A9 dualling investment is safe – for now but transport secretary Fiona Hyslop warns Labour’s ‘austerity’ spending will cause pressures amid the Scottish Government ‘emergency controls’ on spending
Investment in the A9 is safe – for now. That is according to transport secretary Fiona Hyslop who was speaking shortly after news broke that the Scottish Government had to put in place “emergency controls” on spending.
Ms Hyslop was on a site visit to the Tomatin-Moy section of the A9, where work is due to start soon, following confirmation that the dualling programme is moving ahead at pace.
Transport Scotland announced the three contractors on the shortlist to complete the Tay Crossing to Ballinluig section so the road will see near continuous work until at least 2028.
But that may be put to the test unless the Labour government slackens the purse strings, said Ms Hyslop, who hit out at the “austerity” spending plans that saw Keir Starmer’s party sweep to power.
“The A9 dualling continues to be part of the capital plans for that,” she said.
“In terms of the emergency budget that the cabinet secretary for finance has had to set out – that is a direct result of a UK government that continues, maybe a different party, but it's continuing the same measures as the Conservative party had with £22 billion pounds of austerity cuts.
“That will have an impact in different areas, in terms of the here and now – this year that's going to mean a freeze on recruitment for staff for many public bodies. And a freeze on advertising, marketing, a whole range of different areas to try and bear down on costs.
“But that's a direct result of decisions made in Westminster by the UK government. What we've got to do in Scotland though is to make sure that the major plans, particularly the capital plans that we have in place can continue.
“Now that will be pressured and it means that perhaps in other areas – whether it's in other parts of the Scottish Government or indeed in transport – that will mean that down the line, future decisions may have to be taken that might mean a lot may not be able to take place.
“But that is not a decision I need to make now or am making now but what I can do is commit that the support for the dualling of the A9 will continue.”
Ms Hyslop also defended the decision taken by her predecessor Jenny Gilruth not to proceed with the Tomatin-Moy dualling back in 2023 as it turns out the current contract is £15 million more expensive.
She said: “I have always said that I will be as open and transparent as I can be as transport secretary so I proactively made clear to the committee that is providing the ongoing scrutiny of the A9 project, the value of the contract.
“We had to obviously agree that the contractor was happy for that to be and provided – because it can be seen as commercially sensitive – they agreed to that and that it would have been a cheaper price at that time.
“But that wasn't known because we had just come through Covid and a period when there was major construction inflation so when you only get one bid, that was obviously a very difficult decision at the time to determine whether that was a value for money.
“Now, this contract is different in a number of ways, not least because we listened to those that we're calling for what's called a new engineering contract to be used and that also means that the government has to take on more responsibility and indeed risk in terms of costs.
“That’s why their cost estimates and also are a larger magnitude. I've been very open about this, so I'm making sure that people know what's happening. I'm going to have regular updates.”
