Highlands and Islands MSP presses SNP on extending ferry compensation 

Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP for the Highlands and Islands Morven-May MacCallum has pressed the SNP government for answers on whether they will extend ferry compensation to coastal communities.

Scottish Liberal Democrats have campaigned for the SNP government to extend their Island Business Resilience Fund to cover coastal communities affected by ongoing ferry disruption.

Coastal towns like Dunoon, Ardrossan and Mallaig are currently excluded from the fund.

In June, the First Minister said that his government would “shortly announce the details of how the fund will be taken forward and distributed”.

Morven-May MacCallum has now tabled a parliamentary question asking the government to confirm whether it will extend the resilience fund to include coastal communities.

Morven-May MacCallum said:

“Scottish Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for the government to fairly compensate the islands and coastal towns affected by the ferries fiasco.

“It was that campaign which led to the government bringing forward the Island Business Resilience Scheme, but we were concerned to see gaps in its eligibility.

“As it stands, towns like Dunoon and Mallaig don’t see a penny in compensation, despite delayed and cancelled ferries hitting their local economies hard.

“The First Minister hinted that he was addressing these shortfalls, but that was more than a month ago.

“Coastal communities have been messed around for long enough. The least they deserve is a clear answer about whether this compensation will be extended to them and, if so, when that will take place.”