Scottish Liberal Democrat has today questioned
connectivity minister on revelations that the SNP
government spent less than 6% of a now-cancelled fund to improve
bus services.
The Bus Partnership fund was launched in 2020 with £500 million
of ‘long-term’ funding for bus priority measures on local and
trunk roads. This was intended to improve services by reducing
the impact of congestion.
However, the 2024-25 Scottish Government budget cancelled funding
for the scheme, and bus industry body CPT wrote to the government
revealing that ‘only about £26.9 million has been allocated to
partnerships’.
Questioning today in Holyrood, Mr Rennie
raised declining bus ridership which he said had fallen by a
hundred million journeys per year a decade after the SNP came
into power.
Speaking in the chamber, Mr Rennie said:
“When the SNP came to power, there were almost half a billion
journeys on the buses every year. Over the following decade it
dropped by a hundred million before dropping further since the
pandemic. So, for the years before the autumn statement why did
the government fail to spend the budget that was designed to
reverse that decline?”
He later added:
“The SNP would have spent £50 million a year if they were serious
about this fund. But they only spent half of that over four
years, with the final year cancelled. This is typical of the SNP-
flashy announcements to signal that they care but incapable of
delivering.
“If SNP ministers could deliver funding as well as excuses, they
could have spent the fund three times over.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
Willie Rennie’s exchange with can be viewed here from 14:43.
CPT’s letter to the Scottish Government can be found here.
Further information on the Bus Partnership Fund’s launch can he
found here.
