Jamie McGrigor's speech in the Member's Debate on Pentland Ferries in the Scottish Parliament.

Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): I, too, congratulate my good friend and Highlands and Islands MSP colleague Mary Scanlon on securing an important debate. I put on record my thanks to Andrew Banks and all his team at Pentland Ferries and my appreciation for the excellent service that they provide to my constituents. He comes from an ancient line of marine pilots who have navigated the Pentland Firth, which is one of the most dangerous sea channels in the world, for generations.

As I say, his company provides an excellent service. My constituents are fortunate indeed that Pentland Ferries offers a fast, frequent, reliable, efficient and competitively priced service that provides the choice of an alternative to the NorthLink service and increased capacity. Andrew Banks also provides an invaluable service to farmers and crofters in the transport of their livestock. He does all that at no cost to the taxpayer. His ferry service runs through one of the most challenging areas of sea in the marine world. It is the type of business that we should be commending and promoting in today's Scotland.

I was delighted to attend the recent book launch of "Pentland Hero", which is published by the leading Scottish publisher Birlinn, and I recommend it to all my MSP colleagues, because it is a very good read, and to anyone who has an interest in how we can support free enterprise and improve ferry services in Scotland.

The book sets out just how many obstacles Andrew Banks faced in trying to establish his service and compete with NorthLink, with its multimillion-pound Government subsidy. His success is all the more remarkable, given that he overcame those obstacles and won on what would appear to be an unfair playing field. Policy makers need to understand what enables his company to operate so successfully that, had it received subsidy equivalent to that which is received by NorthLink, it would have been able to offer a free service on the lifeline Scrabster to Stromness route, which would have saved the taxpayer around £20 million a year.

I believe that Andrew Banks offered to do much the same on the Campbeltown to Ballycastle route for no subsidy but was again ignored by the Scottish Government.

Although the debate focuses on Pentland Ferries, I commend Western Ferries, which operates, without subsidy, in my native Argyll and Bute and provides a first-class and customer-responsive service on the Gourock to Dunoon route. Western Ferries, too, offers an alternative option at no cost to the taxpayer.

The successful operations of Pentland Ferries and Western Ferries surely demonstrate that the private sector has much to offer the ferry sector in Scotland. We await with great interest the results of the Government's ferries review. We will continue to argue strongly that enterprising businessmen, such as Andrew Banks, who provide good ferry services should be able to compete fairly for more routes around Scotland's coastline.

I will end with a quote:
"This book tells the story of one man fighting an industrial bully. It amplifies the lone voice of the consumer against the battalions of 'we-know-best' government monopolists, who have never turned in anything approaching a profit."

Those are not my words, but the words of Lord Robertson.