McGill’s Bus Group owners James and Sandy Easdale have escalated their opposition to plans for bus franchising in and around the Glasgow City Region by declaring that they are “at war” with Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) and the Scottish Government over the proposals.
The further attack on reregulation represents an extension of their opprobrium from SPT to the Scottish Government. The Scottish National Party also comes in for the two men’s ire, which follows an earlier description of franchising as being “straight out of the Vladimir Putin playbook.”
As with previous statements about reregulation work in the Glasgow city region, the latest declaration is a scathing attack on the plans, which they say represent work “to nationalise our bus company, McGill’s.”
Sandy Easdale says that operation is now worth “hundreds of millions, [and has] created hundreds of jobs and paid huge taxes.” He claims that under SPT’s favoured franchising approach, the brothers “are supposed to give it away.”
In wide-ranging further criticism, Mr Easdale has drawn a parallel between what he and his brother have already claimed are inaccurate costings by SPT for bus franchising in Strathclyde, and the well-known ferry scandal in Scotland.
McGill’s had quickly calculated what it said was an annual cost of £400 million for the process, vastly above an SPT projection of £85 million. James Easdale says that the McGill’s figure “has never been challenged by either SPT, the [Scottish] Government, or Transport Scotland.”
His brother adds that such a position leaves “stunning parallels” between mismanagement of ferry procurement and the franchising exercise. James Easdale notes that nationalised Ferguson Marine has become “a black hole that the government keeps chucking taxpayers’ money into without any semblance of oversight.”
SPT previously acknowledged that additional subsidy would be required to deliver its franchising plans. There is as yet no commitment from the Scottish Government that the money needed will come from Holyrood.
In a further indication that the businessmen will utilise every possible avenue to challenge the introduction of bus franchising, they have retained the services “of the best legal team in the country to fight our case to the bitter end.”
James Easdale continues: “The ferry scandal, the Edinburgh trams, and now the planned [bus franchising] by SPT and its 12 member councils suggest that there is a total lack of business acumen at MSP and civil servant level in Scotland, and a profound lack of understanding as to the financing of businesses, how to grow them, and how to sustain high levels of employment.”
