Islanders have been betrayed by ferries fiasco but so have the workers of Port Glasgow

Jim McColl has maintained the Ferguson yard did not need the order to survive and latterly in negotiations did not want it. In the BBC Disclosure programme, the most interesting testimony came from people who were never consulted – union men who worked all their lives in the yard and knew from the outset that this job was too big to handle.

The entire drive for this doomed order to go to Ferguson’s came from within the Scottish Government, both Ministers and civil servants who recklessly ignored realities without regard for consequences when things went disastrously wrong, as they duly did. The entire agenda was driven by political calculation and opportunism.

Successive governments quietly supported the Ferguson yard for decades, ensuring it got its share of public sector orders. Indeed, two of the “big” CalMac vessels still holding the network together, the Hebrides and Isle of Lewis, were built there as well as several smaller ones. What no government, prior to Ms Sturgeon’s, did was to turn the whole thing into a political stunt – regardless of risks.

When Ms Sturgeon forced her way into a photo opportunity at Port Glasgow in August 2015, despite the desperate pleadings of CMAL – the nominal client – not to make the announcement of preferred bidder status a high-profile affair, she claimed that the contract “will” – not “would” – save “125 jobs”. At some point in her mythology, this became 400.

The CMAL board boycotted that event because negotiations with Ferguson’s were far from complete and they harboured severe doubts about awarding it the contract. They only agreed when the Scottish Government (i.e. taxpayer) said it would accept open-ended financial responsibility, thereby absolving CMAL of risk. That was purely a political imperative and turned out to be a very costly one.

Last week’s announcement of two ferries for the Uig-Tarbert and Uig-Lochmaddy routes is welcome, though rejoicing is tempered by two factors. First, these vessels will not be ready until 2026 which raises the question of what happens during the intervening period. Is the present chaos to continue on the basis that things will get better in four years' time?

The second lies in sheer frustration of knowing that this is the solution islanders argued for with rare unanimity eight years ago and were completely ignored. The current set-up of one ferry serving a triangle of routes (Uig-Tarbert-Lochmaddy) dates back to the 1960s when traffic was at a fraction of recent levels. It made no sense to perpetuate it through “Hull 802”.

If that had been accepted, none of the ensuing problems would have arisen, Ferguson’s could have prospered and island economies would now be in a far better place. But mere islanders were allowed no say in a decision taken in Edinburgh by Ministers – Keith Brown to be specific – and Transport Scotland civil servants for whom ferries were always an irksome sideline to building roads.

One point on which they were absolutely solid was that no islanders would be allowed near decision-making. Throughout this fateful period when critical decisions were taken, there was not a single island resident on the board of either CMAL – the procurement quango – or Caledonian MacBrayne. Make no mistake: that was a matter of policy rather than happenstance.

This determination to exclude troublesome local voices, no matter how well informed about maritime affairs or practical needs of island communities, has played a huge part in creating the shambles that exists. Vast sums of money, as well as personal and societal costs, would have been saved by sharing decision-making with people who knew and cared about places at the sharp end of delivery.

Those of us who live in the islands sometimes complain that this whole sorry affair is seen through the prism of politics rather than impacts on communities which depend upon reliable communications. Last week, for example, the Western Isles NHS Board warned that ongoing depopulation is its biggest challenge, with ever-fewer people of working age to care for ageing communities. There is nothing abstract about the impacts of policy failure in crucial areas such as transport.

However, there is another prism we should also recognise – the impact on Port Glasgow and the reputation of the Clyde maritime industries, which takes me to Ian Jack, one of the outstanding journalists of his generation, who died last week. Two of Ian’s great passions which were interwoven into much of his work were Britain’s industrial heritage and Scotland’s maritime traditions.

It was poignantly appropriate that his last major essay, for the London Review of Books, was a 17,000 word opus on the Ferguson scandal, with his own historical perspectives. These included childhood holidays with relatives in Port Glasgow that helped shape his fascination with the maritime world. He wrote with feeling about community pride in its shipbuilding traditions and the added indignity of the Ferguson fiasco.

After the Disclosure programme, Ian wrote a postscript which concluded that while “the ferries to the Western Isles, lacking renewal, break down week after week … it would be good to know which politicians” the rule-benders “were obliging” when the CalMac contract was being awarded.

Sadly, we may rest assured that heaven and earth will be moved to ensure that confirmation of the blindingly obvious answer to that question is never permitted. That will be another betrayal, not only of the islands but also of Port Glasgow and the Lower Clyde.

Brian Wilson is a former Labour Energy Minister.

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