Browse content similar to 15/07/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Afternoon, folks. Welcome to the Sunday Politics. | :00:39. | :00:42. | |
An epic spat in the Commons - with Tories queueing up to strangle Nick | :00:42. | :00:47. | |
Clegg's plans to reform the Lords. This morning, the Prime Minister | :00:47. | :00:49. | |
has appealed to backbenchers and coalition partners alike NOT to | :00:49. | :00:56. | |
descend into "division and navel gazing". That's our top story. | :00:56. | :01:00. | |
And an Olympic-size fiasco over security for the Games. So who's | :01:00. | :01:03. | |
for the high jump? The Shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, is this | :01:03. | :01:12. | |
week's Sunday Interview. In Scotland: | :01:12. | :01:19. | |
The battle for control of the Crown Estate in Scotland continues. | :01:19. | :01:22. | |
was the opportunity to do the right thing and devolve something that | :01:22. | :01:32. | |
:01:32. | :01:39. | ||
should have been devolved in 1999. The bottled it. It is outrageous. | :01:39. | :01:49. | |
:01:49. | :01:49. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1528 seconds | :01:49. | :27:17. | |
All that coming up. Here is the Some of the things... Ken Clarke | :27:17. | :27:23. | |
wanted to end up what substantial weight reduced rate sentences. I do | :27:24. | :27:28. | |
not think that is the right thing to do. I think that is getting the | :27:28. | :27:32. | |
balance wrong. There are other areas where you want to prevent | :27:32. | :27:36. | |
reoffending but I think the Home Secretary is taking a huge risk by | :27:36. | :27:40. | |
cutting police officers. I think it is too simplistic to talk the way | :27:40. | :27:48. | |
that you want to. I'm interested in what works. G 4 s, it is one of | :27:48. | :27:55. | |
those periodic nightmares for the Home Office. Would the Home | :27:55. | :28:00. | |
Secretary ever-higher G four S again? They do look a complete a | :28:00. | :28:03. | |
share were at the moment. I think it is shocking what they have done. | :28:03. | :28:08. | |
I think you need to have a lot of scepticism about their ability to | :28:08. | :28:12. | |
deliver the contract. It is not just about them though, everybody | :28:12. | :28:18. | |
is working towards the Olympics. It is not just about them letting the | :28:18. | :28:24. | |
country down, why did the Home Office not know what was happening? | :28:24. | :28:30. | |
And wait for the last minute. Exactly. It is utter incompetence. | :28:30. | :28:35. | |
But it was the Labour Government that make you porous retch. Gabble | :28:35. | :28:41. | |
whole list of contacts that you gave them. You give them over a | :28:41. | :28:48. | |
million pounds a year. You make them rich. Would you ever employ | :28:48. | :28:55. | |
them again? Public and private partnerships can be effective. He | :28:55. | :29:01. | |
would not expect me to set them for every individual contact. -- | :29:01. | :29:09. | |
contract. The Government had been pushing the police forces into the | :29:09. | :29:14. | |
contracts. I did not want anyone to do that. You should not be | :29:14. | :29:20. | |
contracting out policing. I'm sorry to rush you. I want to move on to | :29:20. | :29:24. | |
Lords reform. Just briefly though, at the Home Secretary does have a | :29:24. | :29:27. | |
serious questions to answer. She has not yet explained whether she | :29:27. | :29:32. | |
is on top of what is happening. That is in terms of the number of | :29:32. | :29:37. | |
staff and volunteers. How could they not know? It looks like they | :29:37. | :29:41. | |
were advised and not autumn. If the Home Secretary was here for what | :29:41. | :29:46. | |
you asked them now. Is she in control of it now? Derek now know | :29:46. | :29:50. | |
that there will not be any additional police needed? And then | :29:50. | :29:55. | |
secondly, how could she not have known as late as Monday of last | :29:55. | :30:00. | |
week she said that she was confident. Final question on Lords | :30:00. | :30:06. | |
reform. Labour says that it is in favour of an elected chamber. Every | :30:06. | :30:11. | |
constitutional change put forward by their at last Government needed | :30:11. | :30:21. | |
:30:21. | :30:24. | ||
a programmed timetable. By do not It would have allowed the | :30:24. | :30:26. | |
Government to force bits of the Bill through that would have been | :30:26. | :30:36. | |
:30:36. | :30:37. | ||
amended. UK two days to the London mayor, the Human Rights Act, you | :30:37. | :30:47. | |
:30:47. | :30:48. | ||
get that in 4.5 days. Before these timetables were brought in, we | :30:48. | :30:51. | |
managed to get legislation through, it requires the government to speak | :30:51. | :30:56. | |
to us about each stage of the bill. We will work through them to do | :30:56. | :31:01. | |
that. We will make sure this gets through Parliament. It needs to be | :31:01. | :31:11. | |
:31:11. | :31:29. | ||
amended. That's why we had to say The afternoon. Welcome to Sunday | :31:29. | :31:39. | |
Politics. Coming up, a welcome to the programme. The quango, and fear | :31:39. | :31:43. | |
and loathing in the Scottish arts community. I'm here at the Lyceum | :31:44. | :31:46. | |
theatre where there are concerns about whether the curtain will rise | :31:46. | :31:51. | |
to a brighter future. As the Scottish Parliament takes some | :31:51. | :32:01. | |
:32:01. | :32:02. | ||
holidays, we take a look at the Who should control Scotland's | :32:02. | :32:06. | |
seabed? There has been growing pressure for rights to be done all | :32:06. | :32:10. | |
to Scotland and local communities. Instead, the UK Government has | :32:10. | :32:15. | |
decided they should remain with the Crown Estate. The news was greeted | :32:15. | :32:23. | |
with dismay by many in the coastal communities of Scotland. The | :32:23. | :32:26. | |
community or land in this estate on the island of Lewis, but they do | :32:26. | :32:30. | |
not control the sea. As the potential for harnessing marine | :32:30. | :32:35. | |
energy becomes a reality, people on the coast what to reap the benefits. | :32:35. | :32:40. | |
Having previously bought the estate, we believe these revenues ought to | :32:40. | :32:44. | |
be used for the benefit of the people living on the estate. We | :32:44. | :32:51. | |
could put them to good use for things that are important to us, | :32:51. | :32:58. | |
