THE underdog in the SNP leadership race has claimed to speak for the entire party and apologised for its failure to deliver a major road project.
Ash Regan said she was sorry that the SNP had failed to dual the A9 and A96 by 2025, as it had repeatedly promised.
“On behalf of the SNP I sincerely apologise,” she said, despite never being part of the Scottish Government’s transport portfolio far less SNP leader.
Ms Regan was minister for community safety for four years until quitting last year over gender recognition reform.
The current transport minister, Jenny Gilruth, earlier this month admitted the Government would miss its target for dualling the A9.
She said widening 80 miles of road in 11 sections between Perth and Inverness had become “simply unachievable”, leading to accusations of “betrayal”.
The SNP Government committed to dualling the A9 in 2011 at a cost of £3 billion.
However only 11 miles in two sections have been dualled, leaving 70 miles to do.
In a statement issues this morning, Ms Regan said: “This is a total drop of the ball.
“We debated at Conference, we made a manifesto promise, we approved the work in Parliament, and then we failed to deliver. Trust is everything in politics and this is not acceptable. On behalf of the SNP I sincerely apologise.
“I have visited many of the northern communities this weekend and the feelings of anger and betrayal are real and heartfelt. This is a project that needs serious attention and a new way of thinking."
Ms Regan said that if she beat Kate Forbes and Humza Yousaf to become SNP leader she would set out a plan to recommit to the project within 100 days, appointing a more powerful project director to speed up work on the ground.
She said: "One of things that struck me while I listened is that many of the people I met have better knowledge and input than those working at the heart of government on this issue.
“The economics of the project gives it importance as a national priority.
"The feeling is that the project is too far north of Holyrood for the people in the positions of power to fully appreciate how slow progress is - I have agreed I would establish a project tracker that is both imposing and visible in the front foyer of St Andrew's House, forcing a daily reminder to check in on progress.
"My Project Director would be expected to give public updates every month and submissions to parliament every quarter. I would ensure all data was made public immediately, rather than being hidden until requested via freedom of information act requests.
"With greater scrutiny and accountability I genuinely believe that even though delays have occurred - and may occur again due to external factors - there would be a better chance of a quicker success and the communities would feel acknowledged in their grievance".
Scottish Tory MSP Graham Simpson said: “The SNP’s broken promises on dualling these death-trap trunk roads is a shameful betrayal of people in northern Scotland who rely on the A9 and A96.
“While ministers continue to dither, more lives will be lost on both roads – and now we have the car-hating Greens further delaying essential upgrades.
“It’s all very well Ash Regan apologising on behalf of the SNP, but she was in government for more than four years while next to no progress was made – so she’s no innocent bystander.
“Every SNP minister who’s served over the last 15 years bears some responsibility, not least the other two SNP leadership candidates and, especially, Kate Forbes who represents a Highland constituency and has had control of the purse strings in recent years.
“Ash Regan’s belated mea culpa just proves how badly the SNP have let down those living in rural Scotland.”
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