BEFORE the Holyrood elections in May, Stephen Flynn had only ever been an opposition politician. Now, he has been handed one of the Scottish Government's most demanding briefs.
From ferries and roads to airports, shipyards and island connectivity, Scotland's new Transport, Tourism, and Economy Secretary faces a long list of expensive projects and difficult decisions.
In a wide-ranging interview with The National, he set out his thinking on some of the major issues he will have to tackle over the next parliamentary term, including a pledge to introduce integrated ticketing on public transport by 2031.
In at the deep end
“It was a pretty quick conversation,” Flynn said, recalling being given the chance to enter government. “When you're being asked by the First Minister of Scotland to do something, I think you have that intrinsic desire to say yes.”
After his promotion to Cabinet, there were suggestions that the wide-ranging role was to test his unproven ministerial capabilities, or even to hand him a poisoned chalice.
But describing it as an “opportunity”, Flynn said the “pretty vast” portfolio “makes so much sense … because those areas are so interlinked”.
“It's not about us or what jobs or what titles we have,” he added. “It's about being able to deliver for people in Scotland and to push forward with our agenda, which is making their lives better and making sure Scotland is independent.”
The roads ahead
The transport brief alone is vast, but the first topic that Flynn raises is the £4bn dualling of the A9 between Perth and Inverness.
A totem issue for the SNP Government, the road had initially been earmarked for completion in 2025, but is now due by 2036.
Flynn said he had “great optimism” that the A9 would be dualled to that timetable – and that it would “of course” be his responsibility if the target to dual 50% of the road by 2030 was not met.
“I think, for everyone driving that road, you see transformation happening in real time,” he went on. “I think it just gives that certainty that hasn't been there that this is happening now.”
Asked if the £4bn price tag for the A9 could have been better spent elsewhere, Flynn said what would become a familiar refrain through our interview: “You'd love to be able to do absolutely everything, but you have to prioritise. That's what we're going to be doing.”
He went on: “There's some key things that we need to do across Scotland. The A83, the Rest and Be Thankful, which is a big commitment. We've got a situation in Glasgow with the [M8] viaduct. We've got various competing interests right across Scotland.”
Later asked where he would spend a spare £1bn, if he miraculously found it, he said: “I'd make sure that the Rest and Be Thankful was done as quickly as possible.”
He would not be drawn on what he would like to see done with the M8, saying: “I think if we were to go back 50, 100 years, and look at all of our cities and how they look and operate – indeed our rural roads as well – we’d probably do things slightly differently everywhere. I'm not going to make any pre-emptive decisions in relation to that.”
Asked if those three projects – the A9, M8, and A83 – were therefore his priorities, Flynn said: “There's more than that.”
Fixed links – or tunnels between islands
In Shetland, Mull, the Western Isles, and more, there has been no shortage of calls for fixed links to connect Scotland islands, either to each other or the mainland.
Last month, Shetland councillors backed "economically transformative" £1.5bn plans to link the archipelago’s mainland to Whalsay, Bressay, and Yell, and Yell to Unst.
Flynn said the Government would engage on the proposals and “see what's possible”.
Asked what piece of transport infrastructure he would take from elsewhere in the world and plant in Scotland, Flynn pointed to the Faroes’ tunnels.
“I'm really interested in the funding model that they use and I need to go and dig into that and explore that further,” he said. “I will, because I want to understand how they deliver that in an affordable fashion and how such things can be replicated.”
Flynn said that he had also seen a “huge desire” in the Outer Hebrides “to have that certainty of connectivity”, and again pledged to look at the Faroes as a model.
“If there's examples in other places in the world, we should look at that as an opportunity,” he said.
“But again, everything needs to be driven by affordability, deliverability, and the public would expect nothing less.”
Fixing the ferries
Problems with Scotland’s ferries are well rehearsed, but the numbers tell their own story.
Between 1993 and 2007, the Scottish Government’s fleet got a new vessel on average every 14 months. Today, the number is roughly one every 33 months, meaning it would take around 100 years to replace the 37-strong fleet entirely.
