David Mundell

It is a real privilege to serve under your chairmanship for the first time, Mrs Lewell-Buck. I will keep it brief because we are constrained by time. It is a pleasure to follow the hon. and learned Member for North Antrim (Jim Allister) because he made so many of the points that are relevant to the A75. The A75 is a complete and utter failure by the SNP. In 2001, the SNP declared that it was the most important strategic road in Scotland. In the more than 20 years since then, virtually nothing other than essential improvements for road safety have taken place. In 2016, Humza Yousaf and John Swinney came to Dumfries for a transport summit to tell us how much they were going to do and what was going to happen. A few weeks ago, John Swinney came back after eight years of nothing happening to tell us that he was now hearing that people were concerned about it. Let us, on a united basis, I hope, including even our SNP colleagues, send a clear message to John Swinney that we must get on with upgrading the A75 for the people of Dumfries and Galloway, for my constituents and for people who have to drive between, for example, Collin and Carrutherstown on what is virtually a cart track—people would not recognise it as a trunk road or an A road. The UK Government have a key role because the A75 is a strategic route, as has been identified, and we need to hear what they intend to do about the UK connectivity fund. On rail, I was a strong advocate in the previous Parliament of TransPennine being stripped of its franchise, because the service it provided through Lockerbie from Glasgow and from Edinburgh was totally and utterly inadequate. If I had been the UK Transport Secretary, I would have taken off Avanti as well, because the service it has provided is not good enough. But the problem at the heart of that issue, which I hope the Minister will address, is the issue between the Department for Transport and the Scottish Government and who is ultimately responsible for issues that affect cross-border services. That needs to be sorted. Finally, my constituent Denis Male, an 80-year-old councillor for Langholm, would not forgive me if I did not say to my hon. Friend the Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont), who has been such a strong advocate for the Borders rail link—I congratulate him on securing this debate—that the link should go through Langholm. Denis has argued that case for many years and would not want me to miss this opportunity to make that point.