Browse content similar to 29/04/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Afternoon folks - welcome to the Sunday Politics. | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
David Cameron puts his Culture Secretary on probation this morning. | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
He'll see how Jeremy Hunt performs before Leveson, then decide his | :00:41. | :00:46. | |
future. But a lot could happen before then. We'll ask Lib Dem | :00:46. | :00:52. | |
Culture spokesman Don Foster who he's backing in the hunt for Hunt. | :00:52. | :00:54. | |
Hunt's tormentor-in-chief has been Labour Deputy Leader Harriet Harman, | :00:54. | :00:59. | |
who joins us for the Sunday Interview. She'll tell us what's at | :00:59. | :01:01. | |
stake for Labour when London, Glasgow and councils around the UK | :01:02. | :01:08. | |
go to the polls on Thursday. And how do you get out of an | :01:08. | :01:11. | |
omnishambles? Don't know? Well, we've been asking around | :01:11. | :01:21. | |
:01:21. | :01:22. | ||
Westminster for tips. Always happy to help. | :01:22. | :01:25. | |
On Sunday Politics Scotland - strong words for the UK Government | :01:25. | :01:32. | |
from Scotland's most senior Catholic, Cardinal Keith O'Brien. | :01:32. | :01:37. | |
would say many in our government have lost touch with that reality | :01:37. | :01:39. | |
of what is going on. Plus, former first minister Jack | :01:39. | :01:49. | |
:01:49. | :01:49. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1536 seconds | :01:49. | :27:26. | |
McConnell begins legal action over Sir Alan Sugar's job is safe? | :27:26. | :27:30. | |
once you are appointed a peer... It is really not the issue. People are | :27:30. | :27:36. | |
not voting on Alan Sugar on third you have a particular problem in | :27:36. | :27:40. | |
the south. You have problems in Glasgow against the Nationals, | :27:40. | :27:44. | |
problems in London. Even when nationally you're doing incredibly | :27:44. | :27:49. | |
well in the polls, you have a problem in the south. Why should | :27:49. | :27:58. | |
people in the South vote for a party that boost Tony Blair? | :27:58. | :28:04. | |
party does not. You did, I was there. It was a tiny fraction of | :28:04. | :28:10. | |
the audience. I was there, it was more than a fraction. And the | :28:10. | :28:15. | |
leader did not slap them down. tiny fraction of the audience quite | :28:15. | :28:18. | |
wrongly, in my view and in the view of the rest of the conference, | :28:18. | :28:23. | |
Georg a reference to Tony Blair. For the rest of the conference, | :28:23. | :28:33. | |
:28:33. | :28:36. | ||
anybody who said - we don't believe he should have been cheated. A let | :28:36. | :28:45. | |
me bring you back full circle. His report Murdoch -- is Rupert Murdoch | :28:45. | :28:52. | |
a fit and proper person to hold a licensing -- broadcasting licence | :28:52. | :28:57. | |
in the country? If I was examining it, of course, I would say no. | :28:57. | :29:04. | |
he should lose the 40% of BSkyB that he owns? If you would ask what | :29:04. | :29:08. | |
has gone on in that organisation, yes, I think he is not a fit and | :29:08. | :29:13. | |
proper person. Widespread criminality went on within his | :29:13. | :29:23. | |
:29:23. | :29:30. | ||
organisation. Thank you for being Good afternoon and welcome to | :29:30. | :29:32. | |
Sunday Politics Scotland. Coming up on the programme: | :29:32. | :29:34. | |
Cardinal Keith O'Brien tells the Prime Minister he is immoral in | :29:34. | :29:37. | |
putting the interests of his wealthy colleagues before the needs | :29:37. | :29:45. | |
of ordinary families. It is immoral. It is not moral to ignore them and | :29:45. | :29:49. | |
say they should struggle along and the rich can go on sailing it in | :29:49. | :29:53. | |
their own sweet way. As local election day looms, how | :29:53. | :29:55. | |
will voters rank candidates in Edinburgh, which is shaping up to | :29:55. | :29:59. | |
be one of the most closely fought contests in the country? | :29:59. | :30:02. | |
The former first minister Jack McConnell confirms he is taking | :30:02. | :30:07. | |
legal action over alleged phone hacking. | :30:07. | :30:11. | |
And I will be looking at why more and more families are going hungry | :30:11. | :30:15. | |
and turning to charities for help. Cardinal Keith O'Brien has accused | :30:15. | :30:18. | |
the Prime Minister of protecting the very wealthiest in society at | :30:18. | :30:20. | |
the expense of ordinary families. The leader of Scotland's Catholics | :30:20. | :30:23. | |
has written to David Cameron asking him to implement the so called | :30:23. | :30:29. | |
Robin Hood Tax. The chancellor George Osbourne has | :30:29. | :30:32. | |
described the levy on financial transactions as economic suicide. | :30:32. | :30:34. | |
But in an exclusive interview with our correspondent David Miller, | :30:34. | :30:37. | |
Cardinal O'Brien says the Prime Minister is out of touch and the | :30:37. | :30:39. | |
government's attitude is immoral, ignoring working people and letting | :30:39. | :30:49. | |
:30:49. | :30:52. | ||
the rich go on in their own sweet way. My message to David Cameron as | :30:52. | :30:57. | |
head of our government is to seriously think again about this | :30:57. | :31:02. | |
Robin Hood tax, the tax to help the poor by taking a little bit from | :31:02. | :31:07. | |
the rich. I am asking him to consider a moral question facing | :31:08. | :31:14. | |
our country at this present time. The poor had suffered tremendously | :31:14. | :31:19. | |
from financial disasters in recent years, and nothing has been done by | :31:19. | :31:27. | |
the very rich people to help them. I am saying to the Prime Minister, | :31:27. | :31:30. | |
don't just protect your very rich colleagues in the financial | :31:30. | :31:34. | |
industry. Consider your moral obligation to help the poor of the | :31:34. | :31:38. | |
country. In your letter to the Prime Minister, you write "it is | :31:38. | :31:42. | |
not acceptable for your government to protect the very wealthiest | :31:42. | :31:47. | |
people in our country at the expense of the poor". In your view, | :31:47. | :31:53. | |
is the position adopted by the Prime Minister moral? Basically, I | :31:53. | :31:58. | |
would say no. The poor have suffered so much in recent years, | :31:59. | :32:05. | |
and when I say poor, I don't mean the abject poverty that we | :32:05. | :32:10. | |
sometimes see in our streets. Yes, obviously, they are affected, but I | :32:10. | :32:13. | |
mean people who would think themselves reasonably well-off, | :32:13. | :32:18. | |
people who have saved for their pensions and now realised their | :32:18. | :32:22. | |
pension funds are no more, people who are considering having to give | :32:22. | :32:32. | |
:32:32. | :32:32. | ||
up their retirement homes. Poverty affecting young couples and their | :32:32. | :32:36. | |
children and so on. It is these people who have had to suffer | :32:36. | :32:41. | |
because of the financial disasters of recent years and it is immoral, | :32:41. | :32:46. | |
not moral, to just ignore them and to say "struggle along, and the | :32:46. | :32:53. | |
rich can go on sailing in their own sweet way". We are reading more and | :32:53. | :32:56. | |
more about the way it there are more disasters facing us | :32:56. | :33:01. | |
financially, and we have just got to be prepared to help those who | :33:01. | :33:11. | |
are less able to help themselves. used suggesting that the Prime | :33:11. | :33:14. | |
Minister and his councillor -- Chancellor are out of touch with | :33:14. | :33:19. | |
the common man, the needs of the man and woman in the street? | :33:19. | :33:26. | |
would say many in our government, and I think the Prime Minister, | :33:26. | :33:31. | |
they have lost touch with what is going on. I remember when Pope | :33:31. | :33:35. | |
Benedict XVI was here speaking to our leaders in Westminster. He said, | :33:35. | :33:40. | |
don't be afraid of religion, don't be frightened of what other fakes | :33:40. | :33:45. | |
are saying to you, to those in positions of responsibility. I | :33:45. | :33:55. | |
would like to think that we are closer to grass roots goings-on | :33:55. | :33:58. | |
