Dave Thompson MSP

This month I was disappointed to note that all the efforts to secure another contract for the HeroTSC call centre in Aviemore have unfortunately been unsuccessful. This is hugely disappointing news for the community, as the loss of 85 jobs is a significant blow to the local economy.

It is commendable that while talks were on-going to try and secure the future of the centre, HeroTSC were also actively working on contingency plans in the event that a contract could not be secured. This has meant that around half of the staff have already found new employment or have returned to education. I hope that all the staff have soon secured alternative employment.

Until a few weeks ago, there was a broad political consensus in Scotland that elderly people shouldn't be charged for their personal care or bus passes, that medicine should be free at the point of need, that access to university education should be based on the ability to learn not the ability to pay, and that the council tax should remain frozen to relieve the pressure on family budgets.

But that consensus was shattered when Labour leader Johann Lamont said that all of these policies should be reviewed. Johann is wrong – not wrong to say that budgets are under pressure, but wrong to conclude that the people who should bear the brunt of Tory cuts are pensioners, the sick, hard-pressed families and working-class kids who aspire to a university education.

When she claimed that Scotland has a 'something for nothing' culture, she insulted all those who work hard and pay taxes. Universal benefits are important in that they give something back to people who contribute their taxes to pay for these benefits.

There has been further progress made on the dualing of the A9, as the Scottish Government awarded the first two major contracts. Preliminary engineering work will be carried out by Jacobs, while Halcrow have been engaged to carry out a preliminary Strategic Environmental Assessment.

I am pleased to welcome the award of these contracts, as this demonstrates the government’s commitment to stick to the accelerated timetable for completion of the dualing of the road. The A9 is critical to the Highland economy, and I am delighted that this Government has become the first to commit to the dualing between Perth and Inverness. This £3bn project is one of the largest infrastructure projects in Scotland’s history, and will vastly improve transport links between Badenoch and the central belt. A continuous dual carriageway will also have a huge impact on road safety in the area.

While I believe that the dualing of the A9 will in the long term address many of the safety issues on this road, we must still do all we can to reduce accidents on the road in the meantime. The Northern Constabulary, cooperating with neighbouring forces, have recently run a successful campaign to clamp down on speeding. An unintended consequence of this clampdown is that lorries are restricted to just 40mph on the single carriageway sections of the A9, leading to queues of frustrated car drivers behind. I have witnessed a worrying practice where several lorries will drive close together in convoys, with far less than the safe stopping distance between them. Not only is this unsafe for the lorries, but it also encourages car drivers to take huge risks by trying to overtake these convoys.

I raised this issue with Kenny MacAskill in Parliament, and I have also written to the chief inspector of the Northern Constabulary to raise my concerns.