Ian Swanson - Bridge afternoon

THE row over how to pay for the new Forth Road Bridge will take centre stage at Holyrood this afternoon.
Opposition parties called last week for a full debate on funding the new crossing after the SNP said it would go ahead with its plan for conventional procurement despite the UK Treasury's refusal of its request to borrow money from future budgets so the cost could be spread over 20 years.
The SNP said it would be "delighted" to have a debate and it was promptly scheduled for today.
There will be the predictable to-ing and fro-ing between the parties about the evils of PFI schemes, the failure of the Scottish Futures Trust to offer an alternative, the scrapping of the tolls, etc, etc.
But questions have also been raised within the past few days about the design and capacity of the new bridge - and these could also make their way into today's exchanges.
In cutting the cost from £4bn to £2bn, the government has reduced the bridge from three lanes in each direction to just two and cut back on some of the surrounding road infrastructure, as well as designating the existing bridge for public transport.
Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy, who is convening a meeting later this month involving both Finance Secretary John Swinney and Treasury Minister Yvette Cooper, says he wants to make sure we get "the right bridge at the right price".
Strictly speaking, the design of the bridge has nothing to do with Mr Murphy. But his comment is seen as reflecting wider concerns.
And despite the SNP's insistence the bridge will be completed "on time and on budget", Edinburgh West MSP Margaret Smith has told the Evening News today that she fears the scheme smacks of the Holyrood building project.