Cole-Hamilton: First Minister must not dodge questions on ferry compensation for coastal towns

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has written to the First Minister asking for clarity on whether he will now extend compensation for the SNP’s ferries fiasco to coastal towns, after John Swinney appeared confused as to whether this would be the case.

In response to calls from Scottish Liberal Democrats and campaigners, the Scottish Government agreed to set up, and subsequently expand, a compensation scheme for island businesses affected by massive ferry disruption last summer.

Scottish Liberal Democrats, however, have continued to press for this scheme to be expanded to cover coastal communities such as Dunoon, Ardrossan and Mallaig, successfully passing an amendment to that effect on Tuesday 8th September.

When pressed on the issue at First Minister's Questions, John Swinney did not appear to be aware that his party had voted for the Scottish Liberal Democrat amendment which called for the Islands Resilience Fund “to offer more funding, and sooner, to both island businesses and the coastal communities that have been consistently excluded from the scheme.”

Scottish Liberal Democrats are now calling for the First Minister to respect the will of parliament and extend this compensation to cover coastal areas like Ardrossan, Dunoon and Mallaig.

His letter to the First Minister is as follows:

Dear First Minister,

Further to our exchange at First Minister's Questions on Thursday 10th September 2026, I am writing to clarify your responses and to press you for further detail on the substance of my question.

In my first question, I referred to the motion passed on Tuesday 8th September, S7M-01070. The successful amendment from my Scottish Liberal Democrat colleague Liam McArthur MSP, which both you and your government voted for, “calls for the Island Resilience Fund to offer more funding, and sooner, to both island businesses and the coastal communities that have been consistently excluded from the scheme.”

As you will see, this amendment was explicit about the need to include businesses in those coastal communities because they were excluded from the scheme you announced in the Western Isles last month and the previous two rounds of funding which closed in January 2026 and September 2025.

While we welcome the Scottish Government's support for our calls, the purpose of my question was to establish what that decision now means in practice.

Specifically, my question gave you the opportunity to set out:

a) which coastal towns or communities might now be brought within the scope of the scheme;

b) how much those businesses and communities might receive by way of financial support; and

c) most importantly, when that money might reach them, given that so many face a dire financial outlook.

In your response, you pointed to the scheme already announced this summer. My question, however, was not about what had already been announced for the islands, but about the outcome of this week's vote on extending that support to mainland coastal communities such as Dunoon, Ardrossan and Mallaig, which have to date been excluded.

This is a call we have made for many months. Now that you, your Government and Parliament have all voted in favour of it, I would be grateful for a substantive reply, so that businesses the length and breadth of our coastline, who were until now left out of any compensation, might have some hope that the Scottish Government has listened to their concerns, and to ours, about their exclusion from financial relief.

I look forward to your clarification and to receiving details of how your government will progress this vote of Parliament.

Yours sincerely,

Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP

Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats

Member of the Scottish Parliament for Edinburgh North Western