McGrigor’s addresses Scottish Parliament on ferry services

Jamie McGrigor, ‘List’ MSP whose area of responsibility includes Argyll, has made a speech in Holyrood on the Transport Committee’s report on ferry services. In it he pays tribute to the work of former Labour Transport Minister Sarah Boyack who first mooted the need for integrated transport services; and to SNP Highland Councillor, Roy Pedersen for his work on developing the Government’s Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) scheme subsidising ferry travel to the islands – or, for the time being, to some of the islands in the current RET pilot.

As with most politicians, while he was on his feet, Mr McGrigor took the opportunity to raise matter affecting other interests in the Argyll constituency. We reproduce his speech below.

‘Presiding Officer, I welcome today’s debate and many aspects of the Transport Committee’s report which as others have pointed out is the first major inquiry into ferry services carried out by a Committee of this Parliament. Ferry services play a massive role throughout my Region of the Highlands and Islands and I hope this Committee report will influence the Scottish Government as it conducts its own review of ferry services.

The Committee’s recommendations on timetabling are important and I am sure all of us agree that CalMac needs to look at what can be done to lengthen the sailing day to maximise commuting opportunities from the islands.

The Committee also talks about achieving better integration of transport services and we would all want to see this- it was first a pledge of the first Transport Minister after devolution Sarah Boyack and there is much still to do.

The Committee makes a number of positive suggestions in relation to the Scottish Government’s ferries review and, crucially, talks about the need for new thinking. I wonder if Ministers will be able to confirm that their review will utilise the views of the private sector, not just in its consultation, but in the make up of any review steering group? The review team needs to be made up of more than CalMac and civil service representatives. The private ferry sector, which has shown its dynamism and ability to deliver on a number of routes in Scotland, has a very big part to play in the improvement of our country’s ferry services.

I read with interest the report’s section on the Road Equivalent Tariff scheme and I agree with the comments expressed effectively by the Scottish Islands Federation that while the scheme is to be welcomed, “the pilot scheme will mean that all the other islands will be disadvantaged in comparison with those that will receive the benefits of RETs.” I was in the Uists this summer and my constituents there are looking forward to the beginning of the scheme in October. But my constituents on some of the other islands, such as Colonsay, Mull and the Northern Isles, feel let down and badly treated by the SNP government and it is incumbent on me as their representative to voice these concerns. The considerable length of the pilot- which is identified as an issue of concern in the report- means that Argyll & Bute Council is right to say that ‘if monitoring of the pilot shows that tourism has been displaced from islands that are not included in the scheme, the Government will have to consider how to redress the balance.” Fragile communities like Colonsay simply cannot afford to wait until the end of the scheme in 2011 if we see their economies badly affected next summer.

And while I am talking about fragile communities, I want to talk about the economic problems facing Campbeltown and Kintyre as we face the possibility of the loss of up to 100 well paid jobs if Vestas withdraws from the area. The campaign to secure the reintroduction of the Campbeltown-Ballycastle ferry, which has cross party support, has been fighting for years but we need to see a decision from Ministers without delay- even more so now. It has been suggested that the lack of better ferry services was a contributory factor towards the possible closure of Vestas but I think everyone would agree that we are simply not going to attract new jobs and investment to Kintyre unless we see better transport links. The Campbeltown-Ballycastle ferry has the potential to open up tourism in this part of Argyll. I will also be raising with Ministers tomorrow at Question Time the possible introduction of a new mainland-to-mainland ferry service between Campbeltown and Ayrshire. I wonder if Ministers will agree with me that such a new route could take a significant amount of freight from the roads and open up markets for Kintyre companies?

During my summer tour I tried to take the Council-run ferry to the Island of Luing. Unfortunately the Council was on strike that day so the ferry was off- something which frustrates Luing residents and makes them rightly worried about what would happen in a health emergency. I had a positive meeting with the Minister and the Luing Fixed Link Action Group just before recess and the Minister pledged to engage with Argyll & Bute Council on this issue- I would be grateful for any updates from the Minister.

In conclusion Presiding Officer, there is much in the Committee’s report that is positive and useful and therefore I thank the members of the Committee for their work on it. The government’s own review will now be the focus and expectations are high- the viability and economic success of dozens of remote and often fragile communities depend on it. I commend the comments made by SNP Councillor Roy Pedersen- who has been so influential over RET policy- that there is ‘a lot of scope for the private sector to contribute to ferry services in Scotland. The current tendering system seems almost designed to inhibit the private sector in contributing.” I also commend his submission to the European Commission on state aid rules and hope it will help to guide Ministers. I look forward to debating the results of the Minister’s review and hope they will actually deliver the changes in the areas where we have concerns.’