports and harbours, and investing further in low-carbon inter-island ferries, with at least £21 million to progress phase 1 of the Small Vessel Replacement Programme; acknowledges that the delivery of six new large vessels, providing fleet resilience, and the procurement of seven new small vessels, which is currently in the 10-day ‘standstill period’, and the replacement for the MV Lord of the Isles, will provide 37% of the total fleet with new vessels, helping to reduce emissions and create more sustainability, resilience and reliability for residents, businesses and communities; notes that public engagement is being undertaken in Orkney and Shetland to inform the procurement of two new freight vessels for the Northern Isles services; acknowledges the work underway to make a direct award for the next Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services contract, and the roundtable with all stakeholders, including the Ferries Community Board and trade unions, to collectively discuss ambitions for the contract, including putting public service delivery and accountable key performance indicators developed with communities at its heart, and agrees that delivery of the award will then provide the space and opportunity for more fundamental reform of governance.”
15:04
I will speak to the amendment in my name and make it clear that we will be supporting the Labour motion before us this afternoon.
Scotland’s ferry network has been run into the ground by the Scottish National Party, with timetables being cancelled and long-promised vessels repeatedly delayed and running over budget by millions. Islanders have been left stranded by the SNP Government, and its failure to deliver lifeline ferries is damaging communities and businesses.
The social and economic impact of ferry disruptions is causing significant harm to Scotland’s islands. The ferries are a lifeline service for communities, which rely on them to access vital medical care and education and to visit their friends and families, yet SNP ministers have let them down time and again, with repeated delays and spiralling costs.
The SNP ferries scandal has lasted for more than a decade and has cost us millions. The cost of the MV Glen Sannox and the MV Glen Rosa has spiralled from an initial £97 million to £360 million. Not only are taxpayers in Scotland funding a publicly owned yard on the Clyde, but those incredible costs are compromising the ability to invest in new infrastructure and to maintain affordable ticket prices.
The procurement process for the ferries was launched on 15 October 2014, and the ferries were meant to be delivered in late 2017 and early 2018. MV Glen Sannox only set sail in January and it has a leaky hull three months later. It remains unclear whether MV Glen Rosa will be completed by the promised deadline of September this year.
Just when we think that the ferries scandal cannot get any worse, the SNP manages to outdo itself. This week, we have learned that Ferguson Marine has lost the contract for the small vessel replacement programme. The ferries procurement agency, CMAL, has instead named a Polish firm as the preferred bidder for the programme. The contract was a key part of Ferguson Marine’s five-year business plan, following delays and cost overruns in the construction of the two much larger ferries for CalMac. The announcement is devastating for Ferguson Marine and could prove to be the death knell for the yard.
It should be a given that a nationalised shipyard could win a Scottish Government contract, but it is a measure of how badly the SNP has mismanaged Ferguson’s that ferries that should be built in the west of Scotland are instead to be made in eastern Europe. The blame for that lies squarely with SNP ministers, who have put the final nail in the coffin of the once world-leading shipyard.
Will the member give way?
I am afraid, cabinet secretary, given the timings for the debate, I do not have the opportunity to do so.
The language!
Fine—I will give way.
Ladies, please.
I ask the member to be very circumspect in talking down Ferguson’s at a time when it is seeking commercial contracts.
I am not sure what I do in this chamber that gets under the skin of SNP ministers. Yesterday, my legitimate questions were treated with equal disdain by the Deputy First Minister.
The patronising attempt to play down the scale of the ferries scandal has only highlighted the Government’s complacency and failure. Despite the years of misery that the SNP has caused islanders and the huge expense that it has imposed on taxpayers, it still has the affront to complain that I have referred to the Government’s “catastrophic mismanagement” of the ferry network.
The decision not to award the contract to Ferguson Marine is a hammer blow for the yard, and the warm words and blind optimism do the workers no good whatsoever. SNP ministers cannot pass the buck any longer on this scandal—they must immediately explain to Parliament why this decision was made and what steps they are taking to ensure that the yard has a viable future. Enough is enough.
We would secure a well-equipped modern fleet of ferries and ensure that future ferry procurement puts the needs of islanders first. Islanders have been repeatedly let down by the SNP Government. SNP ministers need to show some common sense and provide a reliable ferry network that delivers for our island communities.
I move amendment S6M-16845.1, to insert at end:
“; believes that the social and economic impact of ferry disruption is causing existential harm to Scotland’s islands; shares the frustrations of Scotland’s islanders and ferry passengers, who believe that their needs are not being prioritised by the Scottish Government; notes that the increasing maintenance repair bill for the ageing fleet has hit £98 million in the last decade, which compromises the ability to invest in new infrastructure and maintain affordable ticket prices; agrees with the Audit Scotland report that the five-year business plan for Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow was overly reliant and predicated on winning the Small Vessel Replacement Programme contract; is concerned with the repeated awarding of ferry-build contracts to numerous overseas shipyards whilst taxpayers in Scotland are funding a publicly owned yard on the Clyde; notes the Scottish Government’s plan to purchase Ardrossan Harbour and urges Scottish ministers to ensure that the much-needed infrastructure upgrades to the port that were promised are delivered in a timely and cost-effective manner, and calls on the Scottish Government to be clear about its long-term intentions for Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow, and the future of Scottish shipbuilding, in light of an apparent lack of faith in it shown to date.”
