02/02/2016 Reporting Scotland

now on BBC Two, 11.00pm in Scotland. That's Evan

Labour is calling for Scots to pay extra income tax.

It says a 1p-in-the-pound rise could be spent

Holyrood will have additional powers over income tax rates from April

and even more powers are due to come under the Scotland Bill.

The Scottish Government says it won't alter tax rates until these

Here's our political correspondent, Glenn Campbell.

In Aberdeen, where the oil price crash hitting hard, a taxing

question for locals. Would you pay a little more income tax to preserve

local services? Yes or no? No, I think we pay enough tax as it is. I

work virtually full-time. I do have a full-time, but -- I do have a

pension, but I am taxed on that. Yes, I would, because what is a

penny in today's terms if it helps other people and other

organisations. Yes, I would pay a penny. In Edinburgh, the Labour

leader thinks putting a penny on all income tax rates in Scotland will

prove popular as an alternative to local government cuts. Altogether it

will generate ?480 million, more than enough to Jews and tenant of

path from the cuts are being imposed on local schools and vital public

services, those cuts which will cost countless jobs across the country.

What does that have to do with the price of fish? Labour says someone

earning around ?30,000 a year would only pay an extra ?4 a week under

their tax plan. Far less than the cost of this supper. And those on

low earnings would actually receive a ?100 a year rebate. But the SNP is

not buying it. It seems unworkable. It is not fair because it is not

progressive. It will hammer many people on low incomes in contrast to

what the SNP government is doing, and they have not worked out how it

will actually work. The SNP wants to match UK income tax rate in the year

ahead. Like the Scottish Greens, they think the extended income tax

powers coming in 2017 offer more scope for reform. We should be

looking in the round at how national and local tax powers will work

together. Council tax has to go as well, so we need to look at how

across the balance we are being progressive. Labour's penny for

local services is similar to the Liberal Democrats' penny for

education. Our priority is for education for simple reasons, it is

to give everyone the opportunity to get up and get on the matter their

background, but also to feed the skills that the economy needs. The

Conservatives want to cut income tax when finances allowed. The first

thing the Labour Party has said it will do is whack the Labour Party --

backwaters for tax. We do not think you should be more than another part

of the UK. Not since the SNP's penny plan has income tax been such a big

issue. Voters rejected paying more then. In these tough Financial

Times, Labour hopes attitudes have changed.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Government says it is "strongly opposed"

to a European referendum being held in June because it would be too

close to the Scottish Parliament elections in May.

The issued was raised in the House of Commons earlier.

It simply cannot be right to have these elections and a referendum

campaign clash with a June polling day. Will the government to take the

opportunity to confirm that it will respect the electorates in Scotland,

Wales, Northern Ireland and London by not announcing a June referendum

date? No decision has been taken about a referendum date, not least

because we do not yet have a deal and we'll will not know until

February at the earliest when we do. It is a decision for the house

because the date is set by statutory instrument subject to affirmative

resolution here. New figures suggest emergency

departments in Scottish hospitals recorded their best December

performance in recent years. 95% of people were dealt with within

the Scottish Government's target It's the best performance

in Scotland since 2009. Figures for the rest of the UK

are released at different times, but overall Scottish emergency

departments are treating people more quickly than England,

Wales or Northern Ireland. A Scottish holidaymaker who died

after being attacked by an elephant in Thailand has been named

locally as 36-six-year He's said to have been thrown

by the animal after it turned on its handler during an outing

on the island of Koh Samui. It's understood Mr Crowe's

teenage daughter escaped Our correspondent

Daniela Relph reports. Behind the trees is the elephant,

still with the seat on its back. It is the one Gareth Crowe and his

daughter were riding, the one who attacked them. It is thought Gareth

Crowe was thrown off as the elephant handler tried to take a photo. Some

reports say the handler had already struck the elephant a number of

times. A local vet who examined the animals had the elephant's behaviour

could have stemmed from the hot weather and being stressed. It may

also have been startled by something, he said. Elephant

trekking remains a popular activity for tourists in Thailand. It is,

they'll come an increasingly controversial choice. Animal welfare

groups say elephants are subjected to brutal treatment to make them

submissive and able to train a but they remain unpredictable. If you

saw an elephant in the wild you would literally run a mile. You

would go anywhere near it because it is so dangerous. It is one of the

most dangerous animals in the wild, and so for it to be forced into this

type of submission it is because of this repeated beating and cruelty.

At the camp where Gareth Crowe died, vets found animals change

At the camp where Gareth Crowe died, Others looked poorly cared for. Some

of the world's biggest travel companies now refuse to promote

elephant treks, knowing the dangers tourists face.

Police investigating a rape in Aberdeen city centre are trying

to trace a group of people, thought to be students.

A woman was attacked at around 3 o'clock

last Thursday morning in Union Terrace Gardens.

