Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Wednesday, June 14, 2023

Official Report 1075KB pdf

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Caledonian MacBrayne Services (Resilience Fund)

The next item of business is a debate on motion S6M-09463, in the name of Michael Marra, on a resilience fund for CalMac disruption. I would be grateful if members who wish to speak in the debate were to press their request-to-speak buttons.

16:03  

The motion that we have put forward has a simple ask of this Government: to establish a resilience fund for businesses that are affected by the disruption to and withdrawal of ferry services. How Green and Scottish National Party members vote at decision time will be a clear signal of whether they accept responsibility for their catastrophic failure of our island communities and whether they will take a small action to begin to make amends. The failure has been 16 years in the making, but it is destroying livelihoods and communities today.

The figures are damning. From May 2022 to April 2023, the Mallaig-Lochboisdale route suffered 79 diverted sailings, 142 late sailings and 296 cancelled ferries. More than one in four of all scheduled sailings never left the harbour. With news of yet more cancellations this month, the situation is, to quote Alasdair Allan MSP, “abysmal”.

The consequences of those failures are devastating for islanders. Estimates are that local businesses are losing close to £50,000 per day. In an already difficult climate of high energy and fuel costs, coupled with soaring inflation, businesses cannot afford further financial hardship.

Between October 2021 and March 2023, CalMac paid £4.54 million in financial penalties. Where did that go?

The First Minister said last week that the money was

“reinvested back into the resilience of the network.”—[Official Report, 8 June 2023; c 10.]

The Government’s amendment reiterates that claim. However, what is the resilience that it speaks of? Hardly a week goes by without further announcements of delays and cancellations, as the network rusts and breaks and two ferries sit in port under construction in the west of Scotland. The Government’s incompetent approach is not arresting decline or incentivising better performance; it is doing precisely the opposite. CalMac bosses know that the money is being shuffled around in yet another SNP accountancy trick.

In truth, island residents and business owners are the only ones to experience a true financial penalty, as their livelihoods are destroyed. The idea of a resilience fund did not originate from members on the Labour benches; it began in our island communities when residents of South Uist gathered in droves to protest about the withdrawal of yet more ferry services. Scottish Labour has spoken with business owners across the Western Isles and their position could not be clearer. One business owner told us that the impact on her business was “catastrophic” and

“far exceeds the impact from the global pandemic”.

With this Government, it is, I am afraid, a case of out of sight, out of mind. If 185,000 people, or a third of Edinburgh’s population, were protesting outside the Parliament now, the Government would have to listen but, when a third of South Uist’s population turn out to protest, the Government pays no heed whatsoever. It is no wonder that the owner of a catering company in South Uist told us:

“we have lost all faith in the Scottish Government to be able to improve the situation”.

That loss of faith in Government did not happen overnight. It is the result of 16 years of wilful neglect by the SNP Government, which leaves our islands facing an existential threat. That incompetence has consequences. Under the SNP, the vital infrastructure of Scotland’s ferry services is reaching collapse. The litany of policy failures—on infrastructure, connectivity, housing, education, fishing and more—is leading to an exodus from our islands, particularly of young people who see no option for their future in the place that they call home.

The research paper “The Gaelic Crisis in the Vernacular Community”, which was published in 2020, issued stark warnings about the future viability of the Gaelic language and culture beyond the next 10 years, in the face of an ageing population in island communities. The paper highlighted that

“The retention of young people and young families willing to contribute to community vitality will be central to any credible strategy of revitalisation.”

How can we expect young people to stay in areas where they will be increasingly isolated and financially penalised?

The very existence of Scotland’s ancient language and culture relies on the economic viability of our island communities, but today it is abundantly clear that the SNP cannot be trusted with the protection of Scotland and of who we are and where we come from. The SNP is eternally distracted, is obsessed with press over policy and dissembling over delivery, and has utterly failed our islanders.

Are SNP and Green members listening? Have they heard the cries of despair from our communities who rely on these services? I see some members in the chamber who represent those communities directly. Will they heed those calls for help? Given the Government’s position today, those members must put aside blind loyalty to the amendment that the Government has lodged and loyalty to a failing incompetent leadership and do right by their constituents. Have you heard your constituents’ voices and will you act?

I move,

That the Parliament instructs the Scottish Government to establish a resilience fund for businesses adversely affected by Caledonian MacBrayne disruption and withdrawal of services, utilising funds obtained from penalties imposed on Caledonian MacBrayne for breaches of its contract with Transport Scotland.

I call Màiri McAllan to speak to and move amendment S6M-09463.2.

16:08  

Before beginning, I would like to welcome Fiona Hyslop to her new post. She brings an enormous amount of experience to the role, and I am really pleased to be working with her as team transport.

On the matters at hand, I want to begin with a clear and unequivocal acknowledgement of the importance of the matters that are being debated today. For Scotland’s island communities, ferries are not just a mode of transport; they are lifeline services that bring food and vital supplies and that support economic activity. It follows, then, that the issue is not just about the improvement of transport service performance; it is about delivering the confidence that is needed to sustain our island populations and ensure that people and businesses can thrive. Insofar as Michael Mara rehearsed those points, I agree with him.

However, as I said in the chamber recently, following the protests on South Uist, I will not prevaricate about the strain that is currently being felt in the network. On-going technical issues with vessels have resulted in delays to the annual overhaul programme, and the cancellation of sailings has been the result. Regrettably, some communities have been more impacted than others. I absolutely recognise the need to improve CalMac’s reliability and rebuild confidence in services.

Will the cabinet secretary give way?

I will give way briefly, but I have a lot that I would like to get through.

Does the cabinet secretary accept that other fleets of similar vintages operate with much greater resilience than is shown in the CalMac fleet? Why is there not a proper preventative maintenance system in place to ensure greater resilience in the fleet?

Mr Sweeney’s comments come on the back of my full recognition of the need to improve CalMac’s reliability and rebuild confidence in the fleet, so that should let him know that, to some extent, I agree that there is work to be done.

I deeply regret that the needs of island communities have not always been met by CalMac services and that CalMac’s communications have not always been sufficient or timeous. However, I do not want to just regret; I want to have a plan of action for how the Government can do all that we can, all that is practicable and all that is in our gift to bolster the reliability of the network.