And there is a pressing need for replacements. The average age of a CalMac vessel is around 25 years old, right around the typical life expectancy for a ferry.
Asked how the Government would bring these numbers down, Flynn said the fleet age “will be dramatically different” after the delivery of the ferries in the pipeline: the Glen Rosa from Ferguson Marine, three ferries from the Cemre shipyard in Turkey, and two smaller vessels also earmarked for Ferguson Marine.
“If I recall correctly, I reckon that’s about one-third of the fleet will have been renewed. That's a huge investment,” Flynn said.
However, he added: “We need to make sure that that's not the start and the end.
“It needs to be a part of a wider process to ensure that we don't end up in a situation where we do have that unreliability within the fleet itself.
“I'm pretty confident, based upon what I've been told, that the change in the age of the fleet, which will be fairly dramatic, will ensure that reliability is there, and that reliability being there will be a great comfort to the people on the islands who've not had it up till now.”
Keep or sell?
To ensure a resilient fleet, would Flynn consider keeping the Ferguson Marine shipyard – which was nationalised in 2019 – in government hands, building a new ferry every year?
Asked, Flynn indicated that privatisation was still the SNP Government’s ultimate intention.
“I want to see Ferguson Marine succeed, and that requires continued investment, modernisation, support for the yard, and delivery of contracts,” he said. “If we can get it into a position where it's able to succeed, then I would imagine there would be market interest in it, yes.”
He added: “Without looking too far into the future, I think the public would like us to get to a point where the shipyard is functioning, it is successful, and there are orders coming in from the private sector. When we get to that point, which will hopefully be soon, we can have that conversation about what happens next.”
Ferguson Marine is the last commercial shipyard on the Clyde, but has struggled to secure new contracts after a reputationally damaging saga involving the construction of the Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa ferries.
Both ferries were meant to be delivered in 2018 for a combined £97m, but the Glen Sannox only entered service last year, the Glen Rosa has yet to be completed, and the overall bill has climbed to around £500m.
But it is not the only piece of transport infrastructure owned by the Scottish Government. There is also Prestwick Airport, which was bought for £1 in 2013 to save it from closure.
In April, the airport posted a £3.9m profit for 2025-26, its seventh profitable year running.
However, late last year, a deal to sell the airport to a private investor fell through.
Asked why the Scottish Government would not keep the profit-making airport after a mammoth 13 years of effort to turn it around, Flynn said it might.
“It may well materialise that that's exactly what we choose to do,” he said. “But in the initial term I want to make sure that the public pound is protected, because it's ultimately our money.”
However, Flynn went on: “Obviously, if a bid was to materialise which was to the benefit of the public purse, that's something that you would consider. I'm certainly keeping an open mind in that regard.
“But the only point at which someone's going to want to come and buy Prestwick is because it's successful.”
Scotland's airports
Prestwick Airport has one thing the larger Glasgow Airport does not: a rail link to the city centre.
Asked about the potential of building one, Flynn suggested it was not on the agenda. “I think it's important to recognise the fact that Glasgow Airport is incredibly well served by its bus routes,” he said.
Another idea which has been floated is bidding for US pre-clearance at Edinburgh Airport. The system is already in place in Dublin, and allows travellers to complete US immigration and before boarding their flight.
Asked if this wouldn’t help all three of his ministerial briefs, transport, tourism, and economy, Flynn said: “When I stunned a particular section of the media by going to America, I flew via Dublin because they've got preclearance there, and it was a very good experience actually.
“If we can secure preclearance in Scotland – because I would imagine there's other airports that would be very interested in that – I think that would be a really good thing, for the economy, for tourism, and it would of course be a really big part of that jigsaw when it comes to making sure that we capitalise upon the very positive relations we have with the people of the United States.”
If Flynn succeeds, Scotland's transport network could look markedly different by the end of this parliament. If not, voters are unlikely to be forgiving.
