Commenting on today's rural economy and connectivity committee at which it was revealed that two delayed CalMac ferries are "significantly less than half built", £100m over budget and likely to be three years overdue, Scottish Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson Mike Rumbles MSP said:

"This has been a catastrophic failure. For £110m we have got two half finished hulks and a lot of red faced officials.

Willie Rennie, Scottish Liberal Democats leader, has today announced the Scottish Liberal Democrats official endorsement of the national Fight Fatigue campaign, a joint initiative of the Association of Anaesthetists, the Royal College of Anaesthetists and the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine. The campaign aims to raise awareness of the impact of fatigue and shift work on our NHS workforce.

Commenting on Nicola Sturgeon's planned statement calling for another independence referendum, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said:

"Yet again the Scottish Parliament is being used to showcase Nicola Sturgeon's separatist agenda when it should be discussing how to tackle crises in education and mental health.

Responding to the news that the percentage of people living in Fuel Poverty increased between 2017 and 2018, Scottish Liberal Democrat energy spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP warned of the "mammoth" task ahead.

619,000 households were estimated to be in fuel poverty in 2018, compared to 583,000 in 2017. Levels of extreme fuel poverty were again higher in rural areas (17%) compared to urban areas (10%) in 2018.

Commenting on the new Audit Scotland briefing paper on student loans which shows that student debt has more than doubled between 2011 and 2018-19, Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Beatrice Wishart MSP said:

"The SNP were elected on a commitment to replace loans with grants and to "dump the debt". These statistics confirm the very opposite has happened. Student debt has soared on the SNP's watch while bursaries and grants have been decimated, hitting people from lower-income backgrounds hardest.

Commenting on the new briefing from Scottish Trends which shows that between 2006 and 2018 Scotland fell five places in the Index of Social and Economic Wellbeing, a change which is attributed to "the relatively poor Scottish performance, in terms of education and health", Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said:

Today kickstarts an important week in Parliament, with votes taking place on key amendments to the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, tabled by Liberal Democrats.

In our fight to hold this Conservative Government to account on its Brexit agenda, we are fighting to protect EU citizens' rights as well as those of unaccompanied child refugees.

The Liberal Democrats have today led tributes following the death of Lord Robert Maclennan.

Lord Robert Maclennan of Rogart, known as Bob Maclennan, was the last leader of the Social Democrat Party before it merged with the Liberal Party. He then became joint interim leader of the new party.

Bob Maclennan was a Member of Parliament from 1966 to 2001. Upon stepping down as MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, Bob Maclennan was elevated to the House of Lords.