SNP conference backs pledge to complete A9 dualling project as ‘priority’

A Scottish Government minister said the SNP conference’s backing of a commitment to dual the A9 will show Highland constituents that promises have not been broken.

Delegates overwhelmingly backed a resolution put forward by the party’s Elgin branch reaffirming the party’s commitment to dual the road – and the A96 – as an “infrastructure priority”.

Ministers initially pledged to complete the project by 2025, however, First Minister Humza Yousaf previously conceded it would not be finished before the Holyrood elections in 2026.

But equalities minister – and Highland and Islands MSP – Emma Roddick told conference during a debate on the resolution that the controversy around the delay was “creating division where none exists”.

She said the delay should not be blamed on the SNP’s partnership with the Scottish Greens in government, adding the discourse simply “weakens” the party.

“Some of us try to use this issue to break up the Scottish Government, to do away with the Bute House Agreement – and please do not make the mistake of thinking that people do this to strengthen us. It can only weaken us,” Ms Roddick said.

She added: “The Scottish Government is still committed to these projects, and I hope that today’s conference can reassure people that the wider SNP is.

“It’s also about more than a road. This is about fulfilling a commitment made to the Highlands.

“There is real pain in the losses we have felt when we lose lives on that road. But there is also real pain in the perception, the belief, that there has been a broken promise.”

Pete Wishart, who is the party’s longest currently serving MP, said that as MP for Perth and Perthshire North, he had “lived cheek to jowl” on the road.

The A9 runs from just north of Stirling to Scrabster, near Thurso, in Caithness, providing a crucial link for the Highlands and Inverness to Scotland’s central belt.

The project aims to dual the 80-mile stretch that runs from Perth to Inverness.

He said: “I will take no lectures off anybody who is hoping to play political games with the dualling of the A9.

“We will get down to the business of fixing it.”

But he also urged the Scottish Government to produce a full timetable for when each section of the dualling would be complete.

He added: “I want that road to be made safe. I want that pledge that we gave to our constituents to be met.”