07/09/2011 BBC News at Ten


07/09/2011

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Leading economists say Britain's highest earners need a tax cut, and

:00:02.:00:06.

soon. They call on the Chancellor to

:00:06.:00:09.

scrap the 50p top rate, saying it's damaging the economy and punishing

:00:09.:00:19.
:00:19.:00:22.

entrepreneurs. It is punishing those who have spent the last 15,

:00:22.:00:24.

20 or 30 years working themselves to the bone to get to where they

:00:24.:00:28.

are to the point where they have the privilege of paying a 50p tax

:00:28.:00:33.

rate. People in the real world looking at this will say people on

:00:33.:00:36.

�150,000 should pay more tax. Liberal Democrats saying that

:00:36.:00:39.

cutting the tax would be immoral, we will ask where the coalition

:00:39.:00:40.

stands. Also tonight:

:00:40.:00:42.

Details are emerging of the government's proposed reforms to

:00:42.:00:46.

banking. We will have the latest. Fears of a power vacuum in the new

:00:46.:00:55.

Libya - we have a special report. It takes years, even generations,

:00:55.:01:00.

to recover from a civil war and dictatorship, and Libya has had

:01:00.:01:04.

both. People tend to remember which side their neighbours took in the

:01:04.:01:06.

fight. Shafilea Ahmed was the victim of a

:01:06.:01:09.

suspected on a killing. Now her parents are charged with the murder.

:01:09.:01:13.

And jail for the woman who drove more than 20 miles up the M5 in the

:01:13.:01:23.
:01:23.:01:25.

And I will be here with Sportsday on the BBC News Channel as there is

:01:25.:01:29.

more rain had the US Open and players accused the organisers of

:01:29.:01:39.
:01:39.:01:46.

making them play in dangerous Good evening. The 50p tax rate for

:01:46.:01:52.

Britain's highest earners should be scrapped. That is the view of 20

:01:52.:01:55.

leading economists, and they have made the point in an open letter to

:01:55.:01:58.

the Chancellor. They say it's doing lasting damage to the economy and

:01:58.:02:02.

discouraging wealth creation. But any cut to the rate could set the

:02:02.:02:06.

coalition at odds. While Downing Street say it's a temporary measure,

:02:06.:02:09.

the Liberal Democrats say reducing the burden on the richest 1% would

:02:09.:02:19.
:02:19.:02:22.

be immoral. The 50 pence top tax rate, how long

:02:22.:02:26.

should the Chancellor keep it? That is a big question, and it is

:02:26.:02:30.

generating strong opinions on both sides of the argument. Today a

:02:30.:02:34.

group of economists, in a letter to the Financial Times, said it was

:02:34.:02:38.

doing lasting damage and was self- defeating. They want it scrapped.

:02:38.:02:43.

think the 50p rate is frankly an own goal for Britain. It says, we

:02:43.:02:47.

are not really interested in attracting or keeping talented,

:02:47.:02:51.

hard-working people in this country. We do not mind if they go abroad.

:02:51.:02:54.

Arm and those heading home in the City of London this evening, there

:02:54.:02:58.

was plenty of opposition to the current top rate. The people pay

:02:58.:03:01.

the 50 pence rate are paying it because they have lost their nuts

:03:01.:03:04.

to get there. I am not sure they should be punished for their

:03:04.:03:08.

endeavours over the last 20 years. The rich are going to be taxed

:03:08.:03:12.

higher, they will take their money elsewhere. So how does the top tax

:03:12.:03:17.

rate work? Until 20th April 10, on anything earned above �44,000 in

:03:17.:03:23.

back tax year, you paid 40p in the town, however high your earnings.

:03:23.:03:28.

From April 2010, that still applied up to �150,000, but on every penny

:03:28.:03:33.

earned above that, you paid 50p in tax. The policy was brought in by

:03:33.:03:37.

Labour and has been continued under the coalition. Around 320,000

:03:37.:03:41.

people are affected, the richest 1% of all adults. The Liberal

:03:42.:03:45.

