Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of abandoning Scottish islanders “on a catastrophic scale” after a collapse at a state ferry company led to rationing.
Willie Rennie, the former leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said confidence in the government had been “shattered” by the ferry disruption affecting Western Islanders.
Some shops were forced to ration staples such as milk and bread at the weekend after a ferry operated by Edinburgh-owned CalMac was out of service for the third time in as many weeks, The Herald reported on Sunday.
“What I don’t understand is why the Western Isles SNP aren’t spitting mad – why aren’t they doing what I’m doing and calling for a recall of Parliament? Their blood pressure must be sky high,” said Mr Rennie, who led the Scottish Liberal Democrats for a decade and stepped down last year.
Alastair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, added: “People in island communities across Scotland have been warning the SNP and the Greens for years that something like this could happen and, funnily enough, it did.
“For the Scottish Government to sit back and watch failure on a catastrophic scale as it does is inexcusable in my book.”
Safety problems on one of CalMac’s oldest ferries led to a three-day shutdown on two routes between Uig on Skye, Lochmaddy on North Uist and Tarbert on Harris.
CalMac insisted over the weekend that all food was being delivered and it was not fair to say the shortage was a direct result of ferry problems.
CalMac managing director Robbie Drummond apologized for the disruption, telling the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland program on Monday that he wanted to encourage people to see the “brilliant nature” of the Western Isles.
“What we really need is this long-term investment program,” he added.
A spokesman for Transport Scotland said the Transport Secretary last week held a meeting with local politicians and other stakeholders to discuss the issues surrounding the recent outages.
“CalMac has added a number of additional sailings to help with essential supplies to the islands and we continue to work with CalMac,” he said.
“CalMac is part of the local sustainability partnership. They remain in close contact locally with communities and carriers and work with them to prioritize the movement of essential supplies.”
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