than the Prime Minister and the government. How would the poor | :33:58. | :34:02. | |
benefit from the introduction of a tax which the government tells us | :34:02. | :34:08. | |
would result in fewer jobs being created in the UK and investments | :34:08. | :34:13. | |
in going overseas? I don't think it would reduce growth and cost jobs. | :34:13. | :34:18. | |
That would go on as normal. I think we have to remember this is an | :34:18. | :34:24. | |
extra income to our country. It would help growth because of that, | :34:24. | :34:28. | |
and would be providing money for those sorts of things that I | :34:28. | :34:36. | |
indicated before - better schools, better healthcare and so one. | :34:36. | :34:42. | |
Consequently, that would happen. Of course, there's an increase to the | :34:42. | :34:46. | |
growth, the economic growth, of our country, Beth there is always that | :34:46. | :34:50. | |
moral issue as well. As well as helping the economic situation, we | :34:50. | :34:54. | |
have to consider the morality of what is right and wrong. There | :34:54. | :34:59. | |
appears to be no prospect of a global deal on the introduction of | :34:59. | :35:04. | |
a Robin Hood tax, a financial transaction tax. You really believe | :35:04. | :35:10. | |
the UK could afford to go it alone on this? Yes, I binned it can. I | :35:10. | :35:20. | |
:35:20. | :35:23. | ||
know there had been plans -- I know it can. Those plans haven't come to | :35:23. | :35:27. | |
anything yet, but I know individual countries such as France and | :35:27. | :35:32. | |
Hungary are seriously considering whether to implement this type of | :35:32. | :35:36. | |
tax in their own countries. I would like to think that the United | :35:36. | :35:40. | |
Kingdom would be able to give some sort of leadership in that as well | :35:40. | :35:47. | |
with our own form of this financial transaction tax. You want to see at | :35:47. | :35:52. | |
least half of the money raised through the introduction of this | :35:52. | :35:57. | |
tax spent internationally, for example, tackling the effects of | :35:57. | :36:00. | |
climate change. When to be difficult to convince the poorest | :36:00. | :36:04. | |
people in our own society that that would be a good use of the money at | :36:04. | :36:14. | |
:36:14. | :36:15. | ||
a time when people here are suffering so much? Well, you are | :36:15. | :36:22. | |
helping the poor people overseas as well as poor people in our own | :36:22. | :36:29. | |
country. To help them realise the morality of what is going on - no | :36:29. | :36:33. | |
man is an island. It is not just in our own islands that there is | :36:33. | :36:38. | |
suffering at this present time. I have had the opportunity to travel | :36:38. | :36:44. | |
to many countries in the world in which there is poverty. In January, | :36:44. | :36:48. | |
I was in Haiti, and you know something of the poverty there. In | :36:48. | :36:58. | |
:36:58. | :37:00. | ||
African countries like Rwanda and southern Sudan, there are places | :37:00. | :37:04. | |
where there are abject levels of poverty and it is reassuring for | :37:04. | :37:08. | |
our people to think that as a result of this tax, not just better | :37:08. | :37:14. | |
schools and hospitals or whatever, but we are helping to alleviate | :37:14. | :37:20. | |
something of that abject hunger and poverty in other countries. Finally, | :37:20. | :37:24. | |
you are sending a powerful message to the Prime Minister on behalf of | :37:24. | :37:28. | |
the Catholic Church in Scotland. It is a message we have heard from | :37:28. | :37:35. | |
other churches as well, from charities. Do you believe the Prime | :37:35. | :37:41. | |
Minister is listening? I don't think they are listening yet. Here | :37:41. | :37:48. | |
in Scotland, here in Edinburgh, charities and other agencies have | :37:48. | :37:52. | |
taken a tremendous lead in that campaign to Make Poverty History. | :37:52. | :37:58. | |
We have not yet made poverty history. Because we haven't been | :37:58. | :38:02. | |
doing what we promised - governments have not been doing | :38:02. | :38:07. | |
what they promised. This is one relatively small and easy and | :38:07. | :38:14. | |
painless way in which we are taking a step along that road of making | :38:14. | :38:23. | |
poverty history. I am calling up to David Cameron and the members of | :38:23. | :38:27. | |
our government to see what we can really do in this very, very | :38:27. | :38:31. | |
effective way at this present time to take another little step along | :38:31. | :38:36. | |
that road of making poverty history. Poverty in our own country and | :38:36. | :38:40. | |
poverty throughout the world. Cardinal Keith O'Brien talking | :38:40. | :38:45. | |
there. In response to criticisms that he | :38:45. | :38:47. | |
doesn't understand the difficulties that people are facing at the | :38:47. | :38:51. | |
moment, the Prime Minister had this to say on the Andrew Marr Show this | :38:51. | :38:58. | |
morning. I understand a difficult it is for people in this country | :38:58. | :39:02. | |
right now. Petrol and diesel at these prices, I understand how | :39:02. | :39:06. | |
difficult it is when you have job losses in the public sector and you | :39:06. | :39:09. | |
need the private sector to expand faster. I understand those | :39:09. | :39:14. | |
difficulties, that is what fires me up and get me out of bed - to get | :39:14. | :39:23. | |
hard -- to work hard, to do the right thing. We need to focus on | :39:23. | :39:28. | |
the things they need to be done. We did ask for an interview with | :39:28. | :39:31. | |
the Treasury, but were told nobody was available. We then asked for an | :39:31. | :39:34. | |
interview with anyone from the UK Government, but, again, nobody was | :39:34. | :39:36. | |
available. We then asked whether any Liberal Democrat or Tory MP | :39:36. | :39:40. | |
would like to join us, but they were also all unable to do so. I'm | :39:40. | :39:43. | |
joined here by Labour's Cathy Jamieson, who is a member of the | :39:43. | :39:46. | |
Shadow Treasury team, and from Dundee, by the SNP's Treasury | :39:46. | :39:54. | |
spokesperson at Westminster, Stewart Hosie. Thank you for coming | :39:55. | :39:58. | |
in. Stewart Hosie, do you agree that David Cameron is a moral in | :39:58. | :40:03. | |
not imposing his Robin Hood tax? certainly agree the Cardinal is | :40:03. | :40:07. | |
right to speak out. I agree with much of what he said. In terms of | :40:07. | :40:11. | |
what we have seen it in the last few weeks, changes to tax credits | :40:11. | :40:16. | |
so people can't find extra hours to work, 4.4 million pensioners being | :40:16. | :40:24. | |
worse off, people being taxed at a 40 p were rate. When the cardinal | :40:24. | :40:28. | |
speaks about morality, I think I understand what he's saying. | :40:28. | :40:34. | |
right now, the SNP does not support the introduction of this tax. | :40:34. | :40:39. | |
are very keen to see a financial transaction tax. But if it is not | :40:39. | :40:44. | |
done globally, it offers some very real dangers and I think the point | :40:44. | :40:49. | |
I would make his that if the UK Government is serious they should | :40:49. | :40:52. | |
be advocating for this to be done on a global basis, rather than | :40:52. | :40:57. | |
simply dismissing it. Yes, we need guarantees that jobs will be | :40:57. | :41:01. | |
protected, but that means we need to work together to advocate for | :41:01. | :41:09. | |
this to happen globally. Stewart Hosie, already, people are | :41:09. | :41:14. | |
saying that America will never agree to this. We know that there | :41:14. | :41:18. | |
has been support for a Europe wide decision on this. Would that be | :41:18. | :41:24. | |
enough? Would you be comfortable if it was throughout Europe? Well, it | :41:24. | :41:27. | |
is difficult because the financial markets are genuinely global. I | :41:28. | :41:33. | |
will go back to what I said before - we should be advocating, same to | :41:33. | :41:38. | |
the United States, and others, that this is a really good thing to do. | :41:38. | :41:43. | |
It must happen internationally, let us not just dismiss it because it | :41:43. | :41:47. | |
