MSP slams year-long ferry services review
HIGHLANDS and Islands Conservative MSP Donald Cameron has accused the SNP government of kicking the issue of a second ferry into the long grass, following an announcement taxpayer-funded consultants will be hired to conduct a review of ferry services to the Western Isles.
The review, announced by the Minister for Transport and the Islands Humza Yousaf MSP, will take around a year to complete, which means, says Mr Cameron, that islanders and local businesses will have to wait at least another year for the SNP government to take action.
This is despite recent criticisms over the capacity of the current MV Seaforth vessel which currently serves the Ullapool to Stornoway route.
Mr Cameron said local SNP MSP Alasdair Allan had described the issue as a ‘priority’ more than six months ago.
‘It is galling the SNP Government considers the word ‘priority’ to mean well over a year and possibly even up to two years before anything actually happens,’ said Mr Cameron.
‘Since I have been elected, the issue of capacity on the MV Seaforth has been one of the most talked-about issues by islanders, yet we have the SNP government kicking it into the long grass by dragging the issue out until at least 2019. If Alasdair Allan and Humza Yousaf went out and spoke to local businesses and residents in Lewis, they would hear people’s concerns directly and take decisive action, instead of hiring expensive taxpayer-funded consultants to state the obvious.’
Mr Cameron has also taken the Holyrood government to task over recent figures published by the independent broadband news site ‘Think Broadband’ which have shown that more than a fifth of properties within the Highland Council area are still unable to access superfast broadband, despite government commitments.
The data shows that only 78.2 per cent of properties across the Highland Council area have access to superfast broadband, with 17.9 per cent of properties on broadband speeds below 15 Mbps.
This, said Mr Cameron, is in stark contrast to the national average, with 93.10 per cent of Scottish households able to access superfast broadband.
‘For all the bluff and bluster from the SNP government about investing in broadband, they are miles off delivering 100 per cent access to superfast broadband in the Highlands,’ added Mr Cameron.
‘The fact that in 2018 more than a fifth of properties are still on slow speeds, is damning. The SNP government needs to tell people across the Highlands what their plans are to give everyone the opportunity to access the type of broadband that urban Scotland has now become accustomed to.’