Meeting of the Parliament 10 December 2025
The Scottish Government’s 2015 infrastructure investment plan has been laid bare not just in the debate but numerous times in the chamber. The investment plan promised, among other things, two new major ferries, which would be operational by 2017 at a price of £90 million for both. It promised to invest in our harbours, yet Ardrossan harbour is still in limbo, and all the businesses around it are still waiting for compensation for the endless disruption. There is also the famous promise—the Conservatives are right to bring it to the fore today—that was a
“commitment to ... dual the A9 between Perth and Inverness by 2025”.
What has happened since 2015? The sad reality is that 48 people have died on that single road alone. The worst year on record was 2022, when 13 people lost their lives. I say gently to the Government that, no matter what the logistical or financial barriers are to finishing that road, surely there is a moral imperative, if nothing else, to get it done.
The road should have been dualled before now. If that can be done before 2035, that is even better. However, the problem that remains is: how many more people will die while we wait for the road to be completed?
The issue is not just with the A9. Let us look at the A96. Moray Council and the local chamber of commerce recently said that major developments such as ScotWind and the Inverness and Cromarty Firth green port are being held back by a failure to complete the dualling of that road.
Similarly, as others have mentioned, completing the dualling of the A77 and the A75 would massively improve not just the local economy but links between Scotland and Northern Ireland. That would keep heavy trucks off single-lane roads, improve road safety and, as Finlay Carson said, reduce carbon output in that part of the world.
Presiding Officer, do not get me started on the M8, where I seem to spend most of my free time these days. It is Scotland’s busiest road, with 150,000 people using it every day. It connects our largest city with our capital city. However, the road is now the contraflow capital of Scotland. Glasgow airport is left connected to Glasgow city solely by a road that resembles a car park at most times of the day.
What does that result in? CBI Scotland was quite clear with us. It said:
“Scotland’s motorways are the beating heart of our economy ... But motorway construction has slowed in recent years in a way that just doesn’t fit with our ambition for long-term, sustainable economic growth.”
I am sorry, but I have to disagree with Mr Johnson on EV cars. We all know that they are the future—they have a lower carbon footprint, they represent a step towards net zero and they will mean cleaner air for our children and less reliance on fossil fuels. However, the new policy to tax people who have bought an EV is utterly insane. It will hit rural economies harder than those anywhere else and will surely drive down uptake, not improve it.
I understand the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s conundrum in replacing fuel duty with some other source of income, but the proposed policy solution smells like a policy that has been drummed up in Whitehall by somebody who gets on the tube every day to work, not by somebody who has to make a 200-mile journey to the nearest maternity hospital. That is the reality of what happens when such policies are not thoroughly thought through. Do not forget that our EV industry is up against it. It is up against China and others, so why are we handing advantage to them on a plate?
Here is what we could be doing. We could be building better EV infrastructure. Why not offer sensible subsidies to move from gas to electric? Why not even cap the cost of charging EVs? It is not the consumers who need to change their behaviour—I am afraid that, in this case, it is Government ministers.
I will support the essence of the Conservative motion, because the EV tax is a step backwards, it is punitive and it is short-sighted. We need to dual the A9 and get on with it, and we need to unlock our regional and rural economies by building up and building better. I believe that no one and nowhere should be left behind. Both of Scotland’s Governments share responsibility for keeping our country moving.
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