isn't happening in America. But if it doesn't, would it work in | :41:47. | :41:52. | |
Europe? Would you be satisfied with a Europe-wide levy? Well, you would | :41:52. | :41:56. | |
have to look and see exactly what that might be. None of us know, and | :41:56. | :42:01. | |
that is because there are another - - in number of variations on this. | :42:01. | :42:05. | |
You would have to look extremely carefully to make sure there is no | :42:05. | :42:10. | |
damage done. Cathy Jamieson, you support the levying of this tax on | :42:10. | :42:17. | |
financial transactions, personally. I have supported that for a number | :42:17. | :42:20. | |
of years. I think in this instance there is more agreement between | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
Stewart Hosie and myself then people would anticipate. I do think | :42:24. | :42:29. | |
there are dangers if this is not done on a global scale. But this is | :42:29. | :42:33. | |
a very powerful intervention from the cardinal, who is making it | :42:33. | :42:37. | |
clear that the policies of the UK Government are hitting families and | :42:37. | :42:41. | |
people who perhaps in the past would have thought of themselves as | :42:41. | :42:47. | |
being reasonably well off. It is having a real impact on family life. | :42:47. | :42:51. | |
So let's look at what can be done and how we can advocate for this | :42:51. | :42:55. | |
financial transactions tax to insure it helps people not just at | :42:55. | :43:01. | |
home but also in some of the world's poorest countries. So do | :43:01. | :43:05. | |
you agree that David Cameron is a moral in not implementing this? | :43:05. | :43:08. | |
would be good to see David Cameron looking and being a bit more in | :43:08. | :43:11. | |
touch with the realities of life for ordinary families. I don't | :43:11. | :43:15. | |
think there is anything he has said that has persuaded me that you | :43:15. | :43:18. | |
really understand what it is like to be a low-paid, part-time worker | :43:18. | :43:25. | |
who has just lost about �4,000 a year in their tax credits. So there | :43:26. | :43:29. | |
we can really understand what you're saying here, we know that Ed | :43:29. | :43:32. | |
Balls the shadow chancellor has said he would be economic suicide | :43:32. | :43:36. | |
to introduce this tax, he said it should not be introduced unless it | :43:36. | :43:40. | |
is global. Are you are doing that it could stand alone in the UK? | :43:40. | :43:45. | |
would like to see done on a global basis. It is an opportunity to | :43:45. | :43:50. | |
protect... But if it isn't? Well, I don't think we should give up on | :43:50. | :43:53. | |
that argument. That is also what the Cardinal was saying. The UK | :43:53. | :43:57. | |
Government should take a lead on this. When this was previously | :43:57. | :44:04. | |
proposed across Europe, it would have been used to plug the eurozone | :44:04. | :44:07. | |
crisis. That is not really what the fundamental principles of this tax | :44:07. | :44:12. | |
are about. Let's push for this to be done on a global basis. But we | :44:12. | :44:17. | |
know already the door is slightly open in Europe. Could it were just | :44:17. | :44:21. | |
in Europe? I know everybody is saying it would be easiest and most | :44:21. | :44:24. | |
effective with least prospect of damaged if it were global, but, as | :44:24. | :44:28. | |
we say, many people have said that America is never going to sign up | :44:28. | :44:38. | |
:44:38. | :44:46. | ||
to this. So, accepting that, could Are willing to cede more broadly | :44:46. | :44:49. | |
than the UK and because many companies would it take their, -- | :44:49. | :44:54. | |
their actions out of the UK and avoid paying it. It is important | :44:54. | :44:58. | |
that the UK Government takes the lead on this. There are things they | :44:58. | :45:02. | |
could do now to help was families the Cardinal was talking about, | :45:02. | :45:06. | |
restoring the cuts to the working tax credit and not giving | :45:06. | :45:11. | |
millionaires the tax cuts they have given them in this budget. We have | :45:11. | :45:16. | |
been saying it would be damaging and billions could be lost and go | :45:16. | :45:20. | |
offshore to avoid paying this tax, but economists have signed a letter | :45:20. | :45:25. | |
saying this would not necessarily be the outcome. To whom do you | :45:25. | :45:29. | |
think we need to speak now and what evidence which you like to see | :45:29. | :45:34. | |
coming forward? We need to speak to all of those bodies engaged in | :45:34. | :45:40. | |
these precise financial transactions. Economists have said | :45:40. | :45:44. | |
one thing, but the businesses who engage in buying and selling every | :45:44. | :45:51. | |
day may say something different. One can easily see and envisage a | :45:51. | :45:56. | |
situation where a certain section of Trade and trading is taken off | :45:56. | :46:02. | |
shore. It is taken to a country which has not signed up. I agree | :46:02. | :46:08. | |
with cafe, that could leave us with less revenue to fund core services | :46:08. | :46:17. | |
which would be the worst of all solutions. Her f economists say | :46:17. | :46:27. | |
that, for example, a researcher for JP Morgan said, I Robin Hood tax | :46:27. | :46:36. | |
could be good for the economy but the net effect is likely to be plus | :46:36. | :46:41. | |
a quarter of a percent. There is conflicting evidence out there. | :46:41. | :46:46. | |
This is true. Therefore, we must not rule things out and continue | :46:46. | :46:51. | |
the fight. The cardinal talked about the morality of this. It will | :46:51. | :46:55. | |
cap the living conditions of some of the poorest people in the world, | :46:55. | :46:59. | |
it is important we get the developing countries to sign up and | :46:59. | :47:02. | |
take their share of the responsibility. That is why I | :47:02. | :47:10. | |
support this as a global tax. you very much. We understand this | :47:10. | :47:17. | |
morning, the former First Minister, Jack McConnell, has confirmed he is | :47:17. | :47:19. | |
taking legal actions against allegations of his phone being | :47:19. | :47:25. | |
hacked, what is the extent of this, do you think? I think it is | :47:25. | :47:29. | |
shocking that the First Minister of Scotland had his phone hacked. I | :47:29. | :47:35. | |
feel for Jack and his family having to go through this process. We have | :47:35. | :47:44. | |
a revolution today in the lines of the Leveson Inquiry. Are you | :47:44. | :47:49. | |
shocked by this revelation? And I am appalled. We had the original | :47:49. | :47:53. | |
reports and there were thousands of deter breaches. The real tragedy | :47:53. | :47:58. | |
for me is that this was not dealt with much sooner. We're now in a | :47:58. | :48:02. | |
position where all this is unravelling. When the original | :48:03. | :48:08. | |
report was published, that would have been a better place today if | :48:08. | :48:16. | |
action had been taking. It is appalling. I hope the Prime | :48:16. | :48:22. | |
Minister will make any representations he can. Hopefully, | :48:22. | :48:29. | |
Mr Salmond will see he cannot defend any of this. I did suspect | :48:29. | :48:34. | |
that she might say that. She won I want to apologise for the 18 | :48:34. | :48:38. | |
meetings Labour leaders had with Rupert Murdoch, after the original | :48:38. | :48:44. | |
report was on Gordon Brown's desk. I would rather we got to the bottom | :48:44. | :48:47. | |
of this and clean up the whole culture of the media. Thank you | :48:48. | :48:55. | |
very much. Now while much attention has been on the local election race | :48:55. | :48:58. | |
in Glasgow, another close contest is taking place in the Capital. | :48:58. | :49:01. | |
Just remember the backdrop - a tram project years behind schedule and | :49:01. | :49:04. | |
massively over budget - turning famous streets into virtual no-go | :49:04. | :49:06. | |
areas and Edinburgh into a laughing stock. And then recurring | :49:06. | :49:09. | |
allegations of fraud and corruption by city officials over housing | :49:09. | :49:14. | |
repairs. So what will all this mean when the voters go to the polls? We | :49:15. | :49:24. | |
