And The Trams Squeal On…

Yesterday, Edinburgh City Council was presented with the latest update report on the construction of the Edinburgh tramline. This came after several weeks of increasingly vocal opposition from both the Edinburgh Evening News and the SNP, including reports that Steve Cardownie, the SNP deputy council leader, would call for a referendum into scrapping the trams.

The report itself was delivered at the same time as inauspicious news for the tram-works. According to an Evening News poll, published on the same day, 63% of respondents said they were have opposed the trams if asked before construction began while 47% of respondents were in favour of ditching the project. The paper even secured comments from Malcolm Chrisholm, Labour MSP for Edinburgh North and Leith, who was a strong advocate for the tramline during the Labour administration, distancing himself from the project.

I attended the council meeting to see how the Labour opposition (who planned and began implementation of the tram project) and the Lib Dem portion of the coalition would deal with the public anger currently being generated by the project. The answer is not terribly well.

The debate on the trams opened with a submission from the Edinburgh Rail Action Group. This group has lobbied for the rebuilding of stations on the Edinburgh South-Sub Railway for a number of years, despite the idea being brushed off by both the Scottish Parliament and Network Rail. In the chambers however, their representative Harold Nicolson made a firm stand in favour of giving the people of Edinburgh choice on the future of the trams. He also called for greater accountability and transparency in the operation of Transport In Edinburgh (TIE), the organisation running the project.

This was followed (after submissions by UNISON and Holyrood Academy’s Parent Council on other matters), by the presentation of the report. Unhappy with the Lib Dem movement to accept the report, the Tories and Labour both tabled amendments to it which were duly accepted, following extended debate. The Tory amendment was of particular interest, requesting reports from TIE, to be delivered on fixed dates. These will outline the future costs of the tram project with a firm estimate of the final costs and the revenue of the tramway. This should be delivered on September 16th 2010.

The main event at the council meeting was the amendment which wasn’t accepted. This was a motion put forward by the SNP’s Steve Cardownie calling for those in charge of TIE to be brought before a special meeting of full council to answer questions on the project. It would likely have resulted in a congressional hearing style meeting in which the council would have been able to hold those running the project to direct account in a public forum. Alas, it was not to be with only the SNP voting in favour of the amendment.

Nonetheless, this amendment did serve the purpose of helping to highlight the various opinions in the council. The two common threads running through the debate were the mismanagement of the project and the blame for this should rest with. The answers, coming from various parts of the chamber and with varying levels of credibility, included TIE, Labour, the contractors, the Lib Dems, the SNP, the people of Edinburgh and the Greens.

There did seem to be some point of agreement however. Both the SNP and some of the Labour group suggested that a referendum should have been held before the project began, while the Lib Dems and Labour managed to agree on a number of points about why the SNP should be taking more responsibility for the tram works and not continuing to oppose the project while forming part of the council’s executive.

There were a number of samey arguments flung around in favour of the trams, including the suggestion that the trams would benefit Edinburgh in the same way they’d benefited many European and English cities and towns. Without the revenue estimates requested by the Tories, these lack credibility at the present time, not least given the economic changes which have been seen since the trams were approved. As was pointed out (I believe by Cllr Work), most of the cited cities don’t have an award winning and publicly acclaimed bus system.

Some interesting points about the works at present were made by Cllrs Beckett. Cllr Beckett gave details of information he’d received from a residents group, showing that air and noise pollution in their area had increase due to traffic reorganisation for the trams, also pointing out that while SNP does not have a representative on the TIE board, Labour does, giving the latter greater responsibility over the tram project then the former.

Closing remarks on the debate came from the Lib Dems, and were very apt. The councillor in question (who’s name I didn’t catch) talked about how all of the councillors had a responsibility to the city and people of Edinburgh. Wise words, not least because the council needs to have a long, hard think about how the city can best be served at a time when large cuts are going to have to be made.

The tram project squeals ever onwards, albeit with public disapproval. On one hand, it’s gone too far to simply stop, but on the other the full cost is as yet unknown. The bright side of the council meeting is that the Tory amendments will at least see greater transparency in the future. Hopefully, this will be enough transparency for Edinburgh to weather this wretched folly.

