Browse content similar to 17/04/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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David Cameron thinks we'll be stronger, safer | :00:38. | :00:42. | |
Leave campaigners say the real risk would be a vote to remain. | :00:43. | :00:48. | |
So what are the dangers if we decide to stay? | :00:49. | :00:52. | |
On his final presidential visit to the UK, Barack Obama | :00:53. | :00:56. | |
will back the idea of Britain remaining in the EU. | :00:57. | :00:59. | |
But is the leader of the free world right to wade into our debate? | :01:00. | :01:03. | |
And before the referendum, there's the small matter | :01:04. | :01:06. | |
of national and local elections right across the UK. | :01:07. | :01:09. | |
And coming up on Sunday Politics Scotland: | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
We continue our series of interviews with the Scottish party leaders. | :01:14. | :01:16. | |
by the Lib Dems' Willie Rennie and by the Scottish | :01:17. | :01:20. | |
we hear from mayoral hopefuls Sian Berry of the Greens | :01:21. | :01:27. | |
And with me, as always, our panel of the best and brightest | :01:28. | :01:35. | |
political brains in the business, Nick Watt, Isabel Oakeshott | :01:36. | :01:37. | |
Now, the referendum isn't the only vote looming on the horizon. | :01:38. | :01:48. | |
Before the EU vote on June 23rd, voters across the UK will get | :01:49. | :01:51. | |
a chance to cast their ballot in a range of elections | :01:52. | :01:54. | |
There are seven sets of elections happening in May, | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
all of which will take place on the same day, | :01:59. | :02:00. | |
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will hold national elections. | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
There are 60 seats up for grabs in the Welsh Assembly. | :02:06. | :02:09. | |
The Scottish Parliament, in which the SNP has held | :02:10. | :02:12. | |
a majority since 2011, will elect 129 members, | :02:13. | :02:17. | |
and in Northern Ireland, there are 108 seats that will be | :02:18. | :02:20. | |
decided for representatives to the assembly at Stormont. | :02:21. | :02:27. | |
124 councils have seats up for election. | :02:28. | :02:31. | |
35 metropolitan councils, 19 unitary authorities | :02:32. | :02:33. | |
and 70 district councils, and four cities in England | :02:34. | :02:36. | |
will elect mayors, London, Bristol, Liverpool and Salford. | :02:37. | :02:59. | |
Londoners will also elect members to the London Assembly | :03:00. | :03:02. | |
Finally, voters in 41 police force areas in England and Wales | :03:03. | :03:05. | |
will elect a Police And Crime Commissioner. | :03:06. | :03:07. | |
Joining me now from Glasgow is our election guru, | :03:08. | :03:09. | |
Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University. | :03:10. | :03:10. | |
Let's start with the local elections in England. How should we judge the | :03:11. | :03:14. | |
performance of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party in these elections? We | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
have to appreciate that the seats up for grabs on me the these elections | :03:19. | :03:26. | |
were for the most part fought for three year is ago. We are looking at | :03:27. | :03:32. | |
the time of George Osborne's so-called a shambles budget when | :03:33. | :03:35. | |
support for the Conservatives fell away. These were the only set of | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
elections during the last parliament where the Labour Party began to put | :03:41. | :03:43. | |
in a performance where you might have thought they would have been | :03:44. | :03:46. | |
capable of winning the next election. Jeremy Corbyn's | :03:47. | :03:52. | |
misfortune, he is defending not a brilliant baseline, but a relatively | :03:53. | :03:57. | |
good one. Labour six or seven points ahead, as judged by their share of | :03:58. | :04:02. | |
the vote. The truth is that Jeremy Corbyn is not 67 points ahead. In | :04:03. | :04:07. | |
contrast to what we might have expected a few weeks ago, he is no | :04:08. | :04:13. | |
longer 67 points behind. Labour and the Conservatives seem to be quite | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
close to each other. That means that in practice Mr Corbyn may well be | :04:18. | :04:23. | |
facing losses. The figure of 150 has been bandied around. Will that be | :04:24. | :04:27. | |
good? Better than it might have been a few weeks ago. Is it the sort of | :04:28. | :04:32. | |
performance to persuade you that the Labour Party is on course to win the | :04:33. | :04:39. | |
general election? Certainly not. Is the biggest threat that they would | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
lose London, and would that be unlikely? I agree it would be | :04:44. | :04:48. | |
unlikely. If they were to fail to win the London mayoral election, | :04:49. | :04:53. | |
that would be a serious reverse for Labour. Back in 2012, although Boris | :04:54. | :05:00. | |
Johnson on the London mayoral election, Labour was clearly ahead | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
in the parallel election. Neither Sadiq Khan, the Labour candidate, | :05:06. | :05:11. | |
Northside Goldsmith, the concerted of the -- the Conservative | :05:12. | :05:16. | |
candidate, has the same kind of attractiveness to the public. Labour | :05:17. | :05:19. | |
did relatively well in London 12 months ago. If David Cameron were | :05:20. | :05:26. | |
not to win that election, Labour would have questions to ask itself. | :05:27. | :05:34. | |
Could Labour even come third behind the Scottish Tories? The answer is | :05:35. | :05:39. | |
that they could. There is another opinion poll lead this morning that | :05:40. | :05:42. | |
put Labour on the Conservatives neck and neck with each other. Some | :05:43. | :05:50. | |
opinion polls put Labour and the Conservatives together, but not by | :05:51. | :05:54. | |
much. Labour neglect the heading for a very bad performance. It would be | :05:55. | :05:58. | |
the worst result in any election since 1918. I do not think it will | :05:59. | :06:04. | |
tell you much about Jeremy Corbyn and his popularity. We have to | :06:05. | :06:07. | |
remember that what happens in Scotland is very distinct and | :06:08. | :06:09. | |
separate from what happens in the rest of the UK. The election in | :06:10. | :06:15. | |
Scotland is going to be, primarily, framed by people's views about | :06:16. | :06:21. | |
independence. The truth is the overall majority of people that | :06:22. | :06:25. | |
voted for independence are still determined to vote for the SNP. So | :06:26. | :06:29. | |
long as that remains the case, Labour will struggle another the | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
border. It has to do with Scottish politics and little to do with what | :06:35. | :06:37. | |
is happening in the rest of the UK. Is there really a Ukip surge in | :06:38. | :06:43. | |
Wales? The opinion polls suggest that Ukip are doing well in Wales. | :06:44. | :06:48. | |
