Browse content similar to 06/04/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Morning, folks. Welcome to the Sunday Politics. | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
Pressure on Culture Secretary Maria Miller mounts as the Tory press, | :00:39. | :00:41. | |
Tory voters and even a Tory minister turn against her. That's our top | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
story. The economic outlook is getting | :00:46. | :00:48. | |
rosier. But Ed Miliband is having none of it. The cost of living | :00:49. | :00:55. | |
crisis is here to stay, says Labour. Shadow Minister Caroline Flint joins | :00:56. | :00:56. | |
us for the Sunday Interview. And we bring you the Sunday Politics | :00:57. | :01:06. | |
Gallery, but which former world leader is behind these paintings of | :01:07. | :01:11. | |
world leaders? Coming up in Sunday Politics | :01:12. | :01:13. | |
Scotland. Tributes continue to be paid to Margo MacDonald, the | :01:14. | :01:16. | |
independent MSP, who died on Friday, at the age of 70. | :01:17. | :01:32. | |
And with me as always, the best and the brightest political panel in the | :01:33. | :01:36. | |
business - Janan Ganesh, Helen Lewis and Nick Watt. Their tweets will be | :01:37. | :01:39. | |
as brief as a Cabinet Minister's apology. | :01:40. | :01:45. | |
A frenzy of betting on the Grand National yesterday. But there was | :01:46. | :01:49. | |
one book on which betting was suspended, and that was on the fate | :01:50. | :01:53. | |
of Culture Secretary Maria Miller, now the 2/1 favourite to be forced | :01:54. | :01:56. | |
out the Cabinet. She galloped through her apology to the Commons | :01:57. | :01:59. | |
on Thursday in just 32 seconds. But speed did her no favours. There's | :02:00. | :02:03. | |
been mounting pressure on her to resign ever since, especially from | :02:04. | :02:06. | |
Tories. And this weekend the Chairman of the Independent | :02:07. | :02:08. | |
Parliamentary Standards Authority, Ian Kennedy, said it's time MPs gave | :02:09. | :02:12. | |
away the power to decide how colleagues who break the rules are | :02:13. | :02:26. | |
punished. An inquiry into Maria Miller's expenses claims was launch | :02:27. | :02:31. | |
in 2012, following allegations he claimed ?90,000 to fund a house she | :02:32. | :02:37. | |
lived in part time with her parents. She had designated this her second | :02:38. | :02:41. | |
home. She was referred to the Parliamentary Standards | :02:42. | :02:44. | |
Commissioner, who recommended that she repay ?45,000. But this week the | :02:45. | :02:51. | |
Commons Standards Committee, comprising of MPs from all parties, | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
dismissed the complaint against Maria Miller and ordered her to | :02:56. | :03:02. | |
repay just ?5,800 for inadvertently overclaiming her merge claimants. | :03:03. | :03:09. | |
She was forced to apologise to the Commons for the legalistic way she | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
dealt with the complaints against her. But Tony Gallagher told the | :03:14. | :03:18. | |
Daily Politics on Friday: We got a third call from Craig Oliver who | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
pointed out, she is looking at Leveson and the call is badly timed. | :03:23. | :03:27. | |
I think if you are making a series of telephone calls to a newspaper | :03:28. | :03:29. | |
organisation investigating the conduct of a Cabinet Minister, that | :03:30. | :03:30. | |
comes close After that interview Craig Oliver | :03:31. | :03:36. | |
contacted us, saying there was no threat in anyway over Leveson. I | :03:37. | :03:40. | |
mead it clear at the time. Tony Gallagher is talking rubbish about | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
me, and you can use that. The Daily Telegraph have released a tape of a | :03:45. | :03:48. | |
phone call between Maria Miller's aid, Joanna Hindley, and a reporter | :03:49. | :03:52. | |
investigating her expenses claim. Joanna Hindley said: | :03:53. | :03:57. | |
Maria's obviously been having quite a lot of editor's meetings around | :03:58. | :04:05. | |
Leveson at the moment. So I'm just going to kind of flag up that | :04:06. | :04:10. | |
connection for you to think about. The Prime Minister is sticking by | :04:11. | :04:13. | |
his Culture Secretary, but this weekend's crescendo of criticism of | :04:14. | :04:16. | |
her presents him with a problem and he could be wishing Maria Miller | :04:17. | :04:19. | |
would just fall on her sword. Even over 80% of Tory voters in a Mail on | :04:20. | :04:25. | |
Sunday poll think she should go. On the Andrew Marr Show, the Work and | :04:26. | :04:28. | |
Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, defended his colleague. I've | :04:29. | :04:35. | |
known her always to be a reasonable and honest person. But is she doing | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
the Government or her any good by staying in office at the moment, do | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
you think? This is a matter the Prime Minister has to take | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
consideration of and she herself. My view generally is I'm supportive of | :04:48. | :04:51. | |
Maria, because if we are not careful we end one a witch-hunt of somebody. | :04:52. | :04:56. | |
And I'm joined now by the Conservative MP, Bob Stewart, and | :04:57. | :04:59. | |
the man in the white suit, former MP and anti-sleaze campaigner Martin | :05:00. | :05:02. | |
Bell. Welcome to you both. Stuart Stuart sturkts let me put this to | :05:03. | :05:05. | |
you, a Conservative MP told this programme, this is a quote, she has | :05:06. | :05:09. | |
handled this appallingly. Downing Street has acted like judge and | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
jury, for Craig Oliver to get involved is disastrous. She's been | :05:15. | :05:17. | |
protected by the whips from the start. What do you say to that? It's | :05:18. | :05:22. | |
not great, is it? The fact of the matter is the question one should | :05:23. | :05:26. | |
ask is, did she deliberately try to make money? Did she deliberately try | :05:27. | :05:33. | |
to obscure ate? The answer is she certainly didn't deliberately try to | :05:34. | :05:36. | |
make money, in the system, which was the old system, and with regard to | :05:37. | :05:41. | |
obscure ago, I wasn't there, but let's put it this way. She was going | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
through a quasi-judicial process and might have ended up in court, so she | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
has a right to defend herself. Hold on o you said she doesn't do it to | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
make money, she remortgaged the house a couple of times to earn more | :05:57. | :06:00. | |
interest to us, the taxpayer, and when interest rates went down she | :06:01. | :06:03. | |
didn't reduce the amount she was charging in expenses. Well, the | :06:04. | :06:08. | |
point is the adjudicator said there was ?45,000 she was owed. And then a | :06:09. | :06:14. | |
committee, Standards Committee, said actually it should be reduced. That | :06:15. | :06:18. | |
was mainly MPs but there are three lay members. Yes, but they don't | :06:19. | :06:22. | |
have the vote. OK, fine, that is where it is wrong and we've got to | :06:23. | :06:26. | |
