How A9 dualling scandal epitomises SNP's failure of rural Scotland
Eighteen years after the SNP government promised to dual the A9 between Perth and Inverness, just a small fraction has been completed
In the Highlands and Islands, if you get transport right, everything else falls into place. It is fair to say, however, that we have not been getting transport right for some time.
Small wonder then that when people in rural Scotland look at the state of their services after 18 years of SNP rule, nothing seems to be working as it should be. Declining numbers of care homes. No GP appointments. Expecting mothers having to travel miles upon miles to Inverness to access essential services.
These are just a few of the tales you will hear from one end of the Highlands and Islands to the other – and that are being put under the spotlight at the Scottish Liberal Democrat party conference this weekend. It all comes back to a transport network which is in a permanent state of crisis and underfunding thanks to the SNP.
A knack for delays
There is no better demonstration of the SNP’s hand-sitting approach to rural transport, of course, than the never-ending saga that is the A9 dualling project. The SNP came into office in 2007 promising to dual the A9.
The work, we were told in 2011, would be done by 2025. Keen observers may note that the year is 2025 – and yet just a small fraction of the A9 has been upgraded. The new “expected” date of completion is now 2035, a full ten years late – and the SNP has a peculiar knack for taking delayed projects and finding new and innovative ways to delay them further.
Anyone waiting for the delivery of new west coast ferries can attest to that. The question then is how we hold the SNP to account for their failures in rural Scotland – and deliver better results for our communities.
People are disappointed by the reality of a Labour government nine months in, but the SNP would be foolish to believe that their own lengthy charge sheet has been forgotten. That is still-more true in rural Scotland where the main challenger is not Labour, but the Liberal Democrats.
First loyalty to communities
That is why my party racked up major wins over the SNP last year – including the earthquake result that saw Angus MacDonald win back Charles Kennedy’s seat in style. It is why we are now the lead challengers in the Highlands to take on Kate Forbes, Maree Todd and whatever poor soul they force to run in Inverness next year.
It is because when the Liberal Democrat have had greater leverage with the Scottish Government, we have delivered for rural communities. Case in point: the conference this weekend comes just days after the start of free inter-island ferry services for under-22s in the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland, after my colleagues in the Scottish Parliament wrested that concession from the SNP.
That is what you can deliver when your first loyalty is to local communities rather than your party – something that the SNP lost sight of long ago when they took power in Holyrood. Two decades of failure to deliver a basic commitment on the A9 are testament to that.
Eighteen years on, the SNP are running out of excuses for their failures in the Highlands and Islands – and quite literally running out of road.
Alistair Carmichael is the Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland
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