Ferry fiasco ship delayed until Spring 2026 as costs rise by £22.5million
SHIP HITS THE FAN Ferry fiasco ship delayed until Spring 2026 as costs rise by £22.5million
SCOTLAND's ferry fiasco ship has been delayed for another six months with costs rocketing by another £22.5million, it has been confirmed.
Ferguson Marine confirmed in a letter to MSPs today that the Glen Rosa, sister ship to the troubled Glen Sannox which entered service earlier this year, would now only be ready by "Q2 2026".
Advertisement
The update comes after a long delay, with the Glen Rosa now set to be delivered seven years late.
We reported in January how Holyrood insiders expected the news despite the yard's insistence it would be finished in September this year.
The new chief executive at Ferguson Marine, Graeme Thomson, apologised for the fresh delay.
He said: "This is not the announcement we wanted to be making at this stage and cannot overstate our understanding of thimportance of providing realistic handover schedules to support
Advertisement
CalMac to provide a more reliable and robust service to the communities it serves.
'No one wants to see the swift delivery of MV Glen Rosa more than Ferguson Marine and we are committed to working hard to ensure the vessel is delivered within this window.
'We apologise unreservedly to islanders for this additional delay and want to assure everyone that we are working extremely hard to deliver a quality vessel that showcases the skill and experience of Clydebuilt ships.
"Once delivered, MV Glen Rosa will be transformative for our island communities.'
Advertisement
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News
a day ago
- Sky News
Will Scotland ride the 'Farage tsunami' at the Hamilton by-election like England has with Reform?
Nigel Farage has a track record of noisy, messy campaign visits to Scotland. After being famously hounded out of an Edinburgh pub in 2013, on Monday came the Aberdeen media conference in a fish restaurant to the soundtrack of "Farage is a racist" chants outside from the small, but vocal crowd. "We've not had this (protests) for a long time," Mr Farage tells me while the cameras are setting up for our Sky News interview. Mr Farage came to northeast Scotland with a spring in his step as Reform UK surges in the Scottish polls. One even suggests his party could become the official opposition to the SNP in Holyrood in 2026. A humiliating prospect for Labour and the Conservatives. The Reform leader has notably pivoted his attacks on the "Scottish establishment" in recent weeks as a by-election looms in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse. SNP chief John Swinney is churning out almost daily press releases about Mr Farage claiming he "doesn't care about Scotland", meanwhile Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar branded the Reform boss a "pathetic little man". This week's by-election will be a barometer of where Reform support potentially sits more nationally. The SNP and Labour are privately nervous. But Scotland, it seems, is not riding the same "Farage tsunami" as England. He alleges he is capitalising on the disenfranchisement in Scottish politics at the moment, yet the polls suggest the SNP could still storm to power again next year and enter their third decade in power. Mr Sarwar and Mr Farage have been at loggerheads in a bitter war of words over an old speech the Scottish Labour leader gave, where he talked about minority communities. There is no doubt that Reform has taken that footage out of context as part of a political game. 10:53 Mr Farage is playing down Reform's chances, saying his party is a "teenager that hasn't reached maturity yet". Is that code for dodging scrutiny on policy detail? Sir Keir Starmer would be humiliated by defeat from a "teenager" this week in Scotland. It would have been inconceivable Mr Farage would have been taking up so much political bandwidth even a year ago in Scotland given the country notoriously rejected his politics for more than a decade. It is a remarkable charge in narrative, but Reform is yet to win any major seat north of the border.