get it sorted. Let me put another quote from our Conservative MP. He | :06:27. | :06:31. | |
didn't want to be named. None of you do at the moment. I'm being named. | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
But you are backing her. George young in cahoots. He's been leading | :06:37. | :06:40. | |
on the Standards Committee to find her innocent. The Standards | :06:41. | :06:44. | |
Committee is unfit for purpose. I think the Standards Committee should | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
be revisited. I think the system is still evolving. And I think actually | :06:50. | :06:54. | |
we ought to have totally independent judgment on MPs' pay and allowances. | :06:55. | :06:58. | |
We haven't have not got there yet and that is where it is wrong. | :06:59. | :07:04. | |
Martin Bell, have MPs interfered in the Maria Miller process and with | :07:05. | :07:07. | |
the current Standards Commissioner in the same way that they saw off a | :07:08. | :07:11. | |
previous Commissioner they thought was too independent? Andrew it is | :07:12. | :07:17. | |
exactly the same. Yesterday I looked at a diary entry I made for May | :07:18. | :07:25. | |
2000, I said, dreadful meeting standards and privileges, they are | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
playing party politics. One of them told Elizabeth fill kin to her face | :07:31. | :07:36. | |
the gossip in the tea room was she had gone crazy. Nothing's changed. | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
What this shows is most of all, what's the committee for? If it is | :07:42. | :07:46. | |
just going to rubber stamp what the party wants and its mates, I don't | :07:47. | :07:51. | |
see any point. But it hasn't rubber stamped. It's changed it. Well, it | :07:52. | :07:56. | |
has watered down. That's why we should make it totally independent | :07:57. | :08:00. | |
and it shouldn't be involved in the House of Commons. It is plus plus ca | :08:01. | :08:08. | |
change isn't it? MPs', scandal, and MPs closing ranks for one of their | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
own. Has the Commons learned nothing? And this is after the | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
expenses scandal, where everything was out for everybody to see, you | :08:18. | :08:21. | |
would think MPs would be careful. This is before the expenses scandal. | :08:22. | :08:26. | |
We are looking at an historical event, during your time, Martin, not | :08:27. | :08:28. | |
We are looking at an historical mine. I'm clean on this. You | :08:29. | :08:32. | |
campaigned for him as an independent. I did, he was a good | :08:33. | :08:37. | |
friend of mine. And now you've joined the club. And now you are | :08:38. | :08:42. | |
defending Maria Miller? I'm defending someone who hasn't been | :08:43. | :08:45. | |
proved guilty of anything beyond the fact she was rather slow to come | :08:46. | :08:48. | |
forward with evidence. My point on that, is I understand that. MPs are | :08:49. | :08:53. | |
being lambasted the whole time these days. There were a heck of a lot of | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
them, Martin, who are utterly decent. She didn't try to make | :08:59. | :09:03. | |
money. We've just been through that. I don't think that's right. The jury | :09:04. | :09:06. | |
is out on that. What should have happened in the Miller case, Martin | :09:07. | :09:12. | |
Bell? I don't think there should be a committee on standards. I think | :09:13. | :09:14. | |
the Commissioner should make a report. There has been to be justice | :09:15. | :09:19. | |
for the MP complained against. Then the committee of the whole House can | :09:20. | :09:25. | |
consider it. But we are, the House of Commons, then as now is incapable | :09:26. | :09:29. | |
of regulating itself. That's been proving yet again. She made a | :09:30. | :09:36. | |
perfunctory apology. She threatened and instructed the Standards | :09:37. | :09:39. | |
Commissioner investigating her, and her special adviser linked expenses | :09:40. | :09:45. | |
to Leveson, when trying to stop the Daily Telegraph from publishing. I | :09:46. | :09:49. | |
mean, is that the behaviour of a Cabinet Minister? Well, it's | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
probably not the behaviour of someone that's got time on their | :09:54. | :09:57. | |
hands. She's a very busy Cabinet Minister. Well, she had enough time | :09:58. | :10:02. | |
to write lots of letters to the Standards Commission ser. She felt | :10:03. | :10:09. | |
under such threat. She had the time. She had to make the time. Die know | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
the lady is not trying desperately to make money. I disagree but on | :10:15. | :10:18. | |
that. The fact of the matter is, this was an old, old system, that | :10:19. | :10:23. | |
we've tried to put right, or the Commons has tried to put right. I | :10:24. | :10:26. | |
agree that MPs shouldn't get involved in this. Should we get rid | :10:27. | :10:33. | |
of this committee? It serves no purpose except to cause trouble. The | :10:34. | :10:37. | |
adjudicator has said that and it should be the end of it. It | :10:38. | :10:42. | |
shouldn't come back to the Commons. Although her special adviser | :10:43. | :10:46. | |
threatened them over Leveson she was and is the Minister responsible for | :10:47. | :10:49. | |
trying to introduce something like Leveson and that is something a big | :10:50. | :10:54. | |
chunk that the press doesn't want. She is a target. It has a good | :10:55. | :11:03. | |
record on this issue. It played wit a straight bat. The facts aren't in | :11:04. | :11:08. | |
dispute are they? Will she make it to the next cabinet reshuffle and | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
then go? Iain Duncan Smith said it is a matter for the Prime Minister. | :11:14. | :11:19. | |
In my view, as things stand, I question did she deliberately want | :11:20. | :11:23. | |
to make money? I don't think she did. Should she go? No. Should she | :11:24. | :11:29. | |
be reshuffled? I don't know. Goodness me, you are asking someone | :11:30. | :11:32. | |
who will never be reshuffled, because he will never make it. I was | :11:33. | :11:38. | |
only asking for your opinion, not your ability to do it. This is a | :11:39. | :11:42. | |
problem for Cameron isn't it? It is a problem for Cameron. There is | :11:43. | :11:49. | |
nothing wrong with returning to be badge benches, as you know. Hear, | :11:50. | :11:54. | |
hear. To that. Stick with me. Helen, can she survive? Is I'm going out of | :11:55. | :11:59. | |
the prediction game when I said Clegg is going to win the date, so I | :12:00. | :12:07. | |
owe Janan a tenner on that one. Grant Shapps has supported her. She | :12:08. | :12:14. | |
was ringed by Sir George young and Jeremy Hunt... This is pretty | :12:15. | :12:20. | |
devastating. On past form David Cameron hates having to bounce | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
people out of the cabinet. He will want to keep Maria Miller until the | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
summer reshuffle. This is a question mark on whether she survive this is. | :12:30. | :12:32. | |
This isn't damaging to the Conservative or the Labour Party, it | :12:33. | :12:36. | |
is damaging to everyone. This is catastrophic damage to the entire | :12:37. | :12:40. | |
political establishment. Every single speech that David Cameron and | :12:41. | :12:44. | |