15:09
I am grateful for the opportunity to discuss ferries in the chamber. They are crucial to the people I represent across the Highlands and Islands, so it is vital that islanders’ concerns get a proper airing.
The motion that we are debating contains sentiments that I applaud, such as the call for the Scottish Government to rethink its decision to hike fares by 10 per cent and the call for island communities and workers to be at
“the heart of decision making”.
Likewise, I welcome the acknowledgement in the Government’s amendment that islanders have been subjected to too much disruption, but I am concerned that it makes no reference to the planned fare hike, which is completely inappropriate given the current state of ferries and the fact that household finances are still recovering from a major cost of living crisis—a crisis that has hit islanders harder than most.
I also applaud some of the points that are expressed in the Tory amendment, especially the point that our island communities face an “existential” threat from historical underinvestment in ferries and harbours. As a result, those communities have been treated like second-class citizens.
One of the biggest issues faced by the island communities that I represent is the unreliability of the ferry services that they receive. I am frequently contacted by constituents about the poor communication and relentless disruption that they have to endure. Vessel faults and breakdowns prevent islanders from heading to the mainland, ferries are assigned to routes that they are not properly suited to, and entire services are cancelled at short notice because of poor management decisions.
The consequences of those failings have been severe for the people I serve. A hospitality business owner in Tiree has lost thousands of pounds because a lack of capacity has stopped them from shipping in fresh produce and has prevented tourists from getting to the island. A person on Lewis, who was trying to do the right thing for the planet by using public transport to get to work, ended up losing several hundred pounds on buses and a hotel because a technical fault with the MV Loch Seaforth meant that they could not get to the mainland. Crofters cannot get their animals off the islands as a result of last-minute cancellations.
The failings of west coast ferry services highlight the underinvestment and the complete lack of regard for the human rights of people who live on the islands. Everyone should have access to food, but ferry cancellations mean that islanders face empty shelves. Everyone should have access to healthcare, but a lack of ferry capacity means that people cannot make vital health appointments. Everyone should have freedom of movement, but the unreliability of ferry services confines people.
The Scottish Greens have worked hard to deliver ferry services that work for, rather than against, islanders. In the budget, we got the Scottish Government to expand free ferry travel to under-22s on northern isles interisland ferries, and we pushed for ferries to remain in public hands, so that they operate for the benefit of the Scottish people instead of shareholders. We also made the case for investment in all-electric ferries, and we are pleased that the Government has followed through on that.
The Government needs to ensure that the new fleet that it is procuring is delivered on time and on budget and, most of all, is of a high enough quality to meet the demands of west coast crossings. The Government also needs to ensure that the new Clyde and Hebrides ferry contract puts islanders and workers front and centre, and it must not consider raising fares until a new and improved fleet and service are up and running.
Overall, I would like the Government to put islands and rural communities first when it comes to infrastructure and public service design. If we get that right for islanders and rural communities, we will get it right for urban communities.
15:13
I suppose that it depends on the starting point, but I think that the cabinet secretary had some nerve to begin her speech by saying that progress has been made. There has not been one inch of embarrassment or shame about this whole episode—delayed ferries that are over their budget, painted-on windows, a leaking hull and short cables, with it being cheaper to scrap the ferries and start again. How embarrassing has this whole episode been?
Not one minister has resigned as a result of the series of catastrophes over many years. The people who have been let down are the yard workers, taxpayers and islanders. Even though ministers owned the yard and, before that, their favourite industrialist was brought in to save the yard, no minister has accepted any responsibility.
It was striking that, at the Finance and Public Administration Committee yesterday, the permanent secretary commented, in passing, that we need to learn the lessons from the past on procurement. What could he have been talking about?
We need cast our minds back only a few years to the BBC documentary that exposed the procurement process for those two infamous ferries. This afternoon, the cabinet secretary refused to say what proportion of the bid related to social benefit, but it is interesting that, in the previous procurement process, the bids were assessed 50 per cent on price and 50 per cent on quality. This time, bids were assessed 65 per cent on quality and 35 per cent on price. Therefore, the percentage of the assessment that was based on price was lowered, and yet Ferguson’s did not win the contract this time. It won it the time before, when the assessment was 50:50 on price and quality.
The previous process involved a 424-page document being provided to Ferguson’s, rather than to any other bidder, and design support being given to the company. It is clear that the previous process was rigged, but that has never been admitted by the Government and still no minister has resigned.
The reality is that the Government is more interested in chasing the headlines than it is in building a proper industrial strategy. Just look at BiFab: the Government wasted £50 million with no benefit whatsoever. The company collapsed, no jobs were saved, and the minister said,
“you win some, you lose some.”
