MSPs in South Scotland have disagreed over funding commitments for improvements to the A77 and A75.
Conservative and Labour representatives in the region have entered into a war of words over the key transport links.
Finlay Carson, Sharon Dowey and Brian Whittle, the three Conservative MSPs for South Scotland, have written to Colin Smyth, one of the three Labour MSPs for the region, calling on him to “use his influence” to “press the case for speedy improvements”.
However, Mr Smyth has laid the blame at the feet of the previous UK Conservative Government for making promises and not delivering on them and accused the trio of indulging in a “silly PR stunt”.
Funding had been made available by Rishi Sunak’s government for a feasibility study into improvements but it is unclear if the new Labour government will maintain the commitment.
In a joint statement, Mr Carson, Ms Dowey and Mr Whittle said: “We would welcome confirmation that you will continue to lobby the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, and the Secretary of State for Scotland, Ian Murray, regarding the £8 million promised by Rishi Sunak’s former government to see if it remains on the table and has been committed.
“Previously, you have stated that repeated announcement of funding everyone already knew about was ‘not good enough’ and showed a ‘lack of ambition’ from both governments. We are sure you remain of the same opinion.”
Following an enquiry from Ayrshire Live, Mr Smyth revealed he had not seen the letter in question but responded to comments made in a press release by the three Conservative MSPs.
Mr Smyth said: “There has always been cross-party support for the campaign for lobbying for the upgrade of the A75 and A77 and it is important that continues. But this letter reveals what local people have known for some time.
“The previous Conservative Government made promise after promise over the A75 – but they didn’t deliver a single shovel of tarmac in 14 years despite Tory MPs and MSPs representing the communities covered by the full length of the A75.
“It was just another unfunded commitment in the £22 billion black hole left by the Tories that Labour is now having to clear up. Maybe our trio of Tory MSPs should show some humility and apologise for the fact the A75 is on a very long list of undelivered commitments by the Tories. Their record on the A77 is even worse. They promised nothing, which to be fair they have delivered.
“Responsibility for roads in Scotland is obviously devolved to the Scottish Government who have been equally culpable in their failure to deliver on the A75 and A77.
“However, I have already had discussions with Ministers in the new UK Government and I know they recognise the importance of these roads for our economy and they want to work with the Scottish Government to deliver the economic growth that has been missing under previous governments.
“Given the lack of delivery under the last UK and current Scottish Government , I think we do need to change tack on the campaign. We need to better involve representatives and crucially businesses out with Dumfries and Galloway and Ayrshire, so we can get the message across that the upgrade of the A75 and A77 isn’t just a local issue but one for the wider Scottish economy and the economy of the north east of England.
“That’s something I am working on and I hope our trio of Tory MSPs will support this. People expect their politicians to work together on these issues and that’s why this silly Tory PR stunt will disappoint local people and just highlight the abysmal record of failure of the outgoing Tory government.”
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