Democrats want to hold on to the top rate. One senior member said

:03:45.:03:50.

scrapping it would be immoral, a view echoed by Labour. Of course as

:03:50.:03:55.

a politician and an economist, I would always rather see taxes lower

:03:55.:03:59.

rather than higher. But at this time, the economy has flatlined and

:03:59.:04:02.

unemployment is up. Everybody is feeling the squeeze. Do you really

:04:02.:04:06.

think the right way to get the economy to moving is only to cut

:04:06.:04:11.

taxes for the richest? Sir how much money does the 50p tax been in? The

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Treasury says there is a review under way and the policy is

:04:14.:04:18.

temporary. Experts say it is not yet possible to assess whether it

:04:18.:04:23.

is good or bad for the UK. When the government introduced the 50p rate,

:04:23.:04:26.

it did not know how much money it would raise or what damage it would

:04:26.:04:30.

Duce the economy. That is not a great way of making policy. They

:04:30.:04:35.

took a chance, and we have yet to see what the effect will be. Where

:04:35.:04:38.

there or not the Chancellor cuts the top rate of tax, he will

:04:38.:04:41.

continue looking for policies aimed at boosting growth. Others may be

:04:41.:04:46.

doing the same. For example, the Bank of England is facing calls to

:04:46.:04:49.

relaunch the policy known as quantitative easing. That is

:04:49.:04:53.

creating new money to pump into the economy. It seems certain that is

:04:53.:04:57.

on the agenda at the bank's latest monthly meeting, which ends

:04:58.:05:01.

tomorrow. For policymakers including George Osborne, these are

:05:01.:05:06.

uncertain times. He wants to help business and get growth moving, but

:05:06.:05:08.

on this tax battleground, that is proving difficult.

:05:08.:05:16.

Our political editor Nick Robinson is in Downing Street for us tonight.

:05:16.:05:20.

What will the government gaining reducing this tax or scrapping it,

:05:20.:05:24.

and will they do it? Let me let you into a secret. There is no secret

:05:24.:05:29.

Tory political strategy that says that during an age of austerity,

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when public sector workers have their pay frozen and their pensions

:05:32.:05:36.

cut and everybody is feeling the squeeze, the way to make yourself

:05:36.:05:39.

popular is to cut taxes for the rich. So why on earth are they

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thinking about it at all? The reason is this. You might think

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that in the buildings behind me, their biggest anxiety this summer

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has been about the riots or the fate of Colonel Gaddafi or Libya,

:05:50.:05:55.

not true. They are most worried about where on earth the economic

:05:55.:05:59.

growth will come from. They argue that they cannot spend money to

:05:59.:06:04.

create it. They cannot cut taxes per se as a way of creating

:06:04.:06:08.

economic growth. So where do they find that growth? It is then that

:06:08.:06:14.

economists have said to them, the problem with that top rate of tax

:06:14.:06:17.

is that it is a sign over Britain say, we do not want entrepreneurs

:06:17.:06:21.

here. They should either leave or not bother coming. That is why it

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is being discussed. The politics is more complex than it seems. The

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former Labour Chancellor Alistair Darling, who put taxes up to 50p,

:06:30.:06:33.

argued that it should only be temporary. The Liberal Democrat

:06:33.:06:38.

Party dropped its policy of having 50 P. So the argument will come

:06:38.:06:43.

about the timing of changing 50p, when it should be done and what

:06:44.:06:46.

should be done to compensate other people. I believe the Liberal

:06:46.:06:50.

Democrats will use their position in the coalition not to say you

:06:50.:06:54.

cannot do it, but to say you can only help the rich if you help

:06:54.:07:00.

poorer taxpayers first, and you do it soon.

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Tonight, some details are also emerging of how the Government

:07:02.:07:04.

intends to reform bank regulation. The Independent Commission on

:07:04.:07:07.

Banking is expected to recommend that a law to separate retail

:07:07.:07:09.

activities from riskier operations should be passed almost immediately,

:07:09.:07:13.

but delaying implementation for some years. Our Business Editor

:07:13.:07:23.
:07:23.:07:24.

