Over its 20 years in office, the SNP government has failed to deliver adequate infrastructure to help grow the economy. As a relatively new First Minister, John Swinney is unlikely to be judged on that, but Andy Maciver believes he will be held responsible if he does not start delivering in his next term of office.

I cannot pretend, even as a supporter of the Scottish Parliament, that every utterance from every politician in every Holyrood debate is worth spending one’s time poring over. Last month, however, one of devolution’s ‘originals’ - Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop - made an ostensibly innocuous remark which actually told us everything both about the last decade of SNP government, and about the next five years of it should the party win again next month.

In answer to a question from Conservative MSP Miles Briggs about the Sheriffhall Roundabout in Edinburgh, Ms Hyslop said “I was first informed in a submission from Transport Scotland officials dated 13 March that the decision-making advice for me as minister regarding the proposed Sheriffhall junction scheme will not be provided ahead of the dissolution of this session of Parliament in advance of the election. I am both disappointed and frustrated by that.”

For readers not acquainted with the Sheriffhall Roundabout, all I can say is “lucky you”. Sheriffhall is the bête noire of Edinburgh drivers. Part of the Edinburgh City Bypass, it is an interchange between the east side of Edinburgh and Borders, the city centre and the west bound M8, as well as a critical piece of infrastructure serving Edinburgh Airport and the Royal Infirmary. So, you get the picture; it is a really, really important piece of road.

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But it is also what sucks every piece of sunny optimism from you and ruins your day. Because it is always, at any time of day and for no apparent reason, very busy, with huge queues in every direction.

The need for ‘grade separation’ at Sheriffhall has been known for a long time. It was first mooted in the Scottish Government’s first Strategic Transport Projects Review as long ago as 2008. The public consultation on the solution (a very simple flyover which would not be considered a large project in any other western country) was completed six years ago. Yet, still, nothing. No spade in the ground, no date for a spade in the ground, no confirmation there even will be a spade in the ground.

Sheriffhall is not simply an Edinburgh problem; it is a problem for the whole country. Edinburgh remains Scotland’s economic engine, and when people and goods cannot transit efficiently that engine does not perform optimally. 

Sheriffhall is not alone, of course. There are other obvious infrastructure deficiencies in Edinburgh which could be relatively easily and cheaply rectified (the Edinburgh South Suburban rail line springs to mind). In Glasgow, a proposed rail link between the airport and the city centre was approved by the Scottish Parliament 20 years ago this year. Have you been on it yet? Me neither.

There has been something of a renaissance, of late, with a determination to improve transport infrastructure being much more common in the corridors of power at St Andrew’s House, and amongst Ministers and opposition parties at the Scottish Parliament.

This is long overdue. The economic growth which is the stated top priority of the First Minister, John Swinney, cannot be achieved without our transport infrastructure being brought up to the level of peer countries around us.

Mr Swinney cannot have pinned upon him the blame for where we are today. In truth, his predecessors oversaw governments which took their eye off the ball when it came to fixing the roof while the sun was shining. They failed, utterly, to consolidate the big-ticket, bread-and-butter duties of government in favour of a focus on what many of us would regard as frivolous virtue-signalling.

The chickens are now coming home to roost. We have a long link of trunk roads which are unsafe, slow, highly carbon emitting and unconducive to economic growth. If you manage to get to the end of these roads, often in rural and coastal areas, good luck getting on a ferry.

This creates a plethora of problems. It encourages depopulation, as remote, rural and island communities become increasingly physically disconnected. And it discourages economic growth in precisely the industries that 21st century Scotland needs to grow, and which tend to take place outside the central belt - industries like renewables, forestry, farming, fisheries, aquaculture, whisky and tourism.

The infamous A9 is the gateway to the Highlands and to all of those aforementioned industries. The A96 - perpetually promised but with no timetable for delivery - could fast become an energy road, from the oil and gas heartland of Aberdeen to the new world of the Inverness and Cromarty Green Freeport. The A82 - a dismal road which can barely accommodate passing HGVs - is rich with pumped storage hydro schemes, not to mention Scotch whisky distilleries. The A75 and A77, two of the slowest trunk roads in the country, are the gateway to the island of Ireland. The A1 is so bad that it is far safer, and sometimes quicker, to transfer coasts and drive south down the M74 and M6 instead.

We cannot just cross our fingers and hope that these industries are successful, for if we do we would be hoping that the cart will travel safely and at speed while the horse languishes behind it. We have to build the infrastructure for the industries, and the rural populations they depend on, to grow.

Mr Swinney will not be judged on Scotland’s infrastructure deficit at the election on 7th May. But, if he wins, he absolutely will be judged on his delivery by the time the 2031 election rolls around. And he will not be able to hide behind officials. Ms Hyslop is right to express her ‘disappointment and frustration’ about Sheriffhall, but she is elected and her officials are not. If any officials are not doing what any Minister needs them to do, then those Ministers should take themselves up to St Andrew’s House and start dishing out some orders (at least to the civil servants who are not ‘working’ from home). 

Ministers are elected by us to make sure we get a return on our tax investment, and we expect them to make things happen rather than to complain when they do not.

Andy Maciver is Founding Director of Message Matters, and co-host of the Holyrood Sources podcast

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