17/07/2014 Reporting Scotland

You can get the latest on the plane crash on the BBC News Channel.

The biggest defection of the independence campaign so far.

The former Labour Minister Peter Kilfoyle

goes against his party line and says Scots should vote yes.

The No Campaign says Scotland's best interests are served in the union.

As more competitors arrive for next week's Commonwealth Games,

the number of norovirus victims at the Athletes village rises to 32.

Grangemouth secures a multi-million pound loan to import

shale gas and protect thousands of jobs - but not everyone's happy.

We're at the Open golf in Liverpool where Stephen Gallacher's

And over and above the call of duty - the police officers

protecting the Queen's baton as it travels around the country.

A former Labour Minister in the Tony Blair government

Peter Kilfoyle, who served as an MP on Merseyside

for 20 years, said it was vital that Scotland and the English regions

His endorsement was welcomed by Alex Salmond, who was in Liverpool

making his last speech in England before the referendum.

Better Together said Mr Kilfolye was entitled to his opinion, but it was

From Liverpool, here's our political editor Brian Taylor.

Shipmates on a very macro across the Mersey, Zach, Liverpool to the core,

but he says that Scotland needs to loosen its grip. It enables Scotland

is to make decisions for themselves away from London, it sucks in

decision-making, resources, it sucks in our best people as well, because

that is the only place where there are opportunities. Scotland needs to

decide the best way forward for its own destiny. He resigned from the

Tony Blair government in the year 2000, accusing the party of

abandoning its roots, now he argues that Merseyside and the other

English regions should follow Scotland into taking greater control

of their own destiny. Alex Salmond says this Merseyside message can

resonate with Labour supporters in Scotland. This is not a normal party

election, this is a national referendum, above and beyond party

politics, and people should vote for what is in the interests of the

future of the country, and that is why so many key Labour figures in

Scotland are endorsing this. Alex Salmond is endorsing a conference,

outside, the Labour Party battle bus. The Labour Party mayor urges

the Scottish people to say no. Stick with us, stay with this, I am more

on your side, I have more in common with Glaswegians than Alex Salmond

has. I believe in social justice, it is the issues that are best

delivered by working in partnership, not walking away, and Scotland is

always looking outwards as a nation, we have led the UK, not left the UK,

and we need to leave the UK again. They say that Scotland should vote

no and have to elect a Labour government in the next general

election in the UK. Alex Salmond says that Labour candidates always

get the government that they choose. Why is this significant, Brian? Are

we saying, they will listen to Peter, take a look at the live birds

and say, yes, we would say yes, but no, this is about the wider aspects

of the referendum in Scotland, it is about those that are undecided, and

both among the Labour inclined voters, those that may have built it

for Alex Salmond in 2007 or 2011, but are part of the Labour Party

family, that is where it is most interesting, that is for Alex

Salmond is trying to stress that they can vote for independence

without it necessarily being an endorsement for him or the SNP. The

Labour Party knows that the wider Better Together campaign needs to

fight that and keep people in the Better Together and union campaign

and union camp. In this referendum, the undecided people will decide.

Now here's Sarah Smith with a look ahead to tonight's Scotland 2014.

We will also be discussing Alex Salmond and his wider strategy,

what's the Alex Salmond have to do to secure a yes vote and does he

have time to do it? People for and against will tell us what to expect

in the next few months, that about 10:30pm tonight on BBC Two Scotland.

The number of workers suffering from suspected norovirus

at the Athletes' Village of the Commonwealth Games has risen to 32.

20 new cases were identified in the last 24 hours, in addition

Our Health Correspondent Eleanor Bradford is with me now.