But that is roughly where the opinion polls are putting Ukip | :06:49. | :06:53. | |
across the UK as a whole. In Wales, as in Scotland, and the London | :06:54. | :06:57. | |
assembly elections, the elections are being held by proportional | :06:58. | :07:05. | |
representation, not first past the post, so if Ukip can get the 15% | :07:06. | :07:08. | |
that the opinion polls suggest that the might get, they will get | :07:09. | :07:10. | |
significant representation in the Welsh assembly. Getting Ukip grade | :07:11. | :07:14. | |
is one of the things in which the opinion polls tend to disagree with | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
each other. Ukip will perhaps not do as well as that, they will get some | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
seats, but perhaps not as well as the parties hoping. Northern | :07:24. | :07:30. | |
Ireland, and the executive almost collapsed there last year. Will the | :07:31. | :07:34. | |
turmoil at Stormont, is it likely expected to change people's voting | :07:35. | :07:40. | |
patterns this time? We not expecting a vast in Northern Ireland. Not only | :07:41. | :07:46. | |
is the assembly elected proportionally, but so is the | :07:47. | :07:55. | |
elected -- the executive. The larger of the two Unionist parties and the | :07:56. | :07:58. | |
Nationalist parties might not be quite as strong as last time. No one | :07:59. | :08:02. | |
is expecting very much in way of a major change. Thank you for joining | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
us. Nick Watt, let me come to you. These elections are widely being | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
seen as Mr Corbyn's first serious test. What a Labour's real | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
expectations? The expectation is there going to do badly in Scotland. | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
That is in. They will do badly in Wales but the expecting that. They | :08:23. | :08:27. | |
will not admit that they could do very badly in the English local | :08:28. | :08:31. | |
elections, and that they could lose seats. If the Labour Party lost | :08:32. | :08:35. | |
seats in the local elections, it would be the first time since 1985 | :08:36. | :08:39. | |
that an opposition party had suffered losses in local elections | :08:40. | :08:44. | |
in a non-general election year. It would be woolly bad. What did is | :08:45. | :08:49. | |
down two at the end of the day, I know we should not wish think about | :08:50. | :08:54. | |
London, a great picture of Glasgow behind John Curtice, but it is down | :08:55. | :08:59. | |
to London. Jeremy Corbyn needs one victory and he looks like he will | :09:00. | :09:04. | |
get one, Sadiq Khan in London. That will probably enough. He can do | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
badly everywhere else but as long as he holds onto London years save? I | :09:09. | :09:14. | |
think because the others are just priced in. If he can be seen to | :09:15. | :09:19. | |
notch up one victory, it is a bit like the old and Royston by-election | :09:20. | :09:23. | |
at the end of last year. Everyone assumes that they will do badly. | :09:24. | :09:29. | |
They did well, it stabilises the leadership. He would probably be | :09:30. | :09:33. | |
safe even if you lost London? I think he would be. Those who would | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
like to see the back of have the difficulty that essentially his | :09:39. | :09:40. | |
supporters control the party membership. It is an interesting | :09:41. | :09:45. | |
question, how this is going to be judged. I spoke to one of Jeremy | :09:46. | :09:50. | |
Corbyn's critics within the parliamentary party this morning and | :09:51. | :09:54. | |
was surprised how upbeat he sounded. He said, I think we might put on a | :09:55. | :09:59. | |
couple of hundred seats. This is a terrible time for the Tory | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
leadership. I came off the phone and thought, this is about expectation | :10:05. | :10:08. | |
management. This is the critics of Jeremy Corbyn saying that we should | :10:09. | :10:14. | |
put on a few hundred seats. When they do not, they will see it as a | :10:15. | :10:18. | |
disaster. The setting him up to fail. The Tories are expected to do | :10:19. | :10:23. | |
quite well in these elections, even in Wales. We have had the budget, | :10:24. | :10:28. | |
the Panama Papers, the steel crisis, the split over the referendum. It | :10:29. | :10:32. | |
has got to take its toll on the Tories? It has in the opinion polls, | :10:33. | :10:39. | |
which are Sean at the minimum of the Tory lead, narrowing, and in some | :10:40. | :10:43. | |
cases Labour pulling ahead. I suspect some Tories would not mind | :10:44. | :10:48. | |
doing badly in the local elections in England if it relieves the | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
pressure on Jeremy Corbyn, who they want in place over the next four | :10:54. | :10:56. | |
years and contesting the 2020 general election. Even if Labour do | :10:57. | :11:03. | |
badly in Scotland, Jeremy Corbyn owes a debt to Sadiq Khan, because | :11:04. | :11:08. | |
his likely but not certain victory in London, judging by the opinion | :11:09. | :11:12. | |
polls, will attract more attention than elections everywhere, not | :11:13. | :11:17. | |
before it deserves -- not because it deserves to, but because the media | :11:18. | :11:24. | |
has a slight skew towards London. It is a slightly sexier office. It will | :11:25. | :11:27. | |
drown out any underperformance that Labour have in the rest of the | :11:28. | :11:32. | |
country. Is it too cynical to say that some Tories will not be too | :11:33. | :11:36. | |
upset if they do not win London because Mr Corbyn will then be | :11:37. | :11:40. | |
secure? I do not think that is cynical. That is absolutely the | :11:41. | :11:47. | |
case. Janan is right. There will be lots of post-analysis about how the | :11:48. | :11:52. | |
billionaire's son, Zac Goldsmith, lost the election. It is interesting | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
that the people who want to get rid of Jeremy Corbyn in the Labour | :11:57. | :11:59. | |
Party, the window they are talking about is not after the local | :12:00. | :12:04. | |
elections, but after the referendum at the end of June. We might be | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
focused on the Conservatives by then. I think the troubles of the | :12:09. | :12:09. | |
Tory party will take the focus then. So the referendum | :12:10. | :12:16. | |
campaign has begun. The official campaign groups have | :12:17. | :12:18. | |
been designated and the arguments The Prime Minister says we'll be | :12:19. | :12:20. | |
stronger, safer, and better off in. And a vote to leave, | :12:21. | :12:25. | |
says to Mr Cameron, But it won't have escaped your | :12:26. | :12:27. | |
attention that the EU is also facing challenges, | :12:28. | :12:33. | |
a migration crisis, economic So, if we do decide to remain, | :12:34. | :12:36. | |