As I see it, there are two principal parts to that. First, there is the action that we can take in the here and now to alleviate disruption in what is undeniably a period of pressure. Secondly, the Government should make that period of pressure as short as possible by bolstering and adding to the number of vessels in the fleet. I will use my time today to set out what the Government is doing against both those objectives.

In relation to the here and now, I met the chief executive of CalMac last week. My first question to the CalMac management was how they intended to respond to the protests on South Uist, because, as politicians, we all know that it is essential that there is communication and a presence in communities.

I think that members are interested in how the Government, rather than CalMac, will respond to the demonstrations on South Uist.

I have just started to address the two aspects of the Government’s plan and to set out what we will do, in our gift, to address the issue. I am not at all shying away from the actions that the Government needs to take, and I am happy to narrate them now.

On the back of that meeting, I was very pleased that Mr Drummond visited South Uist and met residents. That followed a similar visit from the former transport minister in late May and a visit that the new transport minister made recently in her capacity as a committee member. Indeed, I expect to make similar visits over the summer.

As well as communication, CalMac management and I discussed the route prioritisation matrix that CalMac uses to assess options to maintain lifeline connections when there is disruption in the network. I asked CalMac to urgently consider that route prioritisation matrix to ensure that it is fit for purpose and capable of taking into account cumulative impacts on fragile island communities. I expect the outcome of that consideration in short order.

This morning, I was pleased to meet the ferries community board, which includes community representatives from our islands and is, in my view, utterly invaluable as a source of lived experience. I strongly believe that CalMac and the Scottish Government should listen carefully to what those people have to say—I certainly intend to do that.

That is the response that we are undertaking in the here and now, but the motion is about compensation.

Will the cabinet secretary take an intervention?

I am afraid that I do not have time—I am exceptionally short on time.

The contract that we have in place with CalMac allows us to make penalty deductions when performance measures are not met. Through that contract, penalties of between £1 million and £3 million per year have been recovered. Michael Marra questioned where that funding has been directed. He need only look at the MV Alfred, which is currently providing resilience on the Arran route. That cost £9 million, which was funded in part by those deductions. That ferry is providing resilience in the fleet, and I understand that that is exactly what islanders want most of all.

Will the cabinet secretary take an intervention?

Will the cabinet secretary take an intervention?

I am very conscious of time.

I must ask the cabinet secretary to conclude. We are very tight for time.

I will leave it there. I hope that my colleague the Minister for Small Business, Innovation and Trade will be able to cover any other points.

I move amendment S6M-09463.2, to leave out from “instructs” to end and insert:

“recognises the significant impact that delays and disruption to ferry services have regrettably had on Scotland’s island communities and businesses; acknowledges that some island communities have been particularly badly affected, and also acknowledges the frustration felt by island communities; believes that the Scottish Government must continue to explore all practicable options to support island communities; agrees that the Scottish Government should redouble its efforts to work with operators and CMAL to improve reliability, resilience and confidence across networks and services, and address concerns that have been raised around CalMac’s route prioritisation matrix to ensure that it is reviewed, with input from communities, and that it considers the economic impact to fragile island communities; notes that all penalty deductions from CalMac made in relation to failures on the network are used to support resilience and help reduce disruption, for example, by helping to partly fund the cost of the charter of MV Alfred, and believes that accelerating the replacement of major vessels in the ferry fleet must be the priority in order to provide the ferry services that island communities need.”

I call Graham Simpson to speak to and move amendment S6M-09463.1.

16:14  

I am afraid that I did not hear any kind of plan there.

I thank Labour for bringing the debate to the chamber; we will support its motion, of course.

In March, I welcomed Kevin Stewart to his new role as transport minister—Presiding Officer, I am getting a bit of an echo when I speak.

I am certainly content with what I can hear; the sound is audible.

Okay, I will carry on.

Mr Stewart was just minutes into the job when I asked him an urgent question about what the Government was doing to restore ferry services between Mallaig, Oban and Lochboisdale in South Uist, in light of the announcement that the services were to be withdrawn from 5 April to 13 May. He talked about recognising the challenges that were faced and said that the islands remained open for business. I then asked him whether he would look at a compensation scheme and reduced fares for islanders. He said that he would be speaking to CalMac that day and would “seek mitigations” and “solutions”.

Alasdair Allan had another go on the idea of a business resilience fund and did slightly better: the minister said that he would

“need to consider it further”—[Official Report, 30 March 2023; c 60.]

which is not quite a commitment.

Douglas Ross raised exactly the same issue last week because, three months on, things are no better. In fact, they are worse, with sailings of the MV Lord of the Isles between Mallaig and Lochboisdale cancelled until the end of June. As we have heard, locals who have protested in their hundreds have said that CalMac is ushering in “modern day Highland clearances”.

CalMac uses something that is called a matrix to decide which services to run when there are problems, which is quite a lot of the time. John Daniel Peteranna of the South Uist business ferry impact group, which organised the demonstration, said of the matrix that

“It is as vague and woolly as you can get and that is what they use to make decisions. It is hot air. We think it is commercially better for them to do this ... The matrix should look at the cultural and economic impact but I cannot make any sense of the rubbish that has been written. We need an explanation of what it means ... It is like the Highland Clearances again.”

Robbie Drummond, who is CalMac’s chief executive, has been meeting islanders this week. Mr Drummond had a taste of what they are going through when he reportedly could not get his car on the ferry and travelled a very long way round to get there—if it had been Lorna Slater, she would of course have just chartered a boat. Mr Drummond has promised a review of the matrix; we have heard today that the cabinet secretary will do the same.

The upshot is this: people on the islands are suffering because of mismanagement of our ferries under the SNP. The Government owns Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd, which buys the boats and owns them; it also owns CalMac, which runs the ferries. Sitting above them is Transport Scotland and whoever is minister of the day. The Government even owns the yard that is building two new ferries—eventually. There is no one else to blame; the Government is responsible. Therefore, when people are out of pocket because of it, it should compensate them—it really is that simple.

Right now, island life is being made a misery, so the Government’s amendment is quite shameful; it removes all mention of a compensation scheme. Any islander watching today will be furious; they are being let down and now, they are being ignored. I ask members to support my amendment and reject the Government’s.