How worrying is this? It is a bit like protecting the common cold, it

is very infectious, it is all about trying to find out how we can stop

this from spreading, the experts not giving too much away. The

commonality seems to indicate an issue about where they may have been

exposed, or where the person that exposed them came from? The question

is, where were they contaminated? Maybe somebody manning a security

gate, not too much of a worry, or maybe they were inside the side,

changing light bulbs, that would be a worry. What about the risk to

athletes? Without knowing where all of the workers were, it is difficult

to tell, but the chief medical officer says that teens are being

kept up-to-date. They have been kept up-to-date from Tuesday morning with

a meeting every day. This is the third morning that we have been

addressing the doctors and the new arrivals from yesterday. They have

been informed openly that there were 12 and then the additional number

today to bring it up to 32, workers in a specific group, these have been

affected. Proper measures are in place and we're doing what we can

and what is standard from the health board colleagues, so we have kept

people up-to-date. Infection control specialists are

used to containing outbreaks of norovirus in other scenarios

like cruise ships and hospitals. But rarely has world attention

been on them quite so much. You're watching Reporting Scotland

from the BBC. Still to come on As transport operators in Glasgow

prepare for a million visitors, spectators are urged to allow plenty

of time for their journeys. In sport we catch up on the fortunes

of the Scots aiming to lift the And Motherwell are in Europa League

qualifying action. A busy night

in football with Aberdeen and The very latest

in the sport coming soon. The owners of Grangemouth have

secured a ?230 million loan guarantee from the UK government to

build a new facility to import shale gas. Ineos says the construction of

Europe's largest ethane storage tank would protect thousands of jobs

across the country. Today, the outlook is bright at

Grangemouth. Last October, it was much more bleak with a bitter

dispute between management and union leading to the near closure of the

plant. But staff accepted new terms and conditions and the company

agreed to invest in the future. But they UK government to guarantee a

loan of we are very, very pleased, and in less than 12 months, we have

come a long, long way, so it is great to be standing here today to

say that we have secured that loan guarantee. Last year we went to

Norway to see this site, also run by Ineos. The idea is that Grangemouth

will become a shell base facility like this, importing cheap gas from

America, that even after importing, costs half the price of North Sea

gas at the moment. This will store 17,000 tonnes of liquefied methane

to make plastics. Planning permission has been granted for a

tank year and it will be 40 metres high and will have twice the

capacity of the Norwegian tanker, so it is set to become a new feature on

the already distinctive Grangemouth skyline. Ineos believes this will

secure jobs for up to 20 years that the plant. Some environmental

campaigns are against shipping gas almost 3500 miles cross the

Atlantic, but it is important to the local economy. It means a lot to the

local area and to the workers, and even last year when they were

closing Ineos damn, there was such an atmosphere in this town, because

I think it would be affecting a lot of people. -- closing Ineos down.

The Unite union says the great about future doesn't just focus on

investment, but also on the hard work of it workforce. -- of the

workforce. A look at other stories from the

across the country. Police divers have recovered

a body from the wreckage of a car which fell more than 200 feet

from Duncansby Head in Caithness. Eyewitnesses said it appeared the

vehicle had driven across an area of grass, and crashed through a fence,

before plunging from the cliff top. A serviceman who died

after a motorbike crash at the RAF Lossiemouth base has been named.

49-year-old Sgt Peter Wildman, from Elgin, was involved

in the accident on Tuesday. East Ayrshire Council has sacked

its head of planning, over a ?132 million shortfall to

restore former opencast coal mine sites.

The huge clean-up bill was left behind by the collapse last year

of Scottish Coal and ATH Resources. Alan Neish was dismissed following

a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday. HMS Queen Elizabeth has been floated

for the first time at docks in Rosyth.

The giant aircraft carrier was released from a dry dock at

about 03:00 on Thursday. The ship is the largest warship

ever built for the Royal Navy and was formally named by the Queen

in a ceremony earlier this month. Controversial plans to transform

the heart of Aberdeen could be The redevelopment of the site

of the council's former headquarters has sparked a string

of objections from members In Edinburgh, the Jazz and Fashion

festivals came together this afternoon to show what they have

in store for the next ten days. From classic jazz to salsa,

from cutting edge Both festivals have attracted

a wealth of well known faces. Jools Holland, Mel C, Bill Wyman,

Maggie Bell. We have got runway shows, big exhibitions, Helena

Christensen is doing an exhibition. We know that disruption is

an inevitability but with the Games just around the corner,

we are all being urged to make sure we've thought about how we'll

travel during the Games. Organisers say,

expect delays clearing security at venues and don't expect to get

around town as normal. Our Commonwealth Games reporter,

Lisa Summers is in The signage offers suggestions, but

disruption ahead is expected. If you want to enjoy the sport, you have to

think now. There are extensive measures to try and restrict

parking, we advise people not to drive to venues, it will not work,

they will not find themselves able to do what they do on a normal day

in terms of visiting venues. Outside Glasgow, you will not get close to a

venue without a pass, and you can expect to have the queue before you

clear security. Our people prepared? We're going to table tennis, I am

worried about what will happen, it might not be walking distance. There

are restrictions on the bridges, I do not know how it will pan out.

