When did Queensferry Crossing become a sacred symbol of independence? – Alex Cole-Hamilton

I have become a pantomime villain. I’m not sure when it ­happened, but somewhere along the way I became a C-list ­matinee baddie for the ­radical fringes of the online, nationalist community.

In this particular production, I’m the troll that lives under a bridge and the part of the Billy Goats Gruff is performed (bizarrely) by a two-mile stretch of tarmac which spans the Forth estuary.

For the SNP base, the Queensferry Crossing is a jewel in the crown of the nationalist Government. It symbolises their supposed managerial ­competence and ability to deliver world-class infrastructure projects. This, in turn, they translate into evidence of Scotland’s ability to go it alone as an independent state. I don’t share any of these views, but I am quite fond of it. I think it’s very pretty and I take my hat off to the engineers who designed and built it, often in horrendous working ­conditions. My only beef is that it’s still not finished and it causes regular ­headaches for my constituents in West Edinburgh.

It is the job of opposition politicians to hold government to account, but if you do that effectively in Scotland, you get marked with an electronic bullseye and the SNP ultras are unleashed. This was evident in the response to my enquiries about the closure of the Crossing last week. My remark that “the bridge that ‘would never close’, now shut in both directions” was seen as a declaration of war. Never mind that I followed this up with a full readout of the extensive and welcome briefing I’d received from the Transport Secretary, that initial (albeit sardonic) tweet elicited more than 1,000 angry replies.

Inventive, but not real

Some of them were quite inventive. One guy Photoshopped a picture of a real announcement board on the crossing to make some vague gynaecological reference in my direction. That in itself became received wisdom and was promoted as something that had actually happened – “Look at this: even the bridge workers hate you”.

For whatever reason, the Queensferry Crossing has become an inexplicable staging post on the path to independence for many in the Yes movement and to say anything critical of it is to set fire to their Wicker Man. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the coverage of the closure of the Crossing in the pages of SNP fanzine The National and you will see two articles dedicated to the specifics of its closure and seven decrying opposition politicians for having the temerity to ask why it wasn’t living up to expectations.

I’m no Bridge Troll

The bridge had to be closed last week. It wouldn’t have been safe to keep it open. I didn’t revel in that, in fact I think it should have closed to traffic sooner. All told, eight cars were hit by falling ice before the first lane closures – it’s a miracle no one was hurt.

Why wasn’t it closed earlier? Because the closest thing we have to ice-monitoring equipment on the bridge is a pair of binoculars. The tech exists but it hasn’t been fitted yet.

It joins a long list of things that still aren’t quite finished – engineering lifts in the towers, a de-icing solution, road layout problems at the bridge access, the fact that the road signage mile markers north and south of the river still direct motorists to the old Forth Road Bridge and the fine that awaits them there. I could go on.

I want this project to be a success; my constituents need it to be a success. If I call something out about the Crossing it’s because it needs called out and it needs sorting. So can I take this opportunity to reassure my online critics, I’m not the Bridge Troll you think I am. (Oh no I’m not...)

Alex Cole-Hamilton is the Lib Dem MSP for Edinburgh Western.