Dalzell steelworks was, in effect, mothballed—that has been the case for months. There has been no benefit, and the money involved represents considerable exposure for the Government. The Trump tariffs pose a considerable threat to the Lochaber smelter, and we have seen none of the 2,000 jobs that were promised. And now Ferguson’s. All that because the Government has been more fixated on chasing the headlines than on building a proper industrial strategy. The Government should be ashamed.
I supported the budget this year, and we worked with the Government because we were building in more support for the northern isles, but the rest of the strategy is an embarrassment. I wish that the Government would be honest about that, because, as the permanent secretary said only yesterday, we need to learn the lessons from the past. This Government seems to be completely incapable of doing so.
We now move to the open debate, with back-bench speeches of up to four minutes.
15:17
Thank you, Presiding Officer, for the opportunity to speak about the continuing economic and social damage that is being experienced as a result of poor decision making in relation to our ferry services. I will focus particularly on the situation of the ferry service between Ardrossan and Arran. That route was chosen for the Glen Sannox and the Glen Rosa, which were originally estimated to cost £97 million. That has now risen to £380 million. As has been said, the Glen Sannox was brought into service only earlier this year, although I saw a plaque on the ship on Monday that says that it was launched by Nicola Sturgeon in 2017. As Claire Baker said, we still await the Glen Rosa.
Ardrossan has been the main port for Arran for 190 years. That is because it is the fastest and shortest route. It is the most convenient route for people on Arran, and the infrastructure around the Ardrossan port, which includes the railway stations, has benefited the local community. However, as a result of Government decisions, no ferries have been running from Ardrossan since January, which is devastating for both the town and islanders on Arran. Both communities now have active groups to save Ardrossan harbour.
I have repeatedly asked the Scottish Government to put together a package of support for businesses that are affected by cancelled ferries and by the ferry moving to the port of Troon. So far, however, those pleas have fallen on deaf ears. I hope that the Scottish Government will commit today to providing support to local businesses in Arran and Ardrossan.
Eight years ago, it was decided that Ardrossan would retain the Arran route. However, eight years on, we still do not have certainty on whether the lifeline ferry service will continue from Ardrossan harbour, due to the disastrous failure to commence work there. Despite both ferries having been delayed for many years, the harbour work has not started, and no tender process has been put in place to ascertain costs. The Scottish Government decided to commission the Glen Sannox and the Glen Rosa with a design that would require Ardrossan harbour to be reconfigured and upgraded to enable the vessels to berth. The Scottish Government knew that the port and fuel infrastructure was not in place, but it decided to proceed with its chosen design.
The port is owned by Peel Ports, and it was obvious to those with experience of that owner that there might well be problems in coming to a decision to proceed. I welcome the news that negotiations have taken place and are on-going to potentially purchase Ardrossan harbour, which many have been calling for over a number of years. However, we now need a viable plan for upgrading work to take place as a matter of urgency. I hope that the Scottish Government will make it very clear today that it prioritises bringing Ardrossan harbour into public ownership, developing a compensation plan for Ardrossan and Arran and learning lessons from this fiasco.
15:21
I remind the Parliament that my wife works part time for CalMac.
In response to Claire Baker’s comments regarding Turkey, I put on the public record at the outset that colleagues genuinely need to realise and recognise why there are delays there. More than 50,000 people lost their lives in an earthquake, and shipyard staff went back to their communities to try to help them. I do not think that it is fair to attack the Scottish Government because of an earthquake that took place in a different country.
I want to touch on the road equivalent tariff, which the SNP Government brought in in 2008. Almost every fare on every route, barring the Orkney and Shetland routes, is cheaper than when the SNP came to power, even after 18 years of inflation.
Scottish Labour’s motion talks about the
“governance structure for west coast ferry services”.
As Fiona Hyslop, the present transport secretary, and Jenny Gilruth, the previous transport minister, will know, I offered my considerations on project Neptune, which Claire Baker referenced. To me, the project offered little apart from proposals that would damage Port Glasgow. I accept that having three organisations, which all have different boards and chief executive officers, is not perfect and costs money. However, decimating Port Glasgow town centre by removing jobs would cost a lot more.
Putting CMAL back into CalMac would inevitably lead to 50 jobs leaving Port Glasgow and returning to Gourock. Jobs staying in the constituency is a good thing, but 50 jobs leaving Port Glasgow would damage the town. It would lead to CalMac staff going around the network. That has been argued for by Alasdair Allan MSP and by David Stewart when he was a member of the Scottish Parliament—
Will the member take an intervention?
Sorry—I only have four minutes.
They were rightly doing what they thought was right for their constituents, but I am doing what is right for my constituents and my community. I do not think that the 50 jobs leaving Port Glasgow and going to Gourock is the right thing.
During one of the project Neptune briefing sessions that Jenny Gilruth offered, more than 10 MSPs were in the room, including Kenneth Gibson, Jenni Minto, Katy Clark, Paul Sweeney, Edward Mountain and others. Paul Sweeney proposed to close Ferguson Marine and move its operations to Inchgreen dry dock in Greenock. To say that I found that objectionable would be charitable, to say the least.
