Minister to attend meeting over South Uist ferry 'crisis'
Scotland's transport secretary, Fiona Hyslop, is to attend a "crisis" meeting later, called by islanders on South Uist over disruption to ferry services.The direct route to the mainland from the second largest island in the Outer Hebrides is currently served by a ship restricted to carrying just 45 passengers. A business group said the island's economy had been suffering from years of unreliable ferry services due to lack of investment. On the eve of the meeting, the Scottish government announced it was creating a £4.4m resilience fund to help islanders during the current difficulties.
South Uist has been under particular pressure recently as state-owned ferry operator CalMac struggles with a shortage of ships while it awaits replacements for its ageing fleet. Winter maintenance has uncovered new problems with several vessels, forcing CalMac to rejig its schedules and move ferries onto different routes. MV Lord of the Isles, which normally sails between Lochboisdale on South Uist and the mainland port of Mallaig, is deployed elsewhere until mid-May. A replacement vessel, MV Isle of Mull, although designed to carry 900 passengers is currently restricted to just 45 - the number that can fit in the traditional lifeboats. This is because of a fault with its emergency evacuation chute system. Instead of sailing to Mallaig, it travels to Oban, 85 miles away from the normal scheduled port, which adds more than four hours to the crossing time.
John Daniel Peteranna, from the South Uist Business Group which is hosting what it calls a "ferry crisis summit", said the island's economic potential in areas like seafood, distilleries and tourism was being stifled. He said businesses had suffered five years of reputational damage due to unreliable transport links to the mainland. "When we set up the business group three years ago we didn't think things could get any worse but they have surprised us," he told BBC Scotland News. The meeting will be attended by local MSPs as well as representatives from CalMac, although the operator's chief executive and chairman will not be present.The business group will be asking for more details on the resilience funding and whether more can be done to improve services until the return of Lord of the Isles in May.It will be also be seeking an update on plans to replace the 36-year-old vessel and upgrade the harbour facilities at Lochboisdale.
The Scottish government said it was working out eligibility criteria for the resilience funding, and this would be discussed at the meeting.Islands Secretary Mairi Gougeon said: "We know that the current situation of delays and ongoing maintenance to some vessels has created real difficulties for some. "We are determined to do everything we can to support islands, their local businesses and employers through these challenging times."
Vessel shortage
CalMac said it had put on extra sailings from South Uist to Barra, which offers an alternative route to Oban on the mainland. The firm's chief operating officer Diane Burke will attend the meeting. A spokesperson said: "We recognise the current challenges with our major vessel fleet has led to disruption on a number or routes, particularly on South Uist. "We've been in regular contact with local representatives throughout this period of disruption to ensure the community is kept informed about the service."Two ageing vessels MV Hebrides and MV Caledonian are currently undergoing repairs, while MV Hebridean Isles was retired from service late last year. Ferries procurement body CMAL is awaiting the arrival of the first of four new CalMac ferries being built in Turkey, but these are delayed and the first vessel MV Isle of Islay is not expected until later this summer. The long-delayed MV Glen Sannox, built by the Ferguson Marine shipyard, is now in service on the Arran route but its sister ship MV Glen Rosa is still under construction and a new update on its delivery is awaited.CMAL said the redevelopment of Lochboisdale and the replacement of MV Lord of the Isles were both dependent on funding approval by Transport Scotland.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The National
22 minutes ago
- The National
SNP must turn support for independence into 'real political action'
The First Minister said he would put building support for independence at the 'heart' of his party's 2026 Holyrood manifesto. It comes after the latest polling put support for Scottish independence at 54%, and even higher if Nigel Farage and Reform UK took power in Westminster. Following the SNP's loss to Labour in the Hamilton, Larkhall, and Stonehouse by-election, the First Minister was quizzed about anger within the Yes movement that he had not 'done enough' to promote the cause of independence since he took over the leadership of the SNP. READ MORE: SNP 'demeaned themselves' with focus on Reform UK at by-election Appearing on BBC Scotland's Sunday Show, Swinney was asked if he was alert to the displeasure of activists over his strategy for independence. 'Of course, I hear that, I listened very carefully to all that is said in political debate in Scotland, particularly debate amongst those who share my objective of winning Scottish independence,' he said. 