The five men and one woman were seen leaving a takeaway

on Belmont Street, before heading towards the area

BP says it's shedding up to 3,000 more jobs

from its operations across the world blaming falling oil prices for a big

Its Chief Executive has said the current situation is as bad

as 1986, when a crash in the oil price

So, can we learn anything, from what happened then?

Our business correspondent David Henderson has been

These are tough times for BB and those who rely on it. Three weeks

ago the company announced plans to lay off about 600 North Sea oil

workers. Today they have said even more of their global workforce will

have to go in another round of cost-cutting. The collapse in the

price of oil has also hammered the company's profits. Today, BP posted

their largest annual loss for over 20 years, but they are not alone.

The whole industry is feeling the pain in a way it has not done for

years. Three decades ago, a booming industry was hit hard. The chief

executive refused to be interviewed on television, and at a briefing

with journalists he said the decision to make 750 employees

redundant had not been taken lightly. And it got worse. The price

of oil for the world is plummeting. North Sea oil fell today to its lows

level for six years. Some of it will be sold for less than $20 a barrel,

that is half what it was costing in the early 1980s. And worse. The cost

of a barrel of the early 1980s. And worse. The cost

market fell to less than $10. Jobs were lost. I was just

market fell to less than $10. Jobs building. And this use oil rigs

littered Scotland's coastline. These echoes from the past are frightening

investors and producers today. But how long will it take for the oil

price to recover? Will it be quick or will it take decades like last

time? China's demand for oil is still growing, but not so fast. In

room in shale oil leaves America less reliant on imports, and Saudi

Arabia is refusing to cut back oil production. In terms of price

recovery to anywhere like $100 a barrel, that is a very long way into

the future, because one of the other key parallels with the situation we

have at the moment is that technology in the form of US shale

has once again proved able to commercialise a lot of hydrocarbon

that was otherwise uncommercial, and that genie is not going back in the

bottle. The cost of extracting oil from the North Sea does not get

cheaper, and to make it happen, producers like BP have to invest.

But that is hard if they are barely making a profit. So oil companies

operating in the North Sea and their workforces are watching the price of

oil like a hawk. Will it rise anytime soon? The boss of BP, Bob

Dudley, exceed barrel of oil will increase in price from around $30

note to around $50 by the end of the year. Some say that is wrong and

that the price will keep going down and down because of massive

oversupply around the world. We have seen Scotland's oil industry falter

and bounce back again, but we do not yet know whether that is any guide

to the future. Scottish Power is cutting

its standard domestic gas prices by an average of 5.4%

from the middle of March. It is the third supplier

to announce such a drop Scottish Power says the reduction

will benefit over a million consumers and will take

an average ?32 from the annual It follows announcements of roughly

similar reductions by SSE and E.ON. Rare clouds which colour the sky

with luminous hues have been spotted Photographers have reported seeing

the iridescent nacreous clouds The brightly coloured weather

feature has seen skies smeared with bright pinks, blues,

yellows and greens. They are considered rare

because they are usually found only Well, it's over to the weather

now, and the outlook We have the cool air, but look to

the skies tonight and you're likely to see some big shower clouds, and

with temperatures already subzero that is a perfect recipe for eyes.

We have a yellow warning from the Met Office covering most of

Scotland. One band of showers making its way across southern England, and

other working south across Scotland bringing snow to the hills on high

ground, and even some snow to low levels in the heaviest showers. Once

they go, behind that in the clear skies temperatures fall away and

things will eyes up. Some tricky conditions into tomorrow morning,

slippery surfaces, but a lot of dry and bright weather. This is the

picture if you're heading out around it or clock. Services will be wet

with a covering of snow particularly over higher roads. Tricky conditions

for the morning commute. Showers for the Western Isles, Northern Isles

and Aberdeenshire. Still some brisk winds over the Northern Isles, and

those showers will be wintry elsewhere. For most of Scotland and

most of England it is a cracking day with plenty of crisp sunshine and

winds much lighter than they have been. The cloud tending to increase

from the west later in the day, and bits and pieces of rain getting into

Northern Ireland, the Hebrides and Wales. The first sign of a weather

front that will move in tomorrow evening, bringing rain and sleet to

lower levels and snow for higher evening, bringing rain and sleet to

ground. Tricky conditions for a time, then this next truck moves in.

It is a warm front. And that we're into much milder conditions for

Thursday. Some brightness to start the day in the north-east but

otherwise a lot of cloud across the country on Thursday. Bits and pieces

of rain, some of it patchy, but still a grey and damp day. You will

notice it milder, temperatures into double figures are the first time in

quite a while. Friday, turns unsettled with this weather front

bringing heavy rain. Winds strengthening and that rain could

cause flooding in the South. Our next update is during Breakfast

at 6.25 tomorrow morning. But, from everyone on the late team

here in Glasgow and around