Mr Sweeney now appears to have tempered his view. He supports Ferguson Marine remaining open at Port Glasgow, with Inchgreen dry dock in Greenock operating at the same time. I do not disagree with Mr Sweeney on Inchgreen, because it has been sorely underused for many years, so we are on the same page on that. However, his initial proposal to move the yard from Port Glasgow would have decimated Port Glasgow town centre and taken 300 jobs from the community. It would also have gone against the Scottish Government’s 20-minute neighbourhood proposal. I have undertaken a lot of work with the local shopkeepers, and one shopkeeper in particular said to me that, if the yard leaves Port Glasgow—whether under the proposal that was made or due to the yard being shut because it did not have work—the town would be like it was in the 1980s all over again.
That brings me to Monday and the issue of the small vessels. Last night, at the cross-party group on maritime and shipbuilding, which Paul Sweeney chairs, Kevin Hobbs gave a presentation about what happened on Monday, with a focus on the 65 per cent and 35 per cent split. As I said in the chamber yesterday, the management and the board need to listen to their workforce and engage with them because, if they do not, the yard will struggle. The workforce have a lot of the answers, and it is up to the board and the management to listen and engage fully.
15:25
I thank Claire Baker and the Labour Party for their motion, which allows us to discuss a subject that I have been involved with for nine years on various committees that I have sat on.
For me, the debate is split into two parts. I hope that I will have time to get to the second part, but let me start with the first part, which is the delivery of ferries. During the nine years in which I have been involved, I have seen two owners of the yard, four CEOs or turnaround directors, three different chairs, goodness knows how many ministers and goodness knows how many cabinet secretaries—I have lost count. What have we got from that? Not a huge amount. We have one boat, which is seven years late and is costing far more than anything else, and we have a yard that is waiting to deliver the Glen Rosa.
If the cabinet secretary wants to stand up and tell me when the Glen Rosa will be delivered, I will be delighted, because neither the committee that I sit on nor the Parliament has been told a date, despite the promise that we would be told a date before the end of January. We are now told that we might get it by the end of March if we are lucky. I will take an intervention on that if the cabinet secretary wants to respond.
The yard should be the pride of Scotland and it should be delivering ferries for Scotland, but at the moment there is no CEO and the chair has never built a ship in his life, having been involved in aircraft for a lot of it. The yard is costing Scottish taxpayers £20 million a year in unrecoverable costs just to stay open. We have an admission from the past CEO and the previous CEO that, every time we build a ferry there, its cost will be 25 to 30 per cent greater than the cost in any other yard in the world. That information was given to the committee in evidence.
It is therefore unsurprising that the small vessels replacement programme could not go to Ferguson Marine. I wish that it could have done. However, the board signed off on an investment plan, which was also signed off by the Deputy First Minister, saying that the matter would be solved with the direct award of the small vessels replacement, for which the yard would get £14 million to help it to build, knowing fine well that the permanent secretary had said that a direct award of the small vessels replacement programme would likely be illegal.
How do we sum all of that up? Is it incompetence? Is it inexperience? Was it a gamble? I do not know. It is probably all those things. What we do know is that the Government appointed the board and the turnaround director and approved the appointment of the CEOs. I am sorry to say this, but I believe that the Government has sold the workforce down the river. It is a disgrace. I am disappointed that I have to stand here in the Parliament and say that, but it is a fact.
I turn to the west coast ferry services. Ms Hyslop sat on the very committee that took evidence on ferry services for the Western Isles, and we heard very clearly during an evidence session that there should be a direct award only if islanders supported it. I have had no evidence presented to me—or to the committee that I sit on—that islanders now approve of a direct award.
The Government is now talking about a direct tender process, but it has not done the one thing that it has been asked to do, which is to sort out the whole procedure. We have CMAL, Transport Scotland and CalMac—a plethora of organisations—but we have no one in control, and the whole thing is tumbling out of control.
I am sad to be standing up in Parliament saying this. I am sad that the Government cannot give me a date for delivery of the Glen Rosa, because no one seems to know that, and I am sad that the Government has sold Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow down the river. It is a disgrace.
15:30
Presiding Officer,
“Britain is an island nation—a nation of islanders and shipbuilders”.
So proclaimed the opening sentence of the 1961 film “Seawards the Great Ships”, which was the swan song for Clyde shipbuilding. At that time, the country still held a global share of around 10 per cent of the world market for shipbuilding; now it is less than 1 per cent. John Grierson and Hilary Harris produced Scotland’s first Oscar-winning film—at that time, great achievement was celebrated in the industry. It is a great tragedy that, in more recent years, the islanders and shipbuilders have been in conflict—unnecessarily so—as a result of the incoherent policy of this Government.
Reflecting on yesterday’s announcement about the award of the small vessel replacement programme, it is clear that the public procurement strategy for Scotland is incompatible with an industrial strategy—and that has not been unpredictable. The Government made a reasonable conclusion that it would be too risky to pursue a direct award of the contract—fair enough—so it decided on an open procedure. However, when I met representatives of Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd, who kindly came to the cross-party group last night—as Mr McMillan, the member for Inverclyde mentioned—they were clear that, according to the public procurement strategy for Scotland, there was to be a split of 65 per cent technical weighting and 35 per cent financial weighting. Independent teams checked the procedures in relation to the different tenders and then came together to make a decision, which is how they arrived at the award to Remontowa of Gdansk.