Daily Record
a day ago
- Daily Record
Nigel Farage met by protesters on visit to Scotland as he criticises Holyrood funding
Nigel Farage has signalled he would launch a full-scale review of how public services are paid for in Scotland if he becomes the next prime minister. The Reform UK leader said today the Barnett Formula - used by the UK Treasury to determine how much money is given to the Scottish Government each year - is "out of date". The Clacton MP also said he wanted to see Holyrood "raise a bit more of its own revenue" and claimed the Scottish economy wouldn't grow unless the decline in North Sea oil and gas production was reversed. And he claimed "devolution is here to stay" - despite John Swinney previously warning Reform would look to abolish the Scottish Parliament if they took power at Westminster. Speaking on a visit to Aberdeen Harbour, Farage also accused members of the Scottish media of leaking details of his press conference to a small but vocal group of protesters who had gathered outside. He was also downbeat on his party's chances of winning the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election - claiming the prospect of beating both Labour and the SNP was "improbable". Farage has previously been scathing of how the Scottish Goverment is funded. During a leaders' TV debate ahead of the 2015 general election, the then UKIP leader said tax payers in England were "cheesed off" at the amount of public money given to Holyrood. The Barnett formula is a system of grants which dictates the level of public spending in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Under it, extra funding - or cuts - from Westminster are allocated according to the population size of each nation and which powers are devolved to them. The system has long proved controversial as it means public spending per head is considerably different in different parts of the UK. It has typically been 20 per cent higher in Scotland than in England. Asked today by the Record if he still viewed public spending in Scotland as too high, and whether he would scrap the Barnett Formula, Farage said "of course" there was an argument for it to be looked at. He said: "The Barnett Formula seems to me to be somewhat out of date. What I'd like to see is a Scottish Government that's able to raise a bit more of its own revenue, and a Scottish economy that has genuine growth. "And I don't believe that can happen without this sector (North Sea oil and gas) booming. "The Barnett Formula goes back to the 1970s. Is there an argument that it should be looked at again? Of course there is. "But frankly, if you look at welfare dependency, if you look educational standards, the idea that 50 billion this year going to Scotland isn't going to be enough until it has an economy that is thriving." Pressed by the Record on whether his party was supportive of devolution in general , Farage added: "Devolution should extended to England, right down to the counties. "Devolution is here to stay. Sadly, over the course of the last 20 years or so, devolution has not worked very well." Farage also doubled down on his attacks on Anas Sarwar, with the Reform UK leader using a visit to Scotland to again accuse him of 'sectarian politics'. He claimed the Scottish Labour leader has a 'record of obsession' – citing a speech he gave in Holyrood in 2020 as evidence of this. The Hamilton by-election race has been dominated by a row over a Reform advert which has been branded 'racist' by Reform's opponents, and which claims that Sarwar will 'prioritise' the Pakistani community in Scotland. But Farage today insisted Reform UK 'don't talk about race at all'. He pointed out his party's chairman, Zia Yusuf, was someone who 'is Scottish born, but comes from parents who come from the Indian subcontinent'. Farage continued: 'We think everybody should be treated equally. We object, very strongly, to the segmentation of people into different types.' Michael Marra, Scottish Labour finance spokesman, said: "Nigel Farage has said the quiet part out loud and admitted he plans to cut funding for Scotland's public services. "He has already said he wants to privatise the NHS and now he is planning to take an axe to funding for the rest of our frontline services. "This is yet another sign of how out of touch this charlatan is. The SNP don't deserve to win but it is crystal clear that Reform do not have the answers that Scotland needs. "Only Scottish Labour will stand up for our public services and deliver a new direction for Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse."
The National
a day ago
- The National
Nigel Farage branded 'clown' as he suggests scrapping Barnett formula
Asked during a rare appearance in Scotland on Monday about whether he would get rid of the Barnett formula, which is used to fund Holyrood, Farage said the mechanism was 'out of date'. He added: 'What I'd like to see is a Scottish Government that's able to raise a bit more of its own revenue and a Scottish economy that's actually got genuine growth and I don't believe that can happen without this sector [oil and gas] booming. 'I think, you know, the Barnett formula goes back to the 1970s. Is there an argument it should be looked at again? Of course there is.' READ MORE: Nigel Farage visit to Scotland met by anti-racism protesters Farage said that 'welfare dependency' would not be reduced by the UK Government's allocation to the Scottish Parliament this year. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: 'Today the chief clown Nigel Farage finally found his way to Scotland and showed just how totally out of touch with our country he is. 'Nigel Farage turned up, admitted he can't win the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election and pledged to cut funding for Scotland's NHS and public services. 'Nigel Farage is a dangerous clown and the people of Scotland see right through him.'