Robert is here with the details. What does this mean? Up the Banking

:07:24.:07:27.

Commission wants to separate investment banking from retail

:07:27.:07:31.

banking, the banking which looks after our money and makes loans to

:07:31.:07:34.

households and businesses. And it wants to do other reforms it so

:07:34.:07:38.

that the next time a big bank gets into difficulties, we as taxpayers

:07:38.:07:42.

do not have to bail it out to the tune of millions of pounds. If you

:07:42.:07:46.

go back to the autumn of 2008, we bear that banks to the tune of

:07:46.:07:50.

hundreds of billions of pounds. So it wants to put in place reforms to

:07:50.:07:55.

prevent that happening again, but it recognises that separating these

:07:55.:07:58.

activities is ferociously complicated. That is why it is

:07:58.:08:03.

saying, give them years to do it. But to end uncertainty about the

:08:03.:08:10.

new stretch of banks, it says to legislate immediately. The CBI and

:08:10.:08:13.

the banks themselves, they fear that these reforms will make it

:08:14.:08:19.

harder for them to lend. The Prime Minister seems to share some of

:08:19.:08:24.

those anxieties. We just heard Nick talking about the fears of the

:08:24.:08:28.

Government about the threat to growth. Plainly, they do not want

:08:28.:08:33.

this reform to undermine growth. So you have this uncertainty being

:08:33.:08:36.

created about whether the Government will back the reforms

:08:36.:08:42.

being proposed by experts it itself has appointed. The Chancellor has

:08:42.:08:46.

said he does in theory support this ring-fencing. It is the separation

:08:46.:08:50.

of investment banking and retail banking. The point at issue is

:08:50.:08:53.

whether or not this should be legislated for immediately. There

:08:53.:08:57.

is the prospect of a division between the government and the

:08:57.:08:59.

experts it appointed to make the bank's safe.

:08:59.:09:02.

In Libya, as the hunt for Colonel Gaddafi continues, there are fears

:09:02.:09:05.

that a power vacuum is developing in the capital, Tripoli. With the

:09:06.:09:08.

opposition leadership still based in Benghazi, the need for

:09:08.:09:13.

government and the rule of law is being felt more keenly every day.

:09:13.:09:16.

Our Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen has been inside one of Tripoli's

:09:16.:09:26.
:09:26.:09:26.

largest prisons, and found hundreds locked up without trial.

:09:26.:09:33.

In the old Libya, where the prisoners' sky was just a patch of

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light, arrest was arbitrary and sentences could be indefinite or

:09:36.:09:43.

cut short by an execution. Fear still is not far away in the new

:09:43.:09:48.

Libya's prisons. We were asked not to show the prisoners' faces. I'm

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afraid because they say and a killer. As God is my witness, I am

:09:55.:10:01.

not. He is accused of killing two hostages and burying their bodies.

:10:01.:10:05.

His problem is that no legal process has started to establish

:10:05.:10:12.

his guilt or innocence. Around 700 men are warehoused in this

:10:12.:10:16.

improvised prison in a suburb of Tripoli. It smells of sweat and

:10:16.:10:23.

fear. Many of them fought in a unit run by the Colonel's son, feared

:10:23.:10:28.

for its ruthless and deadly disregard for the laws of war. A

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lot of them told me they joined in the regime's last month, for the

:10:32.:10:39.

money. And there are Nigerian prisoners, suspected mercenaries,

:10:39.:10:43.

according to their jailers. They say you had guns. No, I don't have

:10:43.:10:49.

guns. Her they said the people captured were carrying guns. No one

:10:49.:10:52.

here has a lawyer. No one has been charged with any crime. No

:10:53.:10:57.

policeman is investigating what they did or did not do. Libyan

:10:57.:10:59.

human rights lawyers who are trawling the remains of the old

:11:00.:11:04.

police state to seize and preserve its records accept that it is early

:11:04.:11:07.

days, but they believe more should have been done already to uphold

:11:07.:11:14.

the rule of law. It is a very important, very essential. It is a

:11:14.:11:22.

basic human right. If the new Libya fails to deliver this, all the

:11:22.:11:27.

sacrifices will be in vain. fighters still rule the streets.