Ed Miliband have given since 2009, talking about restoring trust, they | :12:45. | :12:48. | |
can wipe them from their computers, because voters are going to look | :12:49. | :12:51. | |
that there and say, this lot haven't learnt anything. They are giving | :12:52. | :12:56. | |
perfunctory apologies and then you have MPs sitting in judgment on MPs | :12:57. | :13:02. | |
and rather than paying back ?45,000, she pays back ?5,800 after MPs have | :13:03. | :13:09. | |
been into it. Damage is huge. Just getting rid of one Cabinet Minister, | :13:10. | :13:13. | |
you will need to do more than that. You will notice that Labour haven't | :13:14. | :13:17. | |
made huge weather of this. No, goodness me, they have their own | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
skeletons. Exactly. The person who has made hay out of this is Nigel | :13:22. | :13:27. | |
Farage, who has not been backwards in coming forward. He doesn't seem | :13:28. | :13:32. | |
to care about skeletons. The Prime Minister has be-Gunby backing her, | :13:33. | :13:36. | |
but that's not popular even with Tory voters. How does he get out of | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
this? This is the problem for him. Five years ago his reaction to the | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
expenses scandal was seen by many Tory backbenchers as excessive. They | :13:47. | :13:51. | |
felt hung out to dry by a man who is independently wealthy. To go from | :13:52. | :13:56. | |
that to making a special exemption to Maria Miller because it is | :13:57. | :14:00. | |
politically suitable is more incendiary and provocative. It is | :14:01. | :14:03. | |
not just upsetting the voters and the Daily Telegraph but a good | :14:04. | :14:05. | |
number of people behind him. I think they will get rid of her. I think | :14:06. | :14:11. | |
the Government, to paraphrase Churchill, will zoo the decent thing | :14:12. | :14:19. | |
after exhausting all options, of the European elections a reshuffle. The | :14:20. | :14:23. | |
culture department has gone from a baulk water in haul to one of the | :14:24. | :14:27. | |
most politically sensational jobs because of its proximity to the | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
Leveson issue. She has to be replaced by someone Lily skillful | :14:32. | :14:43. | |
and substantial. Mr Cameron is not short of smart women? Nikki Morgan, | :14:44. | :14:54. | |
the education department, these are absolutely outstanding women and the | :14:55. | :14:57. | |
problem that the generation elected in 2005, Maria Miller generation, | :14:58. | :15:04. | |
there are some really good people elected in 2010. You are not | :15:05. | :15:12. | |
responsible for hacking into the culture Department's Twitter account | :15:13. | :15:17. | |
last night? I was out at the time! They all say that! One so, Maria | :15:18. | :15:24. | |
Miller is like a modern-day Robin Hood... She robs the poor to help | :15:25. | :15:31. | |
the rich. Which one of us has not embezzled the taxpayer? I reckon it | :15:32. | :15:41. | |
is the lady. You have the perfect cover. We would not know how to, | :15:42. | :15:49. | |
would we? You cannot tweet from a mobile device, can you? Play it | :15:50. | :15:55. | |
safe. No, do something dramatic. Have lots of pledges. Have just a | :15:56. | :15:59. | |
few pledges. Ah, there must be a Labour policy review reaching its | :16:00. | :16:02. | |
conclusion because everyone has some free advice for the party about its | :16:03. | :16:06. | |
message and the man delivering it. Here's Adam. He is well liked by the | :16:07. | :16:13. | |
public don't quite buy him as a leader. The papers say he is in hock | :16:14. | :16:19. | |
to the unions and the party has a lead in the polls but it is not | :16:20. | :16:24. | |
solid. Bartenders Neil Kinnock. That is what they said Winnie who lost | :16:25. | :16:32. | |
the 1982 election. The whole country deserves better and we will work to | :16:33. | :16:40. | |
ensure that the day will come when with the Labour government, the | :16:41. | :16:42. | |
country will get better. Someone who was there can see some spooky | :16:43. | :16:50. | |
parallels. The important lesson from 1992 is it cannot rest on your | :16:51. | :16:53. | |
laurels and hope for the best, you cannot sit on a lead of seven points | :16:54. | :16:59. | |
because the election narrows that and you cannot rely on the | :17:00. | :17:02. | |
government not getting its act together because the Conservative | :17:03. | :17:06. | |
Party was well funded and organised, the double whammy posters, the tax | :17:07. | :17:11. | |
bombshell, but incredibly effective and the message was unified and they | :17:12. | :17:16. | |
beat us on the campaign. The lesson for Labour today is this lead will | :17:17. | :17:21. | |
evaporate quite possibly over the next few months and we might go into | :17:22. | :17:27. | |
the election behind in the polls. But Ed Miliband is getting | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
conflicting advice about how to avoid 1992 happening. Be bold, be | :17:32. | :17:37. | |
cautious and then, the idea that Labour can squeak into office with | :17:38. | :17:41. | |
just 35% of the vote, which worries some people. Each month, the Labour | :17:42. | :17:46. | |
Party meets around the country and last week, everybody spoke about the | :17:47. | :17:53. | |
dangers of this 35% strategy. They were increasingly unhappy and it is | :17:54. | :17:58. | |
very important that those people around the leader naturally have a | :17:59. | :18:04. | |
duty to protect him and they make sure he gets this message that while | :18:05. | :18:09. | |
there is total support for him, they do want this key year in the run-up | :18:10. | :18:14. | |
to the General Election to be putting out an alternative which we | :18:15. | :18:21. | |
can defend on the doorstep. The doorstep where Neil Kinnock made his | :18:22. | :18:24. | |
concession speech is crammed with Spanish back hackers. The old Labour | :18:25. | :18:32. | |
offices are no a budget hostel. Labour headquarters is down the road | :18:33. | :18:36. | |
and they are putting the finishing touches to a speech Ed Miliband will | :18:37. | :18:40. | |
give this week about the cost of living and I am told he will drop | :18:41. | :18:43. | |
hints about new policies in juicy areas like housing, low pay, growth | :18:44. | :18:49. | |
and devolving power. As for the charge that they are not radical | :18:50. | :18:52. | |
enough, his people say they want to be bold but they have to be credible | :18:53. | :18:58. | |
as well. They say that Labour is more united than it has ever been | :18:59. | :19:02. | |
but there has been some grumbling that the cost of living campaign is | :19:03. | :19:06. | |
not the same as a vision for the country. And that Ed Miliband was | :19:07. | :19:11. | |
not statesman-like enough at Prime Minister's Questions and one figure | :19:12. | :19:14. | |
who sat at the same table in the Neil Kinnock years summed it up like | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
this. Things are OK but it feels like we're playing for the draw. | :19:20. | :19:22. | |
Shadow Energy Secretary Caroline Flint joins me now for the Sunday | :19:23. | :19:37. | |
Interview. This 35% victory strategy, it does not sound very | :19:38. | :19:43. | |
ambitious? I am campaigning to win this election with a majority | :19:44. | :19:46. | |