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For purposes of clarity, my own personal perspective on the tram project as a whole can be found in this article on the Guardian Edinburgh blog. Thanks to Tom Allan of the Guardian, Al Innes and Fay Young for allowing me to gatecrash.

Is Edinburgh Going To Scrap The Trams Again?

On the 16th of November 1956, Edinburgh Corporation shut down it’s extensive tramway and began the long and not terribly easy process of ripping up the tram tracks and cutting down the overhead wiring. In parts of the city, the remains of this network can still be seen, with some buildings on Lothian Road, Princes Street and Leith Walk retaining brackets for holding overhead wiring. The last remains of the tramworks can also still be seen, to the rear of large patch of wasteland on Leith Walk.

On the 24th of June 2010, Edinburgh City Council may take the first step towards halting the creation of the new tram network. Unlike it’s predecessor, the new Edinburgh tram line has proven to be a white elephant for the city as costs spiral out of control, disputes with the contractors head towards the courts and delays mean that trams may not start running until 2012, beyond original projections for the project.

Opposition to the trams is now widespread. The SNP, both in Edinburgh City Council and Holyrood have long opposed the trams. Many Edinburgh residents also oppose the tramway on the basis that there is a perfectly good bus service in the city, so good in fact that Lothian Buses recently invested £3 Million in a new fleet of plush express buses to ferry visitors from the airport to the city centre, catering for a route which is expected to provide the trams with the majority of their traffic. Unsurprisingly, more then a few residents in the south of Edinburgh are irked that they have had to pay for a project which they personally will receive little benefit from.

The solution to this, as proposed by SNP council leader Steve Cardownie, is to hold a public referendum into the trams. This idea is due to be discussed by the council and seems likely to pass, if only because the city cannot afford to bankroll the trams indefinitely or indeed, at all. A bail out by the government is not an option – originally the SNP opposed continued tram funding on principle, now, as cuts begin to bite the money simply isn’t there.

Construction continues at the Haymarket Interchange

Giving the people of Edinburgh a say on the trams is possibly the most sensible thing that can be done now. For the Lib Dems, Labour and Tories, it avoids a climb down on an increasingly embarrassing flagship policy, while the SNP get to walk away with a political victory. Spending will not stop if the public say no however, as in order for the city to see any returns on the trams, the segment of the network from Edinburgh Airport to Haymarket has to be completed. This will not be cheap given that considerable work still needs to be done between Haymarket and Gogar and at Haymarket Station. Wiring also needs to be erected along much, if not all, of the route.

Whatever happens, the tram project represents a massive embarrassment to Edinburgh, with the tracks embedded in Scotland’s most famous street serving as a testament to folly and £600 Million down the drain.

The New Rush To Devolution Max?

Having not watched Newsnicht for a few weeks (or read the Herald or Scotsman), I was somewhat surprised when I turned it on this morning to hear that seemingly a majority of academics and business people support going beyond the recommendations of Calman. This is particularly significant given that Alex Salmond is putting the case to the Joint Ministerial Council that Scotland should be given considerably greater economic powers.

This represents a massive turnaround on the part of the Scottish public. Just a few months ago, devolution max and fiscal autonomy were options being pushed by a minority of academics and the SNP, with many of those who are active in the field of devolution politics advocating the Calman Settlement. As predicted by many, it would appear that the realities of Tory government in the UK as a whole have given people cause to meditate on Scotland’s constitutional future.

The motives behind this change are obvious. David Cameron’s rhetoric on cuts – decimating the public sector, changing our way of life, nothing off the table – don’t sit well in Scotland. Here is a country which still bares the scars of the Thatcher cuts, has high unemployment and too little external investment and we are told that we must destroy one of our main employers, with cuts of up to 30%. We are, potentially, looking at a scenario where the Tories do to Scotland’s public sector what they did to Scotland’s mining and steel industry two decades ago, decimating yet another workforce and creating a new generation lost to unemployment.

