HC Deb 04 December 1968 vol 774 cc1511-3
15. Mr. Noble

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what expenditure he proposes to make in the roads, bridges and transport fields within the Highland counties above the existing programmes in the next three years.

Mr. Ross

At this stage, I cannot forecast the level of Government expenditure in the Highlands during the next three years, either on roads and bridges or in that part of the transport field which is my responsibility.

Mr. Noble

Does the right hon. Gentleman realise that we on this side do not expect him to be able to do anything, but that I have information that makes me believe that he has wantonly wasted £1 million in Islay, Jura and Colonsay and that he might have used the money more satisfactorily elsewhere?

Mr. Ross

The right hon. Gentleman must appreciate that I resisted his blandishments to spend £1 million more in that respect. I can assure him that if he cares to go round the Highlands, as I have done, he will find that the people think that we are the first Government who have really started to tackle the problem.

Mrs. Ewing

Is the Secretary of State aware that Scotland is at the bottom of Europe's motorway league—[HON. MEMBERS: "What?"]—and that he has not been able satisfactorily to answer questions about motorway proposals? Is it not clear that expenditure here would compare unfavourably with the expenditure on just one underground extension in London? Is it not time that the Government in Westminster attended to the Highlands, and the attendant problems?

Mr. Ross

It is time the hon. Lady got her facts right. Her statement about motorways, like most of her other statements, has no relation at all to the truth.

Mr. Eadie

Would not my right hon. Friend agree that this afternoon we are witnessing a certain amount of hypocrisy? Is he aware that only the other day in the Scottish Grand Committee an hon. Member on the other side called for massive cuts in public expenditure, and was not contradicted by his own Front Bench?

Mr. Ross

There is no doubt about the difference between what hon. Members say in the House and what they do in the Division Lobbies.