:11:27.:11:31.

They are good at winning wars, not building a piece. Libya's would be

:11:31.:11:35.

civilian leaders were supposed to be in charge by now, but they are

:11:35.:11:40.

still in Benghazi, and there are whispers of tensions between the

:11:40.:11:45.

fighters' Islamist commanders and the politicians. It takes years,

:11:45.:11:49.

even generations, to recover from a civil war and a dictatorship, and

:11:49.:11:53.

Libya has had both. People tend to remember which side their

:11:53.:11:57.

neighbours took in the fight. But the way they deal with the legacy

:11:57.:12:02.

of the Gaddafi years is important because it will determine what kind

:12:02.:12:06.

of country this will be. 43 people have died after a Russian

:12:06.:12:11.

airliner crashed into a river bank shortly after take-off. The plane

:12:11.:12:15.

came down about 160 miles north- east of Moscow. Among those on

:12:15.:12:18.

board were members of one of Russia's leading ice hockey teams,

:12:18.:12:23.

who were on their way to a match. A florist who stabbed a man to

:12:23.:12:26.

death during an attempted robbery at his shop in July has been told

:12:26.:12:29.

he will not face criminal charges. The Crown Prosecution Service said

:12:29.:12:32.

Cecil Coaley, who is 72, had acted in "reasonable self-defence" when

:12:32.:12:34.

he killed 30-year-old Gary Mullings in old Trafford in Greater

:12:35.:12:42.

Manchester. The parents of a 17-year-old girl

:12:42.:12:45.

who was the victim of a suspected honour killing have appeared in

:12:45.:12:49.

court charged with her murder. Shafilea Ahmed's body was found on

:12:49.:12:51.

a riverbank in Cumbria in January 2004, four months after she

:12:51.:12:56.

disappeared from her home in Warrington. Iftikhar and Farzana

:12:57.:12:59.

Ahmed, who were arrested for a second time last year, have always

:13:00.:13:04.

denied any involvement in their daughter's death. This report

:13:04.:13:14.
:13:14.:13:18.

Shafilea Ahmed was just 17 when she died, the victim of a suspected

:13:18.:13:21.

honour cunning. Today friends and family arrived in court to see her

:13:21.:13:26.

parents accused of murder, a charge their solicitor said they were

:13:26.:13:31.

denied. They have been charged with allegations of murder in relation

:13:31.:13:35.

to their daughter. They both deny all allegations, and the

:13:35.:13:40.

allegations will be contested in court. This story begins here in

:13:40.:13:45.

2004 at the River Kent in Cumbria, where Shafilea Ahmed's body was

:13:45.:13:50.

found and when police launched their murder investigation.

:13:50.:13:54.

Detectives have already arrested Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed on

:13:54.:13:57.

suspicion of kidnap. At the time, their solicitor said they were both

:13:57.:14:03.

innocent. They strenuously deny any direct or indirect involvement in

:14:03.:14:10.

their daughter's untimely demise. But ever since, when she went

:14:10.:14:15.

missing from her home in Warrington, police have believed she was the

:14:15.:14:18.

victim of a suspected honour killing. She drank bleach on a

:14:18.:14:24.

holiday to Pakistan, and friends said she was increasingly unhappy.

:14:24.:14:29.

Detectives, though, never charged their parents. In 2004, they were

:14:29.:14:33.

released from bail, left angry about what they had gone through.

:14:33.:14:39.

After nine months of hell, what you expect? Sorry, we're too upset to

:14:39.:14:43.

talk more today. Now, seven years after this interview, they were

:14:43.:14:49.

charged with murder. Tonight they have been remanded in custody. Once

:14:49.:14:59.

again, both face accusations that Coming up on tonight's programme:

:14:59.:15:03.