what are the risks ahead of us? For some, the consequences of this | :12:37. | :12:41. | |
EU referendum are crystal clear. For the rest of us, | :12:42. | :12:53. | |
it is difficult to see the future after June the 23rd, | :12:54. | :12:56. | |
hard to predict. Of course, the politicians claim | :12:57. | :12:57. | |
to know our fortunes. This cannot be described as anything | :12:58. | :13:03. | |
other than risk, uncertainty, We have clearly elevated Brexit | :13:04. | :13:05. | |
as one of the serious downside risks I firmly believe that leaving the EU | :13:06. | :13:15. | |
would leave our country less secure. This lot, Vote Leave, | :13:16. | :13:21. | |
call it Project Fear. They say the other side is trying | :13:22. | :13:24. | |
to scare people into thinking that Instead they say that | :13:25. | :13:27. | |
the uncertainty is staying in. What will the EU look like in five, | :13:28. | :13:33. | |
ten, 15 years? For me, it would be an outdated | :13:34. | :13:39. | |
bloc, something that was created in the last century, | :13:40. | :13:42. | |
something that can neither control It has been foretold that migration | :13:43. | :13:46. | |
will be one of the dominant David Cameron insists his negotiated | :13:47. | :13:53. | |
emergency brake on migrants' in work benefits as well as changes to child | :13:54. | :14:00. | |
benefits will discourage EU migration, but some experts say it | :14:01. | :14:03. | |
will have little impact. Figures from the Migration | :14:04. | :14:09. | |
Observatory this week suggest that continuing economic instability | :14:10. | :14:12. | |
in the Eurozone is encouraging an increasing number of southern | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
European migrants to head to the UK Looking forward, it is very | :14:18. | :14:20. | |
difficult to know It is possible that if the gap | :14:21. | :14:24. | |
in economic performance between the UK and other | :14:25. | :14:29. | |
countries, for example, Italy, Portugal and Spain, | :14:30. | :14:31. | |
remains significant, there could be quite a pull factor | :14:32. | :14:35. | |
for some time. It is also possible if there is more | :14:36. | :14:38. | |
economic convergence that we could see the numbers | :14:39. | :14:40. | |
start to fall. Much has also been made this week | :14:41. | :14:43. | |
about the risk to both the British and the global economy if Britain | :14:44. | :14:47. | |
voted to leave the EU, In the single market we trade freely | :14:48. | :14:50. | |
right across Europe and we have a say in making | :14:51. | :14:54. | |
the rules across the Continent. If we leave, we give | :14:55. | :14:58. | |
all of that up with no idea The real economic risks are for | :14:59. | :15:01. | |
staying in the European Union. We might find ourselves on the hook | :15:02. | :15:07. | |
for bailouts for countries that are having difficulty staying | :15:08. | :15:12. | |
in the euro in the future. We might find that our rebate comes | :15:13. | :15:14. | |
under assault in the future, we might find that the amount | :15:15. | :15:18. | |
of money overall that we have to give the European Union | :15:19. | :15:21. | |
goes up and up and up. A few weeks ago, the Governor | :15:22. | :15:26. | |
of the Bank of England said that leaving the EU was the biggest | :15:27. | :15:29. | |
domestic risk to Membership of the European Union | :15:30. | :15:31. | |
brings risks as well, and the principal risk, | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
risks I should say, because there are more than one, | :15:37. | :15:38. | |
are associated with the unfinished On the issue of whether our laws | :15:39. | :15:40. | |
are made in Westminster or Brussels, for those wanting to leave the EU, | :15:41. | :15:53. | |
a vote to remain would mean handing Fewer and fewer things over | :15:54. | :15:56. | |
which we have the authority Fewer and fewer of our decisions can | :15:57. | :15:59. | |
be upheld in British courts And I also know that fewer and fewer | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
decisions will be made on European Union level | :16:04. | :16:13. | |
which will be in British interests. And yet one former minister told me | :16:14. | :16:16. | |
that pooling some decision-making The truth is that if you enter | :16:17. | :16:19. | |
into any international agreement, then you may agree that those | :16:20. | :16:26. | |
decisions should be Our Nato membership involves exactly | :16:27. | :16:28. | |
the same kind of arrangement. We allow Nato to take a decision | :16:29. | :16:32. | |
for our collective strength. Both sides seemed to agree a vote | :16:33. | :16:34. | |
to remain is not a vote Those who want to stay | :16:35. | :16:49. | |
in are confident, at least publicly, that the renegotiation will change | :16:50. | :16:54. | |
for the better our relationship Those who want out say that | :16:55. | :16:57. | |
relationship will only get worse. Quite how persuasive | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
those two visions are, I predict we will find out | :17:02. | :17:02. | |
on June the 24th. Joining me now is Labour MP | :17:03. | :17:14. | |
Tristram Hunt, he was a member of the Shadow Cabinet | :17:15. | :17:16. | |
under Ed Miliband. He is now campaigning for Britain | :17:17. | :17:19. | |
to remain in the EU. Do you accept, let's look at some of | :17:20. | :17:30. | |
the risks that could be associated with remaining, start with | :17:31. | :17:32. | |
immigration. Do you accept that as long as we remain in the EU we have | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
no real control of the numbers coming to our country? The European | :17:37. | :17:42. | |
Union is not perfect and it is quite right to have this debate about how | :17:43. | :17:46. | |
we reform Europe in the future. When it comes to our borders, we check | :17:47. | :17:52. | |
who comes in. There will remain passport controls but we have to | :17:53. | :17:56. | |
make sure that we explain to people that if we left Europe but still | :17:57. | :18:00. | |
wanted to trade with the single market, we would also have to have | :18:01. | :18:05. | |
the free movement of people just as Norway and Switzerland does. But in | :18:06. | :18:09. | |
the long run I think there is an interesting question about the | :18:10. | :18:12. | |
degree of free movement of people across the European Union. My point | :18:13. | :18:17. | |
is that Britain should be a part of that conversation. We should be | :18:18. | :18:20. | |
involved in that reform and change and if we are not at the table than | :18:21. | :18:25. | |
our voice won't be heard. The numbers would seem to be beyond our | :18:26. | :18:29. | |
control because that's the price of membership. Over the past five years | :18:30. | :18:33. | |
the number of EU nationals living in the UK has risen by 700,000, it is | :18:34. | :18:40. | |
now 3.3 million, it has doubled in ten years. As long as we remain in | :18:41. | :18:57. | |
the EU it is surely a risk that at least another 700,000 could come in | :18:58. | :19:01. | |
the next five years, it could be even more. Or it could be markedly | :19:02. | :19:04. | |
