DAVID STEWART: Transport ministers have turned A9 procrastination into an art form

The Scottish Government’s handling of the botched A9 dualling project reminds me of Kenneth William’s famous line in Carry on Cleo: “Infamy, infamy…they’ve all got it in for me!”

Little wonder that the SNP administration has run into a wall of hostile criticism from all sides over its dither and delay on dualling progress. Successive transport ministers have turned procrastination into an art form. However, is there a small glimmer of hope that the long-awaited dualling of the road might get into first gear?

I was delighted to hear that the parliament’s Public Petitions Committee has launched a major enquiry into the failure to dual the A9. I convened the committee for four years in the early period of my career as an MSP and I know that Scottish ministers prick up their ears when they know they have to appear before any parliamentary committee, not least public petitions.

The committee is led by veteran Tory, Jackson Carlaw MSP, who is a skilled and relentless interrogator of ministers and civil servants. I pity any future witness before the high-powered committee who attempts to dissemble, duck or dive from the truth – why was this project, crucial for road safety, such a hotchpotch that led to ministers consistently overpromising and underdelivering?

Jackson Carlaw and his committee colleagues will carry out a planned series of evidence sessions with key witnesses from Transport Scotland, the construction industry and safety campaigners prior to preparing a major report on the results of their endeavours, which has to be responded to by the Scottish Government and may well lead to a debate on the parliament floor.

Scottish ministers in the past have had cloth ears to the concerns of Highland road safety campaigners who have highlighted the appalling death and injury statistics of the “killer A9”.

The Public Petitions enquiry gives another opportunity for the Scottish Government to have another long hard look at their failed dualling policy. Surely the Highlands deserves better?

Guerrilla warfare against the SNP hierarchy

In recent months, local MSP, Fergus Ewing, has been running his own one-man-band guerrilla warfare against the SNP hierarchy. He has not missed aim at First Minister Humza Yousaf or Green MSP Lorna Slater. I suspect that neither will be rushing to send Fergus the customary Christmas card this year, whether sent from parliament or their favourite wine bar.

Will Fergus jump before he is pushed? Strangely, I am not asked for advice by the SNP Chief Whip on punishment. If I were, I would counsel caution – the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election is to be held on Thursday, October 5. Why is this significant? Well, in November 1967, Winnie Ewing, Fergus's late mother, sensationally won the Hamilton by-election and she is well respected still in the constituency and beyond.

Indeed, Annabelle Ewing, Fergus’s sister, ran Labour close in another by-election in September 1999 in the same seat. My spies tell me that senior SNP MSPs want to clip Fergus’s wings, but to do so before the by-election may cost the SNP votes. Time for yet another SNP delay?

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.