11 January 2010
Immediate release

MURRAY: SNP CANNOT HIDE FROM FAILURE TO RESPOND TO CRISIS

- SNP SQUANDERED £1.5BN EMERGENCY RESERVES

- FAILED TO PLAN AND REFUSED TO ACKNOWLEDGE CRISIS

- TOOK DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY TO WITHIN HOURS OF RUNNING OT OF SALT

Dumfries MSP Elaine Murray has reiterated her call for the SNP Government to explain why it took them so long to step in and secure salt supplies for Dumfries and Galloway and to learn lessons from the mistakes made in their response to the severe weather conditions.

She also criticises the SNP’s Alasdair Morgan MSP and Cllr Andrew Wood’s attempt to distract from these serious and systemic failures as “woeful”. Mr Morgan and Mr Wood’s recent press releases refer to a 2007 proposal from the Scottish Parliament’s Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee to attract new routes to Scottish airports by using some funding from the routine maintenance budget for motorway and trunk roads. This proposal was investigated by the cross-party committee and put forward to the Finance Committee in January 2008 as part of the normal budget negations.

The proposal, which was rejected by the Finance Committee, would have had no bearing on the Scottish Government’s ability to respond to our Council’s urgent calls for salt supplies. In contrast, the SNP’s raid on emergency funding and failure to plan took Dumfries and Galloway to the brink, with at one stage being only hours away from totally running out of salt.

“It’s time Alasdair Morgan and Andrew Wood started taking this problem seriously. Everyone agrees the SNP Government has mishandled this crisis and people expect us as politicians to work together to make sure it never happens again.

“Instead, the SNP are on the defensive and are woefully scrambling around to find anything that might divert attention from the utter incompetence of their response over the last three weeks. The proposal cited was a recommendation from the Parliament’s own cross-party Transport Committee and, as Mr Morgan and Mr Wood well know, would have had no bearing on the SNP Government’s ability to respond to our Council’s urgent calls for salt supplies.

“The reason for the poor response from the SNP Government is they squandered emergency funding, completely failed to plan ahead and refused to acknowledge the scale of the problem until too late.

“Let’s not underestimate the perilous situation we faced last week – we were within hours of totally running out of salt. Rather than playing puerile politics and hiding from the truth, Mr Morgan and Mr Wood need to be asking their Government why we got to that state.”

Elaine Murray says the SNP’s raid on the £1.5 billion emergency reserves built up by Labour had left nothing available during this time of crisis. This, compounded with a lack of planning and refusal to acknowledge the scale of the problem, left Dumfries and Galloway more exposed to a winter crisis than ever before.

“The SNP’s record speaks for itself: they’ve been reckless with Scotland’s finances and they have left Dumfries and Galloway more exposed to a winter crisis than ever before. When Labour was in power we built up £1.5bn in reserves, ready to use in emergencies. Within two years the SNP have squandered this for pet projects, leaving the cupboard bare when we need it most. In addition, they are slashing the budget for our council, which will make it far harder for us to cope with extreme weather.

“But more than just raiding the emergency funding, the SNP Government simply failed to act. They had no plan and no strategy. They dithered and delayed, told us everything was fine before bringing Dumfries and Galloway to the brink. It wasn’t until we had less than a day’s salt left that they eventually began to do something. Too little, too late.

“The SNP Government has made terrible errors and must learn lessons. I am committed to working constructively with them to ensure my constituency is better placed next time we face severe weather. “

ENDS 

CONTACT – ANDREW MACKENZIE 07769206856

NOTES TO EDITORS

It is a fabrication to suggest that the budget line cited by the SNP’s Alasdair Morgan and Andrew Wood would have had any impact on the Scottish Government’s response to Dumfries and Galloway Council’s call for salt supplies during this winter crisis. The budget was for routine maintenance of motorways and trunk roads and does not impact on local authority funding, which is used to purchase salt and keep the roads running through our towns and cities clear.

What has reduced the capability of the SNP Government to respond to our Council’s calls for help is their squandering of the £1.5bn emergency fund along with plans to cut our Council’s budget. In addition, the lack of planning for severe weather and a failure to acknowledge the extent of the problem until the last moment were major causes of the salt crisis.

In 2007 the Scottish Parliament’s cross party Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee, of which Elaine Murray MSP was not a member, responded to calls from the business community to increase funding to the Air Route Development Fund, which attracts directs flight to Scottish airports. The Committee heard strong evidence that this would create wealth and jobs and voted for the proposal. As per the rules of the budget setting process, the Committee had to find the funding from within their portfolio and £10m from the budget for routine maintenance of motorway and trunk roads was highlighted. This then went forward to the Finance Committee in 2008, of which Elaine Murray MSP was a member. This is part of the normal budget process and it is incongruous for the SNP to attempt to portray it as anything otherwise. The decision where to find the funding for the Air Route Development Fund was ultimately one for the Government and, unbound by the requirement to find the fund within a specific portfolio, would have been able to transfer money from another budget line.