What has been missed in all of that, of course, is social value. In every UK nation, there is a minimum requirement for a 10 per cent social value weighting—apart from in Scotland. That seems like a glaring omission in the procedure. Indeed, if the ministers had been paying any attention to the recommendations from Maritime UK—and, indeed, the views of the cross-party group—on the refresh of the national shipbuilding strategy, they would have recognised Maritime UK’s recommendation 3, which stated:
“Despite welcoming the minimum 10% social value weighting, the UK shipbuilding enterprise urges the UK and devolved governments to show more ambition in their use of social value, in line with the practices of competitor shipbuilding nations, and raise the threshold for UK content.”
No wonder the contract went overseas, if we are not prepared to put in place the fundamental basis for our yards to be competitive. I do not think that anyone here wishes to see public expenditure in Scotland support the social value and economic multiplier of a foreign nation and its economy.
At the heart of the public procurement strategy for Scotland is surely community wealth building, but that is not translating into a demand signal that is then able to be captured by Scottish industry. That is at the heart of the problem.
Regardless of whether it is a direct award or an open procedure, we need to make sure that our procedure is competitive. We know that there is a cross-Government shipbuilding pipeline across the UK of more than 150 new vessels, but we are seeing those vessels flowing overseas to Turkey, Spain, in the case of the Northern Lighthouse Board’s vessel, and now Poland, with the latest contract going to Remontowa. We need to address that matter. It is clear to me that the Government must engage with the issue of social value.
Will the member give way?
I am happy to give way, if I can have the time to do that.
Briefly, Mr Mountain.
The whole issue could have been resolved if, as part of the contract that was given to the overseas yard, two ferries were built in Scotland. That would have spread the risk and maybe enabled Ferguson’s yard to stay open. Does Paul Sweeney agree that that might have been a sensible way of doing it, rather than just walking away from the situation, as the Government has done?
I will give the member an extra 30 seconds.
I appreciate that point. There were many ways to structure the contract that would have allowed more work share to happen in Scotland. It is clear that no subcontract opportunities will be available to Scottish shipyards, unlike, for example, in the Liverpool combined region, which was able to structure the Mersey ferry contract to allow for Cammell Laird to take a work share, despite the main contract originally being awarded to Damen of the Netherlands. More can therefore be done there.
Furthermore, I encourage ministers to consider the common user facility model developed by Australia in both Adelaide and Perth, where the infrastructure—the shipyard itself—is state owned, but is marketed as, in effect, a common neutral facility that any contract winner can then utilise for the purpose of generating social value as part of the fulfilment of a contract. That does not favour any one company, but allows the facility and the economic benefits to come into the local community.
I urge the minister to look at the Australian model and to consider how that could be utilised in a future round of the small vessel replacement programme—
The member will need to conclude.
—and for other contracts.
I call Bob Doris, who will be the final speaker in the open debate.
15:35
I want to speak in the debate to raise a concern that I have. In doing so, I do not wish to downplay the clear and evident challenges that have beset ferry services in recent years or the impact on Ferguson Marine.
The concern that I wish to air is that there has been a perception that our Scottish ferry network is in perpetual turmoil and is wholly unreliable, when that is obviously not the case. As I said, I do not intend to downplay the impact on island communities when things go wrong, and I will return to that later.
However, if we look at CalMac’s actual performance for the most recent year for which figures are recorded, we see that its crews delivered a service performance of 95.8 per cent. That means that only around four in every 100 ferry services that served island communities did not run. In general terms, that is a performance that we should be talking up and not seeking to undermine. The white heat of debate and the obvious politicking that goes on aside, I am sure that no member would seek to undermine our ferry services in that way.
Islanders know far better than I do how important reliability is, not only to their communities but to local businesses and to the island economy, which often rely on visitors. Those visitors are absolutely vital.
Will Bob Doris give way?
I am sorry, but I am very tight for time.
I suspect that the turmoil narrative, which is not accurate, is deterring many visitors, at a time when we have the summer tourist season ahead of us. Ariane Burgess also mentioned the importance of visitors to island communities.
When ferries are performing reliably and to a high standard, I ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that we encourage visitors and increase passenger demand so that more people visit our amazing islands and experience all that they have to offer. We must not allow the essential role of conducting robust scrutiny of occasions on which performance and delivery are not up to scratch on our ferry network to get in the way of growing visitor numbers when overall performance is very good. I ask the Scottish Government to say more about how it will seek to carry out that important task, which is vital to many of our island communities.
However, I will not downplay the clear challenges that exist. I acknowledge that although the headline performance figures for our ferry network are excellent, problems with services can still have a disproportionate and detrimental impact on certain island communities. That is obvious, and Claire Baker and Katy Clark made that point.
I also recognise and welcome the Scottish Government’s provision in 2025-26 of more than £530 million for maintaining and improving ferry services, replacing vessels, upgrading ports and harbours and investing further in low-carbon interisland ferries. The question to ask is how that investment will benefit those island communities that have been disproportionately impacted. It would be beneficial for the Scottish Government to be crystal clear about that.