I move amendment S6M-09463.1, to insert at end:

“; notes the anger expressed by islanders at repeated disruption, which is impacting on business and day-to-day life; calls on the Scottish Government to establish the fund, which should be permanent, without delay, and welcomes the commitment by CalMac to review its route scoring matrix.”

16:18  

I am pleased to note that transport has been restored to Cabinet level; it should never have been removed. I take this opportunity to welcome Fiona Hyslop to her new role as transport minister.

I thank Michael Marra for bringing this important debate and motion to the chamber. Scottish Liberal Democrats will support the motion at decision time, as well as the Conservative Party amendment. It is the right thing to do to compensate islanders who have been left high and dry as a consequence of their lifeline ferry service failing to meet their needs. The motion calls for resilience funding for compensation, to come from

“penalties imposed on Caledonian MacBrayne for breaches of its contract with Transport Scotland.”

The hundreds of people in South Uist protesting earlier this month about CalMac’s decision to cancel most ferry sailings to Mallaig for the reminder of June will be a lasting image of the frustration at the Scottish Government’s self-inflicted ferry fiasco. The thinking seems to be that the impact can be measured in numbers. The logic seems to be that it is a small community, so there will be small impact. In fact, the opposite is true, because there is a disproportionately large impact on smaller communities: the missed hospital appointments, missed weddings and missed funerals and the loss of income for accommodation providers—when bookings are cancelled because visitors cannot get to the islands—and for retailers who have no stock. It is a threat to the island way of life.

I welcome reports that CalMac will review its route prioritisation matrix, but the cynic in me suggests that it is doing so now only because the islanders’ demonstration hit national headlines. There is much that must be done to repair the damage and loss of trust. As Michael Marra observed, the hundreds of people who protested in South Uist would equate to 180,000 people in Edinburgh. If comparable numbers of cars were parked nose to tail to show disappointment at transport decisions that affected people’s lives in the capital, the Government would not be able to ignore the chaos.

The scale of protests in South Uist shows the strength of feeling about being isolated—even trapped—the sense of injustice on the part of businesses that face losses and the anger that is felt about the fact that the company at the heart of these issues is getting yet more taxpayer cash. There is a sense that the Scottish Government and Transport Scotland do not fully understand the needs of islanders, the critical need for connectivity and the interdependency.

The SNP-Green Government needs to look beyond the central belt. Island communities feel as though they have been abandoned. Depopulation is a serious concern in Scotland’s islands and rural areas. The handling of the ferry fiasco and the lack of accountability on the part of the Government show that the concerns of islanders are distant to ministers. We face the collapse of communities in island areas if ferries are not operating and service is not improved.

The response to the situation has shown that the Government’s response to depopulation is lip service at best. What is needed is long-term thinking about the ferry fleet capacity and resilience, a rolling plan for the replacement of old ferries, innovation in the build and other needed functions and a move away from thinking that the impacts on island populations will be small. Islands and those who live on them are very much part of Scotland, geographically, culturally and socially. Islanders are no less important than those who live on mainland Scotland. It is critical that we get transport connectivity right, whether that is ferries, buses or—dare I say it?—tunnels, and everything else will fall into place.

We move to the open debate.

16:22  

I welcome this important debate and I speak in support of my Labour colleague Michael Marra’s motion.

As Michael Marra said, Scotland’s islanders are right to be angry, dismayed and frustrated, because they simply do not have the ferry service that they need or deserve. They have been failed and they have been let down. Given that fact and the recent and damaging disruption to island businesses in particular, it is only right that those businesses receive the compensation that they need and deserve.

It is little wonder that we have seen protests recently on South Uist, and we know that the same anger and frustration is felt in other islands across Scotland, including in Arran in my West Scotland region. I have spoken to businesses, particularly food producers, who are in despair. Delays to ferries cost them thousands of pounds a day and could cost jobs in the long term.

Let us not talk around the key issue behind why we are here. The number 1 reason—the main reason by far—why islanders do not have a reliable ferry service is that CalMac does not have a reliable ferry fleet. In addition to being unreliable, it is an ageing fleet: 38 per cent of vessels are more than 30 years old and over the recommended lifespan for a ferry.

That flies in the face of the First Minister’s claim last week about the SNP’s investment in ferries. Let us look at the outcomes. Over the SNP’s time in office, only six ferries have been built—six in 16 years. Compare that with the 10 ferries that were built by the previous Labour-Liberal Democrat Government in half that time—10 in eight years. Even Margaret Thatcher’s Government built more new CalMac ferries than this Government has. Its record is shameful.

There is a plenty of blame to go round for the whole ferries fiasco, but the Scottish Government cannot blame anyone else for its abject failure to provide new ferries. It cannot blame CalMac, it certainly cannot blame the Ferguson’s workforce and it cannot blame the previous Government for its failure to provide decent ferries for our islands.

Given that this is the Government’s fault, the least that it could do now is adequately compensate island businesses whose futures are at real risk. It is time for the Government to take responsibility. I say that because it appears, day in, day out, that the Government is desperate not to take responsibility but to deflect blame elsewhere.

To be clear, CMAL and CalMac are not entirely blameless, but it is not their job, and it is certainly not the job of their workers when dealing with angry passengers, to take the flak for the Government’s overall procurement failure. The project Neptune report has been part of the deflection strategy. We need to look at how governance and structures best work and how we best run our ferries, but that cannot, and must not, distract us from the fact that the Government has not built enough ferries.

One clear commitment in relation to project Neptune from the former transport minister was to rule out privatisation. It is hard to see how the current situation could be made worse, but the privatisation of CalMac would do that. That should also be ruled out by the new transport minister.

On taking responsibility, I wish the new transport minister, Fiona Hyslop, and the new transport secretary, Màiri McAllan, well, as I do Kevin Stewart. However, I say to them what I said to Neil Gray last week: the ministerial merry-go-round needs to stop. There was a time when ministers could not get down to Ferguson’s quick enough for a photo op; now, ministers cannot wait to get ferries out of their portfolio and to buy themselves time with nice platitudes.

Real responsibility would be a Government minister standing up in the chamber, staking their reputation on fixing this mess and saying that they will not leave until the job is done. Because of the current fiasco, we face a situation in which our ferry network is in crisis and we are having to build ferries in Turkey. We are also—

We are very tight for time, Mr Bibby, so I must ask you to conclude.

