13 January 2011
Report on FFG debate in Parliament
David Spaven (Rail Freight Group) reports:
"Transform Scotland and the Rail Freight Group (which acts on behalf of rail freight users and suppliers throughout Great Britain) joined forces to produce an FFG briefing for MSPs in advance of the 13th January debate in Parliament sponsored by Cathy Jamieson MSP.
The debate itself was predominantly non-party-political, with nine MSPs speaking in favour, and the Transport Minister replying on behalf of the Government. Encouragingly the motion supporting retention of FFG was supported by MSPs from all five parties (including Chris Harvie from the SNP).
The Minister indicated that the scheme was to be 'suspended', as in England, rather than scrapped, and conceded the possibility of compromise through two mechanisms:
1. If the Tory / LibDem administration at Westminster decides to reinstate FFG then that will have a knock-on benefit for Scotland through the Barnett Formula.
2. The FFG situation can be remedied through the Scottish Budget process, if opposition parties are willing to negotiate balancing changes in other aspects of the budget.
There are grounds for cautious optimism that enough MSPs on all sides will recognise that an annual investment of just £5-7m ˆ a tiny fraction of the annual Scottish transport budget ˆ would be money well spent to secure significant environmental and economic benefits from freight modal switch."