The Nationalist benches heaved in collective disdain. They were not enamoured of Douglas Ross demanding an apology from the First Minister.

The reason this week? A mere seven weeks into her nationalisation of the railways, the whole shebang was a shambles. Pay disputes. Driver shortages. Services cut. She’s been like Beeching on an express timetable.

‘”Here we go”, SNP members say,’ Ross sputtered. ‘Well, yes. Here we go: will the First Minister apologise to the thousands of passengers who have faced disruption since the SNP took control of Scotland’s railways?’

Whenever Ross gets angry, his eyes bulge and his head thrusts forward like a farmyard chicken that’s just realised what the ‘F’ in KFC stands for.

Sturgeon said ‘ScotRail’ had ‘taken the decision to put in place a temporary timetable’, that ‘ScotRail’ had considered this ‘preferable to unplanned cancellations’, that she expected ‘ScotRail’ to ‘make sure the temporary timetable is just that, temporary’.

She talked about the rail provider as though it were some shady operation that had just come to light. In fact, it’s now part of the shadiest operation of all: the Scottish Government.

Want to see more SNP fails? – Transport Matters

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