Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 13 January 2011
13 Jan 2011 · S3 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Freight Facilities Grants
I, too, congratulate Cathy Jamieson on securing the debate.
I welcome the new Minister for Transport and Infrastructure to his post. I want to tell him a little story. It is about a company that set up in Cowie in his constituency. When it set up, it was keen to use rail, and some of us argued at the time that with a small amount of what is now called mode shift revenue support, that would be possible. A railway siding was built at the works where the manufacturing process was to occur, but it was never used. The company is still going. It built a special road to access the area. Hundreds of lorries thunder up and down it. The story dates back to a time before climate change or the other issues that we have been hearing about today.
If we are serious that £7 million is too much to be our contribution to dealing with the huge global issues that we face, something is badly wrong. I hope that the closure of the FFG scheme is a mistake and that we can address the issue on an all-party basis.
In my area, Malcolm transport at Grangemouth has benefited enormously from taking lorry loads off the roads. As Charlie Gordon said, the Highland Spring proposal would take 10,000 lorries off the roads. Highland Spring has a £30 million expansion programme. It is not just the current lorries but the future ones. If we really are talking about the development of the economy, and if companies are going to be expanding, there will be more road traffic. If we can eliminate some of that road traffic now, it will at least arrest the problem with our roads and prevent increased carbon emissions.
The fact that the issue has united business with unions, some of which are, I think, quite far to the left, is fairly unique. They have come together and said that although the FFG is a small grant, they all feel that it should continue.
I will ask a couple of questions before I finish. I understand that out of the £68.9 million that the FFG scheme has taken out of our budget since 1997, £10.9 million has been contributed by the Department for Transport. I take it that if we abolish the grant we will lose any contribution from the DOT. Will the minister tell us whether that is the case?
Can he confirm that the mode shift revenue support grant will continue? If it does not, there are some borderline schemes in which there may be a return to road from rail.
Major projects like the Thornton rail extension in my constituency—I think that Christopher Harvie said that £46 million would be required—are for the future, when things are restored. I am not referring to such projects. We are talking about a modest grant—a small part of the budget—that can have a continuing significant impact. I therefore ask the minister to join us, to tell his budget colleagues about our support for the grant and ask them whether they could not think again.
17:54
I welcome the new Minister for Transport and Infrastructure to his post. I want to tell him a little story. It is about a company that set up in Cowie in his constituency. When it set up, it was keen to use rail, and some of us argued at the time that with a small amount of what is now called mode shift revenue support, that would be possible. A railway siding was built at the works where the manufacturing process was to occur, but it was never used. The company is still going. It built a special road to access the area. Hundreds of lorries thunder up and down it. The story dates back to a time before climate change or the other issues that we have been hearing about today.
If we are serious that £7 million is too much to be our contribution to dealing with the huge global issues that we face, something is badly wrong. I hope that the closure of the FFG scheme is a mistake and that we can address the issue on an all-party basis.
In my area, Malcolm transport at Grangemouth has benefited enormously from taking lorry loads off the roads. As Charlie Gordon said, the Highland Spring proposal would take 10,000 lorries off the roads. Highland Spring has a £30 million expansion programme. It is not just the current lorries but the future ones. If we really are talking about the development of the economy, and if companies are going to be expanding, there will be more road traffic. If we can eliminate some of that road traffic now, it will at least arrest the problem with our roads and prevent increased carbon emissions.
The fact that the issue has united business with unions, some of which are, I think, quite far to the left, is fairly unique. They have come together and said that although the FFG is a small grant, they all feel that it should continue.
I will ask a couple of questions before I finish. I understand that out of the £68.9 million that the FFG scheme has taken out of our budget since 1997, £10.9 million has been contributed by the Department for Transport. I take it that if we abolish the grant we will lose any contribution from the DOT. Will the minister tell us whether that is the case?
Can he confirm that the mode shift revenue support grant will continue? If it does not, there are some borderline schemes in which there may be a return to road from rail.
Major projects like the Thornton rail extension in my constituency—I think that Christopher Harvie said that £46 million would be required—are for the future, when things are restored. I am not referring to such projects. We are talking about a modest grant—a small part of the budget—that can have a continuing significant impact. I therefore ask the minister to join us, to tell his budget colleagues about our support for the grant and ask them whether they could not think again.
17:54
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Alasdair Morgan)
SNP
The final item of business today is a members’ business debate on motion S3M-7567, in the name of Cathy Jamieson, on freight facilities grants. The debate wi...
Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab)
Lab
I thank members, particularly those who have stayed for the debate, for their support for the motion, which has helped it to be selected for debate. I also t...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
We come to the open debate. I ask for speeches of four minutes. The debate is oversubscribed, so I will stop members when they get to the four-minute mark.17:18
Christopher Harvie (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP)
SNP
I congratulate Cathy Jamieson on the motion and her eloquent presentation of it. I also declare an interest as the honorary president of the Scottish Associa...
Michael McMahon (Hamilton North and Bellshill) (Lab)
Lab
I begin by congratulating Cathy Jamieson on securing the debate and providing members with the opportunity to highlight the short-sightedness of the Scottish...
The Minister for Transport and Infrastructure (Keith Brown)
SNP
Would the member like to address the impact of the £800 million cut in this year’s capital budget? If Cathy Jamieson can describe the reduction of the freigh...
Michael McMahon
Lab
The minister makes a clever argument, but he can see the importance of his strategy—I will come on to that later—and he is undermining his position rather th...
John Scott (Ayr) (Con)
Con
I congratulate Cathy Jamieson on securing the debate, which is relevant to Ayrshire and South Ayrshire, in particular, which we both represent. The freight f...
Karen Whitefield (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab)
Lab
I welcome the opportunity to speak in this evening’s debate and I congratulate my colleague, Cathy Jamieson, on securing a members’ business debate on this i...
Keith Brown
SNP
Does the member think that the decision of the Labour Government to scrap the scheme five years ago and the fact that it spent less money in five years in En...
Karen Whitefield
Lab
We are talking about Scotland, and the minister is responsible for the situation in Scotland. Labour Party members criticise their party when they need to. W...
Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD)
LD
I congratulate Cathy Jamieson on securing this debate, which provides us with an opportunity to discuss not only the future of the freight facilities grant b...
Charlie Gordon (Glasgow Cathcart) (Lab)
Lab
I congratulate my colleague Cathy Jamieson on bringing to the chamber a debate that is at once important and very topical.At the December 7 meeting of the Tr...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
At this point, I would be prepared to accept a motion without notice to extend the debate by 10 minutes to complete the business. I ask Cathy Jamieson to so ...
Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green)
Green
I add my thanks and congratulations to Cathy Jamieson for bringing the motion to the chamber for debate. I was happy to sign up to it almost as soon as it wa...
Hugh Henry (Paisley South) (Lab)
Lab
I, too, thank Cathy Jamieson for the opportunity to debate this important issue. I also thank her for alerting me to something that I had overlooked complete...
Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab)
Lab
I, too, congratulate Cathy Jamieson on securing the debate. I welcome the new Minister for Transport and Infrastructure to his post. I want to tell him a lit...
The Minister for Transport and Infrastructure (Keith Brown)
SNP
Like other members, I congratulate Cathy Jamieson on securing the debate. I think that it was Aneurin Bevan who said that politics is the language of priorit...
Hugh Henry
Lab
The minister highlights a mistaken decision by Westminster-based politicians and a very correct decision made by ministers of the same party in Scotland.
Keith Brown
SNP
I acknowledge and welcome that intervention, but what has changed is the financial situation. I think that Hugh Henry would go on to say that that is the rea...
Michael McMahon
Lab
Is the minister not missing the point? The freight facilities grants scheme in Scotland was much more flexible and operated in an entirely different way from...
Keith Brown
SNP
Power is one thing, but resources are another. It would be useful if the member would acknowledge, even for one second, the disastrous effects of Labour’s ha...
Patrick Harvie
Green
Will the minister give way?
Keith Brown
SNP
I am sorry, but I have to make some progress.The new hospital in Glasgow is another project that will take a huge chunk out of a capital budget that has been...
Cathy Jamieson
Lab
Will the minister give way?
Keith Brown
SNP
I have to make some progress. We have concluded that we cannot fund new FFG projects for the time being. We have allocated £2.9 million to support the freigh...
Cathy Jamieson
Lab
Will the minister take an intervention?
Keith Brown
SNP
Although I have already taken two interventions and do not have much time left, I will take the member’s intervention provided that she is very brief.
Cathy Jamieson
Lab
Almost six minutes into his speech, I am glad that the minister has mentioned the Grangestone railhead. His predecessor was supportive of the project, on whi...
Keith Brown
SNP
I have been trying to deal with that subject. Cathy Jamieson made the point in her speech that the FFG scheme is suspended, from which I think she took some ...