The court in Germany that held future eurozone bailouts in its

:15:03.:15:13.
:15:13.:15:13.

It is nearly 10 years to the days since the shocking images of the

:15:13.:15:16.

9/11 terror attacks were beamed around the world. In Britain, the

:15:16.:15:20.

decade that followed has seen the London Underground atrocities and a

:15:20.:15:25.

huge shake-up of counter-terrorist policing, intelligence and

:15:25.:15:27.

community relations. Security correspondent Frank Gardner has

:15:27.:15:37.
:15:37.:15:39.

been looking at whether we are any Oh, my God! What is happening?!

:15:39.:15:46.

day they said the world changed. On 9/11, Al-Qaeda hit America, then

:15:46.:15:55.

later Bali, Madrid and other In July 2005, it was London's turn.

:15:55.:16:00.

52 commuters blown up on their way to work. So what sort of terrorist

:16:00.:16:04.

threat does Britain face today? The Government has said the current

:16:04.:16:08.

threat level is substantial, only the third highest out of five, but

:16:08.:16:12.

it means an attack is still thought a strong possibility. The threats

:16:12.:16:18.

range from Al-Qaeda-inspired jihadists to dissident Irish

:16:18.:16:20.

republicans to loan a far-right extremists, like the man who

:16:20.:16:25.

attacked Oslo this summer. The early Post-9/11 rhetoric about a

:16:25.:16:29.

war on terror has given way to a more pragmatic approach. Terrorism

:16:29.:16:36.

is being treated for what it is, a crime. I am proud that some 240

:16:36.:16:41.

individuals have been subject to proper legal process and convicted

:16:41.:16:45.

of terrorist-related offences since 9/11. That is the way to deal with

:16:46.:16:50.

terrorist crime. So how effective as the response to terrorism

:16:50.:16:56.

beanie? That most of these is airport and physical security. --

:16:56.:17:01.

apps most of this. When these crash barriers went up outside Parliament,

:17:01.:17:05.

a lot of people were shocked, but we have got used to them, they are

:17:05.:17:08.

part of the world we live in. There is no clear answer as to whether we

:17:08.:17:12.

are safer now in Britain from terrorism than we were 10 years ago.

:17:12.:17:17.

We know more about the threat we are facing, but those threats have

:17:17.:17:24.

The mass hostage-taking and murder in Mumbai three years ago has led

:17:24.:17:29.

to joint police-SAS training and a major boost in police firepower.

:17:29.:17:35.

But counter-terrorism is also about foreign policy. The tallest

:17:35.:17:40.

building is up there! Britain's part in the Iraqi invasion have to

:17:40.:17:44.

recruit countless young men took Al-Qaeda's cause, increasing the

:17:44.:17:47.

danger to Britain. Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles has watched anti-

:17:47.:17:52.

Western resentment fester and grow. We have got to be tough on

:17:52.:17:56.

terrorism, tough on the causes. You have to have serious counter

:17:56.:17:59.

radicalisation programmes, but you need to look at the wider foreign

:17:59.:18:05.

policy issues. Why are young Muslim men and women so angry? In London's

:18:06.:18:10.

East End, this man hears their answers every day as he tries to

:18:10.:18:14.

stop them being radicalised. They speak of Afghanistan, Iraq,

:18:14.:18:19.

Palestine, Kashmir as long running grievances. To say that young

:18:19.:18:24.

people would not want to express their anger against the West for

:18:24.:18:27.

its interests by launching terrorist attacks would be very

:18:27.:18:32.

naive. I think we have still got a problem. Soon Britain will face its

:18:32.:18:36.

biggest peacetime security challenge, and they are taking no

:18:36.:18:40.

chances. Planning for the London Olympics is being made on the basis

:18:40.:18:48.

that an attempted terrorist attack A 35-year-old man arrested by

:18:48.:18:51.

officers investigating phone- hacking is thought to be the sports

:18:51.:18:55.

journalist Raoul Simons. He was appointed Deputy Football editor of

:18:55.:19:00.

the times in 2009 after moving from the London Evening Standard. He is

:19:00.:19:05.

the 15th person to be investigated over the scandal.

