Calls for Scottish Transport Minister to quit

Published on Wednesday 8 December 2010 17:18

Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson faces calls for his resignation following the Scottish Government's response to this week's severe winter weather.

• Stewart Stevenson makes his emergency statement to the Scottish Parliament. Picture: Ian Georgeson

An emergency statement was made to the Scottish Parliament today by the Banff and Buchan MSP following widespread disruption across the country's transport networks.

Motorists were left stranded in their cars overnight on Monday while trains departing Glasgow for Edinburgh this morning were cancelled during rush hour after snow and freezing conditions swept across the country.

A major stretch of the M8 only reopened at 1.15pm today after being shut on Monday.

Labour, Lib Dem and Tory MSPs criticised the Scottish Government's response to the travel chaos brought on by the weather as "wholly inadequate".

"I am the Transport Minister and I am responsible," Mr Stevenson told MSPs.

"What happened on Monday has been extremely difficult and challenging - it should not have happened, and I have apologised for the failure to communicate the position better and earlier."

But he said the action needed to deal with the situation was "hugely complex".

He also stated that the amount of snow which fell on Scotland on Monday was "greater than estimated" by the Met Office in its advice to ministers.

Labour's Holyrood transport spokesman, Charlie Gordon, claimed the problems on the roads had caused "the worst gridlock in living memory".

He said: "Hundreds of drivers spent the night in their vehicles on the M8, hundreds more bus passengers stranded on the M80, and many others endured a similar grim experience in sub-zero temperatures."

And he said that, while this was happening, "the Transport Minister was on the BBC claiming a first-class response and refusing to apologise".

Mr Gordon said: "In fact it was a first-class cock-up and he was responsible.

"He wriggles and squirms and pushes the blame on to others. He blames the weatherman - the problem wasn't the weather forecast or the Met Office, the problem was his totally inadequate response.

"Sorry is not good enough. Will the minister take responsibility, admit his incompetence and go?"

Tory David McLetchie said the BBC weather forecast on Sunday night had "displayed a graphic showing a blizzard of snow blocking out the whole of central Scotland".

He demanded: "If I can see that and millions of other Scots can see that, why was it that the Scottish Government couldn't see that and take decisions to act more expeditiously than they did?"

He asked: "Is it not the case that the response was wholly inadequate relative to the information available to the public as a whole."

Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat transport spokeswoman Alison McInnes said those making "heroic efforts" to get to work had been "let down by a

bumbling Transport Minister".

She claimed Mr Stevenson was a "minister who was so out of touch he announced to the world his Government was providing a first-class response at the very moment when thousands of people were stranded".

She added: "Until yesterday nobody was suggesting Stewart Stevenson should personally clear the snow, but now that would be the best thing he could do.

"He should leave the chamber, pick up a shovel and start digging. It's time for him to make amends."

MORE WEATHER LATEST

• Weather update: Speed limit in place as M8 reopens

• At-a-glance: School closures in Scotland by region

• Weather: Road closures and restrictions in Scotland

• In pictures: your latest snaps from the snow (Part 5)