4. To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any potential benefits of improving transport links between Glasgow and Edinburgh. (S5O-04576)

We have already invested significantly in improving transport links between Glasgow and Edinburgh with delivery of the Edinburgh to Glasgow improvement programme. An £850 million rail investment has brought the fastest journey times between Glasgow and Edinburgh city centres as well as increased capacity, with more comfortable, efficient and reliable trains, and has ensured that all routes between the two cities are electrified. In addition, the £500 million M8-M73-M74 motorway improvements project improved road journey times and reliability across central Scotland.

The second strategic transport projects review is considering what further transport investments should be made.

We have heard that there are major disruptions on the Glasgow to Edinburgh train line as we speak, and the M8 does not have the capacity to deal with increased demand at peak times. The key to increased economic activity is having transport links to support businesses and workers in the area, which is why we are calling for an acceleration of infrastructure projects, including a three-lane M8.

Those plans—

The Deputy Presiding Officer:

Do you have a question?

Those plans—

The Deputy Presiding Officer:

No, do you have a question?

Those plans, according to a Scottish Government adviser, would generate more economic growth—

The Deputy Presiding Officer:

A question.

—and create more jobs.

The Deputy Presiding Officer:

No, that is not a question.

Will the Scottish Government accept that our proposals are the right thing to do, and will it take them forward without delay?

The Deputy Presiding Officer:

I say to members that you are cutting other members out if you waffle on. I want crisp questions, and crisp answers from the Cabinet secretary.

The key commitment for infrastructure investment that the Conservative Party has brought forward is to introduce a third lane on the M8. Introducing a third lane to the M8 would mean no money for the upgrade of the A77 or the A75, for investing in the A96 in the north-east, for completing the dualling of the A9, or for the other big strategic investments that we are making in health and education. The Conservative Party’s proposal for a third lane on the M8 has been created on the back of a fag packet. It is not the kind of investment that will deliver the change that we need across Scotland, including in the south-west, the north, the Highlands—

The Deputy Presiding Officer:

Yes.

—and in the north-east, the east and the west. That is the reality of our approach, rather than the silly and childish approach that is being taken by the Conservative Party.

The Deputy Presiding Officer:

What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Listen everybody—I am trying to get through the questions.