RMT leader Mick Lynch urged the Scottish government today to create a “people’s CalMac” by taking ferry services in the Clyde and Hebrides into permanent public ownership.

Mr Lynch insisted such a move, coupled with proper investment in services could help stave off a full-blown ferry crisis.

CalMac’s contract to operate ferries on lifeline routes to the islands off the west coast of Scotland expires in September 2024, having been awarded in 2016 for “up to eight years.”

But with the RMT pointing out that the deadline to put the routes out for tender again had now passed, Mr Lynch said that the Scottish government should instead “commit to a permanently publicly owned people’s CalMac, with proper investment and the exclusion of private profit."

The RMT general secretary said: “The last thing that communities and workers need is for the Scottish government to launch a bidding war for the Clyde and Hebrides ferry contract which could encourage companies like P&O and Serco to enter a race to the bottom.

“People relying on lifeline ferries need certainty over jobs, training and services.

“And the Scottish government must work with stakeholders to stave off a full-blown ferry crisis in lifeline communities and to implement a long-term plan for the future of these critically important public services.”

Mr Lynch, who is due to address MSPs at Holyrood at a meeting tonight, said: “We do not believe there is any legal requirement for the Scottish government to be compelled to retender the Clyde and Hebrides ferry contract."

Labour MSP Richard Leonard, convener of the Scottish Parliament’s RMT group, said it was important to “listen much more to the experienced voice of the workers.”