government and everybody else around the table is also. But we want to go | :19:47. | :19:53. | |
to every corner of the country and win votes for Labour and win seats, | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
that is what we are working towards. To avoid last time, the coalition | :19:58. | :20:05. | |
bartering. But that 35% is a victory strategy so are you saying there is | :20:06. | :20:11. | |
no 35% strategy and that no one at the heart of Labour is not arguing | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
for this? We are working to win around the country and to win all of | :20:17. | :20:20. | |
those battle ground seats and we must have a strategy that appeals to | :20:21. | :20:26. | |
a cross-section of the public but within that, that broad group Queen | :20:27. | :20:29. | |
Elizabeth Olympic Park and. You could do that with 35% of the vote? | :20:30. | :20:39. | |
There is lots of polling and everyone looks at this about what we | :20:40. | :20:44. | |
need to do to get seats and we want to have a comprehensive majority at | :20:45. | :20:48. | |
the next election to win to govern this country. Last week, we have | :20:49. | :20:54. | |
been reading reports of splits in the party over policy and on | :20:55. | :20:59. | |
tactics, even strategy. A struggle for control of the General Election | :21:00. | :21:05. | |
manifesto, we are told. What are you arguing over? I said on the | :21:06. | :21:11. | |
committee and just listening to the film before, it is about being | :21:12. | :21:15. | |
radical but also credible and we are talking about evolution and that is | :21:16. | :21:21. | |
an important subject but we are also united and to be honest, in 2010 | :21:22. | :21:27. | |
people were writing us off saying we would turn on ourselves and that has | :21:28. | :21:31. | |
not been the case. We are not arguing about the fundamentals, we | :21:32. | :21:35. | |
are discussing the policies that are coming up with different colleagues | :21:36. | :21:40. | |
and talking about how we can make sure they are presented to the | :21:41. | :21:43. | |
public and that is part of a process. That is a discussion, not | :21:44. | :21:49. | |
disagreement. The Financial Times, which is usually pretty fair, | :21:50. | :21:53. | |
reports a battle between Ed Miliband's radical instincts and the | :21:54. | :21:59. | |
more business fiscal conservatism of Ed Balls. What side are you on? I am | :22:00. | :22:05. | |
for radical change, I am for energy and I believe strongly we must be | :22:06. | :22:10. | |
formed the market and people might portray that as anti-business but | :22:11. | :22:16. | |
this is about more competition and transparency and others coming into | :22:17. | :22:19. | |
this market so our policy on this is radical, not excepting the status | :22:20. | :22:26. | |
quo. It is also for business. Opinion polls show that few people | :22:27. | :22:34. | |
regard Ed Miliband as by Minister material -- Prime Minister material. | :22:35. | :22:40. | |
That has been true since he became leader. And in some cases, they have | :22:41. | :22:48. | |
been getting worse. Why is that? Opinion polls say certain things | :22:49. | :22:52. | |
about the personalities of leaders, David Cameron is not great either. | :22:53. | :22:56. | |
And they were not great when he was in opposition. At this stage, he was | :22:57. | :23:03. | |
getting 49% as Prime Minister real material and Ed Miliband, 19. -- | :23:04. | :23:13. | |
Prime Minister material. When you look at certain questions that the | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
public is asked about who you think you would trust about being fair in | :23:18. | :23:21. | |
terms of policy towards Britain, who understands the cost of living | :23:22. | :23:25. | |
crisis, they very much identify with Ed Miliband. We are ahead in the | :23:26. | :23:31. | |
polls. Ed Miliband has made that happen. We have one more | :23:32. | :23:39. | |
councillors, we have been running in by-elections and we have held this | :23:40. | :23:42. | |
government over the barrel over six months on energy prices. That is to | :23:43. | :23:47. | |
do with his leadership. The more that voters save him, the less they | :23:48. | :23:53. | |
seem convinced. In 2011, he had been leader for one year, and only 11% | :23:54. | :24:00. | |
regarded him as weird, by 2014, that was 41%. Look at that! Look at that | :24:01. | :24:10. | |
weirdness! What people need is to know where the Labour Party stands | :24:11. | :24:12. | |
on fundamental issues. And in those areas, particularly the cost of | :24:13. | :24:18. | |
living and fairness and people being concerned that we are entering into | :24:19. | :24:22. | |
a period where people will be worse for the first time ever at the end | :24:23. | :24:27. | |
of the Parliament, these things are important and Ed Miliband is part of | :24:28. | :24:33. | |
our success. Definitely. I think this is ridiculous, to be fair, he | :24:34. | :24:39. | |
is not a politician that says, I am dying with the Arctic monkeys, I | :24:40. | :24:44. | |
know who is the number one. He did not play that game. -- down. He is | :24:45. | :24:52. | |
not either there to portray himself as someone who was with the | :24:53. | :24:56. | |
children, I know everything about popular culture. His authenticity is | :24:57. | :25:02. | |
the most important thing. People do not think he is authentic, unless | :25:03. | :25:06. | |
they think we were at is authentic. Is it true that his staff applaud | :25:07. | :25:11. | |
him when he comes back after giving even a mediocre speech? I have never | :25:12. | :25:20. | |
heard that. I have never heard about him being applauded. And I am | :25:21. | :25:25. | |
pleased to applaud him with he makes speeches, I have given him a | :25:26. | :25:30. | |
standing ovation. You have to do that because the cameras are | :25:31. | :25:34. | |
rolling! No, he made a good speech. Five minutes without notes. It took | :25:35. | :25:39. | |
a long time to memorise I don't blame him! The cost of living. | :25:40. | :25:45. | |
Focusing on that, it has paid dividends. But inflation is falling | :25:46. | :25:51. | |
and perhaps collapsing, unemployment is falling faster than anybody | :25:52. | :25:55. | |
thought, as we can see. Wages are rising, soon faster than prices. | :25:56. | :26:01. | |
Retail sales are booming, people have got money in their pockets. | :26:02. | :26:06. | |
Isn't the cost of living crisis narrative running out of steam? I do | :26:07. | :26:12. | |
not think so and I should say that I welcome any sign of positive changes | :26:13. | :26:18. | |
in the economy, if anybody gets a job in Doncaster, I am pleased by | :26:19. | :26:22. | |
the end of this Parliament families will be over ?900 worse off because | :26:23. | :26:27. | |
of tax and benefit changes and the working person is ?1600 worse off | :26:28. | :26:34. | |
and it is the first government since the 1870s where people will be at | :26:35. | :26:39. | |
the end of the Parliament. We believe the government made wrong | :26:40. | :26:42. | |
choices that lead the rich off at the expense of those on middle and | :26:43. | :26:43. | |
lower incomes. -- But they are working part-time. We | :26:44. | :27:26. | |
still have nearly 1 million people unemployed. People feeling that. I | :27:27. | :27:35. | |
