Final attempt to resurrect Glasgow Airport Rail Link fails

Published on Friday 4 December 2009 12:41

OPPOSITION attempts to press the Scottish Government to reinstate an axed airport rail link have been rejected by MSPs, a Holyrood committee report said today.

• A computer visualization of the axed Glasgow Airport Rail Link

The Glasgow Airport Rail Link was the most high profile victim of Finance Secretary John Swinney's Budget earlier this year.

A report into the 2010/11 Budget process by Holyrood's Finance Committee published today shows that Labour MSPs wanted its conclusions to include a call for Mr Swinney to reinstate the project.

But this was voted down by SNP and Tories this week.

Labour's David Whitton said: "The SNP and the Tories seem determined to leave Scotland's transport network stuck in the last century.

"Labour will continue to fight for the rail link to be reinstated and even at this late stage it is not too late for John Swinney to change his mind."

The Government said scrapping the project will save 170 million.

No alternative spending plans were proposed by any Holyrood committee which looked into the Budget, according to the report.

The SNP's Joe Fitzpatrick said Labour is living in a "fiscal fantasy land".

He said: "The committee has accepted that the Scottish Government's Budget has been cut, a fact of life the Labour party should get used to as it was their Government that put the cuts in place."

The Finance Committee report on the Government's 30 billion spending plan comes after Mr Swinney said the Budget was 500 million less than was envisaged in 2007.

Spending money within the direct control of the Scottish Government falls by 0.9% from 29.535 billion this year to 29.273 billion next year, according to the report.

The SNP said the Scottish Budget had had its first "real-terms cut" since devolution but Labour said this is only because money had been brought forward from future budgets.

The Finance Committee report said that without this "re-profiling" the Budget would have gone up 370 million by 1.3%.

Total Scottish Government spending next year will be 35.144 billion compared with 34.86 billion last year, according to Government figures.

The report said there is a lack of "transparency and independent verification" over "efficiency savings", making it "impossible" to examine properly the impact they have on the funds available for providing services.

The committee also wants the Government to explain in more detail how it has prioritised protecting services and supporting economic growth.

Committee convener Andrew Welsh said the Finance Committee has sought to continue encouraging the Government to take "a longer term, strategic view" of public finances.

"This will be crucial in dealing with the challenges we anticipate over coming years," he said.