such as social housing or fuel poverty. Control rests with the | :32:58. | :33:03. | |
Crown Estate, with revenue going direct to the UK Treasury. It was | :33:03. | :33:07. | |
fouled things were changed that about to change after a strongly | :33:07. | :33:11. | |
critical report said power should be devolved to local communities. | :33:11. | :33:14. | |
The UK Government was not this -- not persuaded and gave away strips | :33:14. | :33:21. | |
of land below Edinburgh Castle. There was every reason to expect | :33:21. | :33:25. | |
the Government would respond more positively, given that the Liberal | :33:25. | :33:29. | |
Democrats in the Highlands have been arguing for this for years. | :33:29. | :33:35. | |
There was the opportunity to do the right thing. They could evolve | :33:35. | :33:38. | |
something that should have been devolved in 1999 and they have | :33:38. | :33:45. | |
bottled it. It is quite outrageous. Why didn't they go further? I think | :33:45. | :33:51. | |
there are two aspects, the Treasury does not want to give up control, | :33:51. | :33:57. | |
the potential for renewables is big, it is power. The second is | :33:57. | :34:00. | |
political, I suspect the government did not want to give the SNP | :34:00. | :34:08. | |
something they wanted. It is bad timing. The Scottish Government had | :34:08. | :34:11. | |
described the decision as a missed opportunity but the Crown Estate | :34:11. | :34:13. | |
says it plays an important strategic role when it comes to | :34:14. | :34:18. | |
offshore renewables in Scotland. The British Government has looked | :34:18. | :34:22. | |
at the entirety of renewable energy around the United Kingdom and | :34:22. | :34:25. | |
considered that the Crown Estate, with its very collaborative role | :34:25. | :34:31. | |
through industry, the supply chain, and both governments in Westminster | :34:31. | :34:40. | |
and here, we are best placed to collaborate that activity. At the | :34:40. | :34:44. | |
moment, revenue from the Crown Estate accounts for about �13 | :34:44. | :34:48. | |
million, but here in Orkney, seen as the front line in tidal energy | :34:48. | :34:53. | |
research, they are convinced it could be much greater. That is why | :34:53. | :34:57. | |
despite assurances of more local involvement they are deeply | :34:57. | :35:03. | |
disappointed. They were hoping for an 80% share of all revenue. | :35:03. | :35:10. | |
remains to be seen whether it will go far enough. We are trying to | :35:10. | :35:15. | |
drive economic development. We feel if the Revenue had been devolved | :35:15. | :35:20. | |
here, we could have managed the development locally, make sure it | :35:20. | :35:24. | |
was unsustainably and ensure that there was going to be a thriving | :35:25. | :35:30. | |
economy or young people to grow into. Does the story end here? | :35:30. | :35:36. | |
Campaigners hope not. They plan to meet with the Scottish Affairs | :35:36. | :35:41. | |
Committee soon. With me in the studio, Labour MP Ian Davidson, who | :35:41. | :35:44. | |
chairs the Scottish Affairs Committee, and also from that | :35:44. | :35:49. | |
committee, Alan Reid. In our Inverness studio, Dr Michael Foxley, | :35:49. | :35:53. | |
until recently, the leader of Highland Council and a long-time | :35:53. | :35:57. | |
campaigner on this issue. We did ask for a Scottish government | :35:57. | :36:00. | |
minister to be part of this discussion but none was available. | :36:00. | :36:04. | |
Ian Davidson, if we look at the findings from your committee, you | :36:04. | :36:08. | |
have said that the Crown Estate has a fundamental misunderstanding of | :36:08. | :36:11. | |
the needs and interests of the local communities, little regards | :36:11. | :36:15. | |
for those needs and interests, other than where it serves business | :36:15. | :36:19. | |
interest. At worst, it behaves as an absentee landlord or tax | :36:19. | :36:25. | |
collector. What effect does that have? It effectively means that the | :36:25. | :36:28. | |
local communities are completely alienated from what is going on | :36:28. | :36:33. | |
immediately adjacent to them. It means the Crown Estate act like any | :36:33. | :36:39. | |
other private sector landlord, takes no account of what is going | :36:39. | :36:45. | |
on, the needs and aspirations of local people. We produced a radical | :36:45. | :36:54. | |
report. The vast majority of support from people we met in the | :36:54. | :36:59. | |
Highlands and Islands, we are very disappointed that the government | :36:59. | :37:02. | |
has swept aside. The difficulty is that the Treasury doesn't want to | :37:02. | :37:05. | |
let go of anything that generates money and I think that is | :37:05. | :37:11. | |
regrettable and we will come to think again. Alan Reid, if the | :37:11. | :37:15. | |
coalition government were to sit down together and say, let's come | :37:15. | :37:23. | |
up with a plan, one that will discredit and infuriate what is | :37:23. | :37:26. | |
left of the Liberal Democrat based in the Highlands, they couldn't | :37:26. | :37:30. | |
have come up with anything better. How can a Liberal Democrats' | :37:30. | :37:35. | |
Scottish Secretary justify this? Let's look at the positive things, | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
they set up the coastal communities fund, which means the revenues | :37:39. | :37:43. | |
generated by the marine park of the Crown Estate is spent in Scotland, | :37:43. | :37:49. | |
and it is ring-fenced so that race in the Highlands and Islands goes | :37:49. | :37:55. | |
back to the communities in the Highlands and Islands, so have the | :37:55. | :38:00. | |
Revenue -- 50% of the revenue comes back in Ireland and Islands. I wish | :38:00. | :38:07. | |
it was 100%, but that is a start. Why isn't it? Don't you have any | :38:07. | :38:11. | |
concern that what has been handed over here, including very minimal | :38:11. | :38:18. | |
amounts, talking estate amounts, coming in from shellfish farming, | :38:18. | :38:23. | |
that is almost more work insulting? I am disappointed the Government | :38:23. | :38:28. | |
has not gone the whole 100%. But in addition to the 50% of the revenue | :38:28. | :38:32. | |
coming back, the Government is also telling the Crown Estate to set up | :38:32. | :38:38. | |