Public transport is being tightened, but there are extra buses with

services for spectators and athletes. Buses will be every two

minutes from park and ride site, from other parts of the town, they

would be every ten minutes. Buses would be very frequent when events

are finishing, and we could be running services every 20 seconds at

peak times. Glasgow airport is getting ready for a busy weekend,

athletes and the world media on route, but down below in the radar

room, RAF personnel were brought in for the security of the games. We

are securing the aerospace and identifying what aircraft are in

there and if they are aircraft that we do not know about, we passed that

over. When it comes to getting around town, a dedicated call centre

has been set up. It is open 24 hours a day. So, everything is now in

place, but it could require some patients when the games begin.

Lisa how is it looking tonight? If we get weather like this, we will

not mind queueing into events, and here we are at Celtic Park, they are

rehearsing for the Opening Ceremony. You concede it isn't normal, it will

not be like any other event, we will not be able to park the car in

nearby and pay the local kid a fiver, we have to make different

precautions when coming to these events. Some key dates to look

forward to, the busiest times would be the first weekend and also the

Tuesday and Thursday of the week after that and Sunday, August three.

Particularly if you're heading out during any of the road racers, the

are fun, the cycling race, there will be blanket closures across the

city, so if you are trying to get across town, it could be difficult

to get around. The Gymnast Daniel Purvis doesn't

have any hint of a Scottish lilt, He says he can't wait to compete

for Scotland in the The 23-year-old, who's based in

Liverpool, qualifies for Scotland And he says he's relishing competing

in front of his Scottish side He's been talking to our Games

reporter Jane Lewis. Daniel Purvis was part of team GB in

London 2012, now he has his mind set on the Commonwealth Games. I always

wanted to compete for Scotland. We are here at one of the gymnastics

venues, it is great, isn't it? Yes, it is like a Coliseum, it looks like

it would be amazing to hear the crowd, and the roar of the people.

How did you get into gymnastics? I was terrible at football, gymnastics

is something that it takes a lot of time to perfect and you have to get

your body conditioned, and in the teenage years, you have to have a

lot of sacrifices, because you have to train 20 hours a week, and if you

want to get to the Commonwealth Games or the Olympics, you have to

put that into it. What are your expectations for the Commonwealth

Games in Glasgow? The main thing is a team medal, because Scotland have

never got a team medal for the Commonwealth Games. It would be

great to get on the podium, also it would be great to get in the top

three individually. The team is very strong, five men that can cover

every piece, so it will be a great fight, so as long as we can hit as

many routines cleanly as they can, it will be about pushing for the top

three. Plenty more happening

in the world of sport away Rhona, what news

of Scottish hopes in the Open golf? The last groups are now out

at the Royal Liverpool golf course in Hoylake, on the opening day

of the 143rd Open Championship, and Our golf reporter Phil Goodlad is

there to bring us up to speed... A very interesting opening round,

and for the second week in a row, Rory McIlroy making all of the

headlines. He dominated the opening day of the Scottish open. He is the

early clubhouse leader after a round of 66. He is six under par. At one

point, Stephen Gallacher wasn't far from them, this at the sixth hole

helping the leading golfer to three under. He dropped towards the end,

but an excellent opening round of 70 for Stephen Gallacher, very pleased

to be at two under par. Any time you are two under par at a major, it is

not too bad. It is a good start, something to build on, looking

forward to tomorrow. He had strong company in the form of Marc Warren

with early approach shots helping him to go along very nicely. He had

a round of 71 in the end. Marc Warren welcome tomorrow at under

par. He had some good shots, he was rewarded with a nice of Asian and a

round of applause. He had that a few times today. I would like to have

finished a bit stronger, but a solid round, hopefully some more in the

next few days. Not great news for two other Scots, the amateur

champion Bradley Neal shooting a 79 today at seven over par, as is Paul

Lawrie, both coming back tomorrow at seven over par. Rory McIlroy making

the headlines on day one, but a solid start from Stephen Gallacher

and Marc Warren. Scottish Cup winners St Johnstone's

latest foray They kicked off at half past six

in Swizterland in the first leg of their Europa League qualifier

with Lucerne. There are, of course,

two other Scottish sides in Europa Aberdeen welcome Dutch side

Groningen while Motherwell face an Icelandic side who're perhaps

more famous for their goal Motherwell may need to work on their

celebrations tonight, as their opponents have turned it into an art

form. MUSIC PLAYS They say they have cut down on the

choreography these days, Motherwell hoping they will not get a chance to

show their new moves. At home, you always try to win the game, and we

will be doing that, and any kind of injury that we get, if we can manage

that, I will be happy, because we cannot take this side slightly.