:19:05.:19:08.

Germany's highest court has rejected a challenge to the country

:19:08.:19:13.

bailing out the struggling members of the eurozone. The constitutional

:19:13.:19:16.

Court upheld Germany's participation in the recent rescue

:19:16.:19:19.

packages, but it ruled that any future bailouts would have to give

:19:19.:19:24.

the German parliament a bigger role. As Europe editor Gavin Hewitt

:19:24.:19:27.

reports from Berlin, the bailouts are becoming increasingly unpopular

:19:27.:19:32.

with Germans. These German judges had made

:19:32.:19:36.

European officials nervous. A lawsuit by six Germans had asked

:19:37.:19:41.

the constitutional court to declare the eurozone bailouts illegal. But

:19:41.:19:51.
:19:51.:19:51.

The complaints are rejected. In a landmark judgment, the court ruled

:19:51.:19:55.

that the bailouts could continue, but they insisted the German

:19:55.:19:58.

parliament had to expressly approve further rescues, and that could

:19:58.:20:03.

prevent Germany responding swiftly to future crises. The battleground

:20:03.:20:08.

is now a German public opinion. That is the view of those who lost

:20:08.:20:14.

the court case. There is a growing uneasiness among the German people.

:20:14.:20:18.

The acceptance of the euro is not an -- now at an all-time low, with

:20:18.:20:24.

the effect that the acceptance of Europe and the EU is at an all-time

:20:24.:20:29.

low as well. And recent polls to suggest more than 60% of Germans

:20:29.:20:34.

now oppose further bailouts. Germany cannot always pay for

:20:34.:20:39.

everything and everyone. If it is just a bottomless pit, I would not

:20:39.:20:43.

be prepared to pay. The German parliament today began debating

:20:43.:20:48.

whether to support new powers for the eurozone bail-out fund. German

:20:48.:20:52.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said she had been vindicated by the court's

:20:52.:21:02.
:21:02.:21:02.

decision and defended the single TRANSLATION: The euro is the

:21:02.:21:07.

guarantee of a united Europe. If the euro fails, then Europe fails.

:21:07.:21:11.

But moving through parliament's corridors, it is easy to find MPs

:21:11.:21:14.

of our opponents of further bailouts, even within Angela

:21:14.:21:22.

Merkel's own party. TRANSLATION: I cannot agree to further bailouts,

:21:22.:21:26.

because we will face huge burdens at gigantic risks for our future

:21:26.:21:29.

generations. The expectation here is that Germany will have to make

:21:29.:21:33.

further loans in the future, but the eurozone is heading towards

:21:33.:21:38.

much closer economic integration, and that is sparking anxiety as to

:21:38.:21:48.
:21:48.:21:48.

what that will mean for of India's prime minister, Manmohan

:21:48.:21:51.

Singh, has condemned a bombing outside the High Court in New Delhi

:21:51.:21:55.

as a cowardly act of terrorism. At least 10 people died and more than

:21:55.:21:59.

60 were wounded when a device inside a briefcase went off near a

:21:59.:22:02.

security gate. The Scottish government wants to

:22:02.:22:06.

merge the country's eight police forces into one. The measure is

:22:06.:22:10.

among 50 new bells announced by First Minister Alex Salmond as part

:22:10.:22:14.

of its first programme for government since the SNP's

:22:14.:22:23.

landslide election victory in May. It is four months since Alex

:22:23.:22:26.

Salmond celebrated re-election. Today he renewed calls for

:22:26.:22:31.

Westminster to give Holyrood more economic cloud. The first objective

:22:31.:22:36.

in the constitution is to deliver much-needed job-creating powers of

:22:36.:22:40.

this Parliament. The voters put their trust in us and understand

:22:40.:22:44.

the SNP believe in independence. But it does not seem to be in any

:22:44.:22:50.

rush, so what are the early priorities? Police reform is at the

:22:50.:22:54.

centre of his law-making plans for the year ahead. Scotland's eight

:22:54.:22:59.

forces are to merge into one, the largest in the UK outside London.

