Opposition MSPs queue up to condemn 2035 A9 dualling announcement
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Opposition parties have condemned today's dualling announcement that the upgrade of the A9 will now be more than a decade late and almost 30 years after the SNP's first promise.
MSPs from opposition parties also asked why the public should be expected to believe the Scottish Government when they had already been let down so badly on the matter.
Scottish Labour transport spokesperson Alex Rowley said: “This is a shameful betrayal of the communities that have been given assurances over dualling for years from this government.
“This news will be a hammer-blow to businesses and communities and means that safety concerns will persist for over another decade.
“This new date is some 28 years after the SNP first promised the dualling – no wonder public confidence has collapsed.
“The people of Scotland should not pay the price of SNP-Green incompetence.”
Highlands and Islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant said: “The announcement of one section to by dualled in the next four years is not going to pacify my constituents’ anger at the lack of progress.
“This government knew it was not going to meet its 2025 promise, yet tried to hide that.
“I asked the Cabinet Secretary if she will give detail as to the key differences between design and build and Mutual Investment Models, and where the risk for each lies, and if she would tell my constituents how they can realistically gauge progress towards completion themselves, given the government’s deception in the past?
“I didn’t get answers to these questions but I will continue to press the Scottish Government to provide this detail.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat connectivity spokesperson Beatrice Wishart MSP said: “The new timeline will mean years of delay from the original commitment and, I must say, I am surprised there was no apology anywhere in the Cabinet Secretary’s statement about this.
“So, can I ask the Cabinet Secretary what guarantees can the Scottish Government provide this time that their new dates are realistic and that we will see completion by the new date?”
Highlands Scottish Conservative regional MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston said: "Time and time again, SNP minsters have come to this chamber, appeared in front of committees, or pledged in public that the A9 would be dualled in full between Inverness and Perth, and by the promised 2025 date.
"That was despite all evidence being to the contrary.
"We now know that, since 2018, they were not being honest. The Scottish Government knew – because officials told them – that the 2025 completion date was 'unachievable'.
"But it wasn’t until last year – nearly five years later – that SNP ministers finally came clean.
"So can I ask the Cabinet Secretary – how can local businesses, those who live along the route of the A9, and those who’ve lost loved ones on the road, trust this government to finally deliver on these new, even more vague, promises, when they’ve been lied to so many times before?
And Edward Mountain (Scottish Conservative), MSP for Highlands and Islands, aired his views in the chamber during the debate.
He quizzed: “In the dark days of winter, we now get the promised autumn statement on the A9. I suppose better late than never, considering the time we’ve been waiting for this project.
"Considering the Government’s record, how can Scots believe they can only deliver a miserable seven miles a year of dualling to complete this project by 2035?
"Surely, we should expect more in the fact that you’ve failed to deliver a long-standing promise?”
Cabinet Secretary for Transport Mairi McAllan responded: “Again, I would just point out to Edward Mountain the irony, I suppose, that whilst his party was compiling what they call research, what I would call a little ridiculous, whilst they were compiling those press releases, thankfully, the Government, taking this serious issue very seriously, were working hard to overcome the barriers that we need to in order to present this comprehensive plan today.
"And that includes as I have said looking closely at our business case, updating that, working with industry to improve the manner in which we procure, design and build contracts.
"And building this plan, which as I’ve said, foregrounds certainty of delivery, but considers market capacity, considers affordability and ensures there will not be unmanageable disruption on the routes.”
Mr Mountain said afterwards: “There’s a lot of cabinet secretaries and ministers within this Government who hold collectively responsibility for not dualling the A9, the completion of this little section is not going to appease the Highlands, but the buck stops with Nicola.
"If she wanted it, it would have happened.”
