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:
- https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/11988470.pounds-30m-ferry-in-service-after-six-months-lying-idle-in-dock/
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/5413164.stm
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/1727410.stm
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4597120.stm
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Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
All with one aim, to try to convince the Scottish people that we cannot be trusted to run our own affairs, no matter the area of expertise. Patently untrue, but how long will it take for some of the electorate to realise they are being conned?
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Some will never accept fact they are being conned, sadly.
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