26/09/2016 Scotland 2016

Not that long ago she said he couldn't lead Labour to victory.

But now Kezia Dugdale's looking forward to working

It was smiles all round on the Conference floor today

but can Labour really heal its wounds now and move forward?

And the pressure's on for Clinton and Trump as they go

head-to-head in the first televised debate of the campaign.

It was the day when everyone was supposed to have moved on.

After the bitterness of the leadership battle,

time to come together, to start working towards winning

So has peace really broken out at the Labour party

Liverpool has reinvented itself and is awash with designer bars and

clubs. Inside the conference centre is a party trying to do the same.

This is Jeremy Corbyn? Labour, a party that says it will come

together united in a socialist cause. I get emotional about this

part of Conference. As Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale took to

the stage today, a hint of emotions running high. She reinforced the

anti-austerity message. Today I can announce when the Scottish

Government presents a budget of parliament, we will place amendments

to introduce a 50p tax, and add a penny to income tax to pay for

public services. Labour will not help the SNP pass an austerity

budget on our watch. Not surprisingly it was a loud applause

for this. We do not need the risk of uncertainty of another independence

referendum and that is why we will vote against any proposal for a

second independence referendum in this Parliament. Shadow Chancellor

John McDonnell's main headline was a higher living wage. Not new, but

they liked it all the same. Onto the next Labour government everyone will

earn enough to live on. When we win the next election we will write into

law a real living wage. During the leadership election Kezia Dugdale

openly backed Owen Smith, saying Jeremy Corbyn could never take the

party to a general election win. Yesterday she did a massive U-turn.

One area of contention between them is the question of the National

Executive Committee. The Labour ruling body. Last week it approved

proposals to grant Scottish Labour more autonomy in the form of

regional representatives to be chosen by Kezia Dugdale. Allies of

Jeremy Corbyn last night resisted the move. They see such a process as

having the potential to tip the NEC in favour of the anti-Corvin camp.

But the fine balance between those who support Jeremy Corbyn and those

who oppose him will be decided at conference tomorrow. So has the talk

of policy today done enough to take attention away from the question of

disunity? Labour can announce as many policies as it wants to but

there are two things. First of all it has been dominated by the

re-election of Jeremy Corbyn and whether he can pull the party

together. Again he's not showing signs of doing that. We do not see

any signs of peace, any doves arriving. It is just not happening.