local management agreements. These have already been set up in Portree. | :38:38. | :38:43. | |
These will give local communities the power to take the initiative in | :38:43. | :38:47. | |
managing the coastline. Why is Michael Moore as saying this has to | :38:47. | :38:51. | |
remain in UK control? I'm convinced that this was a Liberal Democrat | :38:51. | :38:54. | |
government we would have implemented the committee report. | :38:54. | :38:57. | |
It's a coalition government, there needs to be agreement between us | :38:57. | :39:01. | |
and the Conservatives. As Liberal Democrats, we can achieve | :39:01. | :39:06. | |
everything we want, but we need to compromise. -- we cannot achieve. I | :39:06. | :39:13. | |
think 50% is a good start. Michael Foxley, you are respected | :39:13. | :39:15. | |
Liberal Democrat councillor, you have been at forefront, campaigning | :39:15. | :39:23. | |
on this issue for many years. Are you satisfied with this response? | :39:23. | :39:28. | |
Good afternoon, I am relying on people like Alan Reid and Alistair | :39:28. | :39:33. | |
Carmichael to continue the campaign, because it will certainly continue, | :39:33. | :39:37. | |
the present situation is completely unacceptable, the response from the | :39:37. | :39:41. | |
UK Government is unacceptable, and this is not just about the benefits | :39:41. | :39:44. | |
that need to fall from things like marine renewables, the key issue is | :39:44. | :39:49. | |
the management and local communities and local authorities, | :39:49. | :39:52. | |
agencies in the Highlands and Islands, need to be in charge of | :39:52. | :39:59. | |
that management, the benefits. strongly do you think local | :39:59. | :40:07. | |
communities feel about this? -- how strongly? If you are living on an | :40:07. | :40:12. | |
island and tried to develop a hard work, if someone tries to takeover | :40:12. | :40:18. | |
the Marines from the least, it originally, 3040 years ago -- 30 | :40:18. | :40:23. | |
years ago, firemen arrived with no consultation, then you are very | :40:23. | :40:30. | |
angry. What we are aware of is the potential of offshore renewables. I | :40:30. | :40:34. | |
am delighted with the report led by Ian Davidson, with the support of | :40:34. | :40:44. | |
:40:44. | :40:45. | ||
people like Alan Reid, they took the argument and accepted it, that | :40:45. | :40:49. | |
is about local management. A few months ago I was in Orkney and it | :40:49. | :40:52. | |
was clear from the companies in Orkney that they wanted to work | :40:52. | :40:56. | |
with the local authorities, local communities, this report does not | :40:56. | :41:02. | |
put that in place. Local management agreements referred to are at the | :41:02. | :41:09. | |
very lowest level of tokenism, if it was all the partners, in the | :41:09. | :41:15. | |
Highlands and Islands, that would be a serious step. The need to | :41:15. | :41:19. | |
develop without the bureaucracy, the legal issues, the financial | :41:19. | :41:26. | |
cost. It is a Scottish asset and the management needs to be devolved. | :41:26. | :41:30. | |
The let me ask you something, but Dr Michael Foxley says he is | :41:30. | :41:33. | |
delighted that the committee has taken this on and heard the voices, | :41:33. | :41:39. | |
but it has not done them much good. Do you have a concern at this | :41:39. | :41:44. | |
critical time, when the campaign are saying stick with the evolution, | :41:44. | :41:50. | |
trust us, something like this come a long, you do not get more powers, | :41:50. | :41:57. | |
how can people have confidence in that sort of undertaking? Of course | :41:57. | :42:00. | |
I am disappointed that the government didn't implement the | :42:00. | :42:04. | |
committee report in full, but we have made steps in the right | :42:04. | :42:09. | |
direction. 50% of the revenue coming back to the Highlands, and I | :42:09. | :42:11. | |
will continue to campaign for the committee report to be implemented | :42:12. | :42:20. | |
in full. Let's become something that the Crown Estate have mention, | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
that there is a strategic benefit if you are trying to get investors | :42:24. | :42:28. | |
to keeping this in one level, one coherent package, so the argument | :42:28. | :42:32. | |
would be too transparent to the Scottish Government in Holyrood so | :42:32. | :42:36. | |
they could have an overview. That is not want the committee -- that | :42:36. | :42:43. | |
is not what the committee wants. Is that true? Not entirely. This is | :42:43. | :42:48. | |
quite complex. There are some issues where we had said we believe | :42:48. | :42:52. | |
the Scottish Government should have a strategic overview, and that the | :42:52. | :42:55. | |
expertise that the Crown Estate has built up should be retained, rather | :42:55. | :42:59. | |
than being broken up, and the resources, but not all the | :42:59. | :43:03. | |
resources. Let me be clear, we believe initially there is the | :43:03. | :43:07. | |
benefit of the developments and they should go to the people at a | :43:07. | :43:15. | |
decent, local authorities. -- the people next door. We had system | :43:15. | :43:21. | |
where we would have localised decisions, in the hands of the | :43:21. | :43:29. | |
people in the area, once it got wider. Once it got wider still, it | :43:29. | :43:33. | |
was something that needed to be dealt with at a Scottish level. | :43:33. | :43:36. | |
There are some issues that still need to be dealt with at the UK | :43:36. | :43:41. | |
level, because they have UK-wide strategic responsibilities. We | :43:41. | :43:44. | |
wanted to put them together in a way that localised as much as | :43:44. | :43:49. | |
possible. This is not just about the Crown Estate, it is about the | :43:49. | :43:53. | |
politics of the situation. For people like me, devolution was a | :43:53. | :43:57. | |
way towards giving people more power where they lead. | :43:57. | :43:59. | |
Decentralising and breaking up elements of the Crown Estate is | :43:59. | :44:03. | |
about decentralising further, making sure that local people have | :44:03. | :44:08. | |
local control, control over things that immediately affect them. It is | :44:08. | :44:16. | |
part of that process. Is it your opinion that if there were Lib Dems | :44:16. | :44:20. | |
with any sense of the political nuances in Scotland, they would | :44:20. | :44:26. | |