was at an Asda in Doncaster and a guy summed it up nicely, he said I | :27:36. | :27:39. | |
work very hard, at the end of the week, beyond paying my bills, I have | :27:40. | :27:46. | |
nothing else. If you take out the top 10%, the average loss comes down | :27:47. | :27:55. | |
to around ?400 and is less than half of what you are claiming. The 974 | :27:56. | :28:02. | |
finger as a average -- figure. I don't... Look, we have set up our | :28:03. | :28:08. | |
figures, it shows that... I am taking out the top... Whatever way | :28:09. | :28:15. | |
you shake it, people are worse off. Working people are worse off because | :28:16. | :28:21. | |
pay hasn't kept with prices. You have backed the competition inquiry | :28:22. | :28:25. | |
into the big six energy companies, but you intend to go ahead with the | :28:26. | :28:29. | |
price freeze if you win and reconfigure the energy market even | :28:30. | :28:33. | |
before its reports. So if you win, it is a waste of time, isn't it? No, | :28:34. | :28:39. | |
I have always felt that if it does go that way, then made -- there may | :28:40. | :28:44. | |
be areas that we have not thought of that the inquiry will draw attention | :28:45. | :28:50. | |
to. You are absolutely right, our basic reforms, to have a new | :28:51. | :28:53. | |
regulator, to separate supply and have a new pool, we will pursue | :28:54. | :28:58. | |
them. What happens if the report comes out and concludes that what | :28:59. | :29:01. | |
you are planning to do is not the right thing? He will still go ahead. | :29:02. | :29:06. | |
The iMac no, it is not a waste of time. If you look at the report that | :29:07. | :29:12. | |
Ofgem produced, some of the issues the label referred to, they cover | :29:13. | :29:19. | |
that. The Ofgem report last week is a result, I think that it is clearly | :29:20. | :29:28. | |
accepted in the sector, look at SSE, they have said that they will | :29:29. | :29:31. | |
separate those parts of their business. I think we are pushing at | :29:32. | :29:34. | |
an open door and I would be surprised if they don't agree. The | :29:35. | :29:41. | |
SSE has already frozen its prices, but it has done so at a cost. It has | :29:42. | :29:45. | |
said there will be job losses as a result and it is pulling out of | :29:46. | :29:50. | |
major investment into offshore wind. It has already pulled out of gas. So | :29:51. | :29:55. | |
if you freeze energies across the market, it may be the right thing to | :29:56. | :29:59. | |
do but there will be a cost in terms of job and investment, correct? | :30:00. | :30:04. | |
Yellow like I met with SSE and talked about these very issues. The | :30:05. | :30:09. | |
jobs changes are about looking at how they could be more efficient as | :30:10. | :30:13. | |
a company and about offshore wind that was not ready to do with the | :30:14. | :30:17. | |
price freeze, that was more to do with issues around confidence in | :30:18. | :30:21. | |
that area and willingness to but money into it. But there will be... | :30:22. | :30:33. | |
Is at a price worth paying? These companies have been overcharging | :30:34. | :30:37. | |
customers and not investing in their organisations and making them more | :30:38. | :30:39. | |
efficient and I do not believe that a price freeze is linked to job | :30:40. | :30:44. | |
losses. These companies need to be more efficient. The truth is that | :30:45. | :30:49. | |
they are realising the fantastic opportunity for more jobs and growth | :30:50. | :30:52. | |
from energy sector that has certainty going forward and that is | :30:53. | :30:58. | |
what Labour will deliver. Thank you. You're watching Sunday Politics. We | :30:59. | :31:02. | |
say goodbye to viewers in Scotland to leave us. | :31:03. | :31:09. | |
Good morning and welcome to Sunday Politics Scotland. | :31:10. | :31:12. | |
Coming up on the programme: We pay tribute to Margo MacDonald, one of | :31:13. | :31:15. | |
the country's most influential politicians, who died on Friday. | :31:16. | :31:23. | |
People who weren't very political maybe just saw the blonde bits and | :31:24. | :31:30. | |
thought blonde bombshell, but people who were political didn't think | :31:31. | :31:31. | |
that. As the campaign for the European | :31:32. | :31:34. | |
Parliament elections draws closer, we'll look at the prospects for | :31:35. | :31:36. | |
Scotland's MEPs. And calls for the SFA to make a | :31:37. | :31:40. | |
stand over the treatment of migrant workers at World Cup venues in | :31:41. | :31:44. | |
Qatar. Good morning. | :31:45. | :31:46. | |
Tributes continue to be paid to the veteran politician Margo Macdonald | :31:47. | :31:49. | |
who died on Friday. The former deputy leader of the SNP and | :31:50. | :31:52. | |
committed supporter of independence had suffered from Parkinson's | :31:53. | :31:55. | |
disease for nearly 20 years. She died peacefully in Edinburgh, | :31:56. | :32:01. | |
surrounded by her family. A memorial service is being planned for later | :32:02. | :32:04. | |
this month. We're joined now by her fellow MSP and good friend Christine | :32:05. | :32:11. | |
Grahame. Clearly, this is a loss that will be | :32:12. | :32:16. | |
felt keenly by Margo MacDonald's family, but I suppose by wider | :32:17. | :32:24. | |
Scotland she was... She was. She was a determined lady, I know that to my | :32:25. | :32:28. | |
cost. She was very funny, she was full of mischief, she was | :32:29. | :32:34. | |
compassionate and kind. She extended that across the entire parliament. I | :32:35. | :32:39. | |
have seen tributes from other politicians, but the wider | :32:40. | :32:42. | |
Parliament, the staff of the parliament, from the Chief Executive | :32:43. | :32:46. | |
right through to the security, she was kind to them and they | :32:47. | :32:50. | |
reciprocated, especially as she found it more difficult to fulfil | :32:51. | :32:55. | |
her duties in Parliament. And her staff, Peter and Mary, who supported | :32:56. | :33:00. | |
her professionally and personally over the years, so in a way it was | :33:01. | :33:06. | |
lovely because people saw the person she was and they responded. What do | :33:07. | :33:12. | |
you believe drove her politics? Passion, principal firstly for | :33:13. | :33:19. | |
independence obviously. But for other people who could not speak out | :33:20. | :33:23. | |
for themselves, who could not articulate, whether it was | :33:24. | :33:27. | |
prostitution, torrents free zones, whether it was end of assistance, | :33:28. | :33:33. | |
she picked up issues that were not only for minorities and people with | :33:34. | :33:37. | |
no voice, but also on the face of it not the easiest things to campaign | :33:38. | :33:40. | |
on. She never gave up. We'd talk about her personality, some | :33:41. | :33:47. | |
politicians have a public and private face, but that did not seem | :33:48. | :33:50. | |
to be the case with Margo MacDonald. Yet a mac she was very | :33:51. | :33:54. | |
naughty and you could see that wicked twinkle in her eye. You knew | :33:55. | :33:58. | |
she was about to lead you where you should not journey. But you went | :33:59. | :34:04. | |
along with her and it was a laugh. How much of a role model would use a | :34:05. | :34:12. | |
father -- she was for other politicians? Hugely, and not just | :34:13. | :34:19. | |
fallen. I see newer generations of politicians coming in, and they tour | :34:20. | :34:25. | |
the party line too often and sometimes suppress values that they | :34:26. | :34:31. | |