less. If we go back to a time when the British economy was worse in the | :19:05. | :19:07. | |
1980s, we saw large numbers of people going abroad to work in the | :19:08. | :19:10. | |
European Union. We are taking a snapshot at the moment and the point | :19:11. | :19:12. | |
about pooling risk across the single market is that when your economy is | :19:13. | :19:14. | |
in difficulty you can take opportunities in other parts of the | :19:15. | :19:17. | |
country. In the UK we should be supporting reforms to make sure | :19:18. | :19:22. | |
there are not benefit attractions to coming to the UK so I think the | :19:23. | :19:26. | |
Prime Minister's point about having to pay in before you take out, the | :19:27. | :19:30. | |
point about fairness is really important and I think people in | :19:31. | :19:33. | |
Britain think that if people are coming here to work, to pay their | :19:34. | :19:38. | |
taxes and contribute to society, that is fine. You say it's a | :19:39. | :19:43. | |
snapshot but let's look at this chart. Over the last five years, as | :19:44. | :19:48. | |
you can see from that, from about 2012, under five years in fact, | :19:49. | :19:55. | |
these are the absolute number, immigration from the EU has risen | :19:56. | :20:02. | |
dramatically. My point is it is not a snapshot, it is a clear trend. The | :20:03. | :20:07. | |
part of immigration over which we have no control is rising the | :20:08. | :20:15. | |
fastest, isn't that a risk? But we go back to 1975 so historically this | :20:16. | :20:19. | |
is a snapshot, and overtime this well change. We cannot have a system | :20:20. | :20:24. | |
whereby you turn up in the UK and claim benefits from day one. You | :20:25. | :20:29. | |
have to have a contributory principle. Also, those parts of the | :20:30. | :20:35. | |
country, Boston in Lincolnshire, parts that have experienced high | :20:36. | :20:39. | |
levels of immigration and we should be open and honest about this that | :20:40. | :20:44. | |
we have seen statistics show big changes and may have impacted | :20:45. | :20:47. | |
communities in big ways sometimes, they need the extra resource for | :20:48. | :20:51. | |
schools and hospitals that this brings in. The case I'm putting to | :20:52. | :20:57. | |
you this morning is that that is not necessarily a snapshot or that it | :20:58. | :21:01. | |
will necessarily change. Let's look at the risks we would face in the | :21:02. | :21:07. | |
years to come. Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, decided that last | :21:08. | :21:11. | |
year over a million Syrian immigrants could go to Germany. | :21:12. | :21:14. | |
Eventually they could come here if they wish. Why should we be at the | :21:15. | :21:22. | |
risk of unilateral decisions taken by a foreign leader? Obviously there | :21:23. | :21:26. | |
are issues about residency rights in Germany or Italy before anyone could | :21:27. | :21:32. | |
come to the UK. We retain border controls. If they become German | :21:33. | :21:35. | |
citizens they will be allowed to come here. This is a balance of | :21:36. | :21:41. | |
risks, on June the 23rd of voters have to weigh up these may bes. What | :21:42. | :21:47. | |
we have heard clearly from the governor of the Bank of England, the | :21:48. | :21:51. | |
Chancellor of the Exchequer, the head of the IMF, that there will be | :21:52. | :21:55. | |
a seismic economic shock to the British economy. I understand that | :21:56. | :22:00. | |
and there has been plenty of coverage of the risks of coming out, | :22:01. | :22:05. | |
but I'm looking at the risks of staying in. Let me give you another | :22:06. | :22:09. | |
one, I've given you the Angela Merkel example. Albania, Turkey and | :22:10. | :22:17. | |
others all want to join the EU. More people that could have a right to | :22:18. | :22:22. | |
come and live and work in the UK. That is a risk. We are already | :22:23. | :22:28. | |
seeing the risk of Brexit. The pound is falling in value, economic | :22:29. | :22:31. | |
decisions are not being taken at the moment. I'm not arguing that there | :22:32. | :22:37. | |
are risks to coming out, I perfectly understand that. I'm looking at the | :22:38. | :22:42. | |
risks if we stay in. Address this issue that the risk is of another 87 | :22:43. | :22:47. | |
more people with the right to come to Britain. My point is the risks | :22:48. | :22:59. | |
are happening now,... What is your answer to the 87 million? The | :23:00. | :23:04. | |
extension of Europe has to be managed carefully. The broader | :23:05. | :23:07. | |
conversation about the total free movement of people across the | :23:08. | :23:09. | |
European Union is something that needs to be addressed but firstly we | :23:10. | :23:15. | |
won't have any say over that if we have left the European Union. | :23:16. | :23:20. | |
Secondly, those countries which trade with Europe like Norway and | :23:21. | :23:24. | |
Switzerland also have to accept the free movement of people. There's no | :23:25. | :23:29. | |
free ticket on this. What I want is a strong Great Britain at the | :23:30. | :23:34. | |
negotiating table making the case for our borders and security. When | :23:35. | :23:38. | |
it comes to the free movement of people you raised the issue of | :23:39. | :23:42. | |
Syrian refugees and concerns about security in the aftermath of | :23:43. | :23:46. | |
Brussels and Paris, being part of Europe and having security | :23:47. | :23:52. | |
connections with Europe makes us stronger. There's talk of another | :23:53. | :23:57. | |
Greek financial bailout, fears of an Italian banking crisis looming this | :23:58. | :24:01. | |
summer. If the eurozone plunges into another recession, the numbers | :24:02. | :24:04. | |
coming here could easily hit new record highs. We have also seen we | :24:05. | :24:13. | |
are not part of the Europe... They will come here looking for jobs. We | :24:14. | :24:18. | |
are not on the hook for the Greek bailout. We were with the last one. | :24:19. | :24:24. | |
Not to the same degree as other European members. We negotiated a | :24:25. | :24:29. | |
strong exemption from that. This is about Britain having a strong voice | :24:30. | :24:33. | |
at the negotiating table and you are offering up your own Project Fear. I | :24:34. | :24:41. | |
am taking a methodical look at the risks. The eurozone is stagnating at | :24:42. | :24:47. | |
the moment, that's why Spaniards, Italian and Portuguese are pouring | :24:48. | :24:56. | |
into this country in huge numbers. If the eurozone was to tilt into | :24:57. | :25:00. | |
another recession, that risks a lot more. It is a risk, and the British | :25:01. | :25:06. | |
answer to that should be to deepen the single market, to make it more | :25:07. | :25:10. | |
effective, to have growth across Europe. You do, if you have a strong | :25:11. | :25:21. | |
British voice arguing for growth across Europe. You're talking about | :25:22. | :25:25. | |
these potential threats in the future, we have a threat now. | :25:26. | :25:31. | |
Businesses in my constituency, Stoke-on-Trent, are not making | :25:32. | :25:35. | |
investment decisions. Indecision, two years of negotiation if we | :25:36. | :25:41. | |
