Meeting of the Parliament 19 March 2025
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.