Hamish Macdonell - new bridge, old money.

SO now we know. The Scottish Government has just announced that there will be a new Forth Bridge, but it will be a much smaller version than planned, it will cost less to build and the existing bridge will be pressed into action as a public transport bridge.
The crucial part of this is the funding. The Scottish Government believes that, because it has scaled back on the size of the new bridge, it can now pay for it through the Scottish block.
The new bridge was going to cost £4 billion. Now it will cost £2 billion.
It does seem that the SNP government has pulled a rabbit out of a hat - if it can do what it says it can.
But crucial questions remain. First, where is the Scottish Futures Trust? If the SFT, the SNP's flagship funding mechansim cannot be used for this project, then will it ever be used? Is it now dead?
Second, if the existing bridge is not up to the task of carrying public transport (buses) then the new, cheap, bridge will not be up to the task of carrying all the traffic crossing the Forth. This is a gamble, a huge gamble.
One more thing, though, Stewart Stevenson, the transport minister, said he was thinking about putting trams on the old bridge to take people to Fife. For a government which has been absolutely hostile to trams, this is something of a conversion, on the road to Lochgelly maybe?
ends