I recognise that Emma Harper has raised that issue with me on a number of occasions.
The national transport strategy is critical in helping to shape our transport priorities for the next 10 to 20 years and the process of determining what those priorities will be. We have set out in the NTS the transport hierarchy, which is reflected in our investment hierarchy. Issues such as active travel and new roads are within that structure.
The STPR2 process is the strategic process that we use for determining the transport investment priorities in any given area. Ms Harper will be aware of the south-west Scotland transport corridor study in her constituency area. If I recall correctly, it has identified around 23 interventions that should be considered for investment in the area to improve connectivity. Those interventions cover all modes, from active travel to rail and road. The study identifies some of the key roads that Ms Harper has mentioned, including the A75, the A76 and the A77, and it identifies areas for priority investment on those roads—for example, bypasses or road realignment. Significant work has already been undertaken in the appraisal process for the south-west of Scotland, including the A75, to identify what changes require to be made to roads in the area.
Putting the politics of it aside, the problem with the union connectivity review is that it is a very shallow process. Something like 100 individuals throughout the UK made representations to the review. I think that the south-west Scotland transport corridor study engaged almost 2,500 local people and stakeholders to identify their priorities.
I will be perfectly frank with the committee. The discussion that I had yesterday with the Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, was not about working in partnership with us or recognising the appraisal process that we have undertaken. In fact, the discussion was bizarre to the extent that the transport secretary in England was not aware of the transport corridor study that we had already carried out. He was not aware of the fact that we had identified the nature of the investment that is required on roads such as the A75. He wanted me to accept that the A75 should be our key priority, over and above any other road project in Scotland—over and above the Rest and Be Thankful, the A83, the A82, the A96, the A9 and the A1. It had to be the A75.
You cannot operate a system when you are quite literally being told that one road should be your key priority. There has to be a balance across all the other competing demands not just in the south-west of Scotland but throughout Scotland, such as rail investment, investment in the A75, the A76 and the A77, and investment in active travel, to make sure that they reflect the feedback that we received during the consultation process.
It is the STPR2 process that will determine our investment, not the union connectivity review, which is very superficial in its engagement. Significant work has already been carried out in the south-west of Scotland, which will help to inform the finalised STPR2 when it is published later this year.