Alexander reveals concerns for Scots roads as investment announced

The government is set to unveil “the biggest road building programme since the 1970s” in its autumn budget statement.

But Treasury number two Danny Alexander has spoken of his disappointment that Scotland may not share in that.

The Lib Dem chief secretary to the Treasury said: “Our roads have been historically massively underinvested in. So what we have in mind is the largest programme of road investment since the 1970s.

“A lot of places have been held back by the quality of their infrastructure. To me this is important because infrastructure is one of the key things that lifts up the economy, that grows the economy.

“It’s a source of frustration to me that I look at Scotland where there’s some key infrastructure needs, the A9 for example, which are in the hands of the Scottish Government. I wish they showed the same alacrity on these issues as we’re showing.”

Holyrood will receive a funding boost proportional to what Westminster spends on roads but it’ll be up to the SNP how they spend it.

The A1 north of Newcastle is expected to get an upgrade but improvements will stop at the border. The A1 runs through the key Lib Dem marginal seat of Berwick. Current MP Alan Beith is stepping down next year.

Alexander added: “We put an offer to the Scottish Government to say could we do a joint study so they could look at dualling the bits north of the border, but they weren’t interested. That’s not stopping us looking at what can be done on the A1 north of Newcastle.

“People looking at this, in Alan Beith’s case for all four decades of his time in parliament, will not be disappointed.

“What you really want is the A1 to be a connection that runs from England to Scotland and back again that is a high standard over the whole route. That’d be a good thing for the economy of Scotland, of the rest of the UK, of the north of England. That’s the right ambition for the route.”

Speaking to The Sunday Post Alexander also spoke of the effect the recent independence referendum has had on him and described the campaign as “good for Scotland”.

He explained: “It was a life changing experience. It was politics as it should be it was a really, really big question that everyone had a view on and the level of engagement was enormous.

“It was good for Scotland to have that debate and reach a clear resolution. There’s now a desperate need to bring Scotland together again. We cannot be the 45 or the 55, we need to be 100% Scots.”