In the years ahead, 37 per cent of Scotland’s fleet will be made up of new vessels. That will transform the service for our island communities. However, those communities are right to be impatient.
I want to mention the outstanding fact that, despite the recent increase in ferry fares, it is cheaper today, under an SNP Government, to take a ferry in Scotland—leaving Orkney and Shetland aside, of course—because of the road equivalent tariff than it was the last time that Labour was in power. That is delivering for communities, surely.
We now move to closing speeches.
15:38
Despite the bluster that we have had in the debate, it is clear that we are on the cusp of major positive improvements in our ferry services. That will be a positive legacy for communities, and I hope that, in the years ahead, the cabinet secretary will be able to reflect on her role in delivering that.
However, I say to the Government that this is the wrong time to increase ferry fares by 10 per cent, just as it is the wrong time to increase rail fares, given that we are in a cost of living crisis. As an occasional visitor to the islands, I would be content to pay an extra 10 per cent on a ferry fare, but for members of island communities who live and work on the islands and who need a daily ferry service for education, work, business or healthcare, a 10 per cent increase in fares will be very difficult to swallow.
Perhaps in the future, ferry fare increases will be more acceptable—once the benefits from the new vessels start to come through and once the new Clyde and Hebridean services contract comes through, and people can see the benefits. At the moment, however, those benefits are not there. Communities are being asked to feel the pain without any particular gain.
Ariane Burgess spoke passionately about the case work that she is doing in her region and the real everyday problems that people living on the islands have. Katy Clark talked about the long-term frustration of people living on Arran and what they have had to live with over the years. That is the reality. That is what the 10 per cent increase in fares will be seen against: the reality of what services are now, rather than what they will be in the future.
It is clear that a range of factors have got us into this situation. There is the ageing ferry fleet, and all the problems that there have been with procurement. That fleet has operated at full capacity, which means that, when a vessel has been out of action, problems have cascaded throughout the service. There has been a dramatic increase in usage—which is probably partly down to the road equivalent tariff—without the increased capacity to deal with it.
Then, there is the complex administrative set-up: the tripartite arrangement of Transport Scotland, CMAL and CalMac. It is really opaque and you could say that it has made some poor decisions. When the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee looked at the issue, we called out the
“‘pass the parcel’ culture”
that exists between the members of the tripartite arrangement. There needs to be action on governance.
The biggest area for action is the new ferries. I agree with the cabinet secretary that the replacement of a third of Scotland’s ferries, including through the four vessels that are being finished in Turkey under some quite difficult circumstances—I acknowledge Stuart McMillan’s point about that—in the next year and a half will make a huge difference. Those vessels will increase service quality, reduce the carbon footprint and improve air quality. Alongside the seven ferries that will come through the small vessel replacement programme—which, I understand, are replacing vessels that have a combined service age of 252 years—that means that the situation will feel very different for island communities in the future.
I join other members in being hugely disappointed that Ferguson’s shipyard has been unable to secure the contract. Willie Rennie is right: there are echoes of BiFab here. I have no doubt that the skills and dedication of the workers at the yard are there, but Edward Mountain is right that there are questions about the competence of the management. Stuart McMillan is right that the management and the board need to listen to the workforce about how they make that yard competitive going forward. Although I respect the fact that the cabinet secretary would find it very difficult to make a direct award to Ferguson Marine to build the ships, Paul Sweeney makes an important point about incorporating social value in to procurement practice.
Although the cabinet secretary is unable to make a direct award to Ferguson Marine, the Government is able to make a direct award to CalMac to run services for the next 10 years. It has the opportunity now to get that right in the next year.
I welcome this debate. However, communities need to see concrete changes coming through in service quality and the new vessels before fare increases take place. That is the context for the debate.
15:43
This is another short but sweet debate on ferries—and another one in Opposition, not Government, time. I have only four minutes today, but I would need four hours to go into great detail about the issues that have been raised this afternoon.
In my nine years as an MSP, ferry services is the issue that has caused the greatest amount of upset to my island constituents. Ariane Burgess summed it up best when she said that constituents are sick of being treated like second-class citizens. I agree with that sentiment.
There have been the endless delays to and cost overruns of the Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa. There is the endless time out of service of the MV Caledonian Isles, which has had a year out of service due to its age. There have been delays in awarding the CHFS contract due to legal back and forth, and there have been the promises to rearrange the governance structures of the tripartite alliance between CMAL, Transport Scotland and CalMac. None of those issues is particularly new. In fact, since I joined the Parliament, I have asked 115 questions on ferries—116 if you include today’s debate. That is a symptom of a catalogue of endless embarrassments, failures, cancellations and delays.
All that comes at a huge cost to the island communities. Mull, Iona and Arran are all suffering economic loss to the tune of millions of pounds in lost revenue and lost tourism. I say to Bob Doris that, over the past five years, non-weather-related cancellations on the CalMac network have increased by 237 per cent. Have a think about that before you make apologies for the failures of your Government.