No-one in Scotland wants that.

We can see how we have benefited from a large public sector. We know how important the quality of education and the need for carers and nurses is. We have benefited immensely from having nearly 100% of the 4-18 education system in state hands, and while private healthcare is more common, we have also benefited from the absence of foundation hospitals and other part-private endeavours. We know that we still need to do a lot of work to deal with the legacy of the 1980s and that requires public investment.

This is not compatible with the guiding vision which the Tories and Lib Dems have outlined for their economic butchery. That’s not to say that there won’t be cuts in Scotland – there has to be – but at the same time we must focus on maintaining the things which make this country great and maintain our way of life, not hawking them off to the highest bidder, holding a ‘bonfire’ of government agencies on the basis of public perception or seeking to create “a new way of life” in “the Age of Austerity”.

The important thing now is for the SNP to capitalise on this. The independence referendum, which includes an option for devolution max, must be brought back on to the agenda soon. Labour and the Lib Dems face losing creditability over their opposition to the referendum as public support for the devolution max or full fiscal autonomy continues to grow. The iron must be grasped while it’s still hot lest the opportunity slip away and Labour gain too much from Lib Dem supporters it’s picked up.

Thoughts on The Week in Politics

This week is the last full week of campaigning before election day. Nationally, I think it’s probably been one of the least dramatic week of the election so far. Still there have been some interesting happenings.

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The big news in Scotland was the SNP seeking a Court of Session injunction against the BBC on the basis that the broadcast of the Leaders Debate was a breach of it’s impartiality and public service rules. This legal action, despite being rejected is almost certainly a success story for the party. It helped the SNP to build their vision of being Scotland’s champions and kept the party in news (or at least slightly more in the news given the extent BBC Scotland has been ignoring them) for several days. Together with the threat of similar action from UKIP, it should also have demonstrated to the BBC that the current debate style is not sustainable.

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On the other hand, the latest poll of Westminster voting intentions in Scotland from Populous and The Times does not do the SNP many favours.

Labour – 37% (-3%)
Lib Dem – 24% (+1%)
SNP – 19% (+2%)
Con – 16% (-)

It does, in fact, chime nicely with a downward trend in the SNP’s vote share for Westminster which has been charted by IPSOS-Mori’s quarterly Scottish Opinion Monitor polls since November. There are several things to bare in mind however – both the SNP have been heavily targeting a small number of constituencies which may have harmed national vote share while increasing local vote share, 19% is still better then the party’s result in 2005 (if not as good as 2007) and many people who vote for the SNP in Holyrood elections favour one of the other parties in Westminster.

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On the streets in Edinburgh, the SNP seems to be doing well. There are plenty of anecdotes going round on the theme of “I’ve always voted Labour, but I think I might vote SNP this time…”. Party canvassers are also reporting high levels of support in Edinburgh East, which will hopefully ensure it becomes the SNP’s eighth seat. There is, however, everything to play for yet and it’s far too close to say that East will definitely turn.

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The final leaders debate was an unappetising affair. I suspect demand would have been sated with a single debate, not least because the second two have been utterly lacking in substance. Once again, Scots generally seem to thing Brown won or the SNP won, Tories think Cameron won and Lib Dems think Clegg won. Nothing has changed the game this time, not least because all three leaders wobbled frantically between left- and right-wing economic and immigration policy.

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On the immigration note, I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who thinks immigration is the biggest issue facing Britain today. Is this because of Scotland, because of my generation or just because the media give too much publicity to those who are anti-immigration?

I’m A Nat And So’s My Wife!

The SNP has published a rather good video about Nats, who we and why we believe in independence.

A stunning viral video has also appeared online explaining how to beat down pesky Nats. It highlights many of the arguments which are wheeled out time and time again against the SNP and other pro-indpendence groups.

Blogging over the next 11 days is going to be quite light. I’m currently dedicating my time to making sure Calum Cashley (PPC for Edinburgh North & Leith) gets the 7,000 votes needed to oust the Labour incumbent.