Nicola Sturgeon has been urged to “finally come clean” on the reasons behind the SNP’s broken promise to dual the A9 by 2025 when she appears before a key Holyrood committee today (Wednesday).
The Scottish Conservatives say the former First Minister must explain her “betrayal” of communities which rely on the deadly trunk road linking Perth and Inverness when she is questioned by MSPs on the public petitions committee.
The SNP Government pledged in 2011 to fully dual the A9 between the two cities by 2025. But last year ministers admitted it would be 2035 at the earliest before the work would be completed – a full decade late.
That sparked fury among campaigners for the upgrade, who point to the ever-rising death toll on Scotland’s most dangerous road.
Luke Graham, the Scottish Conservative candidate for Perth and Kinross-shire, says the “abject failure” is symptomatic of the SNP’s contempt for rural Scotland and insists no one is more culpable for it than Nicola Sturgeon.
Scottish Conservative candidate for Perth and Kinross-shire Luke Graham said: “Nicola Sturgeon has some serious explaining and apologising to do to all those who rely on the A9.
“The buck stops with her for the SNP’s abject failure to dual this deadly road.
“Nicola Sturgeon must explain how and why this essential upgrade fell at least a full decade behind schedule on her watch.
“Lives continue to be lost because she ignored the concerns of people who live along the A9.
“It’s a monumental betrayal of local communities and confirms again the SNP’s contempt for rural Scotland, despite them having had the constituency MP and MSP in Perthshire for over 20 years.
“The SNP would have never allowed this to happen to a trunk road in the central belt, but they don’t care about those who live in remote and rural Scotland.
“Secrecy and cover-up were the hallmarks of Nicola Sturgeon’s time in office but today she must finally come clean on one of the worst of her SNP Government’s many failures.”