Chamber and committees

But things can be pieced together differently.

Again, that is helpful information. We are dealing with quite a small number—12—and the feedback I have had from one individual is that they feel that, somehow, if a person goes through the review process they could be given more help to gather more information. Some of the people who have received an increased payment offer have spent more time looking at their application, and doing that has brought new information to light. I know that the system is under pressure, which is why I ask.

I recognise up front your personal commitment to getting the scheme through in the previous session of the Parliament, and I know that there was some time pressure with regard to ensuring that that work did not go to waste. However, on some of the issues around the delays and the challenges of processing the applications, I feel that it is right to press you on the modelling and how we modelled that.

Today, you have mentioned three factors involved in the delays, and I think that there is a fourth factor, for which, as a Parliament, we are collectively responsible, which is expectation management. Survivors thought, with regard to these applications and the principles that we set out, that things might move a bit quicker than they have. We must always be cautious about that, but, with regard to the modelling, where did the idea that people would take longer to put in their applications come from? We have looked at comparator schemes elsewhere as part of drawing up the legislation, so how did we get that modelling wrong?

It is about 8 per cent of people.

It is about one in 12.

I am probably testing the committee’s patience, but this issue is important to me.

I want to follow on from Stephanie Callaghan’s question, as I have come across the same issue with people accessing statements and reports. I understand the sensitivity around that, and I fully appreciate the answer that you gave, but would it be fair to say that, when the bill was passed, it was not the Government’s expectation that the restriction order would be in place?

I am pleased to see this important debate take place in the first week of the parliamentary new year. It should not have to take place at all; the improvements should have already been made. However, given where we are and given some of the other issues that have been debated in recent days, my constituents will at least be reassured that, thanks to the member for Galloway and West Dumfries securing this members’ business slot, we are seeing something of importance for our region on the Parliament’s agenda.

Improving connectivity rather than erecting barriers is the positive and constructive way to take things forward, and it will certainly deliver more jobs than erecting border posts. The importance of the A75 to the whole of Dumfries and Galloway cannot be overstated. The failure to properly upgrade the route has compounded our status as Scotland’s forgotten region. Delivering this vital upgrade would significantly boost the region’s economy and help reverse the trend of large-scale employment moving towards the motorway network and out of our region altogether.

Anyone who has driven on the A75 at the wrong time—or at any time—of day will understand the problem. In a small region, journey times between our communities can be a joke, particularly given the fact that many services, leisure pursuits, and employment opportunities are concentrated in Dumfries or Carlisle. After 15 years of SNP Government, many individuals and businesses have given up hope.

There have been so many false promises. What happened to the SNP manifesto promise to link Dumfries with the motorway network? Are some manifesto promises more important than others? What progress has there been on any transport infrastructure?

That shows how poorly Emma Harper knows her region. As far as I am aware, Ayr is not a city, but it has significantly better transport links through the A77. The links are not great, but for a town of its size—it is comparable to Dumfries—it has seen a much better deal. The same is true of other towns across Scotland that are not cities. Dumfries has been left behind by the SNP; we have seen zero progress since the transport summit, which was much heralded in 2016, but did not even manage to happen within the 100 days of the election, as had been promised. It was a waste of time anyway, as predicted by local residents at the time.

All the more galling for those people who live and work in Dumfries and Galloway is that before the SNP was in government, it used to claim—locally, at least—that upgrading the A75 was its top priority. In fact, it claimed that it was the only party that was committed to doing so. However, the truth is that the SNP is the only party in government that has failed to deliver anything at all on that vital route.

I have sympathy for Emma Harper, because I do not know how she explains to local voters why her Government has done nothing. She makes the case in the chamber, but I do not know what she is doing to influence ministers behind closed doors, because they seem to be prioritising projects for her colleagues elsewhere in the country.

It is not too late for things to change, but despite the continued interest from the UK Government and its offer of support remaining on the table, the Scottish Government has been slow to even have a conversation with it. As Finlay Carson has set out, modest progress has been made, but it is not consistent with the level of support or effort that local people rightly expect. Will the minister commit to giving the project a green light and to turbocharging talks with the UK Government, and will she get personally involved in those talks and make the project happen?

I would be keen to hear specific plans and a timetable from the minister, but I doubt we will get that this evening. Instead, she might be willing to explain in straightforward terms to people who are living and working in Dumfries and Galloway why they deserve a second-class road network and why they should watch as investment is made elsewhere in the country as our region falls further behind. I suspect that under the SNP Government, we will not see anything that will come even remotely close to meeting the needs of people in Dumfries and Galloway, because the truth is that the SNP does not care about the region, and it does not care about the south of Scotland. That is why we see nothing.

While the minister is setting things out, could she explain to my constituents why, after 15 years of SNP Government, we do not have a business case or a detailed plan for any improvements on the route? We have a couple of vague promises in the case of Cuckoo Bridge, in Mr Carson’s constituency, for what I understand to be relatively minor improvements.

How does Emma Harper explain why it has been possible to dual and improve roads in other parts of Scotland but it has not been possible for her party, which has been in government for 15 years, to find the money to do anything in the south of Scotland, and on the A75 in particular? Nothing. Zero.