:49:25. | :49:31. | ||
have the key players here but first here's Christine MacLeod. Young | :49:31. | :49:35. | |
voters in Edinburgh, preparing to rank their candidates in order of | :49:35. | :49:38. | |
preference. The City is one of the most politically divided in | :49:39. | :49:44. | |
Scotland. Is killer cat that 2007 local elections in the city, each | :49:44. | :49:50. | |
of the main parties got one fifth of the first vote. -- if you look | :49:50. | :49:56. | |
at. The Greens do well in the city. Edinburgh is the one place in | :49:56. | :50:01. | |
Scotland work all five of the largest parties do relatively well. | :50:01. | :50:05. | |
These young apprentices are urging their Peers to vote to insure their | :50:05. | :50:15. | |
:50:15. | :50:16. | ||
voices are heard. If I can manage to get across my Bewes... Came of | :50:16. | :50:24. | |
it elderly. They get treated fairly badly. -- keel of the elderly. | :50:24. | :50:30. | |
trams and the destruction they have caused. Anger over the trans has | :50:30. | :50:33. | |
been a constant feature in the media, but this translates as a | :50:33. | :50:39. | |
vote against the Liberal-Democrats? Trans is still one of the biggest | :50:39. | :50:44. | |
talking points in Edinburgh, but the parties are not likely to say | :50:44. | :50:47. | |
anything different about them, they all want to get the scheme | :50:47. | :50:51. | |
completed as quickly as possible and for as little money. It is | :50:51. | :50:56. | |
difficult to know what voters who are angry about the trans can do. | :50:56. | :51:01. | |
It is almost neutralised. This election is taking place under the | :51:01. | :51:09. | |
PR voting system. That means any bargaining which takes place | :51:09. | :51:13. | |
between the parties after the election, could be as crucial as | :51:13. | :51:18. | |
the campaigning beforehand. After the election, no one party will | :51:18. | :51:23. | |
have a majority so there will have to seek partners for an | :51:23. | :51:30. | |
administration. The Greens was -- will play an important role in that. | :51:30. | :51:35. | |
So, it is the guess of anyone what will happen here. Whatever the | :51:35. | :51:39. | |
outcome, the voters want to know whether their calls for change or | :51:39. | :51:46. | |
will be heard. So with me now are the leaders of the four main | :51:46. | :51:50. | |
parties at Edinburgh City Council. In the studio for the SNP is Steve | :51:50. | :51:52. | |
Cardownie, for Labour - Andrew Burns. And in Edinburgh for the | :51:52. | :51:55. | |
Liberal Democrats we have Jenny Dawe and for the Conservatives, | :51:55. | :52:05. | |
:52:05. | :52:09. | ||
Jeremy Balfour. We are grateful for your time. You with a former | :52:09. | :52:14. | |
council leader, when you look back at your tenure, are you proud of | :52:14. | :52:19. | |
the way you serve the citizens of Edinburgh? Yes, I am. It has been a | :52:19. | :52:23. | |
challenging five years but I can look back and show that I believed | :52:23. | :52:28. | |
Edinburgh is a better place, thanks to the Liberal Democrat policies we | :52:28. | :52:32. | |
put in place and thanks to the way that coalition administration has | :52:32. | :52:39. | |
taken a tough decisions we had to take. Regrets, have you had a few? | :52:39. | :52:45. | |
Obviously, things could have worked out better as regards the trams. We | :52:45. | :52:50. | |
have now turned that around. We now have a project going to St Andrews | :52:50. | :52:56. | |
Square. There are some issues which might have been better if they had | :52:56. | :53:00. | |
worked out rather more quickly, however we took tough decisions | :53:00. | :53:06. | |
which brought us to where we want to be now. Obviously, the SNP were | :53:06. | :53:14. | |
in coalition in previous councils with the Lib Dems. D Rigby that | :53:14. | :53:20. | |
work better than you expected? it worked better than we thought. | :53:21. | :53:29. | |
It lasted five years. Our position on the trams were clear. The other | :53:29. | :53:35. | |
parties were in favour of trams. There is probably two other major | :53:35. | :53:40. | |
issues in the five years when we differ substantially from the | :53:40. | :53:44. | |
Liberal-Democrats, but we have been through it. Lasting for five years | :53:44. | :53:49. | |
is testimony to the way the leadership worked, but the way all | :53:49. | :53:52. | |
the people within the Liberal- Democrats and the SNP work hard | :53:52. | :53:57. | |
together to get policies through. So, you could do it all again with | :53:57. | :54:03. | |
the Lib Dems if you needed to? could do. We hope we and in a | :54:03. | :54:08. | |
position where we will be in the driving seat. We ought to be the | :54:08. | :54:16. | |
senior partner in any coalition. Quite a lot of the chatter Today | :54:16. | :54:20. | |
newspapers has been that an interesting coalition would be | :54:20. | :54:26. | |
between Labour and SNP, could you work together? I would not have a | :54:26. | :54:31. | |
problem with that, I used to be in the Labour Party -- Steve used to | :54:31. | :54:35. | |
be in the Labour Party. He used to be a colleague and I would have no | :54:35. | :54:38. | |
problem with working with any of the parties in Edinburgh. The | :54:39. | :54:48. | |
:54:49. | :54:49. | ||
voters are in the driving seat. were at the transport convener in | :54:49. | :54:55. | |
2007 when the trams project contract was signed. The condition | :54:55. | :54:58. | |
subsequently unravelled spectacularly. Have you ever | :54:58. | :55:02. | |
apologise for that? What you have said is not quite correct. The | :55:02. | :55:08. | |
final contract was not signed until 2008. All five parties in Edinburgh | :55:08. | :55:15. | |
signed up to that. It was a year after the elections and into | :55:15. | :55:19. | |
Jenny's administration. We all have a degree of responsibility for this | :55:19. | :55:24. | |
project which is why we have called for the last cheer for an | :55:24. | :55:27. | |
independent public inquiry to happen as quickly as possible. | :55:27. | :55:33. | |
you have apologised for your part in it? A absolutely, we all have a | :55:33. | :55:42. | |
share in it. Jeremy Balfour, you have been emphasising the key role | :55:42. | :55:46. | |
that Council plays in providing services. Do you think it | :55:46. | :55:49. | |
inevitable that some services will have to go out to private | :55:49. | :55:53. | |
contractors? I am not sure they have to go out to private | :55:53. | :55:59. | |
contractors, we could work in partnership with business to make | :55:59. | :56:03. | |
sure it the services are provided in the most efficient way. We have | :56:03. | :56:09. | |
to look at an admixture of modules here in Edinburgh. Some can be done | :56:09. | :56:17. | |
in-house, some in partnership with others. That is already happening | :56:17. | :56:22. | |
in Edinburgh, for example under a former Labour administration. I | :56:22. | :56:28. | |
think that has worked reasonably well. This could work well in the | :56:28. | :56:32. | |
future. But you do envisage there will be more private sector | :56:32. | :56:40. | |
involvement in providing frontline services for the council? I think, | :56:40. | :56:44. | |
the voluntary organisations have a role to play and business | :56:44. | :56:47. | |
organisations have a role to play. We need a working partnership to | :56:47. | :56:52. | |
make sure that service is provided are provided efficiently and well. | :56:52. | :56:57. | |
I do not think people in Edinburgh provide -- mind to provides the | :56:57. | :57:03. | |
services as long as it is done well and efficiently. Is that true? | :57:03. | :57:07. | |
think most people would prefer services to be provided by public | :57:07. | :57:14. | |
sector employees. However, they want value for money. When we did | :57:14. | :57:18. | |
not vote for the scheme to hive off some services to the private sector, | :57:18. | :57:23. | |
it was not on the basis that the status quo would prevail. There had | :57:23. | :57:31. | |
to be changes. That has happened so we it are more efficient now. I | :57:31. | :57:36. | |
think people respect the fact that people joined the public sector to | :57:36. | :57:42. | |