have not made this choice? suppose you've got to be fair, it | :44:26. | :44:31. | |
is always regrettable, but this is not the top of their agenda. They | :44:31. | :44:38. | |
have taken at Treasury decision, driven by finance. We will now go | :44:38. | :44:42. | |
and meet people in the Highlands and Islands and forced it up the | :44:43. | :44:49. | |
political agenda. Dr Michael Foxley, presumably it is not about the | :44:49. | :44:53. | |
amounts of revenue, although they will increase dramatically if there | :44:53. | :44:57. | |
are renewables, it is the principle of what happens. What should happen | :44:57. | :45:03. | |
next? Well, I think we all have to consider the report and the | :45:03. | :45:07. | |
response of the UK Government, we have to meet with the Scottish | :45:07. | :45:11. | |
Affairs Committee in September, and we have to redouble our efforts. It | :45:11. | :45:16. | |
is in the company's interest that we develop renewable energy, | :45:16. | :45:23. | |
working with the community. We need to ensure that the planning is | :45:23. | :45:27. | |
right, the training is right, apprenticeships, at the jobs | :45:27. | :45:37. | |
:45:37. | :45:45. | ||
As communities are about to be hit by funding cuts. Scores of | :45:45. | :45:49. | |
organisations are left worried about their future. Mainly theatre | :45:49. | :45:53. | |
companies have been moved from regular funding to project funding | :45:53. | :45:57. | |
which means they have to apply for individual grants. We have been | :45:57. | :46:02. | |
hearing about the concerns of artists who are concerned that the | :46:02. | :46:07. | |
curtains are coming down on their future. | :46:07. | :46:12. | |
These large scale wall-hangings had been funded through a greater | :46:12. | :46:18. | |
Scotland grant. But Scotland's arts agency is changing the way it funds | :46:18. | :46:22. | |
small and medium scale arts organisations. They will see their | :46:22. | :46:26. | |
regular funding come to an end next year when they have to apply for | :46:26. | :46:32. | |
funding and an individual project basis. This woman, Fiona, is unsure | :46:32. | :46:38. | |
of how it will affect her. There is less and less money out there so it | :46:38. | :46:43. | |
will have an effect on the ability to be experimental. To be able to | :46:43. | :46:47. | |
explore things that you do not know where they're going to teach you. | :46:47. | :46:52. | |
We do not know what the outcome will be. Creative Scotland say the | :46:52. | :46:56. | |
changes are due to at �2 million drop in their funding. Although | :46:56. | :47:00. | |
they do have access to new lottery money it is governed by strict | :47:00. | :47:04. | |
rules which means it is only available for projects and not long | :47:04. | :47:12. | |
term funding. Nearly 50 theatres -- theatre company's will lose their | :47:12. | :47:17. | |
funding and will have to apply in a project by project basis. Many | :47:17. | :47:21. | |
organisations are worried and feel that the changes will make them | :47:21. | :47:26. | |
financially unstable and compromise their work. As artistic director of | :47:26. | :47:30. | |
the Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, Mark Thomson speaks for many of the | :47:30. | :47:37. | |
theatre companies. That's a duty, and we're only talking about two | :47:37. | :47:41. | |
years security, can be critical to allowing artists to continue to | :47:41. | :47:47. | |
work and create in Scotland. If it becomes impoverished, if that | :47:47. | :47:52. | |
landscape becomes more unsteady and less secure or with less of that | :47:52. | :47:57. | |
ability then there is a danger that some of her guests artists might | :47:57. | :48:03. | |
leave. This is there culture freesheet newspaper created by | :48:03. | :48:08. | |
artists. Its co-editor fears that its funding could be in jeopardy | :48:08. | :48:15. | |
because of its non commercial business model and critical work. | :48:15. | :48:17. | |
If you are seeing some uncritical about cultural policy you become | :48:17. | :48:22. | |
more and more or unpopular in this sort of environment. It is | :48:22. | :48:27. | |
censorship by the back door, I think. You have a culture as an | :48:27. | :48:31. | |
employment of policy and then it changes and sets the tone for what | :48:31. | :48:38. | |
people write about us and what people think is worthy to produce. | :48:38. | :48:42. | |
Creative Scotland has delayed its plans for six months and has | :48:42. | :48:45. | |
apologised to arts are organisations for or causing | :48:45. | :48:52. | |
anxiety. But its criticism and the media remains for many of our top | :48:52. | :48:58. | |
artists. A perception is that this body is only two years old Bailey | :48:58. | :49:02. | |
and yet it is on a par or with the organisation, the old Scottish Arts | :49:02. | :49:07. | |
Council, that more than a decade ago was called in front of | :49:07. | :49:11. | |
Westminster to at be asked why it was not communicating properly. | :49:11. | :49:14. | |
There's a feeling that we have not progressed as far as we can and | :49:14. | :49:18. | |
that is something that we have to address. Critics fear that the | :49:18. | :49:22. | |
funding shake-up could result in the death of many other theatre | :49:22. | :49:30. | |
companies. They say the need funding stability to survive. | :49:30. | :49:36. | |
Joining me is the chief executive of Creative Scotland, Andrew Dixon | :49:36. | :49:40. | |
and the Adam a columnist to Joyce McMillan. Andrew, do you accept | :49:40. | :49:42. | |
this has caused a great deal of anxiety? There are worthwhile | :49:42. | :49:45. | |
companies saying that they have no idea what their future is going to | :49:45. | :49:50. | |
be. The first thing to say is that Creative Scotland is a new agency, | :49:50. | :49:53. | |
it has inherited a number of commitments and we want see on are | :49:54. | :49:56. | |
those commitments that we have done and there is not a single | :49:56. | :50:01. | |
organisation that has been cut. Scotland is an incredibly creative | :50:01. | :50:06. | |
place and we have some fantastic music organisations and the tears | :50:06. | :50:10. | |
and the to companies and festivals. Our role is to make sure that the | :50:10. | :50:15. | |
entire population of Scotland gets the benefit of that. These changes | :50:15. | :50:18. | |