And secondly, policies have got to be credible. They have to speak to

the biggest issue facing country just now, Wrexham. It has hardly

been debated here at all. The last line of this speech was one of old

optimism. Let us resolve to unite around our values and rediscover our

radical roots and again be what's a mini people in Scotland and across

the UK want us to be. The greatest fighting force for progress that

this country has ever known. It is easy to get applause from a friendly

audience. The test comes when you take your policies to the people who

could elect you. Well our Westminster Correspondent

Nick Eardley has been talking to the Labour leader

Jeremy Corbyn today. After Labour's worst ever election

result at Holyrood this May, he asked him -

what needs to change? We recently won three by-elections

in Scotland and gain seats. The party membership has gone up. We

have elections next year and later this year we will be doing a serious

economic conference in Scotland for the Scottish economy and the labour

view on it. So there is a great deal of hope there. Many traditional

supporters have abandoned the party for the SNP, they support

independence, are you listening to them? Of course, we listen to people

all the time and work with people all the time. A growing UK economy,

investment led, will produce jobs for the future. Will produce the

income which could fund the necessary services. We cannot go on

cutting college places, with continued housing shortages. That

was the message in the month of May and did not seem to make its way

through to the electorate. As time goes on people realise that the SNP

and their proclaimed opposition to austerity, the reality is they are

not using the powers they have in the Scottish Parliament and local

government cuts continue. Some people lose their jobs and services

deteriorate. Do you think that you can win a general election in

Scotland? We can win a lot of support in Scotland. We have one

local election by-elections, we have elections next year and of course we

have bigger elections later on for the Westminster election. The

Scottish party is in good heart. One school of thought says the UK Labour

Party cannot get back into power at Westminster without reclaiming a

number of seats in Scotland. Is that your target? The plan is to campaign

all over the UK of course, campaign in Scotland, campaign on those

Labour traditional values and also point out if there is to be a

growing economy in Scotland, it can only be done as part of a growing

economy across the UK. That means investment, better infrastructure,

and also ensuring those jobs that are now at risk because of the

decline in the oil industry especially in Aberdeen and Dundee,

are secured through investment for different technologies and

industries for the future. Have you tried to stop Kezia Dugdale

appointing representatives to the Executive? No, the party has put

forward a rule change which will allow her to be a Scottish

representative on the national executive. That will be agreed

tomorrow by Conference. Some Scottish Labour think you and your

supporters have tried to block Kezia Dugdale appointing their position. I

have said they has to be a Scottish member of the national executive and

for that matter a Welsh member. The method of decision-making on that is

what the discussion was about, we will come to that conclusion and

there will be a Scottish member of the national executive. Are you

happy for it to be appointed by Kezia Dugdale? Very happy, we work

well together. It appears the package of reform will go ahead as a

whole tomorrow. Do you want your supporters to back it? Yes, the

package of reforms, the national executive is only part of that,

there would be much greater discussion about democracy of the UK

Labour Party as a whole which will include possibly more members

representing individual party members over the whole country as

well as a change in the policy-making process. We are now a

party of nearly 600,000 members and they will want to say and that is

good. Do you want in Murray back in your Shadow Cabinet? If he's

available the door is open. Well shortly before we came on air

Nick spoke to us from Liverpool. Another day done at Labour

conference and it seems another row averted. Jeremy Corbyn saying in the

interview there that he is happy for Kezia Dugdale to appoint a

representative to the NEC. I think that is holding out an olive branch,

suggesting we're now at a stage where agreement has been reached,

and I think it makes it likely that those measures will be passed

tomorrow. That will give Scottish Labour two things, autonomy to set

its own policies, chooses candidates, and the power to send

someone to the UK executive to make arguments on the health of the

Scottish party. But anything goes in the Labour Party just now, it is not

impossible that the issue could be raised again tomorrow. There are

other issues remaining as well, one of them personnel. How does Jeremy

Corbyn with his new mandate, get those MPs who left his Shadow

Cabinet, who expressed no confidence in him, back onside. In Murray is

one of them, the former shadow Scottish Secretary. He said today

Jeremy Corbyn needs to meet the rebels halfway. I think Jeremy

Corbyn wants to listen to those arguments but we're not quite there

yet with Shadow Cabinet elections. Some members of the current Shadow

Cabinet expressed some scepticism, that this could be a plan to try to

undermine Jeremy Corbyn. So one issue is resolved, others remaining.

Plenty more to come from the Labour conference.

With just six weeks to go until the US elects a new President,

the pressure really gets cranked up later tonight.

Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump are going head-to-head

With the race currently too close to call, they're facing the voters

together on camera for the first time in this long campaign.

Shortly before we came on air I spoke to three political

commentators about just what's at stake tonight.

Joining as from Washington is James Fallows, National correspondent for

the Atlantic magazine. In Edinburgh doctor mail Kenny, a lecturer in

gender at the University of Edinburgh and historian and Daily

Telegraph journalist Tim Stanley. Good evening. James Fallows, most of

us here are going to be asleep when the showdown goes live but just how

significant an event is it over there? I think it is being seen as

pretty significant. Political scientists argue sometimes debates

do not change elections, but John Kennedy was going to win anyway,

Ronald Reagan was going to win anyway. But with all the

unpredictability, the stark contrast between Donald Trump and Hillary

Clinton, it feels as if this could be a moment when trends change in

one direction or the other. They are virtually neck and neck in the polls

and I guess they both have a lot to lose tonight. Yes and given the very

different dynamics, Donald Trump, his style is so aggressive and

extreme, Hillary Clinton, her style has been so controlled. You can

imagine different ways in which either could lose. If Donald Trump

were to explode in some way, if Hillary Clinton were to seem offer a

game or defensive. So everyone will have some theory that all yes it was

inevitable but right now before the debate you can imagine many

scenarios without being sure of which is more likely to occur. Tim

Stanley, what we know about how both candidates have been preparing for

the debate? We know their preparation reflect the personality

and what we expect to happen. Hillary Clinton has been hunkered

down in hotel close to the place where the debate will take place,

she has been there for around three days, she had two sessions of

preparation per day, members of staff impersonating Donald Trump and

asking tough and sometimes personal questions as they fear he might. She

has said she's all about the detail and intends to get on top of the

facts. Meanwhile Donald Trump is thought to have done next to no

preparation. He has met with some friends at the golf course,

supposedly has kicked some questions around, there was talk about the

campaign sending out a survey to supporters to ask if he should refer

to Hillary Clinton as a crook live on air. But having said that, he is

a reality TV star, that is how he became really famous in America,

being the host of the apprentice. Throughout this campaign we have

watched his performance on TV and said that he breaks all the rules,

doing everything wrong according to politics as usual. But we no longer

live in the kind of Europe where politicians are supposed to be on

top of the fact that heavily programmed and all about experience.