provide services for the citizens of the city. They would prefer to | :57:42. | :57:45. | |
retain his services there but the public sector has to look at the | :57:46. | :57:51. | |
private sector and take on lessons from them and bring them in into | :57:51. | :57:55. | |
the private -- the public sector. This will make sure people get | :57:55. | :58:01. | |
value for money. Do you agree? ideal. There are ways that the | :58:01. | :58:05. | |
private sector can be involved, whether it is over and gas or | :58:05. | :58:12. | |
electricity provision. What was proposed under Jenny's leadership | :58:12. | :58:16. | |
was to put out to private sector over 3,000 of the council jobs | :58:16. | :58:22. | |
minus 20 % of the council work force. A lot were Front Line | :58:22. | :58:29. | |
service functions which we opposed right from the outset. We opposed | :58:29. | :58:36. | |
it as well. The SNP said no, this is a step too far and we retain the | :58:36. | :58:42. | |
jobs. For �4 million worth the money was spent. We do still back | :58:42. | :58:47. | |
that volume of work going out to private contractors? People in the | :58:47. | :58:52. | |
City want services provided in as efficient and effective a way as | :58:52. | :58:57. | |
possible and get best value for money. It was not privatisation or | :58:57. | :59:01. | |
putting services out to the private sector which is being described. It | :59:01. | :59:06. | |
was much more of a partnership with the private sector. Particularly on | :59:07. | :59:10. | |
the environmental services were extreme, there were good reasons to | :59:10. | :59:16. | |
have gone with that model of working in the future. That is what | :59:16. | :59:22. | |
my group wanted on the council. We started from the premise that | :59:22. | :59:25. | |
public services are in general best provided by public servants. | :59:25. | :59:33. | |
However, we had to look at quality of services and cost. After a long | :59:33. | :59:38. | |
period of negotiation, we thought the environmental services in | :59:38. | :59:40. | |
particular was where we could have worked in partnership with the | :59:40. | :59:48. | |
private sector but we did not lose control of the strategy or policy. | :59:48. | :59:53. | |
To be clear, were you to have any influence in the next Council, you | :59:53. | :59:58. | |
would want to be introduced that model? I think that the moment has | :59:58. | :00:04. | |
passed. Over two years were spent negotiating with different private | :00:04. | :00:08. | |
sector organisations and works streams. I do not think we would be | :00:08. | :00:12. | |
revisiting it in that form, but I think we have to look at the best | :00:12. | :00:16. | |
way to provide services and that might be working in social | :00:16. | :00:21. | |
enterprises, with the voluntary and private sector. We have to look at | :00:21. | :00:25. | |
what gives us best value but what does not detract from the quality | :00:25. | :00:34. | |
Jeremy, is it inevitable that people will have to pay more for | :00:34. | :00:42. | |
their transport? I don't think that is necessarily true. We have in �1 | :00:42. | :00:44. | |
million budget in Edinburgh and we're looking to make sure that | :00:44. | :00:50. | |
budget is done most efficiently. One of our key commitments is to go | :00:50. | :00:55. | |
for budgeting in 2013. We believe offices can find back room savings | :00:56. | :00:59. | |
which can then be put into front line services. That will release | :00:59. | :01:03. | |
money which means that the services we provide at the moment can be | :01:03. | :01:09. | |
done efficiently and also within that �1 billion budget. You must | :01:09. | :01:15. | |
regret the level of debt with which you that she had told the council - | :01:15. | :01:22. | |
- you have saddled the council? Well, the debt is �1.5 billion. It | :01:22. | :01:27. | |
was only �900 million in 2007 when Labour left office. It has gone up | :01:27. | :01:35. | |
by 66% since May 2007. It it has gone up under SNP leadership. | :01:35. | :01:38. | |
we talk about the millions that are lost out there to people in | :01:38. | :01:45. | |
Edinburgh who were listening to this, when you say it was bad | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
underwriters but worse and others, many people find does -- find that | :01:49. | :01:52. | |
a rather fatuous argument. They just want to make sure you don't | :01:53. | :01:58. | |
make those mistakes in the future. It is important to stress the | :01:58. | :02:02. | |
project has spiralled out of control under the current | :02:02. | :02:09. | |
leadership. The level of debt has gone up by 66%. And that was not | :02:09. | :02:13. | |
because of a large loopholes in the original agreement you signed? | :02:13. | :02:20. | |
did not sign up. That was signed on 1st May, a year after this Lib Dem. | :02:20. | :02:27. | |
Well, you negotiated it then. mean, Andrew is being a bit | :02:27. | :02:31. | |
disingenuous about the tram project. Three times, the SNP called for it | :02:31. | :02:36. | |
to be scrapped, and once for a referendum. We were outvoted by | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
other parties. We did not oppose the signing of the contract because | :02:40. | :02:43. | |
we were persuaded that the council should remain united when faced | :02:43. | :02:48. | |
with signing a contract with a consortium. We lost argument over | :02:48. | :02:53. | |
the business case. I don't really blame councillors for agreeing with | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
the contract, I blame that advice that we got, because we had legal | :02:57. | :03:02. | |
advice that these contracts were good. I remember somebody saying | :03:02. | :03:08. | |
they were too many checks and balances in the contract for it to | :03:09. | :03:14. | |
be dangerous. So I think councillors were badly misled. | :03:14. | :03:18. | |
Ultimately, you have a duty to make sure you are satisfied, you satisfy | :03:18. | :03:23. | |
yourselves. Indeed, I think the councillors from all parties asked | :03:23. | :03:30. | |
relevant questions, week -- we had some very highly paid officials who | :03:30. | :03:34. | |
were not at the top of their game. It is very bad form to blame your | :03:34. | :03:40. | |
officials. Well, that is the case here. We were advised to sign the | :03:40. | :03:44. | |
contracts by officials with legal expertise who told us they will | :03:44. | :03:50. | |
watertight. That has turned out not to be the case. Jenny, can I ask | :03:50. | :03:56. | |
you how much you regret the fact that Edinburgh council is now | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
associated with allegations of corruption and fraud by council | :03:59. | :04:03. | |
officials? I think every councillor must greatly regret that fact. What | :04:03. | :04:08. | |
is important now is that this investigation which is under way | :04:08. | :04:14. | |
continues, and that the internal investigation, which is also | :04:14. | :04:19. | |
continuing, routes out all the problems that there have been. Of | :04:19. | :04:24. | |
course, none of us wish to be in a situation where we found that | :04:24. | :04:28. | |
officials of the council had not acted in as honest a way as they | :04:28. | :04:33. | |
should have done. Jeremy, do you accept that in the public mind this | :04:33. | :04:36. | |
may speak to incompetence by councillors who are supposed to be | :04:36. | :04:40. | |
in charge of running the council? Yes, I recognise that perhaps most | :04:40. | :04:44. | |
people in Edinburgh don't make the distinction between what | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
councillors do and what are officers do. But I do agree, going | :04:47. | :04:52. | |
back to Steve's comment - we were given what we thought was very good | :04:52. | :04:56. | |
advice, good commercial advice, before we signed the contract. I | :04:56. | :05:01. | |
think that advice was wrong and I do think that is why we should call | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
for a public inquiry, so we can find out what went wrong, why the | :05:05. | :05:12. | |
advice given to council was wrong. Clearly, hindsight is a great thing, | :05:12. | :05:17. | |
