SNP goes soft on trams to woo Greens

THE Scottish Nationalists' stance on Edinburgh's trams was thrown into confusion today after the party appeared to backpedal on its plans to scrap the scheme.

The SNP said it would consider the future of the project in the light of money already allocated and the fact the council could decide to go ahead with the project anyway.

But a senior Nationalist insider insisted the trams would still be scrapped and claimed the softer line being adopted by the party was simply to avoid alienating the Greens, who are currently involved in delicate coalition talks with the SNP.

The Evening News revealed yesterday the 592m trams project was set to be axed, along with the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link, if the SNP forms a minority government. The party believes its anti-tram stance played a key part in frontbencher Kenny MacAskill's victory in the previously safe seat of Edinburgh East & Musselburgh.

But the city's business and political leaders condemned the move to cancel the tram project as "madness" and accused the Nationalists of wanting to destroy the Capital.

Today a party spokesman said the party was still opposed to trams, but added: "Having said that, if we are in government we will look at that position in the light of the money that has already been spent and the fact it is up to the council now."

Nearly 120m will already have been spent on the trams project by the time the final business case is due to be submitted to parliament for approval this autumn. And work is due to start soon on diverting utility pipes and cables along the route.

A minority SNP government could stop the scheme simply by cutting off funding. But it is understood the Nationalists have been warned by civil servants that since some money has already been released, the council could begin the utility diversion work and go back to the Scottish Executive for more money in a year, hoping by that time an SNP government might have collapsed.

A senior Nationalist source said such an approach by the council would be "very foolish", adding: "It would mean you had all the pain of digging up the roads without any guarantee of a tram system in the end."

The source said there was "no possibility" of backtracking on the trams and any softening of the party's stance was "more to do with not wishing to rub people's noses in it during delicate negotiations".

The SNP says it would save 1.1bn by cancelling the trams and the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link and use the money for other projects across Scotland. In Edinburgh, the party proposes funding for cleaner, greener buses and the development of new bus routes, as well as consideration of alternative rail links to the airport.

The source said the party was also happy to look at reopening the South Suburban rail line.

Another senior SNP source said the trams had not yet come up in talks with the Greens. "We have been focusing on issues like climate change."

Transport campaign group TRANSform Scotland called on the Greens to make the go-ahead for the trams a minimum requirement for any deal with the SNP.

Chairman Paul Tetlaw said: "It would be shameful for the Greens to allow themselves to provide a green gloss for environmentally damaging plans to switch money away from public transport and into more new road-building."