Snow chaos: Has the Scottish government done enough?

It is all quiet on the cold front, at least it is on the roads – with millions north of the border staying home today in the face of temperatures remaining well below freezing.

The temperature in the corridors of Holyrood however, is a little higher as cabin fever sets in amongst the politicians dealing with a dual onslaught of weather and public discord.

Days after a blanket of snow descended on Scotland’s central belt the schools are still closed, the roads are bordering on impassable and there is no end in sight despite the Herculean efforts of the emergency services, council workers and ordinary citizens trying to keep the country open for business.

Public opinion is split between the pragmatism of accepting that this is an unprecedented weather event and whether or not the Scottish government has done enough, if anything, to relieve the travel based misery faced by the majority of Scots.

After a disastrous interview for the SNP transport minister, in which he refused to apologise to the thousands trapped on Scottish roads, Stewart Stevenson has become the straw man for arguments examining the failings of the government’s preparedness strategy.

Army dispatches battlefield ambulences to frozen Scotland

As Britain's armed forces await a formal call-up for help with the Big Freeze from Scotland, the Army tells Channel 4 News it has sent in battlefield ambulances to help local authorities.

Just 15-20 army personnel are currently helping to battle the treacherous conditions that have crippled roads across Scotland and in Northern England, leaving those in more remote areas stranded.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence told Channel 4 News that the Armed Forces have yet to receive a formal request for help from the Scottish government.

However, acting on "grace and favour" a small number of troops have been helping the emergency services in Scotland since Monday.

Read more: UK weather - Army dispatches battlefield ambulances

Mr Stevenson was hauled in front of the Scottish parliament today to give an emergency statement to defend the efforts of the government and to set out a proper strategy for dealing with a second crisis of this nature.

This could be attributed to the blistering speed of the u-turn the minister performed which curiously enough left him in front of every available camera and microphone the morning after. The first utterance of “sorry” appeared within seconds.

The Scottish tabloids took a vicious swipe at his irresponsible turns of phrase this week, while today Mr Stevenson faced calls for his resignation.

Labour accused him of making a “first class cock-up” of Scotland’s response to the weather chaos, while the Tories claimed that the SNP’s action had so far been “wholly inadequate”.

“I am the Transport Minister and I am responsible,” Mr Stevenson told MSPs.

“What happened on Monday has been extremely difficult and challenging – it should not have happened, and I have apologised for the failure to communicate the position better and earlier.”

Mr Stevenson said it was a “hugely complex” problem, but this did little to sate Labour’s Holyrood transport spokesman, Charlie Gordon.

Mr Gordon said: “He wriggles and squirms and pushes the blame on to others. He blames the weatherman – the problem wasn’t the weather forecast or the Met Office, the problem was his totally inadequate response.

“Sorry is not good enough. Will the minister take responsibility, admit his incompetence and go?”

The First Minister Alex Salmond, a man who can sense the very presence of a camera, was slow to comment and emerged from his own snow bunker after angry comments circulated about his silence whilst the country he professes to lead had ground to an unceremonious halt.

This is the Scottish government’s first large scale public emergency and it has not performed up to standard. Other nations cope, so why can’t we? Is the public meme.

It is not the weather that is being criticised, but the response. Could this all have been avoided if those at the top had been giving clear orders?

Could it have been avoided if, at 8am on Monday the gritters descended en masse onto roads closed for the public good?

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. The forecast is certain though, there will be a cold wind sweeping through Holyrood in May when Scots go to the polls.

Dave Wyllie is a freelance journalist in Scotland