Conservative MSP criticises First Minister over Air Passenger Duty

MSP Gordon Lindhurst accuses First Minister of passing responsibility on air passenger duty

The Scottish Conservative and Unionist MSP challenged Nicola Sturgeon at First Minister’s Questions to commit to cutting air passenger duty as laid out in the SNP manifesto.

His call comes after Edinburgh Airport boss Gordon Dewar urged the SNP Government to press ahead with a Parliamentary vote on the matter in order to give certainty to airports going forward.

However, instead of outlining when the SNP would bring forward their own plans, the First Minister asked Mr Lindhurst to “Pick up the phone to his Tory colleagues in Westminster” in order to sort out the situation.

That response left Mr Lindhurst disappointed, saying it is time the SNP Government brought forward their plans to cut air passenger duty as a matter of urgency to the Parliament, considering his Scottish Conservative party would support it.

Commenting he said: “We have heard from the SNP Government for far too long about their plans to cut air passenger duty.

“However, they have been slow to bring forward any sort of concrete proposals which has led to airport bosses such as Gordon Dewar to rightly point out that this is causing great uncertainty.

“Once again this was a case of the First Minister dodging the real question and passing the blame onto Westminster, when her SNP Government should be taking the lead on this.”

“Airport bosses, including at Edinburgh deserve far better than this ongoing delay on any proposals and I will be continuing to push the SNP to deliver on this manifesto commitment.”