:22:59.:23:04.

It is supposed to cut costs. Instead of officer numbers for pay

:23:04.:23:08.

and conditions, changes that are coming in England and Wales.

:23:08.:23:13.

Through restructuring in Scotland and hopefully removing a lot of the

:23:13.:23:16.

inefficiencies, then hopefully we can preserve the terms and

:23:16.:23:21.

conditions of police officers and staff. Another key measure is on

:23:21.:23:24.

alcohol misuse. Ministers hope setting a minimum price per unit

:23:24.:23:31.

for sales will reduce consumption, a proposal voted down at Holyrood

:23:31.:23:33.

before the SNP won its unprecedented mandate. Alex Salmond

:23:33.:23:38.

could get almost anything through the Scottish Parliament because,

:23:38.:23:42.

unlike any previous First Minister, his party won an overall majority

:23:42.:23:47.

of seats here at Holyrood. But he has chosen not to use that

:23:47.:23:52.

unrivalled power to bring forward an early referendum on independence

:23:52.:23:58.

for Scotland. He has a majority in this Parliament. He has a draft

:23:58.:24:02.

bill, or so he said. He has no credible excuse for not bringing

:24:02.:24:06.

that Bill forward. Politics professor John Curtice thinks the

:24:06.:24:11.

reasons are obvious. His playing a long game for two reasons. The

:24:11.:24:15.

first is that the opinion poll evidence shows he would not win a

:24:15.:24:19.

referendum if it were held tomorrow. England-Scotland are not convinced

:24:19.:24:23.

of the case for independence. -- people in Scotland. He is leaving

:24:24.:24:28.

the door open for a referendum about increasing the powers of the

:24:28.:24:32.

Scottish parliament, staying within the Union. The SNP says it will pop

:24:32.:24:37.

the independence question towards the end of its five-year term.

:24:37.:24:42.

A woman has been jailed for nine months for driving the wrong way at

:24:42.:24:46.

the M5 in Somerset while twice over the drink-drive limit and uninsured.

:24:46.:24:50.

Deborah Hunt was on the wrong carriageway of the motorway for 23

:24:50.:24:54.

miles. Police have described her driving as outrageously perilous.

:24:54.:25:00.

Jon Kay reports. It was on this dark stretch of the

:25:00.:25:04.

M5 that Deborah Hunt is said to have spread terror. Other drivers

:25:04.:25:09.

suddenly saw her head like speeding towards them. Cameras caught her

:25:09.:25:15.

Peugeot on the wrong side of the motorway at 60 mph. Vehicles

:25:15.:25:21.

swerved out of her way as she carried on for 20 miles, mainly in

:25:21.:25:26.

the so-called fast lane. Today, the mother of three came to be

:25:26.:25:29.

sentenced. After pleading guilty to dangerous driving, being drunk at

:25:29.:25:35.

the wheel and having no insurance. What you say to the people on the

:25:35.:25:39.

motorway that night? Inside, she was jailed for nine

:25:39.:25:43.

months. The judge said it was unbelievable that Deborah Hunt had

:25:44.:25:48.

driven at speed head on into motorway traffic here and there

:25:48.:25:54.

have not been a massive loss of life. She had even performed two U-

:25:54.:25:58.

turns on the carriageway. This was an outrageous act, an offence which

:25:58.:26:02.

is very serious and could have ended up in death or serious injury

:26:02.:26:07.

to anyone travelling on a very busy stretch of motorway. The court

:26:07.:26:11.

heard that she only stopped 20 minutes later when she eventually

:26:11.:26:16.

ran out of fuel. Officers said the 43-year-old was so drunk she could

:26:16.:26:20.

not explain why she had ended up there. Her lawyer said she had been

:26:20.:26:24.

drinking heavily after losing her job as a financial adviser and

:26:24.:26:29.

splitting up from her partner. As well as jailing her, the judge

:26:29.:26:33.

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