Labour's Westminster candidate in the Western Isles Alasdair Morrison has been a prolific letter writer since he won his party's nomination.
One of his most recent efforts was an epistle to the Nats, well to two Nats at least - Alasdair Allan MSP and Angus MacNeil MP- the constituency's incumbent parliamentarians.
Mr Morrison is an old hand at these things having been an MSP for the Western Isles not to mention a minister in what used to be known as the Scottish Executive.
So he starts off with the normal preamble of political pleasantries:
"Dear Angus and Alasdair
"Sadly, you have failed to reply to any of my reasonable requests to co-operate on a cross-party basis on issues of importance to the people and communities of our islands. Notwithstanding your baffling silence on these matters it is my intention to campaign positively and work with any like minded person, regardless of political affiliation."
On this occasion he is appealing for their support in persuading the Scottish Government to include a service between Lochboisdale on South Uist and Mallaig as part of the tender document being prepared by the Scottish Government in respect of CalMac's routes.
It was announced this week that the selection process for the next Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) contract is now underway.The next contract will run from 1 October 2016 for a duration of up to eight years and attract up to £1bn of public funding. A Contract Notice has been now submitted to the Official Journal of the European Union, announcing this.
Mr Morrison continues to the MP and MSP "You will be conversant with the shambolic three year winter trial (ferry service between Lochboisdale and Mallaig ) your Government imposed on South Uist. It simply isn't working."
He has a point. Recently parliamentary questions by Highlands and Islands List MSP Rhoda Grant established that there had been a 49% cancellation rate during the first year of the trial -last winter - and so far this year some 60% of runs have been put off, although that should have improved a bit with comparatively better weather recently.
It is difficult to see that a winter only trial on the route will prove much apart from that there can indeed be bad weather between November and April. The true potential of the route surely can only be assessed properly until it operates year round, and is properly marketed.
Of course CalMac's problem is that it didn't have another vessel available in the summer or it would have been delighted to oblige
As it happens there will be one on standby further north where the Isle of Lewis (currently in dry dock in Liverpool) is scheduled to remain crewed ready to provide backup in case of any problems with the new Loch Seaforth on the Stornoway/Ullapool run over the summer, But CalMac is unlikely to deploy it elsewhere any time soon given the commitments given to the people of Lewis. Certainly not on a semi-permanent basis and an occasional service is not much use to South Uist.
So the people of that island are still pressing for a year round service. They will just not take no for an answer, which is pretty well the answer they have been getting from the Scottish Government since 2007, part from the announcement of the winter trial in September 2013.
In 2007 CalMac won a six-year contract (later extended till 2016) to run the lifeline services to the islands. These were the same services it had been running for decades, It ended a controversial tendering process in which CalMac was the only bidder.
The publicly owned ferry company had offered to provide a service between Mallaig, and South Uist using existing vessels, as well as continuing the link to Oban and Barra. But the Scottish Government said it would have meant a reduction in services or a new vessel.
Since then, the islanders have made repeated attempts to change ministerial minds.
There was a connection to Mallaig which was withdrawn in the 1990s. Today, South Uist and Barra are still served by the same ferry which sails to Oban. The trip to South Uist at times can take almost seven hours if it goes to Barra first. A three-and-a-half hour service to Mallaig is seen as the answer, particularly now the road from Mallaig to Fort William has been so much improved.
We will be hearing more about a Mallaig/Lochboisdale service in the weeks leading up to during the General Election in May. Indeed CalMac will feature prominently in the fight between Labour and SNP in the Western Isles which clearly is going to be as hard fought as ever.
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