The Scotsman Bulletin Monday 18 November 2024 #A9 #SNP

The Scotsman

Dale speaks to Rachel Amery as The Scotsman launches a week long series on the A9, one of Scotland's most dangerous roads.

Transcript

00:00Hello, welcome to the Scotsman's Daily Video Bulletin for this Monday.

00:05My name is Dale Miller.

00:06I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman and I'm joined by Rachel Armory, our Political Correspondent.

00:11Rachel, as always, it's another big week coming up in politics.

00:17I'm going to get to a new A9 series that you've been heavily involved in shortly, but let's

00:22look at the front page of today's Scotsman.

00:26And we lead on Stephen Flynn admitting the backlash over his plan to seek a seat at Holyrood

00:32as well as Westminster has been not pleasant.

00:37He also said the party infighting over the issue has been unedifying.

00:42Shirley Ann Somerville went so far as to put out a tweet yesterday in which she basically

00:49told people who are briefing journalists, and she was referring to some coverage of

00:54Stephen Flynn and the discussion he had with Audrey Nicol, who he'll be running against

01:00in the Aberdeen seat in 2026.

01:04There was some critical appraisal there and Shirley Ann Somerville told her fellow SNP

01:10politicians to effectively keep your noses out of it and just try and promote the party

01:16heading towards the 2026 elections.

01:18You can read that full story at Scotsman.com.

01:20And Rachel, we will get back to talking to you about that because there's been more developments

01:24again today, but really keen to talk about the A9 series.

01:29So this is a special week-long series that we're running.

01:34It was an idea that you brought to the table originally to talk about what is a critical

01:40issue. It feels we've written a lot about for a number of weeks on the Scotsman, but we're just

01:45talking this week to people in Pectin and about why it is such a serious issue.

01:50Can you just talk us through what the series is all about?

01:53Yes. So every single day this week in the Scotsman, there's going to be a different story or a

01:57different aspect of the A9 dueling project.

02:00Now, as I'm sure the viewers are more than aware, it was meant to be completely dueled between

02:04Perth and Burness just next year.

02:06Now, remember, we're in November now, so that's only a matter of weeks away and that has not

02:10happened. There's only 11 miles have been dueled, there's still 83 to go.

02:15So there's now a lot of doubt as to whether the project, which is now due to be completed in

02:192035, there's a lot of doubt as to whether that's going to happen.

02:23And of course, the longer it goes on, the higher the death toll is, unfortunately, on this

02:27road. So we've been looking at the history of the project and what's gone wrong in the past,

02:32what the key target dates are over the next few years.

02:36We've also been looking at the politics of the project, what's going on behind the scenes at

02:39Holyrood. I've also been speaking to people as well who live on the A9 and drive it regularly

02:44about the impact it has on their lives.

02:46So people who have been involved in crashes themselves and people who have had their

02:51businesses affected, people who live on the road and just have to deal with the emergency

02:56services having to come to their area often because of this.

03:00We're also looking at some other aspects as well, such as the business aspects of it, too.

03:03We've got some columnists as well speaking about it, so plenty of people, plenty of things

03:07for our readers to get their teeth into.

03:10And on the site today, we've got a great piece from yourself on effectively the human

03:16impact. There's a Mr Davidson, I think, talking there about being in an accident and how

03:23it left him afterwards.

03:25Also, some quotes from Nerdo Fraser, who's the MSP, Tory MSP, who was also involved in

03:33an accident along the stretch, but also Fergus Ewing, who's been incredibly passionate

03:37about getting this back on the agenda, writing about it.

03:40Can you just talk us through those pieces?

03:43Yes, of course. So the main piece that we have today is, of course, as you were saying,

03:46the human impact of it, because often in politics, I feel in particular, it does get lost

03:52a little bit in the numbers and the figures and the political infighting.

03:56But the reality is that there is so many people in the Highlands in particular living and

04:00using this road, and it has a very big impact on their lives.

04:03So, yes, we have spoken to some people who have been involved in crashes and it's left

04:07them with physical injuries, it's also left them wary of the road as well and things like

04:12that. And Nerdo Fraser, as you were saying, he himself was involved in a crash on a single

04:16carriageway many years ago.