We're moving into a era where people are voting on the basis of emotion

and so I would say that Donald Trump is better prepared for this debate

then Hillary Clinton because he understands television.

This is that the first time in history but a woman has appeared in

one of his televised presidential debates. Does pose particular

problems for Hillary Clinton is a FEMA candidate? I think it does and

I think the Hillary Clinton, the bar is high and that reflects the bar

that many women candidates have the cross which is that she has the sure

she is competent but also that she is likeable. For women, that is the

double bind. The more competent you are, the less likeable you are

perceived to be and vice versa. You think the bar is high ethical

Hillary Clinton? She has a lot to balance. She has the challenge trump

and on the other hand we know perceptions are different for women

than men. She may be perceived as being aggressive, overly

condescending, so she has a lot that she has the juggle as the Trump, the

bar is low. Did you agree with that? We've heard tram's campaign manager

saying his natural connective tissue with people would be on show

tonight. Would he stumble over policy detail though? I agree about

the difficulty that prominent women have. I think there may be one or

two ways in which that works the Hillary Clinton's advantage. One is

that not, who is so aggressive, he has been notably shrinking when

confronted with strong women in person. He does not like to be

face-to-face with the woman who is standing up to him so that might not

be something that will work for his advantage. Hillary Clinton has been

her best historically when under attack, whether it is the Benghazi

commission, running for the Senate or in 2008 when Barack Obama was

condescending to her. It has actually brought out the best for

her and expanded this narrow tightrope that prominent women are

allowed to work on in American politics. The dynamics of this might

strangely give latitude than she would have against a normal

opponent. 90 minutes is a very long time on live television. There has

got the be a bit of an endurance contest for both of them. Is that

something that might play badly for Donald Trump? Some fear that Hillary

Clinton could cough. There had been rumours that she has poor health so

something might happen. Reflecting on the previous debates, Donald

Trump tends to lose energy after ten or 15 minutes. He has the

notoriously short attention span so I expect him to suffer in that way.

By one to second the comments that have just been made. It is true that

being a woman puts Hillary Clinton at a disadvantage of if she is too

clever, I feel intimidated by her. But it is much as male voters

watching. Women are, too. And the basic dynamic of your selections

since the 1980s is that the Republicans consistently use the

popular vote because while they do well among white people they do very

badly among non-white people and particularly among women. It is

possible this evening that even if in terms of theatre, it looks like

Donald Trump is in, the kind of people who like the things he says

are voting for him anyway but don't be surprised beneath the radar, he

alienates a whole load of bull however he says. There are still a

lot of undecided voters there. How much do think the final result could

hinge on whether the third-party candidates actually pick up voters

from those who are disaffected by the mainstream? Trump and

third-party candidates are tapping into this sense of political

alienation and disaffection but I want to echo the comments that the

Trump, the challenge is to expand beyond that base. For Hillary

Clinton, the challenge is to expand an appeal to those millennial 's who

may have voted for Bernie Sanders and the kinds of voters who should

be coming over to her campaign at this point but are not necessarily

end that is why we are seeing this closing of the gap. But even though

the polls are narrowing, there is still a hugely significant gender

gap in her favour of Hillary. You are nodding your head but we do keep

hearing that the public have had it with slick politicians, with no

little politicians, experts. Do you think in the end, Clinton can

overcome that? Based on every fact of history and logic and

demographics and numbers, you would expect Hillary Clinton to win. The

question is, why she not winning easily? As both of your other

panellists have said, the one group with whom Donald Trump is running

better than Mitt Romney is white men without a college degree. Every

other demographic of whites, blacks, Latinos with college degrees, he is

running behind Mitt Romney. Based on basic physics, you would still

expect Hillary Clinton to win a notable part is that it seems as

close as it does because of the passion many people have the Donald

Trump. But I bet enough for them to get that across? I am going to ask

you will not put your money where your mouth is. Who do you think will

come out on top of the my's debate and come out on top in six weeks'

time? I think again, the demographics point in Clinton's

favour, but it is not what happens inside the bait. It is also the

postdebate spin. We have to remember that there are low expectations for

Trump and the expectation is he will buy haps me those or exceed those,

given all of the bar is. Are you a betting man? I am not a betting man.

I would bet hope the Hillary Clinton wins the election. The expectations

game may have been triple spun so it could actually work in Hillary

Clinton's favour ie people now expect Donald Trump to do better. I

would expect a narrow margin, heard to have been seen as coming out

stronger from this encounter. I expect Trump to do very well

perceiving. I think he's the king of reality TV and has injected that

into mainstream politics and has transformed our expectations. For

that reason, I will not put my money on either count on right now. Thank

you very much for joining us this evening.

