Glasgow's SNP council leader has attacked critics of the decision to scrap the airport rail link for a second time accusing them of "playing political games".

Susan Aitken, leader of Glasgow City Council, said the Glasgow Airport Rail link tram train plan was “fundamentally flawed”.

The SNP council leadership at Glasgow and Renfrewshire together with the Scottish Transport Secretary, Michael Matheson, scrapped the plan for a tram train link between Glasgow Central and Glasgow Airport.

Ms Aitken, writing exclusively in the Evening Times, said to go ahead with the plan would have been “economic self-harm”.

She said her administration stopped the work that was proposed by her Labour predecessors and was highly critical of the £144m flagship City Deal project.

Read more: Susan Aitken: Glasgow's Airport tram plan was a transport calamity waiting to happen

Ms Aitken said: “We have stopped this work after it became abundantly clear that it didn’t just face a few hurdles it was fundamentally flawed.”

The scrapping of a direct rail link for the second time sparked anger from Labour and Conservative politicians in Glasgow and beyond.

Read more: Susan Aitken: Glasgow's Airport tram plan was a transport calamity waiting to happen

They accused the SNP of a "betrayal" of Glasgow and lacking vision and ambition for the city.

Ms Aitken condemned the previous plan and accused her critics of using the rail link as a “political football.”

She said it would have led to cancellations and disruption to existing commuter services affecting “tens of millions” who travel in and out of the city.

Ms Aitken said there were safety concerns and a serious risk of going over budget.

She said: “Let me be crystal clear: the airport tram plan was a transport calamity waiting to happen.

“Opposition politicians might be happy to shrug off these concerns. If your only goal is to have a kick of the political football, these concerns hardly matter.”

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