Hansard

Although we have discussed the ferries scandal a number of times before, I welcome today’s debate, as every week seems to bring further revelations and attempts by the Scottish Government to avoid its responsibility.

As I am an islander, no one needs to tell me about the critical importance of ferries to the communities that they serve. It is something that simply cannot be overstated. I have often referenced the important role that ferries play in allowing people to access public services. The example that I will give has been touched on by Alex Cole-Hamilton and Graham Simpson.

Only last week, the Arran Cancer Support Trust gave a stark reminder of what the situation can mean beyond the chamber. The group pointed to its own figures, which show that half the important medical appointments on the mainland were missed in February, as ferry disruption was rife. This week, the MV Caledonian Isles is out of action, with a smaller vessel covering the route, and that decreased capacity is further impacting on availability. That only highlights the limited resilience of the CalMac fleet and the utter mess that the Scottish Government has made of the replacement programme. The new vessel that is scheduled to take on the route and serve Arran is the infamous Glen Sannox, launched by the First Minister—its windows painted on for the occasion—which is now sitting unfinished in a yard, years later. That is just one route. How many other lifeline services, used for accessing vital services, have been similarly impacted? How many people on our islands and in our remote areas have been similarly disadvantaged?

That is more than enough reason to call this a scandal—a scandal that is entirely of this Scottish Government’s making and a result of the incompetence of successive ministers and the decisions of the First Minister who appointed them. Yet at the weekend, as Graham Simpson highlighted, the First Minister was asked whether she would go further than her previously stated expression of “regret” over the situation and apologise, on behalf of her Government, to islanders. Her reply, quoted in The Scotsman newspaper, was rather less conciliatory. A “visibly frustrated” First Minister, the newspaper reported, replied:

“Oh for goodness’ sake”.

She added:

“Well look, you can decide to make comments about the words. I choose my own words.”

Well, one word that the First Minister chose not to use was “sorry”.

Does that sound like the voice of a Scottish Government that cares about the impact on island communities, such as those on Arran, in my home in Orkney or in Shetland, or in any of our island communities where there are growing concerns over the future of our vital ferry links? Does it sound like a Scottish Government that truly recognises its role in—and its responsibility for—bringing this situation about, or one that has its finger on the pulse of those communities? No. It sounds like what it is: a Government that sees the troubles of those communities as little more than a nuisance or a public relations disaster that is frustratingly not disappearing off the agenda. I can assure ministers that it will not be disappearing off the agenda any time soon.

I have spoken about accountability, which is key to today’s debate. I remind the chamber that the Scottish Government’s position is that everything is on record and that there is nothing more to find. That position was repeated by the First Minister at the weekend. With this Government, that would be unusual.

We need only return to the conclusions of the Auditor General in last month’s report to see the true situation. He said:

“We consider that there should have been a proper record of this important decision.”

The claim of “insufficient documentary evidence” will be familiar to anyone who has tried to pursue the Scottish Government on any issue, but these are vital concerns about the use of large sums of public money. Yet the First Minister claims that the public knows everything that there is to know. I do not think that anyone on our islands, or even in the chamber, really believes that.

There will be much more to say during the debate on what details are absent and how this remarkable situation came about, but, today, the Scottish Conservatives have come to the chamber with two specific demands in our amendment. The first is for a clear answer to the question about why CMAL’s concerns were overruled in making the contract award and why no proper records were kept of the decision. The second is for the Scottish Government to release the full EY report on project Neptune now.

This has been a depressing episode and it continues to be so. It is not just a regional issue but an issue that has resonated with people across Scotland—those who sympathise with the plight of remote and island communities; those who see hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money wasted; those who have watched as yet another Scottish Government project turned into an avoidable, expensive fiasco—