view on the SNP’s transport failures: Road to Nowhere

When Humza Yousaf addressed the SNP conference last weekend, he made little mention of practical issues – the things that governments do to improve the day-to-day lives of its citizens.

Speeding the delivery of ferries to the Western Isles, for instance, did not rank highly on his list of priorities. There was no reference to the electrification of rail links.

Nor did the first minister dwell on the delicate matter of the A9 – that arterial road linking the Highlands to the south of Scotland. The dualling of the A9 — or rather the failure to dual — has been a source of controversy for as long as this government has been in power; the road snaking north from Perth to Inverness is not only