Moray MP Douglas Ross has slammed SNP MSP Richard Lochhead for failing to put the constituency first and back plans to dual the A96.
Douglas’ criticism comes after the Scottish Conservatives led a debate in the Scottish Parliament on road improvements, with his party’s motion highlighting the SNP’s previous commitment to dual the crucial route and calling on them to outline when the dualling works will be completed.
However, when it came to voting time Richard Lochhead voted against these plans. Instead, he voted for his own party’s amendment which only mentioned the review of the A96 reporting by the end of the year.
Douglas says that this vote by Moray’s SNP was “a total insult” to communities and businesses crying out for the route to be dualled to significantly improve road safety and grow the local economy.
He says that his failure to back the Conservative motion has been made “all the more astonishing” given Green North East MSP Maggie Chapman has said that rather than dualling the A96, average speed cameras should be installed on the route.
He added that Richard Lochhead could have followed the example of many of his colleagues who voted against the SNP whip last week over gender recognition reform, and put his constituents first.
Moray MP Douglas Ross said: “This was a perfect opportunity for Richard Lochhead to put his constituents first, rather than his SNP party. Unfortunately, he typically towed the party line, despite Moray’s communities crying out for the A96 to be dualled.
“Richard Lochhead stood on a manifesto commitment to dual this crucial route, but now he and his SNP colleagues appear to be bowing to the demands of their Green coalition partners, who have no wish to see these upgrades happen. That has only been reaffirmed further by Maggie Chapman’s extraordinary proposals that average speed cameras should be installed on the route.
“Richard Lochhead needs to wake up and realise that his Ministerial colleagues are being led by Green MSPs, who are anti-motorist and have no concept of how important having a car is to those living in rural and remote communities like Moray.
“Dualling the A96 would vastly improve road safety and provide a much needed economic boost to our communities across Moray. Richard Lochhead let down his constituents by not backing this motion.
“He could have taken a leaf out the book of many of his SNP colleagues who broke party ranks and voted against or abstained on the Gender Reform Bill last week and voted with their conscience.
“He should outline if he is fully committed to dualling the A96 or whether he has rowed back on this previous promise he made to voters in Moray.”
