MSPs reject Labour rail link bid

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A last-ditch attempt by Labour to have the scrapped Glasgow Airport Rail Link reinstated into the Scottish budget has been rejected by MSPs.

A Holyrood finance committee report into the budget shows Labour members wanted its conclusions to include calls for ministers to revive the project.

But the move was voted down by SNP and Conservative members.

The £120m rail link scheme was scrapped by Finance Minister John Swinney in September amid public spending concern.

Labour's David Whitton, who sits on the committee, criticised fellow MSPs who voted down Labour's bid to have the project reinstated.

The committee has accepted that the Scottish government's budget has been cut, a fact of life the Labour Party should get used to as it was their government that put the cuts in place Joe FitzpatrickSNP MSP

"The SNP and the Tories seem determined to leave Scotland's transport network stuck in the last century," he said.

"Labour will continue to fight for the rail link to be reinstated and even at this late stage it is not too late for John Swinney to change his mind."

The Scottish government said scrapping the rail link, which could have created up to 1,300 jobs, would save £170m.

The finance committee report, which was published on Friday, said no alternative spending plans were proposed by any Holyrood committee which looked into the budget.

SNP member Joe Fitzpatrick accused Labour of living in a "fiscal fantasy land".

"The committee has accepted that the Scottish government's budget has been cut, a fact of life the Labour Party should get used to as it was their government that put the cuts in place," he said.

The finance committee report on the government's £30bn spending plan comes after Mr Swinney said the budget was £500m less than was envisaged in 2007.

Spending money within the direct control of the Scottish government falls by 0.9% from £29.535bn this year to 29.273bn next year, according to the report.

The SNP said the Scottish budget had had its first "real-terms cut" since devolution but Labour said this was only because money had been brought forward from future budgets.