feel should be articulated. That is across the Parliament and Margo | :34:32. | :34:37. | |
never did that. She'll minded people what politics should be about. | :34:38. | :34:44. | |
Sticking to your principles. There weren't that many prominent women in | :34:45. | :34:48. | |
politics in character. weren't that many prominent women in | :34:49. | :34:58. | |
politics in character You like she was engaging. She was very | :34:59. | :34:59. | |
personable. She was personable in the chamber, | :35:00. | :35:12. | |
it was hard not to like her. The illness started to take its toll | :35:13. | :35:18. | |
later, how did she cope overall with being ill? Such courage. So many | :35:19. | :35:25. | |
people don't realise how tough it was for her. She joked about having | :35:26. | :35:30. | |
her body about the Parliament and reversing into walls and going too | :35:31. | :35:41. | |
fast without her driving licence. -- buggy. She never complained. In | :35:42. | :35:46. | |
terms of the unfinished business, as it were, she was bringing back this | :35:47. | :35:51. | |
bill on assisted dying, Patrick Harvie says he will try and steer it | :35:52. | :35:58. | |
through Parliament. Winners be fitting for polymers to pass that? | :35:59. | :36:04. | |
For Margo, it was about giving people choices. Not to be compulsory | :36:05. | :36:08. | |
that you went for end of life assistance, but a choice. That's all | :36:09. | :36:13. | |
she wanted to do. I hope that Parliament remembers that. Or she | :36:14. | :36:18. | |
disappointed when the parliaments did not back her call? Of course, | :36:19. | :36:24. | |
but we kept telling her that this is an incremental move. You have to | :36:25. | :36:27. | |
take people with you a step at a time. She wanted is to be faster, | :36:28. | :36:31. | |
but I think she got there and I hope she gets there and I think this will | :36:32. | :36:34. | |
be a fitting tribute to a very heroic woman. | :36:35. | :36:42. | |
It could perhaps be called the forgotten election. A campaign that | :36:43. | :36:45. | |
doesn't attract much attention and the voting in of politicians who | :36:46. | :36:48. | |
admit that they have a low profile. Yes, it's time for 300 million | :36:49. | :36:52. | |
citizens in Europe to elect 751 MEPs on the 22nd of May. Five years ago, | :36:53. | :36:56. | |
fewer than a third of Scots bothered to vote for the country's six MEPs. | :36:57. | :37:00. | |
This time round, it's an election in which two referendums dominate | :37:01. | :37:03. | |
discussion - the Scottish one and David Cameron's proposed one to stay | :37:04. | :37:06. | |
or leave the EU. Andrew Kerr has been looking at the runners and | :37:07. | :37:14. | |
riders. Here are the Europhiles. There are | :37:15. | :37:27. | |
currently six regions, to MS P, -- to SMB, to Labour, one Conservative | :37:28. | :37:34. | |
and one Liberal Democrats. With low turnouts, the public don't engage in | :37:35. | :37:38. | |
this vote, but commentators say that the European Parliament does not | :37:39. | :37:46. | |
mirror the parliaments that we know. It is not a federal body, not yet, | :37:47. | :37:51. | |
it is still an association, free association. That does not mean that | :37:52. | :37:55. | |
voting is completely irrelevant, it does not mean that the European | :37:56. | :37:59. | |
Parliament is does not matter, it has an important role, it develops | :38:00. | :38:05. | |
some confidence in its ability to shape the future of Europe, because | :38:06. | :38:08. | |
remember there are big changes happening in Europe as a result of | :38:09. | :38:13. | |
the Eurozone crisis, we will see a more centralised Europe, we will see | :38:14. | :38:17. | |
financial institutions erected and the European Parliament will be | :38:18. | :38:22. | |
crucial. There are plenty of critics of the Parliament. The point was to | :38:23. | :38:29. | |
make institutions more accountable, the giant bureaucracy of Brussels | :38:30. | :38:36. | |
had to be answerable. Has it worked? I don't think it has, I think the | :38:37. | :38:41. | |
bureaucracy is almost as unaccountable as it ever was and has | :38:42. | :38:44. | |
an internal dynamic to it, to driving forces are our greater | :38:45. | :38:51. | |
expansion, it is an empire and an economic and political one, and the | :38:52. | :38:56. | |
other driver is ever closer union. No matter what the electors think. A | :38:57. | :39:02. | |
driving force in the election is the independence referendum for the SNP, | :39:03. | :39:05. | |
they want Scotland to sit around the top table. One of the rights that | :39:06. | :39:12. | |
come with member states of the European Union a very important and | :39:13. | :39:17. | |
I would like to see Scotland taking the opportunity that the referendum | :39:18. | :39:21. | |
brings to normalise our status in Europe and the world and to be a | :39:22. | :39:27. | |
normal, independent country, collecting our own Governments and | :39:28. | :39:32. | |
having those covenants having a right to represent as | :39:33. | :39:35. | |
internationally. The Conservatives with their own plans for a | :39:36. | :39:41. | |
referendum are sceptical. There is give as well as take. What the red | :39:42. | :39:45. | |
lines for the SNP? What will they give up? We don't know. You vote for | :39:46. | :39:55. | |
us in a referendum, will you know what we do, voting for | :39:56. | :39:58. | |
independence, who knows what will happen next question at Labour | :39:59. | :40:02. | |
aren't too happy with the state of the European Union, offering a | :40:03. | :40:06. | |
critique of the right. We have a union that has been dominated by | :40:07. | :40:13. | |
fear and austerity. We have seen unemployment rise, we have seen | :40:14. | :40:16. | |
attack on worker rights, attacks on climate change. We have had a white | :40:17. | :40:26. | |
ring majority, were very right wing majority in the European Parliament. | :40:27. | :40:33. | |
-- right wing. Damaged by their association with | :40:34. | :40:36. | |
the right, they are intending to cling on. I am hopeful and I think | :40:37. | :40:42. | |
the polls will show that we are in with a good chance of holding onto | :40:43. | :40:46. | |
our seats. We have a strong message that I think appeals to people and | :40:47. | :40:49. | |
we will stand on the record that I have personally and the platform of | :40:50. | :40:55. | |
being in the UK, in Europe and is being good for work and jobs. But | :40:56. | :41:00. | |
the Scottish Greens hope to capitalise on the Lib Dems travails. | :41:01. | :41:06. | |
The polls suggest that they are faring badly. It suggests that the | :41:07. | :41:12. | |
Lib Dem vote has collapsed, the question is whether we can put | :41:13. | :41:18. | |
forward a pro-European, peaceful and pro-public services agenda that will | :41:19. | :41:22. | |
attract enough voters? We are hopeful and confidence that we can. | :41:23. | :41:28. | |
Hoping to beat the Greens are UKIP, buoyed by their recent success. It | :41:29. | :41:34. | |
is the only party in Scotland which is anti-EU. It does not mean I am | :41:35. | :41:41. | |
anti-European, but we do not want to be ruled by the European Union which | :41:42. | :41:46. | |
I think is a very bad organisation which is a bureaucracy trying to | :41:47. | :41:52. | |
dominate business. Scotland votes on Thursday the 22nd of May, but the | :41:53. | :41:55. | |
