Ian Swanson - Chancellor's frustrations

Alistair Darling must experience numerous frustrations as he tries to sort out the economy - but the Chancellor also shares the day-to-day irritation of many Edinburgh residents at the delays and disruption caused by the tram works - as he makes clear in an interview in today's Evening News.
“I went to collect someone from Haymarket station a couple of weeks ago,” he recalls. “And it took me about 40 minutes to get from one end of Morrison Street to the other.
“I'm not going to be a back-seat driver, but all I can say is it must be possible to manage the roadworks better.
“As Chancellor I want people to be going into to shops any buying goods. There are all these posters up in shops in the middle of Edinburgh saying VAT's been cut and I'm keen to encourage them to go and spend their money.”