SCOTLAND’S ferry services are set to be nationalised after a long-running campaign to keep them in public hands.

Passengers living in the Highlands and Islands, who have faced uncertainty over who runs their vital ferry routes as they are put out to tender, would benefit from the stability it brings, according to one union leader.

New advice from Europe has sparked a review of the country’s £1 billion ferry contracts, which the Scottish Government believes could open the door to all routes being serviced by “an in-house operator”.

Announcing the move in Parliament, Transport Minister Humza Yousaf has already put the brakes on the ongoing procurement for one of the Scotland’s busiest routes, the Gourock to Dunoon service.

Manuel Cortes, general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA), said: “This is great news for ferry workers, Highlanders and islanders and everyone across Scotland who campaigned so hard to keep the country’s community lifeline ferry services in public ownership.

“Equal and just access to affordable and quality public transport should lie at the heart of fair and modern economy.”

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “The news Scotland’s publicly-contracted ferry services can be exempted from destabilising competition law bodes extremely well for the future stability of these lifeline public services.”

The review will also consider the potential implications for the Northern Isles services, which are currently operated by controversial global services giant Serco.

Serco recently lost out on the £1bn contract to service the Hebridean islands and the Clyde for the next eight years, with State-owned CalMac winning the bid. The cost of the tendering alone came to more than £1 million.

During the tendering process trade union leaders, opposition parties and community campaigners were angry Serco was in the running, accusing Government ministers of preparing to privatise CalMac’s heavily subsidised lifeline ferry services, putting the crews’ pensions and working conditions under threat.

When Serco won the £243m Northern Isles contract in 2012 it quickly announced job losses, cuts to services, introduced paid-for lounges and installed dividers on couches to prevent passengers from sleeping.

Scottish Labour has previously cited expert legal advice showing the Government did not need to put west coast ferry services out to the market.

However, Scotland’s transport quango has now said correspondence from the European Commission on the Teckal Exemption, prompted, it said, by a joint approach from the Government and the RMT union, indicates that, in certain circumstances, public ferry services could be awarded to an in-house operator without the need for tendering.

It said the review would look in detail at the implications of the Commission’s response on future tendering, in particular the Teckal exemption and State aid rules. Key stakeholders will be engaged during the process.

The current Gourock-Dunoon deal will be extended by nine months to allow for the completion of the review.

Mr Yousaf said: “It is important to highlight the Commission has made it clear that any solution must comply with State aid law, as well as meeting the requirements of the Teckal exemption.

“We cannot pre-judge the outcome of the review. However, should it conclude it would be possible to apply the Teckal exemption and meet State aid rules then we would be minded to provide ferry services through an in-house operator, taking account of the com- munities they serve. This would be subject to wider policy and value for money implications.”

“We need to give very careful consideration to the potential impact of any changes before final decisions are made. “The policy review will also consider the implications for the Northern Isles services. We have already started engagement with the current operators of both services to discuss the implications of the review.”

Scottish Conservative transport spokesman Liam Kerr said: “This is the SNP trying to nationalise ferries by the back door. As ever, there’s no consideration for cost to the taxpayer or quality and consistency of service. The SNP needs to put the needs of passengers and islanders over political dogma.”