The announcement on the Clyde and Hebrides routes was followed by criticism from a senior councillor on the Western Isles.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Scotland | Highlands and Islands | CalMac ferry contract confirmed

Gwynedd councillor Penri Jones resigned his position as the education portfolio leader, while another senior councillor resigned from the Plaid Cymru group.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Wales | North West Wales | 29 schools 'to close' in shake-up

His comments come in the same week a senior councillor from Cornwall's cabinet resigned over an alleged plan to use what she has described as "lie detector" technology.

BBC: Alec Robertson