Humza Yousaf has poured cold water on Tory suggestions new UK money could help dual the A9.
The first minister reacted the day after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak scrapped the long promised high speed rail link north of London.
The PM tried to frame his decision as a good way of diverting the money to other regional upgrades in the north of England. He included some cross-border infrastructure, like the A1 and the road link to the ferry terminal in Stranraer.
But Mr Sunak’s controversial move was seen by the SNP leader as a major blow to cities in England with serious consequences for the Scottish economy.
‘Upgrade the A9’
Scottish Tories added fuel to the row by claiming extra money will be generated – using a technical process called the Barnett formula – to compensate for any new investment south of the border.
“SNP-Green ministers should commit to using Barnett consequential funding coming their way as a result of Network North to urgently upgrade the A9,” claimed Scottish Tory transport spokesman Graham Simpson.
The A9 dualling plan was announced more than a decade ago but is way behind schedule.
After heated exchanges in Holyrood on Thursday, Mr Yousaf drew attention to the lack of Scottish attention in a new map of projects by the Conservatives.
“The Prime Minister put up a map and said that he will be investing in the north,” Mr Yousaf said.
“That map excluded Scotland almost entirely. It managed to go up to Stranraer, but it excluded the rest of Scotland.
“Forget investing in Scotland—the Tories cannot even find Scotland on the map.”
Mr Sunak had promised at Tory party conference on Wednesday to reinvest £36 billion from HS2.
Labour said most of the schemes could not be described as new investment.
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