Edinburgh Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine urges UK Government to help fund new tram line
Scottish Government has so far been reluctant to support new line
An Edinburgh MP is calling for the UK Government to help fund the next expansion of the city's trams.
Christine Jardine, Lib Dem MP for Edinburgh West, said the plan for a new line from the city centre to the Royal Infirmary and BioQuarter was popular and would boost the economy.
But the Scottish Government has been reluctant to commit to supporting the project. And now Ms Jardine believes Westminster should be ready to invest in it.
She said: "This is something which is an infrastructure project. The original tram project was hugely disruptive and unpopular, but now everybody loves the trams and uses them.
"I would like to suggest to the Government at the first opportunity that this is a project for which there is public support, which is climate friendly and is also good for the local economy. Would they be willing to help fund it? Because funding is the issue."
In September, councillors voted in favour of the idea of a North-South tramline, but agreed the southern leg to the Infirmary first should be built first, leaving the line from Granton to the city centre until a later stage, mainly due to the controversy over the proposed use of the popular Roseburn Path cycle route as part of the route.
The cost of the full North-South line is estimated at £2.5 billion, with the section from Princes Street to the Infirmary and BioQuarter costing around £1.7 billion.
During the Scottish Parliament elections earlier this year, the SNP group on Edinburgh council backed the principle of a North-South line, but declared their opposition to the Roseburn Path route and called for council officials to look for other routes for the northern leg and said work should start on the southern section.
In an interview with the Evening News, First Minister John Swinney said he was willing to “engage” with Edinburgh council on the North-South tramline, but insisted it was a “local project” which the council is responsible for. He pointed to the £207 million extension to Newhaven, completed in 2023 without government funding.
And he blamed the trams for the slow progress on the dualling of the A9 between central Scotland and the Highlands, saying the funding of Edinburgh’s original tram project took money away from the road scheme.
The Scottish Government has previously said it has no plans to fund a “stand-alone” tram extension for Edinburgh but indicated the project should be part of a regional approach and could be considered "within the wider Edinburgh and South East Scotland Mass Transit work".
Options for going beyond the Infirmary and BioQuarter, into East Lothian or Midlothian, have long been part of the vision for Edinburgh’s trams, but they have not been firmed up into concrete proposals.
However, when they decided in September to go ahead with the project, councillors also agreed it should be taken forward as part of the strategic business case for SEStransit, providing mass transit across South East Scotland.
The council has been in discussion with the UK Government’s National Wealth Fund, set up in 2024 with £28 billion of government funding for loans, guarantees and local government lending with the aim of boosting regional growth, tackling climate change and stimulating investment. But the council has stressed the fund's role has been purely advisory.
Ms Jardine said trams were reliable and people knew how long it would take to get to their destination. The route for the new line was a matter for public consultation, she added. “But the tram is proving so successful and popular I would like to see the Government to look at how it can invest in it to help take it forward.”