Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the levels of cruise vessel activity in environmentally sensitive coastal areas of the west of Scotland.

Department for Transport Ministers have not discussed with the Scottish Government limiting cruise ship activity. Nor have they undertaken any assessment of the levels of such activity.

Cruise visits bring jobs and growth to coastal communities. That’s why the Government, in partnership with the industry, published the UK Cruise Growth Plan in September 2025.

That plan offers a blueprint for future collaboration on connected priorities, such as further progress towards net zero and increasing environmental protection. It sits alongside the UK Government’s Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy, which sets out our pathway and key policies to decarbonise the maritime sector.