but if I could go back, I would not sign the contract that was put in | :05:17. | :05:22. | |
front of us on the information that I now know. But I did not know that | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
at the time. These counsellors can any make decisions on the | :05:26. | :05:31. | |
information that we have. I believe all councillors from every party | :05:31. | :05:34. | |
did ask the right questions, and I think in regard to the property | :05:34. | :05:38. | |
repair things, one problem which may have occurred is there was a | :05:38. | :05:43. | |
lack of political involvement. Perhaps we need to make sure that | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
politicians are involved in getting the right information and making | :05:46. | :05:56. | |
:05:56. | :05:58. | ||
the decisions. Thank you very much, all of you. We'll leave it there. | :05:58. | :06:01. | |
And if you'd like to read more about the local government | :06:01. | :06:04. | |
elections, you can visit the BBC Scotland news website and click on | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
the Vote 2012 link for more information. | :06:07. | :06:10. | |
A UK charity which provides food to people in need said this week it's | :06:10. | :06:13. | |
seen a massive rise in the numbers seeking help. The Trussell Trust | :06:13. | :06:17. | |
fed more than 100,000 people last year - up more than 60% on the year | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
before. The charity runs a network for food banks where people can get | :06:20. | :06:26. | |
emergency food parcels. It intends to open up 40 more of these food | :06:26. | :06:29. | |
banks in Scotland by 2015. But should people have to rely no the | :06:29. | :06:37. | |
state for something as basis as food? Gilly Mathieson reports. | :06:37. | :06:43. | |
Every can, carton and shopping bank here is for those who cannot afford | :06:43. | :06:48. | |
to eat. Two food banks are opening every week in the UK because more | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
and more families say they need them. It is a three-day supply of | :06:52. | :06:56. | |
food, about 10 meals were. Steve and Barbara were living from | :06:56. | :07:02. | |
Steve's salary as a security guard until he became sick in January. | :07:02. | :07:09. | |
Before Christmas, new year, we were roughly anything from �1,000 to | :07:09. | :07:19. | |
:07:19. | :07:20. | ||
�1,500 a month. By the end of February, we got �350. That was | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
statutory sick pay. You have a full rent to pay, council tax to pay, | :07:25. | :07:32. | |
gas and electric. You can't do that all of this amount of money. It was | :07:32. | :07:39. | |
the situation. They are not alone. Last year, the number of people fed | :07:40. | :07:43. | |
by the banks doubled. One charity, which is expanding its food banks | :07:43. | :07:47. | |
across Scotland, says the rise is due to what is happening in the | :07:47. | :07:51. | |
economy. We anticipate the situation is going to get worse. It | :07:51. | :07:57. | |
is a very sad reality. People who are on low incomes, the food price | :07:57. | :08:02. | |
inflation is making their ability to buy the necessary Kurds to keep | :08:02. | :08:08. | |
the whole family -- the necessary goods to keep the whole family show | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
on the road is higher than ever before. A benefit support is being | :08:11. | :08:21. | |
:08:21. | :08:21. | ||
cut. Dave is a volunteer at the Dundee food bank. They are | :08:21. | :08:24. | |
struggling until they get paid again on Tuesday. This is emergency | :08:24. | :08:30. | |
food to keep them going. Food here is donated by individuals, | :08:30. | :08:35. | |
supermarkets and local schools. Vouchers are given out by local | :08:35. | :08:40. | |
organisations like the Citizens' Advice Bureau. Williams says he has | :08:40. | :08:45. | |
not eaten for over a week. He is in debt, and for every �90 a week he | :08:45. | :08:52. | |
gets and benefits, he uses �80 to pay off his debt. If it was not for | :08:52. | :08:57. | |
this discovery, I would not be year. I would be in the hospital, I this | :08:57. | :09:06. | |
daft or dead. The coalition government says help is there. | :09:06. | :09:16. | |
:09:16. | :09:16. | ||
either starved or dead. The idea that we should have charity food | :09:16. | :09:20. | |
banks as a replacement of the welfare system is a very worrying | :09:20. | :09:23. | |
development. We are already concerned that we are seeing | :09:23. | :09:30. | |
Jobcentres referring families. charity scene had they will have 40 | :09:30. | :09:36. | |
more the banks in Scotland by 2014. -- hopes. But, his charity the | :09:36. | :09:40. | |
answer, or should the state be stepping in. Joining me now from | :09:40. | :09:43. | |
our Dundee studio is Ewan Gurr - a regional organiser for the Trussell | :09:43. | :09:46. | |
Trust and in Oxford we have Professor Liz Dowler, who works in | :09:46. | :09:53. | |
food and social policy at the University of Warwick. Thank you | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
for joining us. Firstly, who is coming to that the banks in | :09:57. | :10:02. | |
Scotland? We are seeing a rise in the proportion of people who are in | :10:03. | :10:07. | |
work or who have just been made redundant. Steve and Barbara are by | :10:07. | :10:12. | |
no means an isolated case. We are seeing a lot of families who are | :10:12. | :10:17. | |
hard-working, real grafters, who have just found themselves in a | :10:17. | :10:23. | |
situation of absolute clap -- absolute crisis. And who is giving | :10:23. | :10:31. | |
you the feud? It comes from a variety of sources. Church as Cesar | :10:31. | :10:36. | |
-- churches give us a lot of food. One of the things we do well his | :10:36. | :10:40. | |
work with supermarkets to do supermarket collections. So the | :10:40. | :10:45. | |
community, essentially, is buying the foot for the project. We then | :10:45. | :10:49. | |
provided to people in need. So it is the community supporting the | :10:49. | :10:54. | |
community. And you see more and more people will be in need? | :10:54. | :11:00. | |
will see an increase over the next the years and we have done already, | :11:00. | :11:04. | |
particularly in Dundee. There's been an increase every year, and it | :11:04. | :11:09. | |
doesn't seem to be declining, so, for that reason, I think there is | :11:09. | :11:15. | |
going to be an increase in nationally. Liz, do you have | :11:15. | :11:20. | |
reservations about this sort of intervention? Yes, I do. I am not | :11:20. | :11:25. | |
remotely against compassion and generosity - how could I be? It is | :11:25. | :11:30. | |
essential that people are enabled to help those in need. But I am | :11:30. | :11:37. | |
extremely, not just worried, I am actually quite angry about the idea | :11:37. | :11:41. | |
that expanding food banks is going to be the answer to this problem. I | :11:41. | :11:44. | |
mean, there are nearly one million people in Scotland already living | :11:44. | :11:50. | |
in poverty. There is no way that the banks can address their needs. | :11:50. | :11:55. | |
And the more that food banks are talked of or there is an | :11:55. | :11:58. | |
implication that they are run answer to the problem, the more | :11:58. | :12:06. | |
they prevent the government and society in general from having | :12:06. | :12:15. | |
serious conversations. So you think the state is let off the hook? What | :12:15. | :12:19. | |
part of state support is failing? Is it the structure of benefits | :12:19. | :12:24. | |
coming out of Westminster, is it wage levels? It is both those | :12:24. | :12:34. | |
:12:34. | :12:36. | ||
things. There is very consistent work from social policy research | :12:36. | :12:41. | |
bodies with good solid methods for looking at what a minimum income | :12:41. | :12:44. | |
standard is. His work has been going on for many years, and for | :12:44. | :12:50. | |
the past three years it has been very apparent how far short most | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
benefits and the national minimum wage for all from what people | :12:54. | :12:58. | |