leave. Hold on... Two years of indecision if we vote to leave. Why | :25:42. | :25:47. | |
are they eyeing the British stock exchange if there is indecision? | :25:48. | :25:51. | |
There will always be levels of flow and investment but what we are | :25:52. | :25:54. | |
seeing is fear and concern about the future. I think of workers in | :25:55. | :26:00. | |
Staffordshire who go to work at the Toyota plant in Derby, they have | :26:01. | :26:05. | |
jobs because of being part of the single market. I'm talking about the | :26:06. | :26:16. | |
risks if we remain. Do you deny that if we stay in we face further | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
integration? We have had a clear commitment from the Prime Minister | :26:21. | :26:24. | |
that we won't be involved in ever closer union and that is a big | :26:25. | :26:28. | |
philosophical moment, that Britain has a distinct and different stance | :26:29. | :26:34. | |
to the rest of the European Union. I think people will benefit from the | :26:35. | :26:39. | |
best of both worlds. If that is the case, you will be familiar with D5 | :26:40. | :26:44. | |
president report, the official road map for greater integration into the | :26:45. | :26:49. | |
European Union. It calls for financial, fiscal and political | :26:50. | :26:56. | |
union by 2025. That could affect us. We have a clear commitment we will | :26:57. | :27:00. | |
not be involved in ever closer union. Have you read this report? | :27:01. | :27:06. | |
Not all of it. It is not a long report. It says much of what I have | :27:07. | :27:13. | |
just named, not all, but much of that could be achieved already | :27:14. | :27:18. | |
through a deepening of the single market, which is important for all | :27:19. | :27:23. | |
28 EU members, so we would not necessarily be excluded. I am in | :27:24. | :27:29. | |
favour of a deep into single market so that those 200,000 businesses in | :27:30. | :27:36. | |
the UK, exporting to Europe, have greater growth and opportunities. | :27:37. | :27:41. | |
People become richer. So there could be deeper integration. I would like | :27:42. | :27:46. | |
to see the digital and service economy grated more, we want more | :27:47. | :27:50. | |
jobs and growth across Europe that Britain will benefit from. Why would | :27:51. | :27:57. | |
we, when we face a global fear about downturn, decide to cut ourselves | :27:58. | :28:01. | |
off from the richest market in the world. You say it is the richest, it | :28:02. | :28:09. | |
is also stagnating. Because we cannot do our own trade deals with | :28:10. | :28:13. | |
the part of the world that is growing, our trade is therefore | :28:14. | :28:18. | |
hindered. It has taken seven years to reach a deal with Canada, it is | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
not complete, the free trade deal with Australia has been blocked by | :28:23. | :28:28. | |
Italy. These are all growth markets, unlike Europe, and we are unable to | :28:29. | :28:33. | |
do free trade deals with them. That is a risk. Do you honestly think | :28:34. | :28:39. | |
that if we left Europe and there were negotiations with India about a | :28:40. | :28:45. | |
free trade deal, the UK, 60 million people, would be ahead of the queue | :28:46. | :28:50. | |
of the European Union... Nothing is happening with India for nine years. | :28:51. | :28:55. | |
We had historic links with India. What about Australia and Canada? We | :28:56. | :29:00. | |
are not owed a living in the world. We have to make our businesses grow | :29:01. | :29:05. | |
on their own terms and you do that by being part of the European Union. | :29:06. | :29:10. | |
You have a much greater weight around the world by being part of | :29:11. | :29:15. | |
this. My point is that we have the best of both worlds. We have the | :29:16. | :29:18. | |
historic connections with the Commonwealth, with America. But why | :29:19. | :29:25. | |
does the American trade representative say to us you would | :29:26. | :29:29. | |
be crazy to leave Europe. Why do our allies around the world say you | :29:30. | :29:35. | |
should be part of Europe? You say we won't be part of any further | :29:36. | :29:40. | |
political integration, you say we won't join the euro, we won't be | :29:41. | :29:44. | |
part of Schengen, and yet it is clear Europe will become at least | :29:45. | :29:48. | |
within the eurozone more and more integrated. We will have less | :29:49. | :29:51. | |
influence on that, we will essentially become a semi detached | :29:52. | :29:58. | |
country club. What is the point? The point is a growing market for | :29:59. | :30:03. | |
British businesses of 500 million people, and yes, this is the point | :30:04. | :30:06. | |
about the best of both worlds, we don't want ever closer political | :30:07. | :30:12. | |
union. We want access to the single market. The best of both worlds, | :30:13. | :30:16. | |
safer, stronger and better off in Europe. | :30:17. | :30:19. | |
Now, this week President Obama will make his valedictory | :30:20. | :30:21. | |
He'll even have lunch with the Queen to celebrate her ninetieth birthday, | :30:22. | :30:25. | |
presumably after she's watched the Daily Politics. | :30:26. | :30:31. | |
But it's another aspect of Mr Obama's visit | :30:32. | :30:35. | |
While he's here, the leader of the free world is expected | :30:36. | :30:39. | |
to endorse the idea of the UK remaining in the | :30:40. | :30:41. | |
Those campaigning to leave the EU are, | :30:42. | :30:44. | |
surprise, surprise, a | :30:45. | :30:45. | |
Here's what Boris Johnson had to say yesterday. | :30:46. | :30:47. | |
I just find it absolutely bizarre that we are being lectured | :30:48. | :30:50. | |
by the Americans about giving up our sovereignty, | :30:51. | :30:52. | |
The United States, for their own reasons, their own history, | :30:53. | :30:58. | |
traditions, based on the ideas of no taxation without representation, | :30:59. | :31:03. | |
a fervent belief in the inviolability of American democracy, | :31:04. | :31:06. | |
they would not dream of sharing sovereignty. | :31:07. | :31:07. | |
Is he in danger of making America look like a hypocrite? | :31:08. | :31:14. | |
Not in danger of it, I am afraid there is an intrinsic hypocrisy. | :31:15. | :31:19. | |
I do not know what he's going to say, but if that is | :31:20. | :31:24. | |
the American argument, of course it is nakedly hypocritical. | :31:25. | :31:31. | |
To discuss this I'm joined by James Rubin. | :31:32. | :31:33. | |
He was a spokesman in the US State Department during Bill | :31:34. | :31:39. | |
And Liam Fox, former Defence Secretary, and a leading | :31:40. | :31:42. | |
light in the campaign to leave the EU. | :31:43. | :31:44. | |
Why should the leader of her closest allies, with whom we have a special | :31:45. | :31:51. | |
relationship, on your regard as crucial to this country, not say | :31:52. | :31:55. | |
what he thinks is in our national interest? He is entitled to say what | :31:56. | :32:00. | |
he thinks is an America's national interest, but whether it is in the | :32:01. | :32:05. | |
