Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 08 February 2023
08 Feb 2023 · S6 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
A9 Dualling
I welcome the temporary road safety measures that are currently being implemented. However, communities along the A9 in Perthshire and the Highlands have been waiting for more than a decade for the Government to fulfil its commitment to dualling the A9 in its entirety from Perth to Inverness. In that time, barely 10 miles have been completed out of a total of 80 miles—just one eighth of the total project. Today, we might have hoped for some positive news from the minister or some detail on the timetable for the long-delayed completion. Instead, all we have is more bad news, with a further delay to the Tomatin to Moy section. The minister could tell us nothing about what the progress will be on the remaining sections of the road. No details, no timescales and no hope—just empty words, repeated over and over again, about the Government’s unwavering commitment.
Actions speak louder than words. Last year, 12 people lost their lives on single-carriageway sections of the A9. More people will die this year, next year and the year after as the Scottish National Party promise is not delivered. Can the minister give us any indication of when the long-standing commitment will be met and when the long-delayed and vital road safety project will be completed?
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Annabelle Ewing)
SNP
The next item of business is a statement by Jenny Gilruth on A9 dualling update. The minister will take questions at the end of her statement, so there shoul...
The Minister for Transport (Jenny Gilruth)
SNP
I welcome the opportunity to provide an update to Parliament on the A9 dualling programme. The A9 cuts through the heart of Scotland—some call it the spine ...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
The minister will now take questions on the issues that she has raised in her statement. I intend to allow around 20 minutes for questions, after which we wi...
Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con)
Con
I welcome the temporary road safety measures that are currently being implemented. However, communities along the A9 in Perthshire and the Highlands have bee...
Jenny Gilruth
SNP
I recognise the strength of interest from members, and particularly Mr Fraser, who raises the issue of the A9 with the cabinet secretary and me on a fairly r...
Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab)
Lab
This is a total betrayal of the Highlands. It is a broken promise—I wonder whether the Government ever intended to keep it. The scale of the project is exac...
Jenny Gilruth
SNP
I ask Ms Grant to reflect on some of the other investments that the Government is delivering in the region that she represents. Only last week, I opened Inve...
Emma Roddick (Highlands and Islands) (SNP)
SNP
I am certain that correspondence is already coming in from constituents who are extremely disappointed and concerned about the news regarding the route from ...
Jenny Gilruth
SNP
I thank Emma Roddick for her question, and I want to give her the reassurance that she seeks in relation to the people of the Highlands. She was at the openi...
Jamie Halcro Johnston (Highlands and Islands) (Con)
Con
The minister admitted today what we have all known for some time: the 2025 date will not be met. Communities along the A9 and road users have been kept in th...
Jenny Gilruth
SNP
I thank Jamie Halcro Johnston for his questions. Work on that is on-going, as I have said, and will report later in the year. I would like to come back to t...
Fergus Ewing (Inverness and Nairn) (SNP)
SNP
Today’s news will be met in the Highlands with shock, incredulity and anger. Why does Transport Scotland, unlike its counterpart south of the border, put all...
Jenny Gilruth
SNP
I thank Mr Ewing for his question and I recognise his strength of feeling about the A9, in particular, but also about the A96, which is in his constituency. ...
Neil Bibby (West Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
The minister has said several times today that the Government is absolutely committed to fully dualling the A9. Are the Greens fully committed to dualling th...
Jenny Gilruth
SNP
I am not a Green Party minister.
Jim Fairlie (Perthshire South and Kinross-shire) (SNP)
SNP
The A9 in my constituency is fully dualled, but the proposed Shinafoot junction has been an on-going concern for local folk for many years. Following the min...
Jenny Gilruth
SNP
Jim Fairlie has raised a fair point. I met him and community representatives to discuss their concerns about the Shinafoot junction. As I noted at the time, ...
Liam McArthur (Orkney Islands) (LD)
LD
I thank the minister for advance sight of the statement. I think that Fergus Ewing and Emma Roddick have eloquently expressed the reaction that there will be...
Jenny Gilruth
SNP
The Government is absolutely committed to continuing those investments. I reassure Liam McArthur, and observe more generally, that investment by the Governme...
Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green)
Green
It is clear from speaking to Perthshire constituents who live alongside the A9 that acceleration of road safety is everyone’s top priority. The minister has ...
Jenny Gilruth
SNP
We have no plans to reduce speed limits on the A9. Proposals to amend speed limits will generally emerge as outcomes of the national speed management review,...
John Mason (Glasgow Shettleston) (SNP)
SNP
Inflation is clearly an issue in all this. The Finance and Public Administration Committee was told that the costs of some projects have gone up by 30 per ce...
Jenny Gilruth
SNP
I recognise the challenge that John Mason has outlined. As I think I mentioned in response to another member, we originally had three bidders that pre-qualif...
Graham Simpson (Central Scotland) (Con)
Con
Jenny Gilruth has put the A9 on hold today. The so-called “unwavering commitment” to deliver is empty. There is no delivery programme. Why does she think fir...
Jenny Gilruth
SNP
I am not sure that I agree with the premise of Mr Simpson’s question. It is worth my while to observe that Transport Scotland, through its market consultatio...
Gordon MacDonald (Edinburgh Pentlands) (SNP)
SNP
The announcement will clearly come as a disappointment to communities and people who have campaigned on the issue over the years, but it is important to focu...
Jenny Gilruth
SNP
As I said, the outcome of the procurement competition was unexpected. We have touched on the external factors that contributed to that. The end of 2022 was a...
Douglas Lumsden (North East Scotland) (Con)
Con
The delay to the A9 project will have a knock-on effect on other road projects. The A96 was meant to be fully dualled by 2030. Will that commitment be met?
Jenny Gilruth
SNP
Douglas Lumsden will have received an invitation to meet the contractors who have carried out the substantive work in relation to the A96. I look forward to ...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
That concludes the statement. There will be a short pause before we move on to the next item of business, to allow the front bench teams to change position, ...