Pro-indy rail? Greens really have gone loco

By TOM GORDON, SCOTTISH DAILY MAIL DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 19:48, 15 May 2026 | Updated: 19:53, 15 May 2026 A Green MSP has called for politically motivated railways to prepare Scotland for independence. Laura Moodie, who was elected to represent South Scotland last week, said building new lines that avoid ‘going into England’ would ‘wean us off reliance on UK infrastructure’. Finlay Carson, the re-elected Scottish Conservative MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, said: ‘This is more proof that the Greens aren’t a serious party.  'The rail network across the south of Scotland is wholly inadequate and the blame for that lies squarely with the SNP government, who have failed to upgrade and improve it.’ He said Ms Moodie ‘should reflect on her party’s failure to influence the Nationalists when in government, rather than trying to turn it into a petty argument for independence’. Ms Moodie lives near Kirkcudbright, making her nearest railway station Dumfries, from where a train journey to the East Coast involves going via Carlisle. Scottish Conservative MSP Finlay Carson said Laura Moodie is trying to use the rail network as a 'petty argument for independence' She made her comments on the Scottish Independence Podcast last month. The Bradford-born separatist said: ‘At the moment, quite a lot of my railway journeys would involve me going down to England to then get back up north. ‘If we extended the Borders line, and if we reopen the Dumfries-Stranraer line, particularly if we followed a very specific route, it would for the first time enable a cross-country rail route from Edinburgh, Rosyth, the ports up there, to Cairnryan.  '[It] would give us that crucial through-route for freight between European hubs, between Scandinavia and Ireland, via Scotland, without going into England. ‘If we’re serious about building an independent Scotland, we need to be thinking seriously about these kind of infrastructure projects that wean us off reliance on English or UK infrastructure’. Scottish Liberal Democrat communities spokesman Willie Rennie said: ‘Most Scots will have friends or family south of the Border, so they will find it pretty weird that the Greens are so into nationalism that they don’t even want to use rail links that have touched English soil – rail links ought to be driven by the needs of the economy and where communities are, not a desire to isolate Scotland from its neighbours.’ The Scottish Greens were asked for comment on Ms Moodie’s railway idea. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.