Swinney was 'judge, jury and executioner' over rail link, says MSP

Published on Tuesday 3 November 2009 20:34

FINANCE secretary John Swinney was labelled "judge, jury and executioner" as he defended his decision to cancel the Glasgow Airport Rail Link (GARL).

Mr Swinney told Holyrood's finance committee he would not reinstate GARL and compared its spiralling cost with the parliament building's overruns.

The decision to scrap the project was taken to balance the budget for the coming year, Mr Swinney said yesterday, and he challenged opposition MSPs to give him alternative projects to scrap instead.

He asked Glasgow Cathcart MSP Charlie Gordon: "What project would you have sacrificed?"

Mr Gordon, a former leader of Glasgow City Council, replied: "I think you're being disingenuous, cabinet secretary. I'm talking about a dialogue between interested parties and you as judge, jury and executioner."

GARL was expected to create jobs for 1,300 people. But the SNP said scrapping the project will save 175.5 million.

Initial estimates for the railway's groundwork at Glasgow airport were 7.8m, Mr Swinney said, but these were "not comprehensive and not robust" and rose to 70m.

"It's a bit like this building, frankly. The cost estimate of this building was apparently 40m before someone had decided on the site or the design."