Highlands MP Danny Alexander refused to buckle to pressure last night after he was urged to drop his opposition to A9 average speed cameras.
The Liberal Democrats’ Chief Secretary to the Treasury has been urged to publicly renounce his stance against the so-called “yellow vultures”.
It follows official statistics released by the Scottish Government, which show that the cameras have dramatically decreased speeding on the Inverness-Dunblane route since they went live at the end of October.
SNP MP for Perth and North Perthshire Pete Wishart wrote to Mr Alexander demanding he drop his campaign to have the cameras taken down.
“The average speed cameras have reduced speeding and cut accidents and in every sense of the word they have been a success,” said Mr Wishart.
“My constituents feel more secure on this road and journeys on the A9 are now undertaken without the same sense of trepidation and fear. These cameras are working and that is why Danny Alexander must stop his campaign to have these cameras taken down.”
Mr Alexander said Mr Wishart’s comments were a “party political stunt”.
A spokesman for the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey MP said: “It is unsurprising that they are trying to distract Highlanders from their abject failure to dual the A9 with this sort of nonsense.”
Transport minister Derek Mackay has stressed that the A9 dualling project is progressing, separately from the camera project.