actually need to be able to live. And certainly to be able to feed | :12:58. | :13:04. | |
themselves. And it is worse than that, because benefits and the wage | :13:04. | :13:09. | |
are up rated either by the Retail Price Index or the Consumer Price | :13:09. | :13:12. | |
Index, both of which do not reflect the real increases in the price of | :13:12. | :13:21. | |
foot, which play a much bigger part in the budget for people on low | :13:21. | :13:25. | |
incomes. So in fact things are getting worse and worse and there | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
is no way the government should not be aware of this. What do you make | :13:29. | :13:33. | |
of that argument, that we have got to the stage now where some | :13:33. | :13:38. | |
professionals are referring people to the food banks, in some ways | :13:38. | :13:42. | |
they are becoming institutionalised, and that by enabling us, you allow | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
the government off the hook? Caddie respond? I hear what you're saying | :13:46. | :13:54. | |
and I here. -- how do you respond? I agree with a lot of what Liz said | :13:54. | :13:59. | |
there. The two things we do not want to do is to create a | :13:59. | :14:03. | |
dependency culture and to subsidise chaotic living. But unfortunately | :14:03. | :14:07. | |
the way I see it is that I am not accountable for what the government | :14:07. | :14:11. | |
isn't doing. I'm accountable for what I am doing. And I feel I have | :14:11. | :14:17. | |
a responsibility to respond to need. And I don't see a great deal of | :14:17. | :14:20. | |
provision for people who are in need at this moment. So I | :14:20. | :14:24. | |
understand where Liz is coming from and I don't believe food banks can | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
address the issues, but I do believe that we can do something to | :14:28. | :14:33. | |
effect change in people's lives. Liz, today we interviewed Cardinal | :14:33. | :14:38. | |
Keith O'Brien, and he has said he feels David Cameron is immoral in | :14:38. | :14:43. | |
not imposing a Robin Hood tax. He feels he is out of touch with | :14:43. | :14:46. | |
ordinary people while his wealthy friends are going on their own | :14:46. | :14:52. | |
sweet way. Do you agree with that? I have a lot of sympathy with him, | :14:52. | :14:59. | |
I must admit. I am not a politician, nor am I a campaigner. I am an | :14:59. | :15:03. | |
academic. Nevertheless, I think it is hard to hold your head up and | :15:03. | :15:11. | |
justified the way our economy is running at the moment. I work | :15:11. | :15:13. | |
internationally and I can see examples in other countries where | :15:13. | :15:20. | |
there is a commitment from the top to a much more just way of enabling | :15:20. | :15:30. | |
:15:30. | :15:34. | ||
Thank you very much. If you would like to hear more on the subject of | :15:34. | :15:42. | |
food banks, you can tune into BBC Scotland investigate this at 4:30pm. | :15:42. | :15:49. | |
How are things which you? We really do care and that is what our size | :15:49. | :15:55. | |
correspondent wants to know. hello, how were you feeling it? -- | :15:55. | :16:02. | |
Science Correspondent. Here where operating at Strathclyde University | :16:02. | :16:10. | |
to test the mood of the nation. -- we are co-operating. Think of it as | :16:10. | :16:15. | |
an on-line quiz. We wanted to do something different from a | :16:15. | :16:19. | |
traditional survey on political attitudes. We wanted to find a way | :16:19. | :16:29. | |
to engage people in the research process and get a sense of, how do | :16:29. | :16:35. | |
you feel when you are asked some of these questions? What is your mood? | :16:35. | :16:39. | |
How are the current situation splaying out in your world? We also | :16:39. | :16:43. | |
wanted a sense of whether it is the same in all the different parts of | :16:43. | :16:49. | |
the United Kingdom. We are living in challenging times, it is at the | :16:49. | :16:53. | |
same in Scotland as it is in Northern Ireland? Do some things | :16:53. | :16:56. | |
make people mad in England which they're quite happy about in | :16:56. | :17:02. | |
Scotland or Wales? The everyone who takes the quiz will get an instant | :17:02. | :17:06. | |
personalise result and we will bring you the national results once | :17:06. | :17:15. | |
they had been calculated. Follow this link. That will take you | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
straight to the quiz which should not take long to complete. You will | :17:19. | :17:24. | |
arrive at a map, choose the place she left, follow the survey from | :17:24. | :17:32. | |
there. -- you've left. It is a bit of fun and a way to show how we do | :17:32. | :17:36. | |
academic research and get quick results. They would get a quick | :17:36. | :17:40. | |
result when they finished the question here and it will tell them | :17:40. | :17:46. | |
where they fit into the general picture. The researchers say all | :17:46. | :17:52. | |
submissions are anonymous. No information will be stored. If you | :17:52. | :18:01. | |
want to tell us how you feel, the link is... Now onto the lunchtime | :18:01. | :18:05. | |
news. Good afternoon. Lord McConnell - | :18:05. | :18:08. | |
the former First Minister - has said he's taking legal action over | :18:08. | :18:11. | |
allegations of phone hacking by the News of the world. Lord McConnell | :18:11. | :18:15. | |
said police had told him he was among the potential victims of the | :18:15. | :18:22. | |
scandal. He has confirmed that he and his family are speaking to | :18:22. | :18:25. | |
solicitors. Meanwhile, the Labour Party has called for a formal | :18:25. | :18:27. | |
examination of the role of the Scottish government adviser and his | :18:27. | :18:32. | |
dealings with News Corporation. Cardinal Keith O'Brien has said he | :18:32. | :18:35. | |
believes the Prime Minister is behaving immorally by putting the | :18:35. | :18:37. | |
needs of the rich ahead of those of the poor. | :18:37. | :18:40. | |
But David Cameron says he understands how difficult times are | :18:40. | :18:47. | |
for families. The Cardinal has long championed the very poorest in | :18:47. | :18:51. | |
society. He says these are people lower once well-off - young | :18:51. | :18:56. | |
families, workers and pensioners. Do not just protect all wage you | :18:56. | :19:02. | |
very rich colleagues in the financial industry. Consider your | :19:02. | :19:07. | |
moral obligation to help the poor in our country. The Prime Minister | :19:07. | :19:10. | |
says he understands but tough decisions me to be taken. | :19:10. | :19:15. | |
understand, that is what fires me up and gets near to bend to work | :19:15. | :19:21. | |
hard and do the right thing for the country. The curdle says he backs | :19:21. | :19:26. | |
the campaign for a card -- for a Robin Hood tax on the financial | :19:26. | :19:30. | |
sector which will raise �20 billion every year. The head of the | :19:30. | :19:32. | |
Highland Spring Water firm has once again been named as Scotland's | :19:32. | :19:35. | |
richest man in the Sunday Times Rich List. | :19:35. | :19:37. | |
Mahdi Al-Tajir's personal fortune stands at �1.6 billion. The total | :19:37. | :19:40. | |
number of Scots achieving billionaire status has risen from | :19:40. | :19:46. | |
two up to five. Sport now - and the last Old Firm | :19:46. | :19:52. | |
game of the season started at about half a year ago. Rangers are | :19:52. | :19:56. | |
playing Celtic at Celtic Park and the latest score there is Celtic 2- | :19:56. | :19:59. | |
Rangers nil. We'll have more coverage of that in our next update | :19:59. | :20:03. | |
at 6:15pm this evening. Tender the weather. Hello there, we're | :20:03. | :20:08. | |
starting to see a downhill trend in the says. Cloud wind and rain | :20:09. | :20:12. | |
the says. Cloud wind and rain across southern regions. The | :20:12. | :20:17. | |
northern regions hold on to the sunshine for longest, clouding up | :20:17. | :20:23. | |
in the south with a strong north- easterly breeze. Cooler with the | :20:23. | :20:26. | |
cloud. The rain moves north overnight and fizzles out in the | :20:26. | :20:29. | |
