Labour Party pledge on Glasgow Airport Train Link hits the buffers as spokesman says, “We have never said we knew the exact cost of the project.”

Dear All

For a long time I have been saying that the Glasgow Airport Rail Link (Garl) is a huge white elephant.

It is a disaster waiting to happen but luckily for the people of Scotland, the SNP had the sense to shelve the project.

A short while ago in a PR stunt that went completely wrong ‘East Coast Weasel’ iain Gray and the Labour Party went to Glasgow Central Station for a photo op as they pledged to revive this turkey.

And then Iain Gray met protestors and bolted by way of shank’s pony!

Out the station, down the street and when his wee legs gave out, he dived into subway the sandwich chain.

Subway makes excellent sandwiches!

Now, the Labour Party in Scotland has been accused of “financial illiteracy” by the SNP, while the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives said there was a “black hole” in its plans.

And Andy Kerr wants to be Finance Minister, oh my goodness!

It is an embarrassing setback because it is said that they have underestimated the cost of financing the project by more than £160 million.

Think back to the building of Holyrood under the Labour Party, from £40 million to £440 million.

Labour never gets it right when it comes to the pounds and pennies.

The Labour Party in another gaff made reinstatement of the £210m project, a key election commitment.

And how they must have wished they had kept their mouths shut.

Network Rail said any borrowing plans include interest payments, which are set by the Office of Rail Regulation at 4.75%.

This gives a cost of financing the project of £363m, or £14.5m a year for 25 years.

In the song ‘best wee country in the world’ by Alan Smart, he sings about Andy Kerr, ‘he spent a billion; god knows where it’s gone, we’re the best wee country in the world’.

However, the Labour Party has an ’ally’ in Patrick Harvie of the Green Party.

How more unlucky can they get?

They claimed that Labour was “missing a trick” by relying on Network Rail borrowing alone but said that he supported reinstating the project.

Harvie in his manifesto wants the Scottish Government to ship over nearly £2 billion for his little schemes if the Greens hold a balance of power after the election.

When Labour was asked to explain its figures, a spokesman for Labour said they had been taken from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Spice), which carries out research on behalf of MSPs.

Maybe they went to scary spice or can’t count spice!

And it gets worse for the Labour Party, the figures were based on an assumption that it would cost £175m to build the airport rail link.

An assumption, Ho Lee Shit!

A Labour spokesman later stood by the figures but said they were “approximate” which just shows how dumb he is.

He said:

“What we’ve said is that, based on the information we had at the time, we could pay back approximately £8m a year over 25 years but that would depend on the cost of the project. It’s a moveable feast”.

And out of his mouth:

“We have never said we knew the exact cost of the project.”

£363 million pounds for a ten minute ride of a choo choo train; I don’t think the public will think this is good value for money of financial competence.

Before it is even built we have a virtual train wreck by ‘East Coast Weasel’ Iain Gray and the Labour Party.

I don’t think we should let them play with the real thing, do you?

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University