Trams given green light but it's the end for EARL ...

By The Scotsman : 28 Jun 2007

Trams given green light but it's the end for EARL and delay for other key projects

Opposition parties unite to defeat SNP and give green light to trams Politicians now accept that airport rail link will not go ahead With no more Executive money, trams project will hit city finances hard Key quote
"I am the minister for finance in the Scottish government and I am making it absolutely clear that that is it. Do not knock on my door asking for more money because the answer will be no." - John Swinney

Story in full A £600 million project to run trams through Scotland's capital was last night given the go-ahead after opposition parties united to force the SNP government to accept the scheme.

Alex Salmond's administration had vigorously opposed both the Edinburgh trams and the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link, arguing both were too expensive and unnecessary.

But the realities of minority government last night came to bear on the government, which found it did not have the votes at Holyrood to drive through its view of the transport projects.

Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives, the Greens and Margo MacDonald, the independent MSP, came together to inflict the first defeat on the SNP government, passing a motion supporting both projects.

There was still some confusion after the vote because the SNP government could have ignored the will of parliament if it chose to do so.

But John Swinney, the finance secretary, then made a brief statement to MSPs conceding defeat and making it clear that the Executive would accede to the wishes of parliament.

The trams project will now go-ahead as planned, but with the proviso that it has to remain within the agreed budget and that any cost overruns will be met by Edinburgh City Council and the other bodies involved, not by the Executive.

The Executive will continue to pursue the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link in theory, but in practice ministers now believe the project has been killed off.

After the debate, Mr Swinney said: "My personal opinion is that the EARL scheme is pretty dead. There are a number of practical problems with it."

The Auditor General has identified significant management problems in the project and although Mr Swinney has agreed to examine these and return to the parliament with suggested solutions, he is unlikely to come up with any way through.

This means that trams will go-ahead as planned, with a potentially severe cost on the city council, while the airport rail link has effectively been kicked into the long grass by yesterday's decision.

Mr Swinney made it clear that there would be no more government money for the trams.

The Executive has promised to put £500 million into the project but, with the final cost expected to be nearer £600 million, there is a substantial gap which Edinburgh City Council will have to find.

Mr Swinney said: "I am the minister for finance in the Scottish government and I am making it absolutely clear that that is it. Do not knock on my door asking for more money because the answer will be no."

Wendy Alexander, Labour's finance spokeswoman, insisted there was no reason why Edinburgh council taxpayers would have to foot the bill.

She said that the proposed first tram line, which runs from the airport, down Leith Walk, round Leith and on to Granton, would bring 4,000 new homes to Leith, homes which the developers would now have to pay a premium to develop and that cost could help cover the shortfall.

"Its now down to the city council to negotiate the contracts in the best way. Developers' contributions can pay for a lot of this," Ms Alexander.

Edinburgh City Council welcomed the Executive's decision last night.

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