full results won't be known until the following month. | :41:56. | :42:02. | |
I'm now joined from London by Joe Twyman who's Director of Political | :42:03. | :42:05. | |
and Social Research at YouGov. How would you sum up the state of | :42:06. | :42:09. | |
the parties in Scotland? It is interesting. The state is broadly | :42:10. | :42:17. | |
similar to what we saw last time, we see that the SNP and Labour are | :42:18. | :42:22. | |
doing very well, they are way ahead at the moment with Labour just in | :42:23. | :42:27. | |
front. Everyone else is the also rans. What is most important is the | :42:28. | :42:33. | |
national picture. When we look at the UK, we see this famous rise in | :42:34. | :42:39. | |
UKIP support, the UKIP surge that has been mentioned a lot down here. | :42:40. | :42:42. | |
But we're not seeing that in Scotland at all. They are struggling | :42:43. | :42:47. | |
to even make double figures in the polls. We know that any opinion poll | :42:48. | :42:53. | |
of European elections, even this far out, has a tendency to be | :42:54. | :42:57. | |
hypothetical, because we know as people get closer to the elections | :42:58. | :43:01. | |
themselves interest changes and certain parties do benefit from | :43:02. | :43:06. | |
that. But even this far out, it is interesting. How important will turn | :43:07. | :43:10. | |
out to be questioned whether there will be heightened interest in | :43:11. | :43:13. | |
politics because the independence referendum? It is important for | :43:14. | :43:20. | |
heightening interest in politics generally, but don't think it will | :43:21. | :43:24. | |
translate heavily to the European elections. I think what is actually | :43:25. | :43:27. | |
happening is that in Scotland at least it is proving a distraction. A | :43:28. | :43:32. | |
lot of the political machinery is concentrating almost entirely on the | :43:33. | :43:35. | |
in or out a lot of the political machinery is concentrating almost | :43:36. | :43:37. | |
entirely on the in all-out referendum. So for something as | :43:38. | :43:42. | |
marginal for Europeans, it is not attracting attention. You mention | :43:43. | :43:45. | |
this is a battle between Labour and SNP. I wonder how important this | :43:46. | :43:50. | |
will be for the Liberal Democrats? We're being told by their leadership | :43:51. | :43:55. | |
that they are seeing signs of progress, I presume this will be an | :43:56. | :43:56. | |
important poll. Indeed, they are not going to say | :43:57. | :44:23. | |
there was no point in bothering. There was a decent nick Clegg was | :44:24. | :44:29. | |
taking on Nigel Farage. Last time round UKIP registered their first | :44:30. | :44:37. | |
ever performance in Scotland. Yes, it is not the heartland. Scotland is | :44:38. | :44:44. | |
the most pro-EU although not overwhelmingly. In Scotland UKIP is | :44:45. | :44:53. | |
seen as an English thing. That is something they have to counter. It | :44:54. | :44:59. | |
will take some time and they have not managed it yet. Is the | :45:00. | :45:08. | |
Conservative and UKIP issue resonating in Scotland as it is else | :45:09. | :45:14. | |
we then the UK? In Scotland it is the Scottish referendum that is the | :45:15. | :45:21. | |
big issue. That is capturing the imagination in a way that the | :45:22. | :45:27. | |
European elections are not. Thank you for joining us. The decision to | :45:28. | :45:40. | |
award the 2020 World Cup to Qatar have been controversial. Jim Murphy | :45:41. | :45:46. | |
has just returned from their where he has been looking at conditions | :45:47. | :45:51. | |
migrant workers in the construction industry are facing. What did you | :45:52. | :45:58. | |
see? I travelled as a guest of the international TUC and as a guest of | :45:59. | :46:04. | |
the Sunday mail newspaper. At those building sites the men who are | :46:05. | :46:11. | |
constructing the roads and buildings will always stick with me. Unless | :46:12. | :46:19. | |
the fire at it well she the game we love. People are being treated like | :46:20. | :46:24. | |
animals. They are being misled and having their passports stolen. They | :46:25. | :46:29. | |
have no quality of life. When they are recruited from countries in | :46:30. | :46:37. | |
Africa we are the have no hopes of earning recent money and the move | :46:38. | :46:46. | |
year they are having their passports ripped up. What do you want the SFA | :46:47. | :47:02. | |
to stay -- say macro? This is the world's premier sporting event. For | :47:03. | :47:14. | |
the SFA to remain silent as tens if not hundreds of thousands of workers | :47:15. | :47:18. | |
are abused, lose their rights as they construct for the World Cup, it | :47:19. | :47:25. | |
is utterly unacceptable. Does it matter that Scotland have not been | :47:26. | :47:29. | |
part of the bigger picture of the World Cup for quite some time? We | :47:30. | :47:37. | |
cannot be pessimistic, let's hope we are 2022 with some great young | :47:38. | :47:42. | |
players. When it was voted for the World Cup to go to the Middle East | :47:43. | :47:49. | |
for the first time ever this was not the deal. Having passports stolen, | :47:50. | :47:55. | |
unable to return home, living in cramped conditions, multiple men | :47:56. | :47:59. | |
living in conditions smaller than a child's bedroom. It is one of the | :48:00. | :48:06. | |
richest countries in the world with a very controversial system which | :48:07. | :48:12. | |
means the company literally owned every movement of the worker. They | :48:13. | :48:18. | |
take the passport, the workers cannot move around without the | :48:19. | :48:24. | |
company's permission. They cannot just get another job if they feel | :48:25. | :48:30. | |
there is better conditions elsewhere? They cannot move around | :48:31. | :48:37. | |
because they have taken their passport and they cannot go | :48:38. | :48:44. | |
elsewhere or even go home. The problem with the fact is that it is | :48:45. | :48:48. | |
a discredited organisation, isn't it? I think we can sort the | :48:49. | :48:54. | |
worker's conditions encounter quicker than we can sort that. | :48:55. | :49:08. | |
Should they be looking at moving the cup somewhere else? If the | :49:09. | :49:18. | |
accusations of corruption the whole vote should be rerun and we should | :49:19. | :49:23. | |
look to have it elsewhere but in the meantime we have to look at | :49:24. | :49:28. | |
improving workers rights in Qatar. The people who are building | :49:29. | :49:33. | |
hospitals, construction sites, roads and railways in the country should | :49:34. | :49:38. | |
get workers rights and they have to have their rights protected. The SFA | :49:39. | :49:46. | |
should speak up. Is the Sunday mail not the first newspaper to expose | :49:47. | :49:50. | |
this? When there have been previous stories the government in Qatar say | :49:51. | :49:56. | |
they will make changes but they have not done this so far so do you think | :49:57. | :50:03. | |
it will change? When I was their meeting with committees for the | :50:04. | :50:10. | |
World Cup they made some promises about worker's writes and ending the | :50:11. | :50:19. | |
current system. We have to make sure they do that. They have issued a | :50:20. | :50:23. | |
report which has been much delayed but aren't they talking about | :50:24. | :50:33. | |
publishing that soon? They cannot ignore what we have said about this. | :50:34. | :50:39. | |
