Why the SNP have to go with the trams....

(1) The Auditor General

The gist of the Auditor General's report is that there is no problem with the main city centre/Leith rail link, giving it a "clean bill of health".

For the SNP to go against this decision by Audit Scotland would be foolish. Basically they would have gotten in the financial experts to make sure the numbers stacked up, the experts would say yes they do and then the SNP would be scrapping the plan anyway. If they were never interested in going ahead with the trams under any circumstances, why waste Audit Scotland's time?

(2) Money already spent

A fair whack of cash has already been spent on the project. £60m is quoted on the BBC here but it's unclear whether all of that has been spent or not. Either way, it's one reason why changing tack on a decision that is well underway is maybe not the best approach.

Update: Per the Audit Scotland Press Release, amounts spent to date = £79m out of a total cost of £593.8m (13.3% of the total)

(3) Consensus Politics

The SNP are outnumbered. A majority of the Holyrood MSPs prefer trams with Labour, Lib Dems, Tories and the Greens all in favour.

If the SNP are serious about this new consensus politics then they'll have to just accept a few decisions won't be going their way. And for me, this one is a no-brainer to give to the other side.

It is the first occasion where they have come up against all of the 3 parties and is therefore a good chance to set the right example that they are able to compromise.

So far, the only examples of consensus politics has been the SNP working with the Tories, and the SNP working with the Lib Dems and the SNP working with the Greens. They now need to show that consensus politics can also involve the SNP being in the minority.

(4) Popular Support

A bit tricky to judge this one as there has been some patchy polling on it. But by and large the trams do seem quite popular so flying in the face of such opinion might not be the smartest move for the nationalists if they are hoping to sweeten up the population over the next couple of years with a potential independence referendum in mind.

Update: Just found that Margo McDonald is in favour of the trams which is pretty much a guarantee that most Edinburgh residents want them.


(5) It's just good Politics.

Regardless of whether they think it's good value for money or not, or whether it would improve Edinburgh's congestion, or even if it will make a difference to the environment, they are in a win-win situation if they go ahead with the trams.

If they are a disaster, they can blame the other parties and play the "we told you so" card. (Alex, after all, is quite partial to playing the odd card here and there)

If the trams are a roaring success, then they can receive some plaudits for having the broad-mindedness to let them through even if they had some reservations at the time.



So, we'll just have to wait and see how pig-headed the nationalists choose to be about this one.


Personally, I don't want them and I don't think Edinburgh needs them, but the tram scheme should go ahead regardless.