'When I became First Minister a year ago we were in a very difficult situation, as demonstrated by the poor election result that we got last summer, and I had to rebuild our position so that we could get a hearing from the public within Scotland, and I've been doing that by trying to improve the performance of the Scottish Government on delivering on the priorities of the people. "I focused our agenda directly on the concerns of the public in Scotland.' Swinney insisted it was 'always' a part of his plan to set out 'where the hope comes from' in politics, and that this is from Scottish independence. He added: 'Because all the challenges we face in society today, whether it's about Brexit or about an immigration policy that from the UK government is going to be disastrous for the Scottish economy, or the spike in energy prices are all a product of Westminster decision making. (Image: BBC) "And what I've got to do is I've got to relate all those issues to the concerns of people in Scotland, and set out that the answer to that is Scottish independence, and that's the agenda that I set out to my party I would take forward in the run up to the 2026 election.' Asked what the SNP will be putting in their Holyrood 2026 manifesto in regards to independence, such as a bid for a new referendum and what would equate a mandate for Scottish independence, Swinney said: 'What should be in our manifesto is the arguments why Scotland should be an independent country, and how we can build the future of our country based on the opportunities of independence. 'Fundamentally, Scotland will only become independent when the people of Scotland want that to be the case. 'And we saw in the course of the last few weeks, strengthening of the opinion poll position in favor of Scottish independence.' Martin Geissler pointed out that while support for independence was high, the SNP had recently lost the Hamilton by-election, with less than 30% of the vote. READ MORE: Scottish independence 'already begun as UK political culture diverges' 'That's exactly the point I was coming on to,' Swinney replied. 'My challenge is to make sure that we can turn that aspiration in the public for Scottish independence into a real political action to make sure it happens. 'And that comes about by the SNP performing much better, of getting into a commanding position in Scottish politics, and making sure that we can deliver on the expectations and aspirations of the people of Scotland. 'That's what I'm focused on, about making the argument, because if we make the argument and build support for Scottish independence, I think it is absolutely impossible to stand in the way of the democratic will of the people of Scotland if they want Scotland to be independent, and that will be at the heart of the thinking that I bring to the SNP manifesto in 2026.' Swinney also hinted that there could be a reshuffle on the horizon for Scottish Government ministers. Noting that Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy, Mairi McAllan, is due to return from maternity leave, he would 'have a look at the team' in 'due course'. The First Minister also defended his tactics of calling out Reform in the Hamilton by-election instead of focussing on Labour as the SNP's main rival. We previously told how party activists said they were shut down by SNP HQ for questioning the strategy. Swinney told the BBC that Labour's vote was collapsing while Reform support was 'surging'. 'I said to people the best way to do that was to vote SNP, to stop Farage, because the Labour vote was collapsing on its performance last year, and it did," he said.
The Herald Scotland
26 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Ash Regan to Elon Musk: 'Forget Trump and bring SpaceX to Scotland'
Musk has warned that the bill will increase the federal deficit and called it a 'disgusting abomination'. Trump criticised Mr Musk in the Oval Office, and before long, he and Mr Musk began trading bitterly personal attacks on social media, sending the White House and Republican congressional leaders scrambling to assess the fallout. As the back-and-forth intensified, Mr Musk suggested Mr Trump should be impeached and claimed without evidence that the government was concealing information about the President's association with infamous paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Now Ash Regan says that the country should 'be quick' to take advantage of such situations. The Alba MSP believes that with Scotland's emergence in the Space and satellite industries, attempts should be made to tempt Musk to relocate his business ventures to Scotland. With Trump's family and business ties to Scotland, her party said that such a move by Musk could 'prompt a bidding war between the President of the United States and one of the worlds richest men as to who can invest more in Scotland.' Commenting, Ash Regan said: 'The Scottish space industry, including satellite-related activities, is projected to be worth £4 billion to the Scottish economy by 2030. Glasgow is already known as the satellite manufacturing capital of Europe, and we are on the verge of becoming a global player in the industry. 'We have the sites, the people and the vision to match Elon Musk's aspirations for SpaceX so the Scottish Government should be opening the door and advertising Scotland is the go to place if he wishes to relocate his business ventures here if contract cancellation threats in the US are upheld. 'I previously proposed Scotland as the site for the next Tesla Gigafactory and unfortunately Elon Musk ruled out investment due to the policies of the UK Labour Government. However, the Scottish Government have been a key partner in the growing success of our satellite industry, so in Scotland we would have a much opportunity of attracting such investment where the UK Government has previously failed. 'Scotland has the potential for abundant renewable energy, which is needed to power emergent technologies. By creating innovative investment opportunities, we can then capitalise on Scotland's USP, ensuring we invest this bounty to benefit Scotland's businesses and communities. "No more being left behind as passengers while Westminster squanders the power of our own resources. We need to think independently and act like a forward looking nation to show our people we can thrive with independence.'
