A1 (Hansard, 11 March 1992)

§ Mr. John Home Robertson (East Lothian)
I come to the House with the hon. Members for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Mr. Beith) and for Roxburgh and Berwickshire (Mr. Kirkwood), and in association with my hon. Friend the Member for Wansbeck (Mr. Thompson), to present petitions calling for the upgrading of the A1 road. The petitions bear about 40,000 signatures from both sides of the border. I pay a special tribute to Lothian regional council, East Lothian district council, the Edinburgh Evening News and the local press for their vigorous support and assistance in mounting this important petition.
The Government held a press conference about the A1 last week, but the people who signed the petition want action not words. The petition states: The Humble Petition of road users and other citizens in Scotland and England, Sheweth that the Al trunk road between Musselburgh and Morpeth is intolerably dangerous with an average toll of one death each month; and seriously congested, to the detriment of the interests of local communities and other travellers. Wherefore your petitioners pray that your honourable House should:— Deplore the loss of 133 lives in ten years on the single carriageway section of the A1 between Edinburgh and Newcastle and Demand that Her Majesty's Government should implement a programme to improve the whole of the Al between Edinburgh and Newcastle to dual carriageway standard as soon as possible. And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray &c. I notice that the top two signatures on one sheet of the petition are those of my constituents Mr. and Mrs. Bell of East Linton, whose daughter was killed on the A1 in 1985. That is what the petition is all about.

§ Mr. A. J. Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed)
It is my privilege to present 20,000 signatures of the same petition relating to the A1 road, which have been gathered in co-operation with local authorities on both sides of the border, the Members of Parliament on both sides of the border and the people who live along and use the A1 road. Also, 4,450 of the signatures were collected by The Journal, a Newcastle newspaper which has fought a vigorous campaign, and other local newspapers have been closely involved. The petition deplores the loss of 133 lives in ten years on the single carriageway section of the A1 between Edinburgh and Newcastle. Since the petition was printed and distributed, more lives have been lost on the single carriageway section of road. Announcements have been made about the desirability of dualling it, but no commitment at all has been made to that dualling. Therefore, the allegations in the petition remain true—that highly dangerous single carriageway on an important strategic road should not be allowed to continue.
Many of my constituents and people from neighbouring areas have added their names to the petition, and I strongly support their plea that that road should be brought to a reasonable dual carriageway standard.

§ Mr. Archy Kirkwood (Roxburgh and Berwickshire)
It is my privilege to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Mr. Beith) and the hon. Member for East Lothian (Mr. Home Robertson) in respect of the A1 trunk road petition. I, too, have a number of constituents who have lost members of their families. Some of my own friends have been injured or killed in the recent past on the stretch of the A1 that passes through my constituency. Therefore, it is with that aspect in the background that I Deplore the loss of 133 lives in ten years on the single carriageway section of the A1 between Edinburgh arid Newcastle, 20 or 30 miles of which run through my constituency. Like the hon. Member for East Lothian, I pay tribute to the cross-community support that the petition has received and in particular to the professional support that has been given by the relevant roads authorities to the efforts of those who organised the petition in each of our parliamentary constituencies.
Therefore, I subscribe these extra few signatures gathered in my constituency, to add to the demand that Her Majesty's Government should implement a programme to improve the whole of the A1 between Edinburgh and Newcastle to dual carriageway standard as soon as possible.