Okay.

In closing, I say that warm words from the Government mean nothing and do nothing for island communities, unless the Government is willing to put its money where its mouth is and establish—

Thank you, Mr Bibby.

—a proper resilience fund to compensate businesses.

16:27  

We all know about, and we have quite rightly rehearsed today, the problems facing the CalMac network. There are not enough ships. The ships that are there are ageing. They are breaking down more often, and those repairs are taking longer. CalMac, which was once very much considered part of the fabric of life in the islands, risks increasingly being seen by islanders as remote and bureaucratic.

Continuing disruption has hit many businesses in my constituency hard, nowhere more so—I should say—than in Uist. Lochboisdale is not typically a place where you will see protests and mass demonstrations. As others have pointed out, the fact that one third of the island’s resident population came out to demonstrate against the recent complete withdrawal of the ferry service says much about the pain that is being felt there.

South Uist has, in fact, regularly suffered more from service disruption than anywhere else on the Clyde and Hebrides network. Over the course of a year, there were 225 cancelled sailings versus 479 that operated. That is an astonishingly high cancellation rate, and it is easily higher than the rate anywhere else on the network. Winter was particularly bad, with only a quarter of scheduled sailings operating between November and March.

Lifeline services should, in the first instance, serve island communities. I carefully preface my next remark by acknowledging that every island in Scotland needs a good ferry service. However, while other islands with smaller populations get two or even four-vessel services, the whole string of islands from Eriskay to Berneray has to share half of a single ferry between North Uist and Skye at the moment.

I hear what Alasdair Allan says about islands requiring ferries and how they differ in their capacities, but does he agree that one of the most invidious things about this crisis is the fact that islands are sometimes pitted against each other and that we have negativity—almost competition—between islands, which should never happen?

I can identify with what Donald Cameron said, which is why I tried to phrase my remarks carefully. No, we should not be in a position where islands are in competition with each other; of course, when there are not enough ships, they inevitably are. I point to the particular situation in South Uist and I hope that my remarks are clear about what they have been suffering.

The focus on passenger numbers to the detriment of all other considerations is, I believe, leading those who operate ferry services to drift from their core purpose. That is how we get to a route prioritisation matrix that was devised without any input from communities, and which strips an island of all its ferry services for the whole month of June.

I therefore welcome the cabinet secretary’s remarks, in which she is—it would seem—willing to question that matrix. There is no lack of evidence for the economic damage that is being caused. One example that was reported by Business Gateway in Uist detailed a 40 per cent drop in bookings for accommodation providers. Hauliers, who are not supported through compensation from CalMac, have frequently—

Will the member give way?

I must make progress now.

Hauliers have frequently faced delay and rerouting over hundreds of miles. Time-critical shellfish exports have sometimes not been able to reach European markets timeously.

Even before the latest disruption in Uist, businesses had approached me to say that they were not convinced that they could survive this year as a result of these issues. Of course, the complete withdrawal of the ferry service from South Uist makes the situation even more critical.

The Scottish Government has rightly made ensuring a reliable ferry service a priority. We all want to see the new Islay class vessels, as well as those at Port Glasgow, come into service, but—as I hope that I have illustrated—there are businesses across Uist that cannot afford to wait. What is happening in Uist is in a different league from what is happening in many other places.

The Government’s amendment clearly recognises—

I must ask you to conclude, Mr Allan. I am afraid that we have no extra time this afternoon.

I conclude there, and I recognise that the Government amendment goes some way—in fact, a great deal of the way—towards acknowledging those problems, which are very real.

16:31  

I will do something unusual with my four minutes—I will nominate one of my constituents for an award. His letter was dubbed “Letter of the day”, but I nominate Mr John S Milligan from Kilmarnock for the prestigious parliamentary award of letter of the year, because it brilliantly sums up the entire debate. I will read his letter to members. He says:

“I booked my car and caravan on the Ardrossan/Brodick ferry”

about

“two months ago for one of my several annual holiday trips to the Isle of Arran. Regrettably Calmac has cancelled my booking with just over a week before the trip was scheduled to take place. Calmac, trying to be ‘helpful’, has advised that I can still travel to Arran via Claonaig, which is fine, because whilst it is a four-hour trip from my home, I know the route like the back of my hand since I’ve had to travel it so often due to last-minute cancellations”.

Mr Milligan goes on to say:

“So why did I want to raise my latest holiday ferry booking problem? Quite simply I am utterly fed up with the lottery operated by Calmac which leaves travellers to Scottish islands in the position where they are unable to guarantee whether they can either reach or return from their chosen destination on the dates booked.”

He says:

“I might lose out on a holiday which in the overall scheme of things is a relatively minor issue, but perhaps more importantly the long-suffering island communities will also lose out. For example Janie’s cafe just outside Brodick will not be serving me or my other seven family members lunch, neither will The Coffee Pot in Whiting Bay, the Lochranza Caravan Site won’t be getting our booking, the Stag Pavilion in Lochranza won’t serve us dinner, Pirnmill Stores along with numerous others won’t receive our custom. All of those businesses which need a reliable ferry service to exist are significantly disadvantaged by the mess that is our so-called island ferry services.”

He goes on to say:

“I don’t know whether”

to blame

“Calmac or the Scottish Government”,

but he says that, while he does not know who is to blame,

“I do know that the current situation cannot continue with its current hit or miss approach.”

Mr Milligan finishes by saying:

“This would be an ideal time for our new First Minister to show that, although under the previous regime he was part of ... which was unable to successfully build ships on time, he can successfully deliver projects on time for the people of Scotland.”

I hope that the First Minister was listening to me as I read John’s letter, because John is right. Businesses on Arran are—as they are elsewhere—at their utter wits’ end as a result of the endless uncertainty. Many are unsure whether they will even survive the current crisis.

Last year, I raised in the chamber the Auchrannie resort writing off £400,000 of cash flow to account for ferry disruption, which was on top of another £300,000 in related costs. That was just one business on one island—we can multiply that by hundreds of businesses on dozens of islands. You do not need to be the finance secretary to do the maths on that—it all adds up.