are to try to support our organisations and a time what we do | :50:18. | :50:23. | |
have a slight reduction in Arab for money from Government but we do | :50:23. | :50:27. | |
also have additional money from the Government for at Edinburgh | :50:27. | :50:32. | |
festivals and for capital funding and innovation funding from the | :50:32. | :50:36. | |
Government. Where the growth in a lottery fund also. It is about | :50:36. | :50:40. | |
trying to sustain those cultural organisations by moving them across | :50:40. | :50:44. | |
into the lottery area where they can bet for programmes of work. | :50:44. | :50:48. | |
Does this sound acceptable to you got as Mark I think the real issues | :50:49. | :50:56. | |
with that. I think both the Creative Scotland and the Minister | :50:56. | :50:59. | |
have been a great job of sustaining their overall level of arts funding | :50:59. | :51:03. | |
in Scotland. That contrasts very positively to the situation in | :51:03. | :51:07. | |
England. But in a way they have snatched defeat from the jaws of | :51:07. | :51:12. | |
victory by it increasingly pursuing a model for the week Creative | :51:12. | :51:18. | |
Scotland works that is in fact not very creative. The idea of a | :51:18. | :51:21. | |
functional arts funding agency is that it allows artists to meet the | :51:21. | :51:24. | |
change. The need to be inspirational and thinking about | :51:24. | :51:32. | |
new ways of looking at Scotland and the world in which we love. The | :51:32. | :51:38. | |
Arts agency's job is to respond to the agendas of artists. What is | :51:38. | :51:42. | |
happening here is that by the way it is being managed it looks as | :51:42. | :51:45. | |
though Creative Scotland is putting itself at the centre of things as a | :51:45. | :51:50. | |
sort of strategic Agency which judges from project to project what | :51:50. | :51:55. | |
artists should be doing. It tries to manoeuvre their agenda is | :51:55. | :52:00. | |
towards policy goals and that is not the way to get good art. But as | :52:00. | :52:04. | |
back-up account. You could become more interventionist than arts | :52:05. | :52:08. | |
funding has been able to be in the past and that is not necessarily a | :52:08. | :52:12. | |
good thing. Greater Scotland is going in different direction. We | :52:12. | :52:18. | |
have doubled their funding took artists. Where artist residencies | :52:18. | :52:23. | |
growing. Their residency hosts taking the decisions necessary. | :52:23. | :52:27. | |
We're trying to get them to generate their own ideas and work | :52:27. | :52:31. | |
but we are the national strategic body and we do about duty to | :52:31. | :52:35. | |
deliver to people all over Scotland. Places that might not have | :52:35. | :52:42. | |
professional theatre companies and other facilities. Short-term | :52:42. | :52:46. | |
funding presumably brings its own problems in terms of their talent | :52:46. | :52:51. | |
you retain and that unsure track down. Is there a concern that this | :52:51. | :52:55. | |
might become rooted in something very secure like Edinburgh Festival | :52:55. | :52:59. | |
and all the thing we can predict funding will go to and does not | :52:59. | :53:06. | |
going to more imaginative projects? And Sharada would agree that it is | :53:06. | :53:09. | |
the role of Creative Scotland to fund things that are unpredictable | :53:09. | :53:13. | |
but the problem is how do you achieve that? I do not think you do | :53:13. | :53:16. | |
that by imposing and business investments model on a function | :53:16. | :53:21. | |
which is basically about supporting things that need Government support. | :53:22. | :53:25. | |
The new Government support to see it them three not so that they have | :53:25. | :53:30. | |
to follow certain agendas and appear certain geographical areas | :53:30. | :53:34. | |
or whatever back agenda is. Imposing VAT on the arts will not | :53:34. | :53:39. | |
get good work. I think the main goal of greater Scotland should be | :53:39. | :53:44. | |
to listen to artists, assess which artists are making good work and | :53:44. | :53:47. | |
dabbing Open and well understood ways of doing that and then giving | :53:47. | :53:50. | |
the money to those that really have the creative energy and brilliance | :53:50. | :53:55. | |
to do the job. And the Creative Scotland should focus its energy on | :53:55. | :53:58. | |
that and less on inventing strategies and ideas and | :53:58. | :54:01. | |
commissioning projects of its own and in trying to make artists | :54:01. | :54:05. | |
follow them by the way it distributes the money. Do you | :54:05. | :54:09. | |
accept that? We have learnt that we need to listen more or two artists | :54:09. | :54:13. | |
in the cultural sector. But we do have a duty to the entire | :54:13. | :54:16. | |
population of Scotland and we also have a duty to invest an artist and | :54:16. | :54:20. | |
talent. Doing things like the Europe Creative Scotland and the | :54:20. | :54:24. | |
programme for the Commonwealth Games provides an unprecedented | :54:24. | :54:29. | |
opportunity for Scotland in terms of celebrating its cultural success. | :54:29. | :54:33. | |
Readers will and is different, it is not just a cheque book. It is a | :54:33. | :54:39. | |
body that is going to celebrate Scotland here and internationally. | :54:39. | :54:43. | |
At what point does that become too politicised and your budget being | :54:43. | :54:48. | |
too dependent on that. We have been criticised for doing | :54:48. | :54:55. | |
international work, but it is important that our theatres or | :54:55. | :54:57. | |
internationally. We have been criticised for not being critical | :54:57. | :55:01. | |
of the Government, but the Government has given as good | :55:01. | :55:05. | |
supporting a up initial two years. We've been criticised perhaps | :55:05. | :55:08. | |
justifiably or not celebrating the role of artists and I think artists | :55:09. | :55:13. | |
are central to our work and deliver amazing things in Scotland. We have | :55:13. | :55:20. | |
many great agencies like the Transmission Gallery who are doing | :55:20. | :55:28. | |
fantastic work. There are going to be here. A we have 30 seconds. Many | :55:28. | :55:32. | |
of those organisations feel threatened and destabilised and | :55:32. | :55:36. | |
insulted by the business language being used to them as if they do | :55:36. | :55:39. | |
