This rail crisis is a complete omnishambles

MID SCOTLAND AND FIFE MSP

The results of the local elections here in Stirling clearly show that the people want local councillors to work together to improve services and make sure that the council is spending money efficiently.

For too many years, we have seen those ambitions thwarted by dogma from an SNP group who refused to work across all parties to deliver for the people of Stirling.

The verdict of the voters was that no party had a clear mandate to form an administration. This therefore required at least two parties to agree a way forward. I am delighted that sensible and pragmatic solutions were arrived at by Scottish Conservative and Scottish Labour councillors. I hope that even the SNP, when the dust has settled, may welcome the positive opportunities there are for co-operation under a minority administration.

At Holyrood, my inbox has been inundated with correspondence from constituents who are deeply concerned about the decision to cut over 700 rail services now that Scotrail is controlled directly by the SNP. We had warned about the dire consequences of the SNP taking control of Scotland’s rail services - and their incompetence is now clear for all to see.

The SNP’S decision to work with the Scottish Green Party here at the Scottish Parliament was supposed to mean a renewed focus on the ability to travel cheaply, conveniently and with a declining impact on the environment.

These are all very laudable aims and I had hoped that passengers on Scotrail would see dramatic improvements in rail services which would allow them to make more environmentally friendly decisions following years of disruptions.

Unfortunately, following the decision to take control of Scotrail, the SNP have created a total omnishambles - leaving many people with no option other than to drive to work.

The loss of all services from Edinburgh after 8pm and from Glasgow after 7.50pm is unacceptable. This is a disgraceful failure to provide a modern rail service for the vast majority of paying passengers.

The impact on the environment from these decisions will also be incredibly damaging and the effect on the night-time economies in both cities (as well as in Stirling which relies heavily on day visitors from Edinburgh and Glasgow), will be equally negative. The wider economic impact of the rail chaos in Scotland has been estimated to be £80million per day. It is probably too much to ask - but the SNP need to find a resolution to this crisis as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, the rail debacle is just one more in a long line of failures the SNP have presided over. They made it a priority to improve the attainment gap between the most and least well-off pupils.

The gap is widening. They have utterly failed and have now abandoned their own timescale to improve it. Accident and Emergency waiting times are terrible. The target for people to start treatment for cancer has not been met since 2012. Children’s and young people’s mental health services are in crisis with huge numbers not getting the early support and treatment that is so vital.

There are 900 fewer divisional police officers with overall police numbers falling below 17000 for the first time since 2008. Drug and alcohol related deaths are the worst in Europe. The ferry debacle continues.

After 15 years of the SNP, Scotland is going seriously backwards. Thankfully, there will not be an SNP administration at Stirling Council. Given their appalling performance at Holyrood and in Stirling for the past five years, we should all be very grateful for that at least.

Many have no option other than to drive to work