HC Deb 21 December 1954 vol 535 cc2579-80
32. Mr. G. M. Thomson

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what route vehicles of his Department are instructed to follow on journeys between Edinburgh and Dundee.

Mr. J. Stuart

There are no standing orders laid down about the route to be followed on such journeys.

Mr. Thomson

Is the Secretary of State aware that, a week ago today, the Minister of State made an official journey from Edinburgh to Dundee, that this journey was by way of the Kincardine road bridge, that it took four hours, and that he kept the people of Dundee waiting, and, very sensibly, returned thereafter by train? Does this not prove a lack of faith by the Scottish Office itself in the Forth ferry services, the complete inadequacy of the Kincardine road bridge as a means of communication between Edinburgh and the north-east, and the urgent need for road bridges over the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth?

Mr. Stuart

I am sure that my noble Friend would wish me to express his deep apologies to those people whom he kept waiting in Dundee. My information is that he got held up in Glenfarg owing to ice conditions, and that it was not due to the Kincardine bridge. I would only add that I make this journey myself sometimes, and I make up my mind according to the season and the crowds. It is a matter of chacun à son goût.