not understand creative entrepreneurship and is that they | :55:39. | :55:41. | |
do not understand how to keep an organisation together with many | :55:41. | :55:46. | |
sources of income. There's been a real failure of cultural or | :55:46. | :55:49. | |
assonance between the sector and the council and it really has to | :55:49. | :55:53. | |
change the language it's used and more than that, it changed its | :55:53. | :55:57. | |
model of operation so that it really allows artists to lead and | :55:57. | :56:01. | |
does not put itself at the centre of things. We're out of time that | :56:01. | :56:05. | |
Thank you very much. In a moment we will be discussing | :56:05. | :56:10. | |
the Week in Scottish politics but first it let's take hour week -- | :56:10. | :56:20. | |
:56:20. | :56:22. | ||
look back at a week in 60 seconds. UK government's plan to take their | :56:22. | :56:32. | |
house of words into her up elected chamber had a backbench rebellion. | :56:32. | :56:34. | |
Scottish dairy farmers demanded their power to fix the price of | :56:34. | :56:37. | |
they're not saying that it is being driven down by retailers and | :56:37. | :56:42. | |
processors. Average cost of production is in excess of 30 pence | :56:42. | :56:46. | |
a litre of which is now talking about five per sit -- we are now at | :56:47. | :56:53. | |
5p less than that. The average business is really struggling. | :56:53. | :56:58. | |
Electoral commission said it would not look out independence | :56:58. | :57:03. | |
referendum things that were bought by it those parties. | :57:03. | :57:08. | |
The council brought an emergency meeting to discuss the Halls | :57:08. | :57:13. | |
factory. Jobs could be lost. And the American billionaire Donald | :57:13. | :57:21. | |
Trump opened his controversial new golf course in Aberdeenshire. | :57:21. | :57:26. | |
So despite Holyrood being in recess this week of the question of the | :57:26. | :57:35. | |
referendum still dominated the headlines. | :57:35. | :57:38. | |
My guests this afternoon at the political commentator Hamish | :57:38. | :57:42. | |
MacDonell and here in the studio madness God and the political | :57:42. | :57:48. | |
editor of the Daily Record. If you to cast your eye back over the last | :57:48. | :57:54. | |
year of political activity what we do think was the top story, Magnus? | :57:54. | :57:58. | |
It has to be the referendum. From the start of the Year we had the | :57:58. | :58:04. | |
Prime Minister at intervening right at the beginning of January. That | :58:04. | :58:09. | |
it started at all. Alex Salmond responded very quickly with his | :58:09. | :58:14. | |
timetable and then we had the wording of the question. Then we at | :58:14. | :58:20. | |
the launch of their it Vs Scotland. Then we had better together. It has | :58:20. | :58:23. | |
been a referendum roller-coaster and has sucked the life out of | :58:23. | :58:31. | |
every other story. And on it goes. Hamish, what you think? I think | :58:31. | :58:38. | |
that madness is exactly right. But we're going sec get another two- | :58:38. | :58:42. | |
and- a-half years of that. There is a danger that the public will get a | :58:42. | :58:46. | |
bit tired. We are only six months into a very long campaign that will | :58:46. | :58:52. | |
last at least until October at 2014 and may go on for them on that. The | :58:52. | :58:57. | |
big parties have to be careful that we do not go and get referendum | :58:57. | :59:01. | |
city. What you think are the most important news stories other than | :59:01. | :59:07. | |
that? Sitting in Holyrood it is easy to forget that we're in the | :59:07. | :59:12. | |
middle of an economic crisis. Growth is painfully slow and the | :59:12. | :59:16. | |
employment situation is poor. I know every quarter we argue about | :59:16. | :59:19. | |
whether Scotland is doing well compared with the rest of the UK | :59:19. | :59:26. | |
but actually we are just squabbling over fractions of 1%. There are | :59:26. | :59:29. | |
nearly 100,000 young Scots out of work. There has been an alarming | :59:29. | :59:34. | |
drift towards part-time employment as opposed to full-time employment | :59:34. | :59:39. | |
the STUC say that there are something like half a million Scots | :59:39. | :59:43. | |
under employed or unemployed. There is a huge problem there. It would | :59:43. | :59:49. | |
be grossly unfair it to me that all at the door at a of the SNP, the | :59:49. | :59:54. | |
SNP and Labour up both agree that it is George Osborne is the real | :59:54. | :00:00. | |
cost of this with the austerity drive. But there are questions | :00:00. | :00:03. | |
about how it these bosses from the SNP are in passing and whether they | :00:03. | :00:09. | |
are helping especially in terms of colleges. As cuts demands we see | :00:09. | :00:15. | |
that their only a quarter of the way through those go cuts. These | :00:15. | :00:25. | |
:00:25. | :00:30. | ||
What about the renewables question? I think there is one issue that has | :00:30. | :00:33. | |
been bubbling around in the background and it will continue to | :00:33. | :00:39. | |
affect politics across the country. The SNP have said they won 100% of | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
Scotland's electricity produced by renewables by 2020. That is a very | :00:43. | :00:48. | |
ambitious target, most of which will come from wind power. As we | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
have got closer to that timetable, people ask questions as to whether | :00:52. | :00:59. | |
we are on the right lines, whether should week -- whether we should be | :00:59. | :01:03. | |
waiting longer to see how tidal power develops, not putting all | :01:03. | :01:11. | |
legs towards wind farms. As the SNP pushes towards this target of | :01:11. | :01:15. | |
Twenty20, people will look at places like Denmark and say, is | :01:15. | :01:23. | |
this really the right way to go? I think the SNP will need to answer | :01:23. | :01:30. | |
some questions about this. Shortly we will be looking at what creeps | :01:30. | :01:36. | |
up on the political horizon, but now the lunchtime news. Good | :01:36. | :01:45. | |
afternoon, a Spanish fugitive linked to be Basque terrorists, has | :01:45. | :01:50. | |
been arrested in Edinburgh. Benat Atorrasagasti Ordonez was arrested | :01:50. | :01:54. | |
