ARE we being led down the garden path by the SNP?

Years of campaigning to reopen East Linton Station have been torn apart in one fell swoop by East Lothian SNP MP George Kerevan.

In a critical onslaught in the Courier on March 16, he accused East Lothian Council of a”serious lack of vision”.

Mr Kerevan himself shows a lack of understanding and fails to admit that the council have shown full commitment to the re-instatement of East Linton Station, only for the project to be blocked by the current SNP Scottish Government throughout.

In discussions with local campaign group RAGES, they sited difficulties over the years with a succession of SNP Transport Ministers who have dithered and dallied over the decision to re-instate East Linton and Reston stations.

Both Scottish Borders and East Lothian Council recently wrote to Transport Minister Humza Yousaf to confirm support for an option which would see both stations included in a programme of works that covers Edinburgh and the South East of Scotland.

Mr Kerevan falls flat in recognising that both councils agreed to increase their contribution to the stations – Scottish Borders to £2.84million for Reston, and East Lothian to £3.44m for East Linton – in an effort to see the return of a local rail service between Edinburgh and Berwick-upon-Tweed. The Scottish Government pledging to fill the funding gap.

Both councils and the public have been led to believe potentially the stations could be operational by 2021.

The economic benefits of a new station in East Lothian are clear: 10,000 homes are coming to East Lothian and 50 per cent of working people commute into the City of Edinburgh.

Analysis has revealed train delays cost the Scottish economy £233,000 per day. That is a staggering amount of money lost to mismanagement. It’s clear that under the SNP, Scotland’s national and local train network has been neglected. Investment in infrastructure is paramount to future success.

May I respectfully suggest Mr Kerevan requests an update from Mr Yousaf on the status of East Linton Station rather than exonerating himself and the SNP of a potential failure to deliver a project that currently has commitment from everyone except themselves; a project that will improve commuting options and provide a boost to our economy; a project predicted to fail by the SNP before it’s got off the ground.