Recall Parliament to sort out ferries crisis, demands Scottish Lib Dem leader

The Scottish Parliament must be urgently recalled to solve the “crisis” engulfing the country’s west coast ferries, the Scottish Liberal Democrats have demanded.

Alex Cole-Hamilton, the party’s leader, said MSPs must return to Holyrood to “sort out this mess”.

The Scottish Parliament entered recess last week ahead of the May election but can be recalled up until April 8.

The Scottish Government said it is working “urgently” with CalMac to tackle ferry shortages on the west coast island network.

Eight CalMac ferries are out of action, four of them for planned maintenance and the others due to technical issues.

The ferry company said the “critical situation” had worsened over the weekend after MV Lord of the Isles, which serves Coll, Tiree & Colonsay, reported an engine issue on Saturday.

Meanwhile the long-awaited MV Glen Sannox, which only entered service last year between Troon and Brodick on the island of Arran; the MV Isle of Islay; and MV Isle of Arran, were also not in service due to “unplanned technical issues”.

On Tuesday, CalMac said the MV Isle of Islay, the newest ferry in the CalMac fleet, had carried passengers for the first time.

The vessel, one of four new CalMac ferries built in Turkey, is intended to provide a mainland link to the people of Islay and Jura. It departed Port Askaig at 12.30pm on Tuesday.

Speaking in Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire, Mr Cole-Hamilton blamed the SNP for the ferry “crisis”.

He told the Press Association: “I’ve called today for the Scottish Parliament to be recalled as a matter of urgency.

“This is a crisis of the SNP’s creation and it is engulfing our island and coastal communities.

“We need parliamentarians to come back to the Scottish Parliament, sort out this mess and immediately get compensation to everyone affected.”

The Scottish Lib Dem leader said that as well as compensation to islanders, his party would put forward a new ferries Bill in the next Parliament.

He said this would “put communities at the centre of a rolling 30-year procurement programme”.

He added: “It’s no surprise that ferry fleets age and need to be replaced, but it seems to have come as a surprise to the SNP – that can’t be allowed to happen again.”

On Monday, Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: “I want to assure all those impacted by the current shortage of ferries on the West Coast Island network that the Scottish Government and CalMac are urgently working closely to resolve these issues.

“Our shared priority is to ensure minimum disruption, and to restore services as quickly as possible.

“Work is being delivered at pace to bring the MV Glen Sannox back into service and introduce the MV Isle of Islay into service, alongside other actions to ensure we are able to provide services for passengers.

“This includes ensuring clear and effective communication to customers is prioritised.

“Given the significant disruption facing these services and our Island communities, I want to thank people for their cooperation and encourage everyone due to use the ferry network in the coming days to check with their operators to understand any impacts.”

Duncan Mackison, CalMac’s chief executive, previously described the situation as “critical” and warned ferry users that services will continue to be amended in the coming days.