News / Scott slams RET roll out
SHETLAND MSP Tavish Scott has accused the Scottish government of treating the northern isles as second class by extending the controversial Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) scheme to the western isles only.
Transport minister Keith Brown announced on Tuesday morning that the RET pilot scheme set up in the western isles, Coll and Tiree in October 2008 had resulted in a significant boost to local economies and would now be rolled out to more west coast islands.
Mr Scott said this showed that Scotland had now “two classes of islands” with two different transport policies.
He accused the nationalist government of bribing voters in the west of Scotland, while at the same time putting forward no new money for other lifeline services, such as those to Shetland and Orkney.
“Scotland now has two classes of island. Those who receive preferential bribes otherwise known as RET and those who see their services threatened while no extra money is spent on lifeline services,” the Liberal Democrat and former transport minister said.
The lifeline ferry services to Orkney and Shetland, currently out for re-tendering, received £37 million in subsidies last year.
Mr Scott continued: “I also find it revealing that the Scottish government release this bad news for Orkney and Shetland when the news agenda is dominated by the economy.
“The UK government are helping all islands with a cut in fuel duty. The Nationalist government only help the islands who they represent – the contrast could not be clearer.
“When added to the Nationalist cuts to the popular Air Discount Scheme, it is very clear that this Scottish government now have two island transport policies.
“Shetland and Orkney deserve better than a Scottish government who just demonstrate by their actions that they do not care.”
Some of Mr Scott’s criticism was echoed by the convenor of Orkney Islands Council, Steven Hagan, who said the extension of the RET scheme puts Orkney “at a distinct disadvantage to the island groups on the west coast”.
Responding a spokesman for Transport Scotland said: “With spending on Scotland’s ferry services at record levels; we are delivering the best possible ferry services for communities in the northern isles.
“We are making substantial progress in delivering a new contract replacing the contract that Tavish Scott, as transport minister, put in place in 2006. We are acting now to ensure that a contract which meets the needs of the Orkney and Shetland communities is in place from 2012 when the current contract expires.
“More widely we have said we will consider a roll out of RET to the northern isles following the outcome of the ferries review which we have committed to publishing before Christmas.
Publishing a report assessing the impact of the RET pilot scheme to date, the minister said: “The Scottish government also remains committed to assessing the affordability of ferry travel to and from our remote island communities and we are pleased with the results so far.
“The RET pilot has had a positive impact since it was introduced in October 2008, boosting the local tourist trade and local economies as a result,- and we want to see that continue, that is why we are continuing with RET on the current routes while extending it to include new routes.”
Mr Brown announced the Scottish government’s intention to:
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continue RET as a permanent feature on the Western Isles, Coll and Tiree for passengers and cars, including small commercial vehicles and coaches;
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replace RET for larger commercial vehicles on the Western Isles, Coll and Tiree, with an enhanced pre-RET discount scheme;
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provide greater inter-island connectivity by rolling out RET to services between islands including routes across the Sounds of Barra and Harris;
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roll out a further RET pilot for passenger and cars including small commercial vehicles and coaches to Colonsay, Islay and Gigha from October 2012;
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roll out a further RET pilot for passenger and cars including small commercial vehicles and coaches to Arran from October 2014;
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roll out RET to other West Coast and Clyde islands within the term of this Parliament.
Under RET ferry fares are set on the basis of the cost of travelling an equivalent distance by road.
Typically RET offers substantial fares reductions across almost all ferry routes in Scotland, apart from Shetland where applying the RET model are likely to result in an increase of ferry fares.
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