Always speak through the chair, please.
Thank you. I will do that.
I will start with the shenanigans of the past week: Ferguson Marine’s interim chief executive has quit. Again, that news was snuck out on a Thursday evening. He is the third chief executive who has left the yard in the past couple of years. I do not blame him at all. He must surely have been given a heads-up about the news that landed on us on Monday—the shocking decision to build seven new small electric ferries in Poland instead of Port Glasgow, which came straight off the back of the Government’s awarding of contracts to Turkey. None of that is mentioned in the Government’s amendment. None of it is a ringing endorsement of Scotland’s ferry-building business, as Paul Sweeney rightly pointed out.
Those of us who were in the Parliament at the time hark back to Derek Mackay’s famous claim that he was the minister who had saved the Ferguson’s yard. Do members remember that press release? For the sake of people in Inverclyde, I hope that Fiona Hyslop does not go down in history as the minister who oversaw the yard’s demise.
What about Ardrossan harbour? Katy Clark mentioned it. Again, as far back as 2018, there was a promise to upgrade it. Seven years later, there is no upgrade and there are no sailings and no ferries. I ask the cabinet secretary: where has that strategy gone?
Twenty per cent of Ardrossan’s workforce work in the wholesale and retail sectors. Members should think about how they are affected. Ten per cent work in the transport and storage sectors. Ardrossan’s economy was built on and predicated on the ferry. The local economy of Ardrossan is paying the price of endless dithering and delay. As Willie Rennie put it, the whole thing is simply an embarrassment.
I do not have much time. However, although I am often accused of coming to the Parliament to complain about ferries, here are some solutions. First, phase 2 of the SVRP should be awarded to a Scottish yard. Secondly, if the Government insists on owning a shipyard, it must give it some work. Thirdly, the Government should return said yard to the private sector when it is feasible to do so.
Fourthly, there should be a reform of the Government’s arrangements for our ferry network’s procurement, ownership and management—we should get on with that reform once and for all.
Fifthly, the Government should get on with the investment to upgrade Ardrossan harbour, lest Ardrossan lose the Arran route to Troon for good, which would be devastating.
Sixthly, we need a statement to the Parliament about the future of Ferguson Marine, because we must never forget that our islanders are suffering.
If we get all that right, surely we might have a chance—a smidge of hope—that our island communities will have some faith restored in the Government and the Parliament.
I support the amendment in Sue Webber’s name.
15:47
Mark Ruskell’s contribution was the only one that included any balance and consideration of where we are right now. He talked about the hope that, when Fiona Hyslop comes out of Government and goes on to whatever she does next, she will be able to look back and think, “Yes—we did that.” Fiona Hyslop has been a member of the Parliament since 1999. She is stepping down. She has been a phenomenal servant to the Parliament, the Government and her constituents. That is worth putting on the record.
The cabinet secretary reflected on the current challenges in the network. We understand that the islanders need reliable and consistent services, and that the lived experience behind the statistics needs to be improved. As part of the new contractual arrangements, we have worked with the ferries community board to develop new key performance indicators to reflect that and to drive improvement where that is needed.
CalMac has put in place a new area management structure to better engage with local stakeholders and to reflect their views and needs in decision making. Although that is in its early stages, it is certainly being welcomed by the communities that are involved. That is a core element of CalMac’s enhancement and change plan, which will help to drive improvements in the time leading up to, and throughout, the new contract. The community, workers and other stakeholders will be key drivers in that, and their voices will be heard.
We will, of course, have to ensure that the ferries remain affordable to both the user and the taxpayer. However, the current budget position supports the improvements that we are committed to delivering.
We are about to publish the islands connectivity plan strategic paper and the vessels and ports plan. Those will set out the future for ferries and fulfil our commitment in response to parliamentary inquiries that have called for a clear strategic approach and a commitment to investment in vessels and ports.
As part of that, we are committed to retaining the RET fares for islanders on the CalMac network—fares that have brought down costs significantly since they were introduced. For example, on the Stornoway to Ullapool route, single fares before the RET in 2008 were £15.30 for a foot passenger and £75 for a car, which would now be £25.75 and £128.70, rather than the £12.30 and £66.75 that they cost with the RET.
On the recent fares increase, I absolutely understand that any uplift is unwelcome, but it needs to be set against the previous fares freeze and its having brought fares back to around the level that they would have been at. Nobody wants their fares to go up, but the Government has to take action when the time comes for it.
There have been many calls, including in today’s debate, for structural reform. The cabinet secretary has been clear that we will still consider that, and that no option is off the table, but our focus has rightly been on ensuring the delivery of the direct award. However, I assure colleagues that the necessary reform of CalMac to ensure compliance with the Teckal arrangements will also ensure that future reform can be considered once the award is completed later this year.
We remain committed to investing in the delivery of ferry services and new ports and vessels to ensure that services are fit for purpose.
Can the minister answer the question that I posed earlier about when the Glen Rosa will be available for sailings? Will it be September, as promised, or will it be six months later? When will it be?
The Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee will be told about that in due course, as is the normal procedure.