These proud men, who are happy to have a World Cup built on the back | :50:40. | :50:43. | |
of their sweat, just not on the back of abuse. There has to be radical | :50:44. | :50:50. | |
change before these stadiums take place or else we will all be utterly | :50:51. | :50:56. | |
ashamed of the game that we Scots love. We cannot look back and say | :50:57. | :51:02. | |
how did that happen, we did not know. After the expose the | :51:03. | :51:06. | |
intraday's Sunday mail there is no excuse for anyone to say they did | :51:07. | :51:14. | |
not know. It is a model. Thank you. Now let's cross over for the latest | :51:15. | :51:24. | |
news. Good afternoon. The Scottish prison service say they are | :51:25. | :51:27. | |
considering an application for the drugs mule Melissa Reid to peak | :51:28. | :51:33. | |
transfer home to serve the rest of her sentence. She was arrested with | :51:34. | :51:39. | |
her friend last year after they were caught with cocaine. It is unclear | :51:40. | :51:43. | |
how long the process could take. Churches and faith communities have | :51:44. | :51:48. | |
come together to call for the role of religion to be recognised in | :51:49. | :51:52. | |
Scottish society, whatever happens in the referendum. The Church of | :51:53. | :51:59. | |
Scotland Moderator says she does not want to see history disappear. There | :52:00. | :52:06. | |
should be something about the churches and the different faith | :52:07. | :52:11. | |
groups in it. That is our heritage, where we have come from, our history | :52:12. | :52:17. | |
and our background. Even if we start with the new constitution, we do not | :52:18. | :52:21. | |
wipe out everything that has gone in the past. Police are calling for | :52:22. | :52:30. | |
witnesses after a vintage car crashed near Aberdeen and the driver | :52:31. | :52:38. | |
was killed. Now let's take a look at the weather. Cloudy, wet and windy | :52:39. | :52:45. | |
across many parts of the country this afternoon. The earlier brighter | :52:46. | :52:50. | |
spells will be replaced by wet weather as we head through the day. | :52:51. | :52:55. | |
Behind this band of men things will improve with some sunshine later on. | :52:56. | :53:02. | |
Feeling fairly mild. Temperatures windy up the West Coast. From late | :53:03. | :53:06. | |
afternoon onwards the rain disappears and it will be a fine, | :53:07. | :53:11. | |
dry evening for most of us. Dry overnight. Now let's look at some of | :53:12. | :53:17. | |
the stories in the Sunday papers and what is coming up in the week ahead. | :53:18. | :53:24. | |
I am joined by the political editor of the Herald and in Edinburgh by a | :53:25. | :53:31. | |
freelance journalist and critic. Lots of tributes today to Margo | :53:32. | :53:37. | |
MacDonald and as we heard earlier from a friend of hers, her death is | :53:38. | :53:44. | |
being felt across Scotland. Absolutely. She did not recognise | :53:45. | :53:51. | |
the kind of boundaries that more conventional politicians dead. She | :53:52. | :53:56. | |
had this wonderful way of talking very sharply and strongly about | :53:57. | :54:00. | |
political tactics one minute and then switching to something entirely | :54:01. | :54:05. | |
personal. She is the only person who ever tried to marry me off. She | :54:06. | :54:12. | |
asked if I was still single one day and said she had a really nice | :54:13. | :54:18. | |
though she wanted me to meet. But I was unable to go to the dinner | :54:19. | :54:25. | |
party. It is an example of how she was. The parliament will be all be | :54:26. | :54:39. | |
put for the loss of her wit and intellect. It will be greatly | :54:40. | :54:43. | |
diminished. She took very seriously hurt role as a parliamentarian in | :54:44. | :54:50. | |
the truest sense. She did not go in for points scoring. There have been | :54:51. | :54:54. | |
some marvellous and moving tributes to her which speak for themselves | :54:55. | :55:00. | |
will stop she was a very human sort of person, if that makes sense. It | :55:01. | :55:06. | |
explains this extraordinary ability she had to connect with people in | :55:07. | :55:12. | |
politics and right across Scotland. Certainly, for the journalists who | :55:13. | :55:17. | |
have been working at Holyrood, there was a sense of deep sadness on | :55:18. | :55:22. | |
Friday in the media when the news came through. She will be dreadfully | :55:23. | :55:29. | |
mist. Let's look at some of the stories in the papers. The Sunday | :55:30. | :55:34. | |
Times has an opinion poll suggesting the unionist lead in the referendum | :55:35. | :55:39. | |
debate has been cut from 24 points last year to just six. The | :55:40. | :55:44. | |
Nationalists are addicting they will be in the lead by July. There does | :55:45. | :55:54. | |
seem to be a trend developing. I am surprised by this shift towards the | :55:55. | :55:59. | |
yes vote. It seems a bit more marked after beginning tentatively. It is | :56:00. | :56:07. | |
down to the campaigning the yes campaign has been doing. I wonder | :56:08. | :56:15. | |
what the gender breakdown is. Yes among men stands at 56% while women | :56:16. | :56:24. | |
it is just 40%. Women still not being fully persuaded. I am | :56:25. | :56:29. | |
wondering if there is beginning to be a shift among women. There is a | :56:30. | :56:36. | |
lot of campaigning going on now by the women for independence which is | :56:37. | :56:40. | |
addressing, in the spirit of Marco going up to women and asking what | :56:41. | :56:45. | |
they want for their children and grandchildren. The yes campaign has | :56:46. | :56:51. | |
strength on the ground with that face-to-face campaigning which I do | :56:52. | :56:55. | |
not see on the no side at the moment. Many policies about | :56:56. | :57:03. | |
childcare for example where about bringing women on side. I think this | :57:04. | :57:10. | |
will be a big theme of the SNP conference which is coming up next | :57:11. | :57:15. | |
weekend. The gap is getting closer and closer. The SNP tell as the | :57:16. | :57:23. | |
lines on the graph will cross around about July if their current rate of | :57:24. | :57:29. | |
progress is maintained. There is still this gender gap. One of the | :57:30. | :57:35. | |
big offers in the White Paper is for greatly increased childcare. That | :57:36. | :57:41. | |
policy appears to be in trouble. If you look at the numbers, how it will | :57:42. | :57:47. | |
be afforded, there are reports out this last week which suggest that | :57:48. | :57:52. | |
perhaps does not add together. It is a work in progress. And just a quick | :57:53. | :58:02. | |
word on Tartan week, have important our events like this? I am not a | :58:03. | :58:09. | |
huge fan of them to be honest. I do not think Scotland in the 21st | :58:10. | :58:14. | |
century should be associated with Parton. The idea originated in the | :58:15. | :58:19. | |
United States with a very right wing bunch. I think there should be | :58:20. | :58:26. | |
promotion of Scotland from the point of view of trade and all the rest of | :58:27. | :58:31. | |
it but I think they are things about the cliches around Tartan week that | :58:32. | :58:38. | |
we could do without at this stage. That is from as this week. We are | :58:39. | :58:43. | |
back next week at the slightly later time of half past two. Enjoyed what | :58:44. | :58:49. | |
is left of your Sunday, goodbye. | :58:50. | :58:57. |