Professor John Robertson OBA
Today, try searching for Scotland and ferries and you’ll be flooded, unlike the MV Glen Sannox‘s slightly damp steering gear, with a surge of reports, several directly ‘accusing’ or ‘shaming’, the SNP for the kind of minor repair that is often required in the teething stages of new ship.
Try narrowing your search to the period from 1 January 1997 to 1 January 2007, Labour and the Lib Dem’s time in power and you’ll find very little indeed.
You will find one (only) story of delays, due to repairs lasting 6 months, on 22 April 2003, in the Herald, but it was the Northlink Ferries, MV Hamnavoe and they had to hire the CalMac vessel, MV Hebridean Isles, as cover.1
CalMac did get a BBC UK mention on its £2m losses, in October 2006 but it is entirely uncritical and makes no mention of the Scottish Government nor, of course, the Labour Party.2
In 2001, BBC UK also had:
The ferry strike which paralysed Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) services on Scotland’s west coast has been settled.3
Imagine that happened today under the SNP. In 2001, FM Jack McConnell, is quoted:
At last we have an outbreak of common sense. I am very pleased that the latest round of negotiations have delivered some normality for the islanders for the week ahead.3
There is no suggestion that the Labour government in Scotland is in any way responsible for the strike in the first place nor that it should have enabled the discussions. Opposition parties are not asked for their views.
In January 2006, BBC UK reported on the lack of any bidders to revive the Argyll to Northern Ireland ferry route despite several expressions of interest in the early stages. Well down the report, we read:
A Scottish Executive spokesman said it was too early to say whether the amount of subsidy offered was the reason for the lack of response.4
The Minister, Tavish Scott, is not asked about this.
Imagine that happened today.
Sources:
Talking-up Scotland 
Today’s BBC Scotland website is a nauseatingly baleful celebration of gleeful nastiness. It is the lead article, we get two vox pops we get accusatory quotes from unionist politicians, we get a reprise of their many stories about the delays in building.
LikeLiked by 4 people
” Glen Sannox ferry passengers react to hull crack “….. The usual BBC Scotland vox pops editing stunt blending shots from Brodick (Sannox) and Troon (Alfred), with maybe 6 individuals and 1 car at different spots to repeat the propaganda, out of a 430 passenger and 98 car capacity on the Alfred…. It’s more a representative sample of BBC Scotland viewers to the general population to be honest… https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/c14jm1210lro
LikeLiked by 1 person
Another viewpoint on the Glen Sannox ‘incident’:
UK Defence Journal (March 15, 2025) ‘New Scottish ferry to resume service after minor repair’. (https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/new-scottish-ferry-to-resume-service-after-minor-repair/)
‘In Perspective: As we noted earlier, structural issues like this are not uncommon for newly commissioned vessels and are often identified during early inspections as ships settle into service.
‘Minor weld seam defects can occasionally appear, particularly in areas of high stress or flex, and are typically straightforward to address.
‘A marine engineer we spoke to reinforced this point, saying, “From the available information, this appears to be a minor weld defect rather than a serious structural failure. The crack is on a seam near the waterline, which suggests it may have been exacerbated by natural flexing in the hull. If that’s the case, it’s a straightforward repair, and I’d be surprised if the dive team disagrees with that assessment.”
‘Naval vessels, which undergo rigorous trials before deployment, also frequently require similar minor repairs and adjustments in their early months of service. Issues like this, while unfortunate, do not indicate any fundamental design flaw.’
Despite this, the ‘incident’ as we know reached the UK-wide news bulletins of the BBC and ‘outraged’ coverage by other mainstream new media outlets.
And on Ferguson Marine, the UK Defence Journal reminds us: ‘This follows Ferguson Marine’s successful delivery of hull sections for HMS Belfast, a Royal Navy frigate under construction at BAE Systems’ Govan shipyard.’
LikeLiked by 4 people