interests of Britain is a different question. Of course the president is | :32:06. | :32:08. | |
entitled to say what he thinks, but we have to add a couple of caveats. | :32:09. | :32:14. | |
That is his view. There are other views in America, Senator Rubio for | :32:15. | :32:19. | |
example expressing a different view, he has expressed what he thinks | :32:20. | :32:22. | |
about the special relationship if Britain were to leave the European | :32:23. | :32:30. | |
Union. Tell me one previous American administration, Democratic or | :32:31. | :32:32. | |
Republican, that thought we should not be in the EU, or did not care if | :32:33. | :32:38. | |
we left? It is not a question of what the express, it is that they | :32:39. | :32:42. | |
should respect what Britain does. They all want us to stay? There were | :32:43. | :32:47. | |
strong elements of the last Republican administration, strong | :32:48. | :32:51. | |
Republican leaders at present, who do not think... I do not remember | :32:52. | :32:55. | |
the second President Bush saying that Britain should leave the EU. | :32:56. | :33:01. | |
The debate is now, about our future, our relationship with the rest of | :33:02. | :33:06. | |
the world. It is fair to say, though I might not use the same | :33:07. | :33:08. | |
terminology, it is unthinkable that I might not use the same | :33:09. | :33:12. | |
the United States would allow a court to overrule the Supreme Court | :33:13. | :33:14. | |
the United States would allow a or someone else to determine their | :33:15. | :33:18. | |
external borders, in a way that the European Union does for the United | :33:19. | :33:22. | |
Kingdom. Boris Johnson has made that point. President Obama, supporting | :33:23. | :33:28. | |
things for Britain, things that no European -- that no American | :33:29. | :33:31. | |
president would contemplate. Maybe we would be more inclined to listen | :33:32. | :33:37. | |
to the president if he favoured an open border with Mexico, and if | :33:38. | :33:40. | |
Congress was no longer the ultimate decider of federal law? Let me see a | :33:41. | :33:46. | |
couple of things. I am glad that my colleague agrees that the president | :33:47. | :33:49. | |
is attacked -- entitled to express his view of what is in the | :33:50. | :33:53. | |
President's interest. -- America's interest. America and the EU | :33:54. | :34:01. | |
together, they are the most powerful force for free markets and democracy | :34:02. | :34:05. | |
around the world. If Britain leads the European Union, we will be | :34:06. | :34:10. | |
weaker. We will might be able to pursue the great values that our | :34:11. | :34:12. | |
countries have pushed around the world. Written working with the | :34:13. | :34:17. | |
United States and the EU is able to do that. We have a joke in America, | :34:18. | :34:23. | |
but it is a serious matter. Friends do not let friends drive drunk. This | :34:24. | :34:26. | |
is not in our interest, or the interests of the world. What about | :34:27. | :34:31. | |
our interest? You will make that judgment. Is the president simply | :34:32. | :34:35. | |
going to say it is in the interests of America? I think he will avoid | :34:36. | :34:41. | |
telling Britain what is in Britain's interest. About the point on | :34:42. | :34:46. | |
hypocrisy, I know Boris Johnson likes to read biographies of the | :34:47. | :34:50. | |
past. Maybe he is living in the past when he thinks that America is a | :34:51. | :34:56. | |
very large country, a superpower, it has the world's largest military. It | :34:57. | :35:01. | |
does not have to do only what you choose is compared to the British. | :35:02. | :35:07. | |
Britain is a different country, not the superpower any more. Just | :35:08. | :35:09. | |
because we will not do something does not mean that the British | :35:10. | :35:14. | |
ignored. If the US president was coming here to support Leave, you | :35:15. | :35:17. | |
would be shouting it from the rooftops? I do not think we will | :35:18. | :35:22. | |
find out if that is true or not. There is an element of hypocrisy. We | :35:23. | :35:27. | |
need to get the balance. We need to stick to the issues. We recognise | :35:28. | :35:32. | |
the president is alleged to have his view, but it is not the only | :35:33. | :35:37. | |
American view of what is in America's interests. We have to | :35:38. | :35:41. | |
recognise it is a British debate ultimately. We will make our | :35:42. | :35:45. | |
decision. As to this point about pushing our values, Britain had the | :35:46. | :35:48. | |
same values before we joined the European Union in 1973. The fact we | :35:49. | :35:54. | |
will be changing our philosophical approach because we are part of the | :35:55. | :35:59. | |
group in union is not true. I mean that the EU is a very powerful | :36:00. | :36:03. | |
instrument in our world. The United States has great military power, but | :36:04. | :36:07. | |
there are other powers we need to achieve order and stability, and | :36:08. | :36:12. | |
promote free markets. We need the ability to promote sanctions and | :36:13. | :36:17. | |
provide aid. We need the ability to promote democracy. The EU is good at | :36:18. | :36:22. | |
that working with the United States. We are better able to do that when | :36:23. | :36:26. | |
our closest ally is within the EU. Let him come back on that. We think | :36:27. | :36:30. | |
our closest ally is within the EU. that the European Union is failing | :36:31. | :36:33. | |
and that the structural failures of the European Union are not good for | :36:34. | :36:39. | |
the West. We are seeing the re-emergence of nationalist tensions | :36:40. | :36:42. | |
across Europe. We are seeing fence building. That is not the fault of | :36:43. | :36:44. | |
the EU. It is a failure of the EU. building. That is not the fault of | :36:45. | :36:50. | |
We are seeing a whole generation of young Europeans unemployed as a | :36:51. | :36:53. | |
result of the single currency. It is creating tensions. You did not have | :36:54. | :36:58. | |
a problem with foreigners weighing in during the Scottish referendum. | :36:59. | :37:03. | |
You told the Scandinavian countries, if your analysis is that Scottish | :37:04. | :37:09. | |
independence is a threat to your security, why are you not standing | :37:10. | :37:12. | |
up and saying it? President Obama probably thinks it is a threat to | :37:13. | :37:16. | |
allow security, so why should they not see that? I thought it was a | :37:17. | :37:22. | |
risk to the security of Britain in the Scottish referendum if we left | :37:23. | :37:27. | |
Natal. If Britain pulls out of the EU, the Scottish will pull out of | :37:28. | :37:31. | |
Britain and there will be a hold-mac in Natal. I do not believe that to | :37:32. | :37:35. | |
be true. When were you last in Scotland? I was recently there and I | :37:36. | :37:41. | |
sat with the Scottish party leader. They have been clear that if the EU | :37:42. | :37:47. | |
does not include Britain, the Scottish want to lead. Interest is | :37:48. | :37:51. | |
one thing, having an opinion about what the SNP will do is different. | :37:52. | :37:56. | |
