SCOTTISH Labour has pledged to build a rail link to Glasgow Airport if it wins power in May’s Holyrood election.

The promise comes nearly 20 years since the then Labour-Lib Dem Holyrood coalition kicked off the project, but despite the millions already spent on track upgrades and compulsory purchase orders, then SNP finance secretary John Swinney scrapped it just three years later in 2009.

Subsequent attempts to resurrect the project by councils along the route also fell flat, leaving Manchester the only airport with a rail link to Glasgow.

“For almost two decades, the SNP has wasted public money and kicked the can down the road on development of a Glasgow Airport rail link,” said Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.

“In doing so, they have not only squandered millions of pounds of taxpayers’ cash, they have squandered the economic opportunities.

“Most modern cities across Europe have a rail link to their main airports, and it is bizarre that Glasgow should still not have one in 2026.

“A Scottish Labour government under my leadership would back the development of a rail link once and for all.”