Let’s end this ferries fiasco for good

It comes up not just in the island and coastal communities directly affected, but in central belt towns and cities, in inland villages and suburbs. The frustration and anger about the ferries scandal is universal. Under the SNP, ferries have become an all-encompassing symbol of the chaos, incompetence, waste and arrogance that has characterised their time in charge. Google “Scottish ferry fiasco” and you’ll get a dedicated Wikipedia page about the whole sorry affair.

The Glen Sannox ferry journeys from Brodick on Isle of Arran to Troon on its first official day in service in January this year.

It all began in 2015 when the SNP promised two new ferries, the Glen Sannox and the Glen Rosa. They have turned into Scotland’s most haunted ships: colossal delays, their costs more than quadrupling, with an ever-increasing repair bill for the ageing ferries they were meant to replace.

Nicola Sturgeon tried to (quite literally) paint over the emerging disaster in 2017, as she launched the Glen Sannox with painted-on windows. It was a total farce, and the Glen Sannox didn’t even start sailing until this year. The Glen Rosa is still to arrive.

Cancellations and disruptions have shot through the roof. Almost half a million was paid out to passengers in compensation last year alone. Islanders have missed hospital appointments, businesses have been left out of pocket, taxpayers are picking up the pieces. Not a single SNP minister has ever resigned for this damage, not a single minister has ever taken accountability.

This has been going on for a decade now. It’s not about giving the SNP more time or more chances. They’ve had an abundance of both, demonstrating beyond a shadow of a doubt that they just can’t get this right. They’ve proved themselves utterly incapable of delivering the lifeline links that hundreds of thousands of people in this country depend on.

But all islanders are ultimately interested in are solutions. It’s one thing to call out the mess, quite another to fix it. That’s why Scottish Liberal Democrats have launched a consultation on the state of our ferry services. This consultation is all about fixing the ferries from the bottom up, not the top down. For so long, that’s been the problem: an SNP government that thinks it knows best, that agrees to contracts where ferries are launched with fake windows years before they can actually set sail.

Our consultation runs until September 19 and is available on our website. We want to hear from anyone who has a stake in our ferry network, from ferry operators and shipbuilders to unions, islanders, ferry user groups, businesses and marine experts. We want to know what you think needs to be done to secure the long-term future of Scotland’s ferry network and what it should look like in 10 or 20 years.

Getting Scotland moving again starts by fixing this fiasco. It’s how we can improve prospects not just for island and coastal communities, but also for taxpayers and our economy more broadly. This consultation is your chance to help make that happen and help the Scottish Liberal Democrats end the ferries fiasco for good.

Alex Cole-Hamilton is Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and MSP for Edinburgh Western