AIRPORT TRAIN LINK DERAILED BY NATS' CUTS.

Byline: Magnus Gardham

Ditching scheme is 'dagger in the heart of Glasgow' THE SNP government axed the pounds 400million Glasgow Airport Rail Link yesterday as part of a package of budget cuts.

The link, known as GARL, will be scrapped even though it helped secure the 2014 Commonwealth Games for the city.

The project was due to link Glasgow Central station to the airport via Paisley.

It was expected to create 1300 jobs.

Now, the airport stretch will not go ahead, though improvements between Glasgow and Paisley will still take place.

Glasgow will receive some cash towards the city's Fastlink guided bus system.

Scrapping GARL will save pounds 170million, finance secretary John Swinney said as he outlined his pounds 35billion budget for 2010-11. He said he took the decision "reluctantly".

But Glasgow City Council leader Steven Purcell said: "The SNP government's decision is a dagger in the heart of Glasgow.

"GARL was a vital piece of infrastructure for the Commonwealth Games and the economic growth of the west of Scotland.

"The SNP have taken that from us and offered us part-funding for a bus lane. That's the worst deal in modern history.

"The Scottish government has a clear anti-Glasgow agenda. They are investing billions in the east and north-east with projects such as the new Forth crossing - and giving Glasgow the crumbs."

GARL was the biggest of a string of cuts outlined in the government's spending plans. They also plan to slash spending on new council and housing association homes from pounds 525million to pounds 352million.

And the budget for teacher training will be cut from pounds 32million to pounds 22million - a move condemned by the EIS teaching union.

Government red tape will be slashed by pounds 14million. But a string of high-profile SNP polices are set to escape the axe.

They include more cash to extend free school meals and phase out prescription charges - schemes which critics claim help mainly better-off families. Cash for the government's "national conversation" campaign to boost support for independence was also protected.

And the struggling Scottish Futures Trust quango, set up to finance major building projects, will see their funding nearly double to just under pounds 6million.

The spend on international relations will rise from pounds 12million to pounds 15million.

And cash for overseas aid will increase from pounds 6million to pounds 9million.

Spending on health, justice and local government all rose by small amounts.

Swinney claimed Scotland faced the first real-terms budget cut since devolution after cash earmarked for next year was spent this year to help boost the economy.

He called on Chancellor Alistair Darling to bring forward more cash from future budgets.

CAPTION(S):

CANCELLED: How the airport link may have looked. Right, Swinney's budget