in Leith on Friday night. Spanish authorities requested his arrest | :01:54. | :01:58. | |
and said he had been living in the capital for some time. He is | :01:58. | :02:04. | |
expected to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff court tomorrow. The | :02:04. | :02:07. | |
Scottish Government has revealed more than 26,000 responses were | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
received during its consultation on the independence referendum. The | :02:11. | :02:16. | |
total is 5,000 more than previously thought. Nicola Sturgeon said it | :02:16. | :02:23. | |
showed that people wanted the terms and timing decided in Scotland. The | :02:23. | :02:28. | |
UK Government said there was strong support for a single question. The | :02:28. | :02:31. | |
leaders at the Scottish Open are beginning their final round. | :02:31. | :02:36. | |
Francesco Molinari take a one-shot lead into the final round. Mark | :02:36. | :02:41. | |
Warren, Martin Laird and Peter White furred are also in contention. | :02:42. | :02:47. | |
White furred are also in contention. -- Whiteford. Bright spells and | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
scattered showers this afternoon. The best spells are in the East, | :02:50. | :02:55. | |
but that is also where we will see the heavy showers. Cloudier in the | :02:55. | :02:59. | |
northern isles, and in the West mainland. There will be bits and | :02:59. | :03:05. | |
pieces of showery rain. There will be a breeze in the central belt. | :03:05. | :03:13. | |
be a breeze in the central belt. Next bulletin is at 7:50pm. Goodbye. | :03:13. | :03:16. | |
It is the end of the political term, but if you cannot remember what has | :03:16. | :03:26. | |
:03:26. | :03:26. | ||
been going on for the last six From the start of the year, one | :03:26. | :03:34. | |
issue has been on the present, independence. Nobody escaped the | :03:34. | :03:41. | |
question and many lined up to take the flak. The world is ready for us, | :03:41. | :03:47. | |
and I know Scotland is ready. Thank you. Following the end of the | :03:47. | :03:50. | |
consultation on same-sex marriage in September, the Scottish | :03:50. | :03:53. | |
Government response was eagerly awaited but has not arrived. | :03:53. | :03:57. | |
Meanwhile, campaigners lined up outside the parliament to gather | :03:57. | :04:04. | |
support. The new party leaders have had time to settle into their roles, | :04:04. | :04:13. | |
especially during first minister's questions. Big men, one not quite | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
so big man. Some say the First Minister has been devious, | :04:17. | :04:22. | |
conniving, double-dealing. Isn't he just covering up fact that are rich | :04:22. | :04:32. | |
man has played him for a full again? -- fool. Tackling | :04:32. | :04:37. | |
unemployment remains the priority whatever party you belong to, but | :04:37. | :04:40. | |
despite apprenticeship schemes and free rail travel, redundancies | :04:40. | :04:47. | |
continue. In the local elections, Labour held their nerve in Glasgow | :04:47. | :04:51. | |
and the SNP claimed significant victories elsewhere. And the | :04:51. | :04:57. | |
Liberal Democrats were beaten by Penguin in Edinburgh. After the | :04:57. | :04:59. | |
celebrations, the Scottish Government confirmed that wants to | :04:59. | :05:05. | |
set a minimum price of 50 pence per unit of alcohol. The Lockerbie bomb | :05:05. | :05:09. | |
work died in Tripoli, but whether his conviction is sound remains | :05:09. | :05:19. | |
contentious. The First Minister's appearance at the Leveson enquiry | :05:19. | :05:24. | |
revealed the startling claim that his bank account was packed. I was | :05:24. | :05:26. | |
informed by a former Observer journalist who gave me a fairly | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
exact account of what was in my bank account. He was allowed to | :05:30. | :05:35. | |
wrong-foot the Lord Justice. Thank you, and the same is so for the | :05:35. | :05:40. | |
English Parliament, they can adopted. I like the term English | :05:40. | :05:48. | |
Parliament, I approve of that. But it one of the things that | :05:48. | :05:51. | |
politicians cannot control, the Scottish summer threatens | :05:51. | :06:01. | |
:06:01. | :06:14. | ||
For Westminster perspective, we are joined by James Cusack of the | :06:14. | :06:23. | |
Independent's newspaper. Thank you for joining in. What are the waves | :06:23. | :06:31. | |
of Scottish politics that wash up at Westminster? This is bad news, | :06:31. | :06:36. | |
Scotland's obsession with the referendum has not hit the UK media. | :06:36. | :06:40. | |
That is not because there is no room left because of the Olympics, | :06:40. | :06:48. | |
it just hasn't had resonance. There are maybe two reasons, one is a | :06:48. | :06:53. | |
matter of Westminster are not being embarrassed, however much they try | :06:53. | :06:57. | |
to order Westminster -- order Holyrood, that has not worked. A | :06:57. | :07:01. | |
rather than get involved at this early stage, they are keeping their | :07:01. | :07:05. | |
powder dry and will deal with it later. It is certainly not the | :07:05. | :07:09. | |
obsession it is in the Scottish media. If we were to look forward | :07:09. | :07:12. | |
to what will be waiting in the long grass for the various political | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
parties in Holyrood when they come back, what do you think will be the | :07:16. | :07:22. | |
key areas? What is most interesting is the narrative of Scottish | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
politics has changed. We came into this year with the SNP being more | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
powerful, they had one of huge majority in the last elections, | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
Labour was on its knees, and then we have the local elections, where | :07:34. | :07:39. | |
Labour changed the tone of Scottish politics, started fighting back, | :07:39. | :07:42. | |
getting Councillors back, it didn't necessarily when the greatest | :07:42. | :07:46. | |
number of councillors, but we saw them replied. A lot of that is down | :07:46. | :07:50. | |
to the leader, she has done a good job, but since then opinion polls | :07:51. | :07:55. | |
