On Thursday 30th June, Council Administration took the enormous decision to complete the tram project to St Andrew's Square at a cost of £770 million.
Council officials have now been given two months to try to fill the gap of over £200 million before everything is finalised. The truly shocking part of this decision though is the childish way in which the ruling Lib Dem / SNP administration has bickered with each other, whilst on their watch this project has crumbled.
Since the trams were first given the green light, the Conservatives have consistently called for decisive leadership from the administration who have been found wanting. To make matters worse, the SNP have been behaving as if they opposed the trams when in fact they have voted for the business case and project 13 times.
If that wasn't bad enough, the SNP's call for a referendum was not thought through and if enacted, would have likely seen the contractor take the Council to court, no doubt costing the city even more money.
At the meeting, the only sensible option was proposed by Conservative Councillors, who called for more information on the costs before any final decision was made. Ridiculously, no justification for the cost has been given to the public, as figures are deemed to be 'commercially sensitive'.
To not give us any figures is just a farce. If the Lib Dems are going to take such an enormous decision with such a huge amount of public money, then we need to be open and transparent about all the options before a decision is made.
This was a project that was started by the Labour Party, badly managed by the SNP and the Lib Dems and not once have any of the people responsible apologised to the people of Edinburgh for the mess that has been made.
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