The Sunday Whip

Only one contested motion this week, and we had a full attendance for the Government's defeat. John Swinney proposed "That the Parliament endorses the Government's transport priorities and notes that the Government party proposed during the election campaign not to proceed with the Edinburgh Trams and current EARL projects, but planned an additional crossing for the River Forth."

Instead, the Parliament passed Wendy Alexander's amendment: "That the Parliament notes that the Edinburgh Trams project and EARL were approved by the Parliament after detailed scrutiny; further notes the report of the Auditor General for Scotland on these projects and, in light thereof, (a) calls on the Scottish Government to proceed with the Edinburgh Trams project within the budget limit set by the previous administration, noting that it is the responsibility of Transport Initiatives Edinburgh and the City of Edinburgh Council to meet the balance of the funding costs and (b) further calls on the Scottish Government to continue to progress the EARL project by resolving the governance issues identified by the Auditor General before any binding financial commitment is made and to report back to the Parliament in September on the outcome of its discussions with the relevant parties."

This passed by 81 votes to 47, with the SNP voting against it and everyone else voting in favour. I'm going to do a full analysis of voting records later on in the week, now that the Parliament has gone into recess.