Meeting of the Parliament 28 March 2018
Thank you, Presiding Officer. I will attempt to use my tablet but, the last time I did that, the battery ran out halfway through my speech, so bear with me if I end up reading from paper.
I thank John Finnie for bringing the debate to the chamber. It is a very good use of his party’s business time, as it is on an important issue that is underdiscussed in the Parliament. For that reason, our amendment does not delete anything from the motion, as that would detract from and dilute the message that John Finnie wants to get across.
I, too, think that it is important that the Government is held to account for its ambitions on the issue. There has been a lot of talk about a modal shift to buses and the benefits of that, and there is nothing in that that anyone disagrees with, but we need more detail on how we measure success on that. It might be helpful if the minister could address that in the forthcoming transport bill.
I have an open mind on whether there should be a statutory target in primary legislation or whether the issue is dealt with in another way. As the additional wording that my amendment would insert in the motion says, if we can produce a measurable target in another way rather than in the transport bill—for example, in a transport strategy—we would be open to looking at that. However, it is still important that the Government is held to account on the issue. As we know, the move to buses and other public transport is part of a much wider discussion about CO2 emission reduction, reducing congestion on our roads and getting people out of cars. It is also about improving connectivity and the opportunity for towns and cities as well as for rural economies, which rely so much on lifeline services.