TRANSPORT Minister Humza Yousaf has been accused of being “out of touch with reality” after insisting ScotRail is “not a poor service” despite continued delays for commuters.
Ms Yousaf, who will make an emergency statement to MSPs on the future of the franchise today, made the comment on BBC Good Morning Scotland.
The Conservatives said he seemed to be following the same disastrous playbook as one of his predecessors, Stewart Stevenson, who quit in 2010 after claiming the government response to the shutdown of Scotland’s motorways by snow was “first class”.
Mr Yousaf, who has threatened ScotRail with the loss of its contract if it fails to improve its service, said his statement would highlight the 246-point improvement agreed between ministers and Dutch-owned operators Abellio in September.
After a failed train shut down Waverley station last week, leading to nationwide delays, Mr Yousaf has said he wants to work with unions and other political parties to put together a public sector bid to run the railways, which could be ready for 2020.
“Services and performance have not been to the acceptable standard that I expect,” he said.
But when it was put to him that people would have to endure a poor service for some time, he replied: “It’s not a poor service. Let’s just put this into perspective - 89.8 [per cent], that's almost 90 trains out of 100 are running to their contractually obligated time.
"That's not to say there aren't problems and there aren't issues, there are."
Labour claimed his remarks would “astound" thousands of weary travellers, citing new figures showing a fifth of rush hour express routes were delayed yesterday.
Transport spokesman Neil Bibby said: “Humza Yousaf is a Transport Minister out of touch with the reality of what is happening on our railways.
“Everyone remembers when one of his predecessors Stewart Stevenson boasted of a ‘first-class response’ to the worst gridlock on our roads in living memory.
“It would seem that Mr Yousaf is just as indifferent to the experience of rail passengers.”
Tory finance spokesman Murdo Fraser added: “Just as Mr Stevenson told drivers stuck on the M8 six years ago that the Scottish Government’s response was ‘first class’, now we have the transport minister insisting to rail passengers that the train system isn’t a poor service.
“His handling of this crisis has been more spin than substance, culminating in a half-baked plan to take ScotRail into public hands that clearly hasn’t been thought through.”
Charlotte Twyning of Abellio UK said on Monday that SNP ministers were partly to blame for ScotRail’s problems, as they set a “tightly specified” contract, setting fares and thus determining “how many seats are available and therefore how much overcrowding exists”.
A spokesman for Mr Yousaf said: “This is a pathetic, puerile attack from the opposition who have been reduced to ridiculous levels of selective quoting and personal attacks in order to try and score cheap political points. Rather than resorting to attacks such as this, the opposition should be more focussed on offering constructive suggestions to improve the service.”
Meanwhile, the SNP have criticised a Tory MSP for using a picture of a railway wrecked in a hurricane that killed 26 people in America last month to poke fun at Mr Yousaf.
In a tweet he has now deleted, Glasgow MSP Adam Tomkins posted the picture with the words: “Is this Humza's model of the Glasgow airport rail link, anyone know?”
SNP MSP George Adam called it crass and insensitive and said Mr Tomkins should apologise.
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