The leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats has demanded SNP ministers explain their policy of “centralisation” at a fatal accident inquiry into the M9 tragedy.
Willie Rennie said he believed there was a “direct connection” between the Nationalists’ plans to anchor police call centres in the central belt and the debacle surrounding the crash.
John Yuill and Lamara Bell were left in their wrecked vehicle for three days – despite a member of the public reporting the accident to police.
There is widespread concern about planned control room closures in Aberdeen and Inverness later this year, with critics arguing mothballing the centres will lead to a loss of local knowledge and put lives at risk.
The Lord Advocate has said it would be “inconceivable” that an FAI would not be held into the M9 tragedy after other investigations are completed.
Mr Rennie said: “Now the Lord Advocate has given us an assurance that it is highly likely there will be an FAI, we can get to the bottom of what happened.
“There is a direct connection, I believe, between government decision-making and what happened with the M9 tragedy.
“The centralisation, then the centralisation of control rooms and then the SNP’s insistence on maintaining the number of police officers, which led to civilians being laid off and backfilling.
“The belief was it was an experienced police officer, but not in that area, who wrote the information about the M9 crash down on a bit of paper but never entered it into the system.
“So there is a direct link between that and government decision-making.
“The ministers should be giving evidence about the rationale for centralisation and backfilling and the control room centralisation.”
After the control rooms in Aberdeen and Inverness close, 999 and 101 calls from north and north-east will be answered in three call centres in the central belt, before being relayed to Dundee and then to officers on the ground.
The “indicative timeline” for the closures suggests the Inverness call centre will be mothballed in August, with Aberdeen facing the same fate by October.
Police Scotland has insisted the closures will be “managed in a safe and assured way”.
A spokesman for the SNP said: “Following this tragic incident Justice Secretary, Michael Matheson instructed Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland to undertake a detailed examination of the way Police Scotland manage calls.
“This report was published last year and Police Scotland are now implementing all of the recommendations.
“The justice secretary has also asked HMICS to undertake a series of unannounced inspections of call handling centres and to monitor implementation of the HMICS recommendations.
“Any decision on an FAI is a matter entirely for the Crown.”
