Commenting on the Finance Secretary's request for an interest free loan from the Treasury to fund the proposed Forth Crossing, Liberal Democrat Finance spokesperson Jeremy Purvis MSP said:

"The most significant infrastructure project for a generation has been reduced to party point scoring between SNP and Labour governments.

"The SNP have had four different policies on how they would fund the crossing in as many years. To come to Parliament with no funding mechanism agreed was an outrage. The SNP have let down communities across Fife, Edinburgh and East Scotland.

"With the world looking at how a modern Scotland delivers major infrastructure projects, the Forth Crossing runs the risk of being a national embarrassment having been reduced to petty partisanship of the worst kind."