adamntg Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 Very disappointed in the SNP on this. For.a party fiercely opposed to privatising the Royal Mail to look at privatising the ferries is bad news. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirrelhumper Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 Shocking. They have massive support in places like Arran. Well, they currently do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasMc1973 Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 were the SNP not forced by EU law to put the routes out to tender? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scunnered Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 were the SNP not forced by EU law to put the routes out to tender? Yes and No. EU regulations do require that governments can't show favouritism to publicly owned companies when tendering contracts, HOWEVER, there is an exception in EU regulations that exempt lifeline services, the SNP have not sought EU advice on whether the ferries would be exempt, which they should be as they are the islands only links to the mainland. TL;DR: The SNP have put the contracts to tender without asking EU advice whether they are exempt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ally Bongo Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 EU law requires the Scottish Government to tender ferry services. The current contract was awarded to CalMac in 2007 following an exercise initiated by the previous administration. Since then, in-depth European Commission State aid investigation has reinforced this legal requirement Breaking the law would leave Ministers open to a costly legal challenge with the likelihood of substantial fines. Ministers will always retain control of the ferry services - routes, services, timetables and fares. Vessels and harbours will always remain in public ownership. A new Independent Procurement Reference Panel was announced on June 24th to ensure fairness, openness and transparency and provide assurance of no discrimination against either bidder. Membership will be drawn from key stakeholder groups, including Local Authorities, Ferry User Groups, Tourism, Economy and Business, Ports and Harbours, Trade Unions, Health, Social Care and Accessibility. Under procurement rules we cannot compel bidders to guarantee no compulsory redundancies. Bidders can make such a commitment through the tendering process, as happened with the recent ScotRail franchise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pool Q Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 (edited) On the Big Debate yesterday David Begg, who does know a thing or two about the matter, stated categorically that the contracts did not need to be put out to tender under EU law. John Nicolson rather talked around it in my view, along the lines of 'it was right' that contracts involving substantial public subsidies were put out to tender. Everyone is playing politics with this, but so far the SNP case hasn't been convincing. Edited June 27, 2015 by Pool Q Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TartanJon Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 That Dutch mob are a wide awake nightmare running the trains.They also promised a lot of stuff like £5 between cities that seem to have been put on the back burner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scunnered Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 EU law requires the Scottish Government to tender ferry services. The current contract was awarded to CalMac in 2007 following an exercise initiated by the previous administration. Since then, in-depth European Commission State aid investigation has reinforced this legal requirement Breaking the law would leave Ministers open to a costly legal challenge with the likelihood of substantial fines. Ministers will always retain control of the ferry services - routes, services, timetables and fares. Vessels and harbours will always remain in public ownership. A new Independent Procurement Reference Panel was announced on June 24th to ensure fairness, openness and transparency and provide assurance of no discrimination against either bidder. Membership will be drawn from key stakeholder groups, including Local Authorities, Ferry User Groups, Tourism, Economy and Business, Ports and Harbours, Trade Unions, Health, Social Care and Accessibility. Under procurement rules we cannot compel bidders to guarantee no compulsory redundancies. Bidders can make such a commitment through the tendering process, as happened with the recent ScotRail franchise. Weesht Derek Mackay, no one believes you. "Regardless of the ownership status of the successful bidder, these services aren't being privatised". Schrödingers ferry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotlad Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 were the SNP not forced by EU law to put the routes out to tender? They also used the 'EU law' excuse when they were asked why they don't insist that companies they do business with pay their employees the living wage. Despite this, they are still avowedly pro-EU. Go figure. Weesht Derek Mackay, no one believes you. "Regardless of the ownership status of the successful bidder, these services aren't being privatised". Schrödingers ferry That's a fine piece of politicianese, the boy will go far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scunnered Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 They also used the 'EU law' excuse when they were asked why they don't insist that companies they do business with pay their employees the living wage.Despite this, they are still avowedly pro-EU We're now 5 months past the deadline that the SNP promised to have EU advice on this by... Not that I like to dwell on it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ally Bongo Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 If there is a way to get round the EU laws (and not some flimsy take on how to get round them) then the SNP have to find it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibelieve!!! Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 Calmac are a private company aren't they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deecie Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 Calmac are a private company aren't they? They are owned by a company which is owned by the Scottish Government. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ally Bongo Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 Calmac are a private company aren't they? CalMac Ferries Ltd (CFL) was created in 2006 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of David MacBrayne Ltd which in turn is wholly owned by the Scottish government. It operates 27 Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service routes which undertakes 130,000 sailings and carries about 4.7 million passengers; 1.1 million cars and 93,000 commercial vehicles every year. The company employs 1,342 people including 200 at its headquarters in Gourock, Inverclyde. CalMac returns to the Scottish government any profit it achieves over the pre agreed profit level of £1.5m. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibelieve!!! Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 (edited) Calmac have been about a lot longer than since 2006!! Edited June 27, 2015 by ibelieve!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deecie Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 Calmac have been about a lot longer than since 2006!! The club, not the holding company,,, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orraloon Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 The club, not the holding company,,, Did they get to keep their trophies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orraloon Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 http://wingsoverscotland.com/the-truth-about-calmac-short-version/ I am mostly on the side of the folk who go on strike. There are not enough strikes IMO. But, on this occasion I am not sure what they hope to achieve by going on strike. All they seem to be doing is harming Calmac at a time when Calmac should be concentrating on trying to win the tender again. As workers seem to be wanting to continue to work for Calmac, it seems a bit daft to be harming them at this particular time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larky Masher Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 That Dutch mob are a wide awake nightmare running the trains.They also promised a lot of stuff like £5 between cities that seem to have been put on the back burner. Abellio are starting to make First Group look competent, which is quite impressive considering how shite First Group were with the trains. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnie x Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 Man..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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