Commenting on the news that the dualling of the A9 will be delayed for over a decade, Scottish Labour transport spokesperson Alex Rowley said: “This is a shameful betrayal of the communities that have been given assurances over dualling for years from this government.
“This news will be a hammer-blow to businesses and communities and means that safety concerns will persist for over another decade.
“This new date is some 28 years after the SNP first promised the dualling – no wonder public confidence has collapsed.
“The people of Scotland should not pay the price of SNP-Green incompetence.”
Highlands and Islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant said: “The announcement of one section to by dualled in the next four years is not going to pacify my constituents’ anger at the lack of progress.
“This government knew it was not going to meet its 2025 promise, yet tried to hide that.
“I asked the Cabinet Secretary if she will give detail as to the key differences between design and build and Mutual Investment Models, and where the risk for each lies, and if she would tell my constituents how they can realistically gauge progress towards completion themselves, given the government’s deception in the past?
“I didn’t get answers to these questions but I will continue to press the Scottish Government to provide this detail.”