And if you can't sleep tonight and want to watch the debate

live you can see it over on the News Channel from 2am.

Joining me to discuss the day's big stories are the former

Scottish Labour adviser Simon Pia - and the political commentator

Let's kick off the Labour Party conference in Liverpool and it tends

to put all that bad blood and infighting behind them. How's that

going them? I think it is going a bit better than we expected

beforehand. Everything is still getting blown out of proportion but

the media are not getting blood red meat. It went quite smoothly and

everything went as expected. I believe the Scottish NEC dispute

will be resolved as well. What do you make of her response over the

weekend to Jeremy Corbyn's election? Some people might call flip-flop. Is

that something she can per behind the now? Yes. In a few months' time,

that will be forgotten. It will not just be cast up all the time? It was

not great but is not significant. What is more significant is if they

do win tomorrow's the vote, appoint someone at the NSC, and if things

settle down if the momentum group within Labour supporter Jeremy

Corbyn comes after those who supported his opponent, including Mr

Dugdale, and she grows into the job. The problem of Scottish Labour's

troubles has been that the young inexperienced leader has said the

time when even someone long in the tooth would have struggled anyway. I

wonder if it was a mistake for her to so openly come out against Jeremy

Corbyn. We heard today John McDonald talking about socialism. She is

trying to position late Scottish Labour to the left of the group.

Would you not have the would be a natural bedfellows? Should be. She

has made up her mind about a lot of things but is also influenced by

people like Ian Murray and Ian grieve. I think it was a bit rash of

her but I agree that it will soon fade away as what happens now.

Jeremy Corbyn has given Scottish Labour are very free hand, more than

any other Labour leader. He was speaking about people coming after

her momentum. The whole thing for the last 12 months and longer has

been the right centre of the Labour Party coming after Jeremy Corbyn and

finally, they have got to wake up to reality and back off and behave

themselves and stop working in a constructive manner and realise that

another prisoner society, people say listen to the people but not to the

Labour Party membership. Help these MPs get pensions or moving to the

corporate world, people like me go around and knock-on doors for them,

so please don't forget that. Lots of policy announcements today, both UK

wide. Do you think voters are listening at the moment? Her speech

had much in the way of new policy and most of that was restatement. We

know they had the idea of 1p income tax, we knew about the 50p top rate

and that enabled her to say, and the delegates of that, if the SNP want

to get through a budget that does not include that, after a while,

they love the sound of Tory support. But there was not much new in it.

When it comes to even be Shadow Chancellor's contribution today, why

the slogans, anti-austerity? We all agree with that but where is the

plan? That is what people need to be convinced of, the nuts and bolts of

the plan to bring in a programme of anti-austerity. He did speak about

investment in infrastructure, the living wage rise to ?10. He said a

lot more specific stuff that the point is simply often in the lead up

to elections or any party for that matter. Also, you have got to give

them a break because the last 12 months, the Parliamentary Labour

Party and forces behind and media could force an sport, they have not

had a lot of time to breathe and try and do that policy. But they have

lost significant numbers of well disposed economic advisers who felt

it was not happening. Because of the turmoil, and I would still point a

finger more at the right wing of the party than Jeremy Corbyn and

McDonald. Before we go, I would like to move on to other political

stories. Theresa May has claimed in an article that Brexit will enhance

Scotland's place in the world. What do you make of that? The notion that

she sat down in Downing Street penning that we know was not true.

Some are bound done it. I cannot think they will get top marks week.

The notion that a generation or a decade of uncertainty over bilateral

trade agreements will help Scottish exports or that somehow, the Tories

will provide the Scottish shipbuilding industry they

destroyed, no one will see that as credible. We have heard from fishing

leaders that said they would show world leadership after Brexit. Do

you think they might be persuaded in time to see opportunities for

Scotland? I'm not an expert on the fishing industry but I know it is

flourishing in the river Forth but that's another story. These are

areas where are the real leader. Scotland is a world leader in food

and drink, Scotch beef, etc, whiskey. I thought this was a really

patronising tone. It is once again the Tories not getting Scotland and

they have not cottoned on to the fact that every local authority area

in Scotland voted to remain, and that 62% vote... Scotland and

England as political cultures are dividing. Did she misjudged her

message? I just think that was a piece of party hack it chucked up

for a magazine's consumption. It did not tell us anything at all. We

still do not know what Brexit means and until we know, this phrase

Brexit means Brexit and you cannot define the term, it is so circular

that we are long way from knowing where any of this is going. So no

sign that voters are less uncertain? How can be? There is no point in

polling people were taking soundings when the question itself is

meaningless. Laura Maciver will be here tomorrow

night at the usual time. So do please join

her then, bye bye.