The problem is that we do not know how much it adds up to. When I asked the Scottish Government just an hour ago whether it had done any work whatsoever to calculate the potential economic cost of the crisis to our island communities—I say this with the greatest respect to Mr Lochhead, whom I have a lot of time for personally—I got complete waffle in response, which we heard repeated, I am afraid, by the cabinet secretary. They do not know the answer because they probably do not want to know the immense cost of the issue.

Our islands need compensation, and they needed it yesterday—no ifs or buts. Get a move on.

16:35  

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak, particularly on behalf of my constituents on the Clyde islands of Arran and Cumbrae, who, like thousands of others, are regularly impacted by the on-going ferry crisis, which is causing chaos.

As we all know, when a ferry breaks down on a lifeline route, it affects islanders’ ability to attend hospital appointments, work, funerals and a wide range of other commitments on the mainland, as well as others’ ability to visit the island. The declining resilience of CalMac ferries has an impact on almost every aspect of island life and on the economies of island communities. It has a disproportionate impact on those producing goods with short shelf lives and on those trying to buy or sell such goods, such as food.

Over the festive period, many constituents were in touch with me—and, no doubt, with others in the chamber—about the empty food shelves in shops on Arran due to ferry cancellations. Unfortunately that is becoming a regular occurrence. Constituents on Cumbrae have been in touch about problems with postal services, as well as many other things, as a result of the problems with the ferry service there.

Significant problems have been caused on Arran and Cumbrae by the failure of CalMac to give priority to essential goods such as food.

As the member rightly narrates the concerns of her constituents, I wonder whether she welcomes, in the context of Michael Marra’s motion, the fact that the MV Alfred, part funded by CalMac penalty deductions, is now serving her constituents on Arran, who I know have concerns?

I welcome anything that is done to alleviate the current situation, but, as the cabinet secretary well knows, islanders on Arran continue to have significant problems. However, I was focusing on a very specific issue that has been raised by islanders, who are asking that priority be given to essential goods such as food and to postal services, because there are repeated problems with such essentials when ferries are cancelled. I wrote to the cabinet secretary and her predecessors about the issue, and I suspect that others have done so.

CalMac’s socioeconomic report from 2020 showed that its services generated over £227 million in turnover and had a footprint of more than £350 million. A 2020 North Ayrshire Council and Fraser of Allander Institute report estimated that, for each day of ferry operation, there is a contribution of, on average, just under £170,000 to Arran’s economy. Of course, that figure will be greater now.

There is absolutely no doubt that functioning lifeline ferry services have a significant impact on the economies of island communities—that cannot be overestimated. Tourism businesses estimate that they lose tens of thousands of pounds every time one of the two ferries serving Arran is diverted to support services elsewhere.

Labour’s motion insists that the Scottish Government establish a resilience fund to help businesses that are affected by CalMac cancellations. Islanders are in this situation because of the decisions of politicians, which have meant that we have not procured the vessels needed for many years. I hope that Parliament will support the motion.

16:40  

First, I remind the chamber that my wife works part time for CalMac. I also welcome Fiona Hyslop to her new role in the Scottish Government and the new responsibility that the cabinet secretary has for transport.

The debate is timely, and I put on record my acknowledgement of the representations to the Scottish Government of the local MSP, Alasdair Allan, on behalf of his constituents. For all constituency MSPs, our first priority is our constituents, and Alasdair Allan has consistently prioritised them throughout this situation. Nobody is in doubt about the significant distress and difficulty that ferry disruption has caused for island communities and their economies. When it is reported that one third of the community has demonstrated to highlight its plight, it is obvious that there is a problem that needs to be addressed.

On the fair question of compensation, the Scottish Government is carefully considering the best option for the resilience of island economies. The compensation fund has not been introduced because money is already deducted from CalMac in penalties and fines and reinvested back into the resilience of the network. The chartering of the MV Alfred from Pentland Ferries, for example, has been part funded by CalMac’s performance deductions—the First Minister recently highlighted that during First Minister’s question time. The motion from the Opposition talks about funds, but the challenge is where the money would come from, and the penalties are already being reinvested into the system.

CalMac removing a service for one month during the busiest time of the year is certainly not positive for the South Uist economy. Previously, Alasdair Allan wrote to the Scottish Government to express his concerns, those of his constituents and those of local businesses. I accept that CalMac, CMAL and the Scottish Government face a massive challenge with the present situation. Indeed, CMAL is on record as having looked at and considered, over a five-year period, more than 650 ships to bring into the fleet.

In addition, the Scottish Government has bought and deployed an additional vessel—the MV Loch Frisa; chartered the MV Arrow to provide additional resilience and capacity; made significant progress in the construction of vessels 801 and 802; commissioned two new vessels for Islay and two new vessels for the Little Minch routes; progressed investment in key ports and harbours; and confirmed additional revenue funding for the operation of local authority inter-island ferry services. Investment in ports and harbours is hugely important, and the job that CMAL is undertaking is vital in helping to provide the public ferry service network that I am sure we all want to see.

Will the member take an intervention?

No.

The minister’s amendment highlights a few areas that are important in the debate. The part that I believe is crucial is:

“address concerns that have been raised around CalMac’s route prioritisation matrix to ensure that it is reviewed, with input from communities, and that it considers the economic impact to fragile island communities”.

For one area to regularly be CalMac’s go-to location to see a reduced service is, in my opinion, wrong. There will clearly be a wide range of factors involved in that matrix, and a review of those is imperative. The quicker that happens, the better.

I want to see our ferry service improve, and the sooner that additional ferries come into the fleet, the better. That will help with resilience in the service, but the immediate priority must be to help Uist.

16:44  

I welcome my colleague Fiona Hyslop to her new role as Minister for Transport. As a Highlands and Islands MSP, I hear about and feel the profound impact that ferry disruption has on my constituents. It is vital that we centre them in this debate and in all our plans to improve ferry services. Our islands are not museums or amusement parks for tourists; they are living, breathing communities and ferries are their vital arteries. Every ferry cancelled means an appointment missed, a job unfinished or a shop unstocked.

Although the fines that have been paid by CMAL have been used to partly fund the cost of chartering the MV Alfred, the value of the fines is not nearly sufficient to address the challenges that are faced by businesses and communities on our islands. Situations such as the one that is faced by people in South Uist must be prevented from happening again—that must be our focus now.