As the cabinet secretary did earlier, I reiterate what the Deputy First Minister told the Parliament yesterday. Ferguson Marine will understandably be disappointed with the outcome of the small vessel procurement process. However, the yard continues to be supported by the Scottish Government in considering future investment. It is actively pursuing a number of commercial opportunities and its business strategy does not rely solely on one contract.
The cabinet secretary mentioned the productive round-table meeting that she chaired today, and said that everyone involved is facing in the same direction, which is very good news. For my part, I have met the ferries community board and co-chaired a meeting with CalMac and NFU Scotland’s Argyll and Bute representatives, and lots of niggles were ironed out in those meetings. The point that I am making is that the cabinet secretary and I are absolutely determined to ensure that we have the kind of community engagement that is needed.
The Government is making considerable investments in the services, and we are committed to delivering the best services for the island communities that we serve.
15:52
Not a day goes by when there is not another problem with our ferries. Last week, there was a welding crack in the Glen Sannox. This week, the Sound of Barra ferry is off again, and that ferry is not being replaced through the small ferries contract. The mainland route is being served by the MV Isle of Mull, which, because of problems with the evacuation system, can hold only 45 passengers, when the ship was built to hold nearly 1,000. That issue was flagged in the 2016 contract between Transport Scotland and CalMac, but it has been left to wither on the vine and go to fault rather than being dealt with. The community in Barra does not understand why boats are being deployed in that way, and they are asking for a debrief on the impact on the island in order to understand why decisions have been made.
Claire Baker talked about the impact that the situation is having on ferry users and on communities, and the impact of fare increases, which are well over inflation.
Ariane Burgess talked about the impact on businesses, especially agriculture and food businesses, in trying to get food on and off islands.
Islanders are, by necessity, seafarers, but the Scottish Government cannot find enough of them to provide members for boards to oversee the running of the ferries. We have a situation in which ferries are owned and operated by boards whose members have no idea what island living is like and no knowledge of the impact that ferry failures can have on the community.
The tripartite arrangement simply is not working, and it makes passing the buck much easier. Three bodies are in charge, but not one of them is taking responsibility. That needs to end. Communities that are served by ferries must be empowered to run the services using their knowledge and skills, and, indeed, because of their dependence on having a well-run ferry network. Those skills are crucial to board members.
Rhoda Grant will recall that back in 2020, the then Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee did a huge report on the issue. Reform of the Government’s structures has been an issue for many years, but it seems that no action has been taken.
No action whatsoever has been taken, and we are seeing the results of that now.
The week before last, I asked the First Minister about a resilience fund, which the Scottish Labour Party has been pushing for. He gave me a hopeful answer, but then I heard what he said in answer to Alasdair Allan who asked him about travel being charged to people as if they were taking the original vessel, which was off. That happens anyway: if people are rerouted because a vessel is off, they have to pay only the cost of their original journey, but we are looking for a resilience fund to pay people’s additional costs. I have heard of people having to spend three nights in a hotel because of a lack of capacity before they can get the next service to the islands.
Businesses are failing—they desperately need a resilience fund. It could be paid for through the fines that are imposed on CalMac for cancellations and late sailings. That would allow businesses to get compensation so that they do not fail, because if they fail, we will have further depopulation of the islands.
Katy Clark and Jamie Greene talked about the Arran ferry going to Ardrossan and the issues that that causes in Ardrossan. Only under this Government could we build, for a service, a ferry that cannot even fit in the port. The Government has had seven years to change that, but it has still not changed it. That adds to costs, and it is total mismanagement.
Of course, we support the direct award of the contract to CalMac. It does not, to an extent, really matter who is running the service, because they will still have to deal with the same old ferries that do not work. The only difference would be that another company would be paying dividends to shareholders, as well as fines to the Scottish Government simply because the ferries do not work.
Many members talked about the small ferry contract and the fact that it has gone abroad. Willie Rennie talked about learning lessons from the past, but those lessons do not seem to have been learned at all. The building of the Glen Sannox and the Glen Rosa has been an absolute disaster, and the blame for that lies with the Scottish Government. Its governance arrangements were non-existent, the contracts were let without a design sign-off, and the decision on dual fuel, which will never be used, was part of a vanity project.
Sue Webber was right—if the Government does not shape up its act, it will doom Ferguson’s, and we cannot allow that to happen. It needs to act to ensure that Ferguson’s is working, to keep the employees who have done such an excellent job, and to stop failing them by giving them the wrong contracts. The small ferry contracts would have been much better for Ferguson’s than the two large ferry contracts, which had no space for the second ferry.
We need a 25-year plan for replacement of the fleet: we must have that in place. Scottish yards must know when ferry contracts will be put out to tender so that they can be prepared, and so that we can schedule that work in our own yards.
Islanders need ferry services that are designed by them and that work for them. Until we have governance structures that ensure that responsibility and good management are in place, until we have a Scottish Government that admits that it does not know best, and until people who are dependent on ferries make the decisions that affect ferries, nothing will change.
That concludes the debate. There will be a brief pause before we move to the next item of business, to allow front benches to change.
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Temporary Accommodation (Children’s Rights)