Aberdeen scored eight goals without reply at their opponents from

Latvia, but they will have a tougher test tonight against the Dutch side

Groningen. They have come from European competition, so I

anticipate a healthy crowd. Sales been fantastic, a good atmosphere

with the Groningen fans coming also. More goals are what Aberdeen want to

deliver, and this man may be a help, with David Goodwillie hopefully

making his debut at Pittodrie Stadium in.

And you can keep up to date with Scotland's three teams in Europa Cup

That?s BBC Radio Scotland 810 MW and the guys are on air just now.

The unexpected stars of the Queen's Baton relay have been the members

They've been running with the baton bearers every step of the way.

And as Cameron Buttle reports, the baton Bobbies have done much

Everyday, every step of the way, the police escort flanking the baton in

a protective bubble. This unit is growing and growing in popularity.

On board the media vehicle, this is got lots of cameras, and they all

point out at the baton bearer and the police escort, and these cameras

feeder to the Internet and this is exactly where the following has

grown for the police escort, and in particular, their dancing. They have

walls, done the cancan, they have dinner Jake with the baton bearer

is, but their penguin dance has been an Internet favourite. Lots of

people taking pictures and videos. We were feeding off the enthusiasm

of the baton bearer 's, and every magic moment has been created by the

bearer is that we met along the way. It is like something that we

would like to aspire to, but usually in day-to-day policing, we are to be

more serious, but I enjoyed this community aspect, so I am loving

this. Do not be mistaken, the primary purpose is protection. There

is a fun element to engaging with the crowd, but they are focused on

keeping the baton bearer safe and keeping the baton safe also, and we

have seen some incidents, and we can react quickly and proportionally to

whatever the threat might be. The police impact has been a surprise to

all on the baton relay, they have created a party atmosphere and made

every bearer?s Great weather

for all the baton bearers today. It's off west to Duntocher

and Clydebank tomorrow Christopher. A lovely day across the country,

these are the satellite pictures, 22, 20 three degrees. You can see

the cloud building across north Aberdeenshire and the merry fret,

but this evening, some warm sunshine for the next couple of hours.

Tonight, largely dry, not much going on, temperatures holding up in the

tens at countryside. This line of heavy downpours pushing north from

Wales and the north-west of England and Northern Ireland into the South

West of Scotland, and clouding over with wet weather in the afternoon

towards the southern options and the western belt. Some lightning, some

hailstones, feeling quite humid, 23 degrees. In Stirling, Dundee, Perth,

into Aberdeen and in the nest, dry, bright, sunny, cloudy and East

Coast. -- and into Inverness. Breezy on the East Coast at times, and

cooler and cloudy for the Northern Isles. In the afternoon, showers up

towards Inverness but sizzling away. More wet weather this weekend, added

early warning from the Met Office, that is yellow, that means you need

to beware, that is because of low pressure and heavy downpours

triggered down south and pushing towards us here in Scotland. A

change to the forecast, this is how it plays out. Saturday, heavy

downpours from the south across eastern part of the country through

the Central belt and to the west in the afternoon. Some lightning and

difficult conditions on the roads, and feeling humid at 23, 20 4

degrees. Sunday, still unsettled, the bulk of the unsettled weather in

the north-east, elsewhere, some dry interludes with temperatures in the

low 20s. That is your forecast. A reminder of the headlines, a

Malaysia Airlines aircraft carrying nearly 300 people has crashed in

Ukrainian Russian border. There are claims that was shot down. Ukraine

and Russia are denying responsibility. There has been

fighting on that border since March following the overthrow of the

Ukrainian government. A former Labour minister in the Tony

Blair government hasn't forced Scottish independence, Peter Kell

Foyle who served on Merseyside for 20 years says it was vital that

Scotland and the English regions loose in London?s grip on power.

Better Together said it was up to the Scottish people to decide.

I'll be back with the headlines at 8:00

and the late bulletin just after the ten o'clock news.

Until then, from everyone on the team right across the

It took less than 90 seconds for the eight-storey building to collapse.