Cabinet secretary offers meeting on RET

Liam McArthur MSP  has confirmed he will be taking up the cabinet secretary’s offer of a meeting to discuss the case for including the Northern Isles in the Scottish Government’s Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) scheme.

Speaking on Thursday afternoon, Mr McArthur said that the decision to exclude Orkney and Shetland from the RET scheme has caused genuine anger amongst people in the Northern Isles.

He added: “At last, however, the cabinet secretary has intervened and acknowledged the strength of feeling in Orkney on this issue.  Alex Neil is right that implementing RET on Orkney ferry routes would not be straightforward, but that is why this needs to be properly worked through as part of the ongoing pilot process.

“The offer, made by Mr Neil during today’s debate, to meet to discuss the issue in more detail is one I very much welcome.  Such a meeting will need to involve various stakeholders, not least the local council, but it is important that it happens sooner rather than later.  I have therefore contacted the cabinet secretary’s private office to request possible dates over the coming weeks”.