A short-term resilience fund is not a sustainable solution to the systemic issue that is causing the challenges in our islands.

Will the member take an intervention?

I am not going to take an intervention—we are short of time.

At best, a short-term resilience fund would be a temporary and repackaged form of short-term relief that would prioritise the disruption that is caused to business, but not the disruption that is caused to communities. Why should a business be compensated for a cancelled booking when a constituent who has missed a hospital appointment or a long-planned family gathering would not be compensated?

Instead, the Scottish Government’s budget must be directed to substantial investment in our future ferry services, which would address the root causes of the challenges that are faced by our island communities. We need legislation and funding that will revitalise our islands in the round. For example, the Western Isles Council is currently engaged in a pilot project in relation to the proposed community wealth building bill, and the Scottish Greens have been calling for funding to support community-led housing and development projects such as those on Mull, Colonsay and Gigha.

Will the member take an intervention?

As the member heard earlier, I will not take an intervention because the Presiding Officer has said that we are tight for time.

Rather than simply handing over small amounts of money to affected businesses, as Labour is proposing, we should fundamentally change how economies operate in our island communities so that public and private funds are retained and optimised. It is crucial that we unlock the potential of our island communities and help them to reverse depopulation trends by delivering a resilient ferry network to support Scotland’s future as a thriving island nation.

As long as the Scottish Government’s finances are constrained by a defective devolution settlement and are routinely worsened by UK Government austerity and Tory economic mismanagement, it is hard to see what viable route there is through which to increase spending on our ferry services and infrastructure. Spending has increased by 180 per cent since last year, which is delivering new vessels and supporting improvement of piers and harbours in order to future proof our ferry services.

I continue to urge that new vessels be low-carbon vessels, like the electric ferries in Sweden and Denmark that run on renewable energy. We also need to decarbonise our existing vessels. Retrofitting electric motors cuts pollution, emissions, noise and running costs. We must also urgently advance a review of fares to ensure that island communities are not further disadvantaged.

As the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers called for yesterday, all parties need to join together constructively to support CalMac, CMAL and our island stakeholders, and get round the table and design a long-term solution.

16:48  

I also begin by welcoming Fiona Hyslop to her role as transport minister. She undoubtedly comes into that position with significant experience in Government, which is desperately needed at this time. One of the problems has been that no transport minister has been in place long enough to understand the problems and to commit to solving them. As Neil Bibby said, there has been a “ministerial merry-go-round”.

In all the years that I have been a member of the Scottish Parliament, never has the crisis that is engulfing Scotland’s ferry network been as great a danger to island life as it is now. We have spoken many times about island depopulation and the need to address the challenges that cause it, including fixing the unreliable ferry network, but words can do only so much. We need urgent action, but so far the Government has failed on every metric. The number of ferry cancellations has been growing, the number of ferry breakdowns has been growing and we learned earlier this year that CalMac is on track to break its own level of performance fines.

That does not instil any confidence in the Scottish Government’s ability to get a grip of this crisis. To Ariane Burgess I say this—she found time to blame the UK Government, but the blame here sits with the Scottish Government, and the Scottish Government alone. For once, I ask her to stand up for the island communities that she represents, because the situation is desperate and is affecting residents, visitors and businesses daily.

In the short time that I have, I will focus my contribution on one island—Mull, which has been so badly affected in recent weeks and months. The sad thing is that I could pick almost any island on the western seaboard and find a community that has been affected by the crisis. However, Mull has seen its ferry services dwindle, following redeployment of the MV Isle of Mull. In its place are two smaller vessels that are unable to cope with demand, especially as the summer season swings into place. The lack of a like-for-like vessel to serve Mull has resulted in 250 fewer car spaces and 7,000 fewer passenger spaces every day. That, coupled with the launch of the disastrous new booking system, has meant that bookings have been cancelled at short notice and passengers have been forced into a free-for-all. That has a direct impact on the people who live and work on Mull.

I spoke to one local business owner, Stephen Blazye, who runs Mull Wildlife Breaks. He told me that he offers customers a bespoke wildlife holiday, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to satisfy clients when their pre-booked tickets are disregarded by CalMac and they have to get any boat that they can be slotted onto. He says that the crisis is resulting in a downturn in bookings and that cancellations are being received at an alarming rate.

Another business, Tobermory Bakery and its tearoom, has reportedly lost between 30 and 40 per cent of its usual takings as a result of coach-tour cancellations. Local groups including Isle of Mull Rugby Football Club have been hit hard. The club organised a rugby tournament to be held about a month ago and spent £12,000 on catering and equipment, only to be told by several clubs that were visiting the island that CalMac had cancelled their bookings. A Mull junior sporting competitor had in her sport two qualifiers to represent an under-18 Scotland team and she was uncertain about whether she could actually get off the island to attend.

The situation in Mull and across all Scotland’s island communities is approaching a precipice. All the groups that I referred to, and many others, need urgent support. Warm words about investment in resilience, as important as that is, simply will not cut it. I have asked this of Humza Yousaf, I have asked it of Kevin Stewart and I have asked it of Màiri McAllan. Now I ask Fiona Hyslop. We need a ferry compensation scheme right now. That is why we will support Labour’s motion at decision time.

16:52  

I start by welcoming Fiona Hyslop to her role as transport minister. The importance of ferries to island businesses is crucial to Scotland’s tourism sector, so I will focus my remarks on the impact on that sector, following the debate that we had on tourism last week. In that vein, I congratulate Richard Lochhead on tourism being added to his ministerial title, which is hugely important and significant.

The Scottish tourism sector has bounced back strongly post-Covid, particularly in respect of there being more international visitors. We reflected last week on the fact that the sector is a key part of Scotland’s economy and has a wide impact that goes beyond the bounds of the sector. However, the supply chain does not work if businesses cannot get to Scotland’s islands. Events’ detrimental impact on Scotland’s islands also affect Scotland’s broader tourism sector, as well as the broader international perception of Scotland. That is hugely significant.

I will focus my remarks on the impact on Scotland’s local tourism businesses, as well as on businesses in the food and drinks sector, with some examples of the costs that businesses have incurred. It is important to note that this is not just about the immediate impact of various ferries being cancelled at short notice. It is also about the cumulative impact on confidence in the sector; it hurts not only local tourism but the whole sector, because it diminishes Scotland’s tourism offer.