have suggested independence is not enjoying the support the SNP would | :07:55. | :07:59. | |
like, and that is the tone and context we will see going into the | :07:59. | :08:05. | |
next political year. We will see the SNP for the first time since | :08:05. | :08:08. | |
that the election victory on the defensive, and the Unionist parties | :08:08. | :08:14. | |
with a bit of a spring in their step. This next year will be more | :08:14. | :08:18. | |
difficult for Alex Salmond and the 18 months have been. In relative | :08:18. | :08:23. | |
terms, but in actual terms, Alex Salmond still has the nominally | :08:23. | :08:31. | |
high approval ratings, and in terms of public recognition, so you may | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
be saying they are coming back relatively, but realistically, how | :08:35. | :08:40. | |
significant is that? I think it is very significant. Yes, he has very | :08:40. | :08:44. | |
good approval ratings, but the focus for the next 2.5 years is | :08:44. | :08:54. | |
:08:54. | :08:54. | ||
going to be on independence, and that is where there is a difference. | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
There are people who do not like the idea of independence, and with | :08:58. | :09:02. | |
the Pope has been shifted, almost to the exclusion of everything else, | :09:02. | :09:10. | |
that difference will tell. -- with the attention shifting. If we don't | :09:10. | :09:14. | |
do the referendum or anything obvious, will something under the | :09:14. | :09:20. | |
radar emerge? The police merger is extremely controversial and has not | :09:20. | :09:24. | |
been discussed. There are some real-world issues it would be | :09:24. | :09:31. | |
unwise not to keep an eye on. It police forces will be merged into a | :09:31. | :09:35. | |
single national police force, as we know of. It is a big undertaking | :09:35. | :09:42. | |
and a tight timescale. There are issues of political control. We | :09:42. | :09:45. | |
know from bitter experience that big undertakings like this don't | :09:45. | :09:50. | |
always go smoothly according to plan, it throws up the issue of | :09:50. | :09:54. | |
jobs, the unions are warning there could be 3,000 civilian workers | :09:54. | :09:58. | |
laid off. The police authorities say the figure will be about a | :09:58. | :10:05. | |
quarter of that. If there is the merest hint that the very powerful | :10:05. | :10:09. | |
Chief Constable of Scotland is basing his policing priorities on | :10:09. | :10:13. | |
political targets, that will be seized upon by critics who have | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
said this merger, although money- saving, will bring politics and | :10:17. | :10:23. | |
police to close together. We need to keep a close eye on how that | :10:23. | :10:28. | |
happens. Same-sex marriage is another one. Again, Alex Salmond is | :10:28. | :10:32. | |
facing a difficult decision there, because he knows there will be a | :10:32. | :10:39. | |
big backlash from the Catholic Church, the church groups, and some | :10:39. | :10:44. | |
within his own side. However, I think he will take a progressive | :10:44. | :10:49. | |
view. We also at the curriculum for excellence. Children going back to | :10:49. | :10:55. | |
school next month, learning for new national exams that are replacing | :10:55. | :10:58. | |
standard grades our midst great worries in the teaching profession | :10:58. | :11:08. | |
:11:08. | :11:09. | ||
that they are not adequately prepared. Mike Russell, it is fair | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
to say, has averted the threat of strike action, but if this goes | :11:13. | :11:22. | |
wrong, it will be a very big problem for the SNP. Have you heard | :11:22. | :11:28. | |
of Donald Trump? I have heard of Donald Trump and his enterprises in | :11:28. | :11:33. | |
Aberdeen. Tell me what you're going to say. We've had a lot of coverage | :11:33. | :11:38. | |
of Donald Trump, he has been a controversial figure. I know you | :11:38. | :11:42. | |
like Gulf, have edited a Gulf magazine, what do you think about | :11:42. | :11:52. | |
some of the claims that have been made? -- golf. I would be very wary | :11:52. | :11:55. | |
of his claim that his project has come to a halt because of the wind | :11:56. | :12:03. | |
farm. That is on a massive scale, the market is no longer there. | :12:03. | :12:12. | |
Crucially, he was recently told even if his Gulf course was going | :12:12. | :12:20. | |
to be the greatest in the world, it would take 20 years to come onto | :12:20. | :12:28. | |
competition were tough. -- rota. Many we have heard him limiting his | :12:28. | :12:31. | |
marketing strategy, but I would distrust almost everything he says | :12:31. | :12:37. | |
and I hope Alex Salmond does not get played again. Let's look at the | :12:37. | :12:41. | |
Olympic security, that is developing today. People are | :12:41. | :12:46. | |
talking about a Home Secretary, but if you look at the sequence of | :12:46. | :12:55. | |
events, in December, Sebastian Coe, organising committee, goes to the | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
security company and says we need 10,000 not 2000, why is none of the | :12:59. | :13:09. | |
:13:09. | :13:10. | ||
state coming his way? -- stick. Frankly I find it astonishing we | :13:10. | :13:15. | |
are at his position two weeks before the Games start. I find it | :13:15. | :13:19. | |
astonishing that a Home Office would not have at least acted on a | :13:19. | :13:24. | |
potential contract. If security was at the top of that agenda, they | :13:24. | :13:29. | |
must have known how many security were there, where they trained, are | :13:29. | :13:35. | |
all part of that contract, was it in place? I don't think we should | :13:35. | :13:40. | |
be shifting the blame towards LOCOG too much, although I think a lesser | :13:40. | :13:44. | |
question can be asked of Sebastian Coe. What frightens me is that if | :13:44. | :13:48. | |
this is the level of preparation just on security, this is the stuff | :13:48. | :13:58. | |
:13:58. | :14:02. | ||
we know at the top, underneath, there is a vast amount we do not | :14:02. | :14:08. | |
know about. These games need to be run successfully and we cannot | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
afford them to be derailed by plans that have been put in a drama. I | :14:12. | :14:16. |