Islanders who will not benefit from the Scottish Government's pilot scheme for cheaper ferry fares have agreed to take their fight to the First Minister and the European Commission.
Ministers have announced a pilot Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) scheme on routes to and from the Outer Hebrides and the islands of Coll and Tiree. This is due to start in the autumn, and could mean fares being cut by up to 50% as they will based on the costs of travelling a similar distance by road.
However, representatives from Islay, Mull, Iona, Colonsay, Jura, Bute and Gigha met in Oban at the weekend and resolved to present a united front to the Scottish Government.
They will seek a 40% ferry fares discount scheme - similar to one enjoyed by some Scottish island air routes - to be piloted to run alongside the RET trial.
They will also make a special case for Colonsay to be included in the RET trial.
Tory MSP Jamie McGrigor said: "RET is welcome but this particular scheme is inequitable - it's not fair to those places that are not getting it.
"It is especially not fair to far-out islands like Colonsay, which is rapidly becoming the St Kilda of the Scottish islands because it's becoming so difficult to live there."
Andrew MacGregor, secretary of Colonsay Community Council, said: "We are just hoping that the government listens, that they will begin to realise that there are more than one or two people agitated about this."
Mull councillor Mary-Jean Devon said: "Colonsay has a population of just 120 people. At the moment it costs £141.90 for a car and driver return on the ferry, which doesn't even call every day. It badly needs regeneration and would have been the ideal island for the RET trial."
She said that the islanders would be asking Scottish MEPs to approach the European Commission to establish if the Scottish Government is breaching European law by discriminating against so many island communities.
Speaking after Saturday's meeting in Oban, Councillor Robin Currie, who represents Islay, Colonsay and Jura, said: "I have found out that removing the tolls from the Tay Bridge and Forth Road Bridge means a loss of income of £227m a year but to include in the RET scheme all the islands in Argyll currently excluded would cost just £4m a year.
"So delaying the scrapping of the tolls for one week would have paid for all the Argyll islands to be in the scheme.
"Colonsay is special because including the RET there would make huge savings. For example, on freight it would mean a reduction of £20 per tonne, which is enormous, and the cost of taking a car on the ferry would see a huge saving."
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