Does the member agree with the disregard that his Green Party colleagues have shown for businesses that employ people on the islands and that urgently need their support?

I recognise that tourism plays a vital role in our island economies. Uncertainty is damaging: for example, tour operators have taken decisions to de-list islands from 2024 tour itineraries in order to protect their reputation because of the uncertainty around ferry connectivity.

It must be mentioned that the problems with the new booking system are adding to the difficulties, as has been highlighted.

There are many examples of the knock-on effects—effects beyond the lost revenues that are hurting businesses. For example, visitors claiming back costs and raising disputes with credit card companies can lead to more work, bureaucracy and additional costs for businesses, and businesses that have bought in high-quality fresh seafood and other produce have had to throw it out when guests have had to cancel at short notice.

Furthermore, there is a loss of potential business, with visitors who were thinking about visiting our islands cancelling their trips or not booking at all and, perhaps, instead travelling outwith Scotland. Of course, we must recognise that businesses do not make as much noise about that as they might, because of their fears about damaging the image of the industry and jeopardising future bookings.

I can cite many examples of businesses that are facing difficulties. A small independent gin company is £15,000 down in revenue for May and June in its distillery. In a family-run boutique bed-and-breakfast one week’s losses were more than £9,000. That is all down to a lack of ferries or to ferries being cancelled, with each incident resulting in endless paperwork and phone calls with disgruntled customers. Another accommodation provider’s total lost earnings over a six-month period come to £24,500—its last booking inquiry was on 4 April; it has had none since. Again, that is a consequence of uncertainty across the sector.

I welcome the fact that the Government takes the issue seriously and that there are three ministers in the chamber to address it. I have every confidence that they will work together to do what needs to be done across the range of things that need to be dealt with.

It is worth reflecting on the fact that investing in the ferry network is important not only because the network supports island communities, vital though that is, but because it is an investment in Scotland’s economy, as it generates returns through building the tourism sector so that it is more productive, through increasing the tax base not only on the islands but across the whole economy, and through enhancing Scotland’s overall reputation as a destination.

16:56  

I am grateful to Labour for bringing the debate to the chamber. As an islander, I am pleased to be able to speak on an area that is of real concern for island communities across Scotland.

This has been an interesting debate. However, although the impact of the ferries crisis on island communities has been well raised by many across the chamber, islanders will note with disappointment how many Green and SNP MSPs chose to put defending their Government before standing up for islanders and island businesses.

I have warned time and again that the ferries crisis that is engulfing Scotland’s west coast risks spreading further. There is a ticking time bomb that relates not only to the existing CalMac fleet but to those boats that provide lifeline links for the northern isles. MV Hamnavoe, MV Hrossey and MV Hjaltland are all 20 years old, and our interisland boats in Orkney are even older—MV Earl Thorfinn, MV Earl Sigurd and MV Varagen are all more than 30 years old. It is quite clear that there is an increasing urgency around the planning for replacement vessels for those interisland ferries, which are all owned and operated by Orkney Islands Council, and that the council will require support in that regard.

The same is true in Shetland but, as ever, the Scottish Government has been slow to engage. Although talks in Shetland are now under way, as they are in Orkney, there is still no commitment to help. However, those are vital links for the community, and I remind the chamber of the words of Shetland Islands Council convener Emma Macdonald. Commenting on the UK Government’s grant of £27 million of levelling-up funding for a new ferry for Fair Isle, and new terminals, she said:

“It is no exaggeration to say that this funding from the UK Government has saved Fair Isle as an inhabited island. There would have been no other way for us to sustainably fund such a project.”

The UK Government acted where the Scottish Government would not.

It is not just our island communities that are suffering. The Corran Narrows crossing is one of Scotland’s busiest, but that vital link has been severed for months, with the route’s main vessel’s return from refit delayed and its 47-year-old replacement breaking down almost immediately. The service is operated by Highland Council but, with no real encouragement forthcoming from the Scottish Government, that council—now run by the SNP—has chosen to apply to the UK Government for levelling-up funding. Local communities on the Ardnamurchan peninsula who are desperate for a reliable service will now be hoping that the UK Government steps up where, again, Scottish ministers have not.

In welcoming Fiona Hyslop to her new role as transport minister—I genuinely wish her all the best in that role, because communities across my region cannot afford for her to fail as others have—I ask her to commit to meet communities in Ardnamurchan and, unlike her two predecessors, deliver on that commitment.

The Scottish Government motion is full of platitudes but misses one vital word—sorry. The Scottish ministers have again heralded the £1 million per month deal to charter the MV Alfred from Pentland Ferries, but the motion does not mention that the vessel that will cover the Pentland Firth route while the Alfred is away, the MV Pentalina, suffered a major failure and returned to service only yesterday, after six weeks out, leaving Orkney without our short sea route for all that time. It was not in peak season, so the impact appears to have been minimal, largely because of the efforts of NorthLink Ferries to step in.

As I have mentioned, it is clear that the crisis on the west coast is now impacting other island communities. That crisis only risks getting worse until new vessels come into service in significant numbers. I welcome any acceleration in the replacement of major vessels, but it should not have taken 16 years and the desperate situation—of its own making—that the Scottish Government finds itself in now for the SNP to make that a priority. In the meantime, island communities will continue to suffer and, by refusing to provide compensation, the SNP appears content to abandon local businesses and islanders to their fate, and that is shameful.

17:00  

I, too, welcome Fiona Hyslop to her new role as transport minister. If anyone is going to work tirelessly to address the very serious issues that have been raised today, it is Fiona Hyslop, working alongside cabinet secretary Màiri McAllan.

This is a very important debate, because it is important that all our island communities see the national Parliament discussing the very real challenges that they face, many of which are as a result of the disruption to ferry services, which is the subject of the debate. Katy Clark, Ivan McKee, Beatrice Wishart and Alasdair Allan have all clearly illustrated the impact that ferry service disruption has on the everyday lives of the people who live and work on the islands.

Islanders have seen the Parliament debating the issue time and again, but they have not seen ferries or action from the Scottish Government, and that is what they are angry about.

