Nicola Sturgeon tried to blame Boris Johnson today for an industrial dispute on Scotland’s newly renationalised rail network that will see hundreds of services cancelled every day from next week.
ScotRail, which was taken back into public ownership last month, has announced it will cut 700 services – almost a third of the total – from Monday due to a driver shortage caused by a disagreement with the union Aslef.
The new timetable has been sparked by drivers refusing to work on rest days and Sundays, measures which had been used to keep the service running.
Addressing MSPs at Holyroods today Ms Sturgeon insisted that the new schedule was ‘temporary, before admitting that a shortage of more than 100 drivers might not be filled before next year.
But the SNP administration attempted to shift responsibility for the situation onto Mr Johnson and Westminster, despite Ms Sturgeon being in overall charge of the company.
The SNP’s Fiona Hyslop caused uproar at First Ministers…
