The SNP has been slammed for not including the dualling of the A96 in its upcoming party conference agenda in Aberdeen – almost 15 years since promising to upgrade the road.
At the event, due to be held at the Event Complex Aberdeen (TECA) next month, road improvements have been missed out entirely from the list of 29 agenda items.
In previous years, the SNP’s Elgin and Peterhead branch lodged motions calling for the full dualling of the A96.
But this year, the Peterhead branch has put forward an item on “ending public funding to arms companies supplying Israel”, while the Elgin branch hasn’t lodged or supported any.
The Scottish Conservatives, whose manifesto includes dualling the A96 in full, branded the SNP’s decision to avoid discussing the road as an “insult to the people of the North East”.
The absence of the A96 from the SNP’s conference comes after the Scottish Government abandoned its commitment to fully upgrade the road to a dual carriageway by 2030 – 14 years after the party promised to make it happen.
Scottish Conservative North East MSP Douglas Lumsden said: “It’s an insult to the people of the North East that the dualling of the A96 has been left off the SNP’s Conference agenda in Aberdeen, despite it being the main road connecting the city with the North of Scotland.
“Rather than addressing the elephant in the room, this omission is a clear indication that the SNP want to kick the A96 dualling into the long grass in the hope people will simply forget about it.
“At a time when communities want answers on this vital upgrade, members of the SNP’s North East branches should be asking why their party has U-turned on a promise they made almost 15 years ago.
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“After a summer of devastation that saw three fatal crashes in less than two weeks on the road, it’s disgraceful that the A96 is not even being discussed at a conference which is being held in the North East.
“This, and the fact there is no mention of upgrading the A90 north of Ellon, is yet another example of the SNP abandoning the region and overlooking its crumbling roads that are putting lives at risk on a daily basis.”