As has been discussed, six new ferries are coming into service in the next few years. That will make a huge difference, and it represents very significant investments, as does the £2.2 billion that the Government has invested in ferry services since 2007.

Today, although we have a variety of different opinions, the Parliament is clearly united in wanting to support our island communities.

Will the minister take an intervention?

I am running out of time, but I will take one final intervention, given that it is from Michael Marra.

I appreciate the minister giving way. He mentions the ferries that are being constructed. Does he not recognise that businesses are at risk now? Rather than waiting for six ferries that might be built some time in the future, we are asking for support now for the livelihoods that are supported by those businesses and the wages that go into pockets.

I recognise that and I will come on to that. All the ministers in the Scottish Government, like people across the chamber, very much recognise the strength of feeling on the islands, which was illustrated, for instance, by the very powerful protest on Uist. Other members have given many illustrations of the impact on businesses in different sectors, such as the food and drink industry and tourism. Those are very real examples of the impact that the situation is having on the economy in our islands. It is important that this Government recognises our responsibility and the fact that we are accountable and that we get it right for people who live on the islands. We take that responsibility very seriously.

We are committed to working closely with regional and local partners, including local government, to make sure that we have regional economic empowerment but, to realise that ambition, island businesses and communities need reliable and resilient connectivity, including ferry services and digital connectivity.

Just last Thursday, the First Minister said in the chamber:

“we will look to see what more we can do to support ... businesses”.—[Official Report, 8 June 2023; c 12.]

In the same contribution, he also said that nothing is “off the table”.

Therefore, it is important to send out the message today to our island communities that Scottish Government ministers and Parliament are listening. It is a very serious issue that is facing some communities—we are listening and we will act.

Will the minister take an intervention?

Do I have time?

The minister has 40 seconds left.

I am sorry—I cannot take the intervention.

We are investing heavily in our island communities, and I will make some wider references to the priority of supporting our island communities. We have committed £26 million to the national islands plan—£4.1 million this year—and £50 million towards the islands growth deal. We have committed to 16 new subsea cables to 15 islands through the reaching 100 per cent—R100—north contracts, there is the small business bonus scheme and the rural rates relief scheme, and we are committed to a rural development plan. I could go on and on. That investment is extremely important, as are sorting out the ferry services and getting the investment right. We have been speaking to communities about the impact of that.

My final point is that the Tories talk about others not standing up for island communities, when the UK Government announced £4.8 billion for levelling up and not one penny has gone to the Western Isles and virtually not a penny has gone to all the other island communities in Scotland. Moving forward, the Conservative Party could also stand up for island communities. In the meantime, this Government is committed to sorting this issue out and standing by our island communities.

17:05  

I, too, welcome Fiona Hyslop to her new post. I sincerely wish her every success in it, because people’s lives really depend on her being successful in sorting out this debacle.

Island businesses do not want compensation; they want ferries. However, without ferries, they need help to survive, and that is why they are asking the Scottish Government to set up a resilience fund. We agree with them. We are not asking the Scottish Government to cut spending elsewhere to do that; we are asking it to pay for it with the very fines that it charges CalMac when ferries are not running. Surely it is natural justice that those who bear the brunt of the cancellations should receive those fines.

On that basis, does Rhoda Grant believe that those penalties should not be reinvested in vessels, such as the MV Alfred, which is currently providing resilience in the network?

The cabinet secretary keeps flagging the MV Alfred as her contribution, but £1 million a month is being spent on renting the MV Alfred—£9 million for nine months. That is a ferry that costs £14 million to buy—it is ridiculous. The Scottish Government bears responsibility for the crisis; it lies squarely at its door. It is not the fault of CalMac or its staff because they do not build ferries—it is the fault of the Scottish Government, which failed to build them. When it did try, it proved to be absolutely incompetent.

As Neil Bibby said, the Government has built six ferries in 16 years. Compare that with the 10 built in the eight years of the Liberal-Labour coalition. Even Margaret Thatcher built more ferries than the SNP and, sadly, those ageing ferries are still being used on those routes. The cabinet secretary and the minister are responsible for the inaction of their Government. They cannot pass the buck.

Of course, some islands are impacted more than others. As Michael Mara said, in South Uist, one in four sailings is disrupted, but not a single island is unscathed. That is creating a huge personal cost to communities. Beatrice Wishart talked about funerals missed, weddings missed and cancer treatment missed. Katy Clark talked about food and essential provisions being impacted in Arran and the Cumbraes. Donald Cameron talked about Mull, and Ivan McKee reeled off a huge number of issues.

There is not an island that is not impacted by all this, but South Uist is a case in point and it stands out. The local economy loses £50,000 a day in low season to lost ferries. It has lost millions in the past couple of months. South Uist was a growing community—young families were being welcomed back. Stòras Uibhist, the community landowner, was developing the area, and Ceòlas, the language and culture centre, was becoming a focal point for the whole community. It was community empowerment in action, yet the community has been marooned by the Scottish Government. A third of the population was out protesting against that, but the best that they can get from the Scottish Government is a review of the matrix.

Will the member take an intervention?

Very briefly.

I wonder whether islanders on Uist will be as angry and frustrated having listened to today’s debate, given that not a single ounce of detail has come from those on the Government benches on what compensation might be available to them and their businesses. There has not been a single word or commitment from the Government, and those islanders will be as fuming as we are on this side of the chamber.

Yes, I can imagine only that people are getting angrier by the day as they wait for action but see none being taken at all.

Everyone is impacted. A haulier told us that, be it a toothbrush or a new build house, you have to get it on the island and it has to come by ferry.

Alasdair Allan talked about the 40 per cent drop in accommodation bookings. That is almost half an annual income gone. I mentioned Ceòlas. Its summer school has been impacted because bookings are well down. That has a knock-on effect to the local community as well. Furthermore, a hotelier told us:

“People can’t make a living ... they can’t stay here.”

The disruption impacts on staff as well, because they must bear the brunt of community frustration. That is simply not right. They were once proud to serve their islands and that has been taken away from them.

You must conclude, Ms Grant.

I will, Presiding Officer.

When Government makes a mistake, it compensates people, as it did during Covid when people were losing their businesses. The Government needs to do that now, as the impact of the disruption is worse than Covid. It needs to build ferries, it needs to set up a resilience fund and it needs to do right by our communities.