THEY ALL SPEAK AT ONCE What about Senator Cruise, he is | :37:57. | :38:00. | |
fighting for the Republican nomination with Donald Trump. He | :38:01. | :38:03. | |
said that Mr Obama's comments will make it more likely that England, he | :38:04. | :38:09. | |
means Britain, that England will pull out of the EU? I do not think | :38:10. | :38:13. | |
it will have a massive impact either way in terms of the British result. | :38:14. | :38:18. | |
I think it is important for us to recognise that this is a decision | :38:19. | :38:22. | |
for the United Kingdom. I do not agree with this assessment that the | :38:23. | :38:26. | |
European Union in its current model is good for the United States. It is | :38:27. | :38:30. | |
unstable. Now you're giving an opinion for us. You just asked me | :38:31. | :38:37. | |
not to do that. The United States and Britain working together have | :38:38. | :38:41. | |
made the world a better place for democracy, for a free market. We are | :38:42. | :38:45. | |
only able to do that successfully when our closest ally is part of the | :38:46. | :38:51. | |
EU. American foreign policy will be weaker, Western foreign policy will | :38:52. | :38:54. | |
be weaker if the British leave the EU. We look forward to the | :38:55. | :38:59. | |
President's visit, whatever he has to say. Thank you. | :39:00. | :39:01. | |
It's just gone 11:35, you're watching the Sunday Politics. | :39:02. | :39:03. | |
We say goodbye to viewers in Scotland who leave us now | :39:04. | :39:10. | |
Good morning and welcome to Sunday Politics Scotland. | :39:11. | :39:12. | |
Willie Rennie's been hard at work on the campaign trail and says | :39:13. | :39:18. | |
the Lib Dems are back to their best - but will voters agree? | :39:19. | :39:22. | |
And Ruth Davidson says she's going into this election battle | :39:23. | :39:24. | |
with a second-place finish for the Scottish Conservatives | :39:25. | :39:26. | |
The Liberal Democrats have been out of Government | :39:27. | :39:35. | |
A year in which the party's been trying to reassert | :39:36. | :39:39. | |
its individual identity - and gain back some | :39:40. | :39:41. | |
As May 5th approaches, the Scottish party leader | :39:42. | :39:45. | |
Willie Rennie says the Lib Dems' optimistic, uplifting approach | :39:46. | :39:48. | |
will help the party grow again at this election. | :39:49. | :39:51. | |
Huw Williams has been considering their chances. | :39:52. | :39:58. | |
The Scottish Liberal Democrats say this is the election at which they | :39:59. | :40:04. | |
get back to winning ways. The last five years has seen the parties | :40:05. | :40:10. | |
electrophoretic to in on the slide. Down to five members-macro at | :40:11. | :40:14. | |
Holyrood and one mile per hour Westminster. The leader was born in | :40:15. | :40:21. | |
Fife and is a keen runner. In past years worked for party headquarters | :40:22. | :40:27. | |
and as a PR assistant. Key campaign themes will include an emphasis on | :40:28. | :40:31. | |
civil Liberties, mental health and social care, and drug policy. But | :40:32. | :40:35. | |
still the dens are highlighting their plans to put the Scottish rate | :40:36. | :40:45. | |
of income tax up by 1p. The Liberal Democrats have gone back to the idea | :40:46. | :40:49. | |
of putting a penny on income tax to spend more on schools and colleges | :40:50. | :40:54. | |
of including children from less well-off backgrounds. That seems | :40:55. | :40:59. | |
like a popular idea. You might think that having been in | :41:00. | :41:04. | |
college and UK Government would be good for the Liberal Democrat's | :41:05. | :41:08. | |
credibility. But then again maybe not. The difficulty the Liberal | :41:09. | :41:14. | |
Democrats have is that the millstone of the coalition with the | :41:15. | :41:21. | |
Conservatives and above all the U-turn on student tuition fees is | :41:22. | :41:25. | |
something they have still not persuaded people to forgive them | :41:26. | :41:29. | |
for. The truth is until people are willing to forget that it is | :41:30. | :41:32. | |
difficult for the Liberal Democrats to get much of a hearing. | :41:33. | :41:38. | |
Willie Rennie said if the party tax rise plans, if nobody supported that | :41:39. | :41:43. | |
I would still advocate it. Opponents except that is believed that as the | :41:44. | :41:46. | |
idea of an election that you try to win? | :41:47. | :41:49. | |
In your manifesto you said the Liberal Democrats are looking for | :41:50. | :42:00. | |
the opportunity to ask people to pay a little more so that we are outward | :42:01. | :42:04. | |
looking and ambitious for the country. That has been missing in | :42:05. | :42:08. | |
recent years and we're back to its now. What been missing? That | :42:09. | :42:14. | |
ambitious agenda for the country. That looking out to grow. Do you | :42:15. | :42:20. | |
think the Liberal Democrats did not have that whenever in the coalition? | :42:21. | :42:24. | |
We were tarnished during the coalition years. There is no doubt | :42:25. | :42:29. | |
about that. Now we can be more positive and uplifting and people | :42:30. | :42:32. | |
are coming back to us as a result. Are you saying they were not | :42:33. | :42:37. | |
ambitious during the coalition? They were ambitious but what we were | :42:38. | :42:40. | |
tarnished by was that coalition needed. As a result the results in | :42:41. | :42:44. | |
subsequent years were more challenging. But now what we have | :42:45. | :42:50. | |
with this progressive agenda on tax, guaranteed Civil Liberties, | :42:51. | :42:53. | |
protecting the environment, meeting should be boost mental health | :42:54. | :42:55. | |
services... The problem you have got should be boost mental health | :42:56. | :43:02. | |
is this millstone around your neck. People will say, we do not like the | :43:03. | :43:05. | |
Liberal Democrats, they were in coalition with the Tories, and | :43:06. | :43:09. | |
particularly people say you cannot trust what people say. They lied | :43:10. | :43:13. | |
electrician fees. They give personal guarantees as candidates that they | :43:14. | :43:16. | |
would not put up tuition fees and then they did. That is what you need | :43:17. | :43:21. | |
to get over. Does not see much saying that you are getting it. What | :43:22. | :43:27. | |
you will say is that Liberal Democrats are not going to make that | :43:28. | :43:31. | |
mistake again. There is no doubt we heard the message loud and clear. | :43:32. | :43:36. | |
What people thought about the coalition, what people thought about | :43:37. | :43:39. | |
the tuition fees mistake, we understood what people were saying. | :43:40. | :43:43. | |
There is no doubt, we are never put to make that mistake again. We are | :43:44. | :43:47. | |
getting that across in this election. We have got an agenda now | :43:48. | :43:52. | |
that is positive and uplifting. When I was an hour yesterday, not | :43:53. | :43:55. | |
particularly a Liberal Democrat heartland, people were stopping me | :43:56. | :43:59. | |
in the street telling me that because of that positive uplifting | :44:00. | :44:02. | |
