CHAOS FOR COMMUTERS, MORE COMFY LIMOS FOR MINISTERS
SNP ministers managed to dodge last week’s travel chaos – by using their chauffeur-driven limousines.
While commuters struggled to get to work as strikes disrupted the rail network, members of Nicola Sturgeon’s government were ferried around in top-of-the-range ministerial cars funded by taxpayers.
On Monday, The Scottish Mail on Sunday spotted Ben Macpherson, the Minister for Social Security, arriving at an event in Lanarkshire in the back of a £60,000 Kia EV6.
On Wednesday the Minister for the Constitution, Angus Robertson, was chauffeured to Leith in Edinburgh for a tour of a new film studio in the same vehicle.
His SNP colleague Angela Constance, the Minister for Drugs, was pictured in the back of a Tesla limousine being driven to a recovery centre in Bathgate, West Lothian, on Thursday. Previously we revealed how Lorna Slater, the co-leader of the Scottish Greens who is also a Minister in Ms Sturgeon’s government, was chauffeured in a Tesla during an official engagement.
Minister for Transport Jenny Gilruth was also pictured in a limo on a visit to an engineering site near Glasgow last month.
Last night political rivals accused the SNP and Greens of hypocrisy for introducing policies that punish drivers while taking advantage of ministerial cars.
After weeks of travel chaos, with train services cut to a bare minimum, the Scottish Government remains unapologetic in its use of taxpayer-funded limos.
This is despite plans to ban 1.2 million vehicles from Scotland’s biggest cities in a crusade against pollution. Drivers with older cars face £60 fines in the new Low Emission Zone laws.
Responding to our pictures, Liam Kerr, the Scottish Conservative spokesman for Net Zero, said: ‘It is galling to see so many Ministers using luxury limos, when their own transport agenda is so ruthlessly focused on punishing ordinary drivers. All these ministerial car rides just go to show not every journey can be made by public transport or on foot – especially in weeks like this, where events have brought our rail network to a standstill.
‘It is completely hypocritical for the SNP and Greens to wage their war on motorists while they continue to enjoy chauffeured journeys at taxpayers’ expense.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Ministers aim to use more sustainable forms of transport wherever possible.’