north and east, improving in the south with sunshine coming through | :20:29. | :20:34. | |
and feeling warmer. That's it for and feeling warmer. That's it for | :20:34. | :20:40. | |
and feeling warmer. That's it for now. Goodbye. First, let us take a | :20:40. | :20:50. | |
look back at the week in 60 seconds. The SFA fined and imposed a | :20:50. | :20:53. | |
transfer ban on Rangers for rule- breaking link to the club's | :20:53. | :20:59. | |
financial meltdown. An international election experts | :20:59. | :21:05. | |
reviewed the Holyrood election in 2007 and recommended the | :21:05. | :21:08. | |
independence referendum dump contained only one question. Donald | :21:08. | :21:13. | |
Trump went before a Scottish committee. He was assured an | :21:13. | :21:18. | |
offshore wind firm would not be built near his golf report, he said. | :21:18. | :21:23. | |
A I invested my money based on statements which were made to me, | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
so what they did was lower in the end, I spent his money and now I | :21:27. | :21:32. | |
might regret it. Alex Salmond and Jack McConnell said they did not | :21:33. | :21:37. | |
give assurances. The First Minister and denied any impropriety in his | :21:37. | :21:43. | |
relationship with Rupert Murdoch. James Murdoch told the inquiry Alex | :21:43. | :21:48. | |
Salmond had offered to lobby the UK Government on their behalf | :21:48. | :21:55. | |
supporting a bid to takeover BSkyB. Much to discuss today and we have | :21:55. | :22:01. | |
secured the services of the men in the know so stick with us. | :22:02. | :22:05. | |
Here in the studio we had journalist and lecturer Ewan | :22:05. | :22:09. | |
Crawford and in Edinburgh at the Scottish political editor of the | :22:09. | :22:14. | |
Daily Telegraph, Alan Cochrane. A pleasure to see both. Let us start | :22:14. | :22:19. | |
with their comments of the cardinal. I do not think it will be the | :22:19. | :22:23. | |
highest on David Cameron's list of priorities. He will pay attention | :22:23. | :22:30. | |
to what he said, but his main priority is to save his Culture | :22:30. | :22:35. | |
Secretary. I think he should have sacked 10 days ago. The other thing | :22:35. | :22:40. | |
about the Kano, he devalues it by the language he uses. He said David | :22:40. | :22:48. | |
Cameron is immoral. He has missed the bus on his project because, as | :22:48. | :22:53. | |
both Labour and SNP spokesman said earlier, attacks on financial | :22:53. | :22:58. | |
transactions would have to be global. If Britain did alone, | :22:58. | :23:05. | |
Edinburgh and London would lose hand over fist. To clarify, he said | :23:05. | :23:09. | |
David Cameron and his ministers in their approach in opposing this | :23:09. | :23:13. | |
were immoral. Will people say it is appropriate for someone in the | :23:13. | :23:18. | |
position of the cardinal to make these comments? I am not sure what | :23:18. | :23:24. | |
people will say about the cardinal. I think his over-the-top remarks | :23:24. | :23:29. | |
had devalued everything he has said in recent years. I understand what | :23:29. | :23:34. | |
he is saying about Colin individuals immoral. If he had made | :23:35. | :23:42. | |
-- used different language, forensic she were talking about | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
food banks earlier and the Sunday Times Rich List where the rich are | :23:45. | :23:49. | |
getting even richer, so there is clearly an issue with inequality, | :23:50. | :23:54. | |
so if he is raising those issues that is a good thing but sometimes | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
language and politics in this country can obscure things. Do you | :23:58. | :24:04. | |
not think that the clamour is so loud that unless you say something | :24:04. | :24:08. | |
very striking, unless you make comments which get headlines, you | :24:08. | :24:13. | |
will not get the coverage you actually feel is required? I think | :24:13. | :24:20. | |
that is reasonable. Had been a journalist and also try to get | :24:20. | :24:26. | |
publicity. -- I have been. If he is raising the issue of inequality, | :24:26. | :24:30. | |
that is a massive and growing issue and he should be congratulated on | :24:30. | :24:35. | |
it. Whether we should call individuals immoral, I am not sure. | :24:35. | :24:40. | |
Do you think Jeremy Hunt will survive? I am not sure. He should | :24:40. | :24:46. | |
not. He is responsible for the actions of his special adviser at | :24:46. | :24:50. | |
the same way Alex Salmond is responsible for his special adviser, | :24:50. | :25:00. | |
:25:00. | :25:02. | ||
Geoff Aberdein. Kowtowing with a slick man. Geoff is a good guy, I | :25:02. | :25:05. | |
talk to him about it all but he should not be talking to Robert | :25:05. | :25:14. | |
Mark duck. Adams neck resigned. -- Adams Smith resigned. And he should | :25:14. | :25:22. | |
be out as well. As a former adviser, it seems extraordinary that the | :25:22. | :25:27. | |
this individual off his own bat without any knowledge of his boss, | :25:27. | :25:32. | |
was engaged in these long conversations with their Murdoch | :25:32. | :25:38. | |
organisation. As seems a bit hard to believe. There is no suggestion, | :25:38. | :25:42. | |
with SNP, and that they were doing anything other than they said they | :25:42. | :25:47. | |
were doing. This has caused this to huge a row this week that they | :25:47. | :25:51. | |
genuinely thought this would be a good deal for Scotland. There is no | :25:51. | :25:58. | |
sense that the adviser went rogue. Come on, you would be telling you | :25:58. | :26:03. | |
students to get towed into this story about Geoff Aberdein telling | :26:03. | :26:08. | |
the man from then use of the world, that he would do anything and say | :26:08. | :26:17. | |
anything to help the BSkyB bid. What is Alex Salmond say now about | :26:17. | :26:22. | |
his pal Robert Murdoch, the First Minister of Scotland being hacked? | :26:22. | :26:26. | |
Why has it taken nine years for this to emerge from Strathclyde | :26:26. | :26:32. | |
Police? Dead a know about it? are allegations at this stage. -- | :26:32. | :26:40. | |
did they know about it? In terms of Scotland, are you surprised it | :26:40. | :26:44. | |
seems like every investigation into this suggests him problems stop at | :26:44. | :26:50. | |
the border? Is that credible? do not think the problem did stop | :26:50. | :26:57. | |
at the border. I think he was a lot more prevalent a, the phone hacking, | :26:57. | :27:04. | |
than elsewhere. I think it is more than an allegation, if I make so | :27:04. | :27:11. | |
bold, there story of Jack we can all. This endemic problem of the | :27:11. | :27:15. | |
Murdoch empire is one that the first men -- the First Minister is | :27:15. | :27:20. | |
glibly brushing aside, he says everyone was doing it. Everyone was | :27:20. | :27:25. | |
not doing it but the main culprits were his friends, Rupert Murdoch | :27:25. | :27:30. | |
employees. House in the Hindi using this is, the jack McConnell | :27:30. | :27:40. | |
development today? -- how significant easing the says. I do | :27:40. | :27:43. | |
not think anyone in their right mind would defend the First | :27:43. | :27:48. | |
Minister having his phone hacked. In terms of politics, I am not sure | :27:48. | :27:53. | |
what the implications are. This happened in the past and is | :27:53. | :27:56. | |
completely wrong. We have the Leveson Inquiry at the moment and | :27:56. | :28:01. | |
will see the Press Complaints Commission abolished and we are | :28:01. | :28:05. | |
seeing a criminal inquiry, so there are wider implications than in | :28:05. | :28:10. | |
terms of just specifically Scotland. Other than to say, it is a total | :28:10. | :28:16. | |
disgrace. A important news - Ross County has been -- have been | :28:16. | :28:20. | |
promoted, I expect you are thrilled? I was an Inverness | :28:20. | :28:30. | |
Thistle fan. You can come back then. I am a Hearts supporter, so I am | :28:30. | :28:35. | |
looking forward to the next couple of weeks. But you are thrilled | :28:35. | :28:41. | |
about Ross County? I had been celebrating four days. You have | :28:41. | :28:43. |