Yet another example of SNP's 'government by false promise' is a disgrace

The Scottish Government’s decision to delay replacing state-owned ScotRail’s diesel trains with electric or hydrogen ones by ten years has a familiar ring to it.

Scotland’s target to cut carbon emissions by 75 per cent by 2030 was dropped earlier this year – it was a legal requirement but, of course, governments can just change the law. Or indeed, they can simply ignore it, as they do with supposedly legally enforceable maximum waiting times for NHS treatment.

And, once upon a time, the dualling of the A9 between Perth and Inverness was to be completed next year, but is now not expected until 2035 – maybe. The SNP’s reputation as a government that says one thing, but does another is growing.

Devil’s contract

Explaining the delay to replacing ScotRail’s diesel trains, Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop said that “undertaking too much disruptive engineering work” on the railways at the same time would hit fare revenue and “significantly diminish the attractiveness of rail travel”. This is obviously true, but why was this not taken into account when the original 2035 target date was announced?

She also said the original plan had been “subject to continuous improvement, to be updated and refined... accordingly, it is being revised”. The lesson, therefore, is to carefully read the small print of any SNP promise for caveats worthy of a devil’s contract.

This should be particularly worrying for those concerned about climate change. Politicians who over-promise but under-deliver are potentially worse than those who are upfront about their lack of action, as the former give the impression that something is being done.

‘Scotland good, UK bad’ narrative

The SNP still insist that Scotland will meet its “world-leading” target of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2045. Cynics will suspect that date was chosen because it’s far enough away that today’s politicians will not be held to account for it and also, crucially, five years before the UK target, feeding into the nationalists’ ‘Scotland good, UK bad’ narrative.

That climate change, the most serious issue of our times, has been reduced to a plaything in the independence debate is a disgrace and voters must demand better than this government by false promise.