The National
42 minutes ago
- The National
Richard Tice in row with Laura Kuenssberg over Anas Sarwar comments
The deputy leader of Reform UK doubled down on his party's recent attack advert against Scottish Labour, which has been widely condemned as "racist", during the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme. The political advert, which was seen by more than one million people on Facebook, falsely claimed that Sarwar would 'prioritise the Pakistani community'. READ MORE: Scottish Government urges Chancellor to drop 'damaging' cuts ahead of spending review The ad includes selected clips from a video spread by far and alt-right agitators on social media in a bid to claim that Europe was under threat from 'multiculturalism' and mass immigration, specifically of Muslims. While it has been branded "racist" by both the SNP and Scottish Labour, Farage doubled down and went on to tell a press conference in London that Sarwar had "introduced sectarianism into Scottish politics". During the programme on Sunday, Kuenssberg asked Tice about his party leader's comments, saying: "Your leader Nigel Farage claimed that the Muslim Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar had said that he would prioritise the Pakistani community. "He did not use those words. Was Nigel Farage's claim false?" Tice refused to be drawn on whether the claim was false, as he said: "No, look, what we would talk about was that actually, the Labour leader in Scotland was essentially sort of developing sectarian politics, and we called that out. "We had the Scottish by-election and we came within 750 people of winning it. "So the ridiculous claims made by the other main politicians in Scotland about us, frankly, the voters have just ignored, and we came within a whisker of an absolute shock, a seismic shock. Richard Tice "We got 26%, it was a three-way marginal, and I think Scottish politics is changing." Reform UK came third in Thursday's Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election, with their candidate Ross Lambie winning 7088 votes. The party won 26.2% of the vote share but were 1471 votes away from beating Scottish Labour's Davy Russell, not 750 votes as Tice – who was at the count – claimed on Sunday. Tice went on: "We had a very simple slogan that seemed to work. 'Drill, Scotland, drill'. The oil and gas industry generates huge prosperity for Scotland, for the United Kingdom, and we should be embracing it and enhancing it, not shutting it down, which the Labour Government has essentially followed what the Tories did before with the ridiculous windfall tax." Kuenssberg returned to Farage's claims about the Scottish Labour leader, as she asked: "Do you not think it's important to say things that are true in politics? "Mr Farage claimed that Anas Sarwar had used words that he simply did not. He made a false claim on a sensitive issue. Was he wrong to do that?" Tice then doubled down on his party's claims about Sarwar bringing in sectarianism into Scottish politics. "No, look, it is sensitive, you're right," he said. "But was it right for Mr Sarwar to claim that Pakistanis and the South Asian community should, for example, dominate and dictate the Scottish educational agenda?" READ MORE: The Supreme Court's sex ruling faces legal challenges – will they succeed? Kuenssberg interrupted: "My question to you is whether or not it was right for Mr Farage to make a false claim about words Anas Sarwar did not use?" Tice said: "Well, you can interpret. I think in the overall context it was not a false claim. "It was what Mr Sarwar was doing, which was bringing sectarian politics into Scottish politics. And that is wrong, that's not how we do things." First Minister John Swinney said at the time that Farage had "brought racism and hatred" into the by-election campaign, as the SNP submitted a formal complaint to Meta, Facebook's parent company. Meanwhile, Sarwar branded Farage a "poisonous man who doesn't understand Scotland". Scottish Labour have been contacted for comment.