04:18So he's been very vocal on this issue.

04:20So he was very happy to sort of have his say on what needs to be done with A9 dualling.

04:26And as you were saying, of course, we have this column from Fergus Ewing, an SNP backbencher

04:30who has been a bit of a thorn in the side of the government over the past couple of years on

04:34A9 dualling. He represents Inverness in Nairn and over the past couple of years has been

04:38very, very outspoken on how the government has handled the A9 dualling project and is

04:43basically putting his thoughts out on paper today.

04:46So well worth a read for both of those pieces.

04:51And you'll have more from both Rachel and our transport correspondent, Alison Dalton.

04:57We've been both writing as well as some guest contributors throughout the week.

05:01Rachel, just to circle back around to the Stephen Flynn issue.

05:04So we know he's seeking a job at Holyrood.

05:08He said he will not take a second salary, but he wants to hold on to the Westminster Post as

05:12well. The Scottish National Party NEC is due to meet, I think, next month now to decide on

05:19this. But in the meantime, there's been a further development.

05:22Can you talk us through that?

05:23Yes, of course. The past week has been a lot of backlash over this decision that he wants to

05:29stand in Holyrood.

05:30Now, he wants to stand in the Aberdeen South and North Concardin seat, a seat that already

05:35is held by an SNP MSP.

05:37That's Audrey Nicoll.

05:38There was some sort of reports over the weekend that suggested that Mr.

05:42Flynn had phoned Miss Nicoll and said, can you please step aside so I can take the seat?

05:47He denies that claim.

05:49But Audrey Nicoll says that the inference was certainly there when they had that

05:53conversation. So it's not looking too pretty at the moment for this.

05:57I can understand where Stephen Flynn's coming from.

06:00He is a very ambitious man and he's gone from leading the third biggest party in

06:04Westminster with a weekly slot to question the prime minister, to leading a very small

06:10group in the back benches.

06:12If he goes to Holyrood, then the opportunity to come first minister or deputy first

06:17minister is suddenly open to him.

06:19So I can understand the ambitions that he has behind him there.

06:22But obviously, a lot of criticism as to what's been happening.

06:25One thing that is going to be quite interesting to look out for this week in

06:28Holyrood, or coming up in Holyrood anyway, is going to be a debate held on whether

06:33MSPs should be allowed to hold dual mandates or not.

06:36I believe it's a Conservative MSP that is bringing that forward to the table.

06:40It's not unheard of.

06:42It's certainly done before.

06:43Douglas Ross is probably the most recent example where he was the MP for Moray and

06:48the MSP for the Highlands and Islands at the same time.

06:52SNP politicians have done it in the past.

06:53John Swinney and Alex Salmond are probably the two most high profile names there.

06:57But there are, of course, others who have given up one of their seats to do the other.

07:02So Neil Gray, for example, the health secretary, when he got his Airdrie and Shotts

07:06seat in the Holyrood 2021 election, he resigned from his seat in Westminster and that

07:11triggered a by-election.

07:12So a lot of lots of controversial issues, lots of backlash, lots of debate, and it's

07:17clearly not an issue that's going to go away anytime soon.

07:21I thought it was interesting yesterday as well, Stephen Flynn speaking.

07:25He doesn't deny his ambitious, he quite openly accept and comment on that as well.

07:31It's interesting to see a politician that's forthright effectively over what they want,

07:36what they want for the country and their constituents as well.

07:38He's been quite upfront about that.

07:40There'll be more to run on that story and I wouldn't be surprised if we hear Neil Gray's

07:46name popping up after developments last week as well.

07:49You can read all the stories we talked about on this bulletin at Scotsman.com.

07:54You can find the politics tab in the navigation bar to to get the full coverage

08:00throughout the week. Please follow us on Facebook, Instagram and we're on Blue Sky now

08:05as well. So get yourself an account and tune into all the very latest from the Scotsman.

08:10Thanks to you, Rachel, and thanks to everyone else for joining us.

08:13Bye bye.

Category

Transcript

Recommended