Rail debate: SNP claim Lib-Dems have 'achieved nothing'

Published 27 Oct 2012 09:30 4 Comments

SNP MSP Christine Grahame has backed calls for Scotland's railways to be taken back into public ownership, a move which she believes would allow the reinstatement of the Waverley line along its entire length from Edinburgh to Carlisle.

Ms Grahame, who represents Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale in the Scottish Parliament, made her views known during a debate at the recent SNP conference in Perth.

She also took the opportunity during the debate to scotch ill-founded claims by Borders Tory MSP John Lamont that there was a separate pot of money which could and should be used to upgrade the local roads network or public transport.

Speaking after the debate Ms Grahame said: "I made it clear that the Liberals had achieved nothing over several decades to restore the vital rail link to the Borders, but the SNP would confound the critics and sceptics, and deliver the project."

She gave her wholehearted support to a motion to bring rail back into public ownership which Ms Grahame believes would take private profit out of what is an essential public service, like Scotland's roads.

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• 

  kcurrie65
  Unregistered User
  Oct 27, 11:41
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  any money spent on this railway is a waste of money, the roads were the number one priority to be upgraded when the railway was taken away all those years ago! successive governments have ignored the Borders and building this railway will not solve the problems that the Borders have at the moment.
  
  Recommend?   Yes 13     No 10

• 

  slowcoach
  Unregistered User
  Oct 27, 14:32
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  Once the railway arrives can all the slow drivers please use it. Many thanks.
  
  Recommend?   Yes 1     No 3

• 

  THX1138
  Unregistered User
  Oct 28, 10:24
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  Return the railway at what cost, Ms Grahame? £350m at the latest official estimate, the complete (and illegal, by the terms of the Waverley Act) foul-up of the A7 at Falahill, the effective loss of many rights of way, the construction of an environmental mess of a quarry at Hazelbank to produce the foundations, the splitting of communities and farmland. In summary, the waste of £350m that could have been spent improving the A7 or improving broadband services for all parts of the Borders - things that would have a far greater and more positive effect on people's lives than your toy train set.
  
  But hey, why consider such things when you can use the railway to score cheap political points against the Lib Dems?
  
  Recommend?   Yes 7     No 4

• 

  fegguk
  Unregistered User
  Oct 29, 13:15
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  It's not really a question of railway or road it's railway or no railway. The railway has long term benefits that will only become apparent when oil price rises and the effects of globalisation make car ownership and use unaffordable for many people in the Borders. We need to prepare for this future not for the universal car ownership envisioned in the 1960’s.
  
  Recommend?   Yes 3     No 3

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