Last week at First Minister’s Questions Humza Yousaf appears to have rowed back on SNP Government promises to dual the A96 between Nairn and Inverurie.
Speaking on the subject for the first time as FM today, Mr Yousaf said his government would upgrade the road between Inverness and Nairn.
However, when quizzed by Scottish Conservative MSP Douglas Lumsden, the SNP leader made no mention of the route further east.
This is in contrast to former transport minister Jenny Gilruth, who said this year that her party was committed to full dualling, based on a climate compatibility assessment – which has yet to be completed.
This was first committed to in the SNP manifesto in 2011.
At First Minister’s Questions, Douglas Lumsden asked Mr Yousaf:
“Connectivity between the port of Aberdeen and the Freeport in Cromarty will be vital for the North East economy.
“So will the First Minister grow a backbone, stand up to the Greens and fully dual the A96 as promised?”
Mr Yousaf responded:
“Let me say very clearly that we are absolutely committed, of course, to the dualling of the A9, but also the A96 Inverness to Nairn bypass and I have said already to my good friend Fergus Ewing that we’ll bring forward a timetable on that as soon as we possibly can.”
Later, Mr Lumsden said:
“It wasn’t lost on members that the new First Minister dropped any mention of the A96 outside Moray, considering he was meant to be responding to a North East MSP. That would have been in his speaking notes.
“Jenny Gilruth’s position on the route, which was no doubt the best she could manage in the face of adversarial Greens, appears to have been binned.
“This is another broken promise to the people of the North East, who have been betrayed within the first three weeks of a Humza Yousaf leadership.”
Hardworking people across the North East of Scotland are once again being sacrificed by the SNP in order to appease the anti-growth Greens. A fact that isn’t lost on many members of the SNP either.