agenda they are going to vote for us for the first time. People still do | :44:03. | :44:12. | |
not trust you. People are coming to us because of that agenda. Would you | :44:13. | :44:16. | |
feel more or less comparable fighting the Scottish election | :44:17. | :44:20. | |
campaign if the Liberal Democrats were still in coalition with the | :44:21. | :44:25. | |
Conservatives at Westminster? You see for yourself the consequences of | :44:26. | :44:29. | |
the Conservatives running the Government by themselves. Everybody | :44:30. | :44:35. | |
sees the big cats. Are you more or less comfortable rest I am positive | :44:36. | :44:43. | |
with an uplifting campaign. I am a Liberal Democrat. I would rather the | :44:44. | :44:46. | |
Liberal Democrats were in charge by ourselves because we have seen what | :44:47. | :44:48. | |
this out when the Tories overcharged by themselves. You say you want to | :44:49. | :44:53. | |
use the new powers for gender equality in Scottish elections. In a | :44:54. | :45:02. | |
PR system, it is not just about candidates, it is about the chances | :45:03. | :45:04. | |
of getting elected. Many candidates, it is about the chances | :45:05. | :45:08. | |
would say that apart from a handful of constituencies that is the best | :45:09. | :45:14. | |
chance, in the regional list. But in the regional list you need | :45:15. | :45:19. | |
candidates in sex or even seven of the each regions are all men. Are | :45:20. | :45:29. | |
you comfortable with that. -- and six or seven of each region. The | :45:30. | :45:37. | |
plan is to have balance across parliamentary representation. It is | :45:38. | :45:40. | |
a weakness there. That is why I took firm action to come up with plans. | :45:41. | :45:46. | |
Seven out of eight lead candidates are men. I recognise what you are | :45:47. | :45:52. | |
saying that is why I took firm action. I know you recognise what I | :45:53. | :45:58. | |
am saying. You do not want this to happen again? I have done something | :45:59. | :46:05. | |
about it. What I want to have as equal representation in the | :46:06. | :46:11. | |
Parliament and to make sure that we are progressive and represent the | :46:12. | :46:13. | |
people we seek to represent. This will be the last time that seven out | :46:14. | :46:17. | |
of eight are men? You have seen the plans. 2019, 2020, we will have | :46:18. | :46:26. | |
gender balance. You say you are not interested in going into coalition | :46:27. | :46:31. | |
after the selection should the SNP failed to win an outright majority. | :46:32. | :46:37. | |
Unless that is one of your goals what is the point in voting Liberal | :46:38. | :46:42. | |
Democrat, even if you are Liberal Democrat? The real value is, what | :46:43. | :46:47. | |
you have seen in the last five years in Holyrood when we have punched | :46:48. | :46:50. | |
above our weight. That was not for us who would have the SNP? Why do | :46:51. | :46:56. | |
not want to go into coalition. You could have a big impact without | :46:57. | :47:03. | |
forming a coalition. You have just finished telling me how valuable it | :47:04. | :47:06. | |
was to have the Liberal Democrats in coalition with the Conservatives. | :47:07. | :47:10. | |
For the speedy is what I want to do is accept the maximum pressure on | :47:11. | :47:15. | |
the next Parliament to make sure that liberal values at the heart of | :47:16. | :47:20. | |
Parliament. In the last five years a big challenge on the police, | :47:21. | :47:24. | |
guaranteeing civil liberties, the super ID database, guaranteed | :47:25. | :47:35. | |
expansion of nursery education. I am not interested in coalitions. Your | :47:36. | :47:42. | |
penny on tax to spend on education will raise about ?500 million per | :47:43. | :47:55. | |
year. ?170 million goes to the people premium. That goes direct to | :47:56. | :48:00. | |
schools. It does not go through local authorities. This goes direct | :48:01. | :48:04. | |
to schools. The mechanism makes sure that people from disadvantaged | :48:05. | :48:06. | |
backgrounds get extra support that people from disadvantaged | :48:07. | :48:11. | |
tuition, homework support. That is given to headteachers. Yes. What | :48:12. | :48:14. | |
about the rest of the money? Does that go through local authorities? | :48:15. | :48:21. | |
70 or ?80 million will go through local authorities. College funding | :48:22. | :48:25. | |
is ?108 million. Nursery education is 100 million. How much it goes | :48:26. | :48:30. | |
through local authorities in total? The exact mechanism will be partly | :48:31. | :48:35. | |
tied in entitlement to nursery education people premium. You will | :48:36. | :48:39. | |
ring fence that money. You're not education people premium. You will | :48:40. | :48:43. | |
just give it to local authorities. It is an entitlement. The money will | :48:44. | :48:47. | |
be guaranteed to go into that area. Every penny you get a local | :48:48. | :48:51. | |
authorities to spend on education there will be a legal requirement to | :48:52. | :48:55. | |
spend it on education. There is a pot of about 70 million or ?80 | :48:56. | :49:00. | |
million which will go to local authorities to reverse the education | :49:01. | :49:06. | |
cuts. Half of what local authorities do is education. I know what you are | :49:07. | :49:15. | |
driving at. The vast bulk... What I am driving at this why should people | :49:16. | :49:19. | |
want to have their taxes go up for money that may or may not be spent | :49:20. | :49:27. | |
on education? ?190 million per year for a pupil premium, the Scottish | :49:28. | :49:33. | |
Ajit is ?30 billion. Are you saying you cannot find money for that | :49:34. | :49:38. | |
without putting up tax? ?500 million will go directly into education | :49:39. | :49:43. | |
funding in Scotland. That is a big investment. People will know what | :49:44. | :49:45. | |
they are getting for that investment. We have got an urgent | :49:46. | :49:54. | |
situation. New Government in the UK implemented the pupil premium. We | :49:55. | :49:58. | |
did not pay taxes up. You have asked me this question before. The | :49:59. | :50:02. | |
situation in Scotland is so urgent. Used up one of the best education | :50:03. | :50:07. | |
systems in the world. We spend more money on education per capita than a | :50:08. | :50:10. | |
month does. We used to have the best education system in the world. We | :50:11. | :50:16. | |
cannot wait on the SNP anymore. They have been sitting to mentally for | :50:17. | :50:20. | |
nine years in Government whilst the education system has slipped down to | :50:21. | :50:32. | |
average. I want... Children cannot wait for the SNP anymore. If we | :50:33. | :50:36. | |
carry on the path that the SNP are pursuing they will be waiting. The | :50:37. | :50:45. | |
SNP are reducing national testing which will be one way that we could | :50:46. | :50:49. | |
no it is spending this money could have any effect. You are a case | :50:50. | :50:54. | |
that? Of course, because it disrupts the relationship between the pupil | :50:55. | :51:02. | |
and teacher. Prior to the question? Wait back a phrase you use, | :51:03. | :51:08. | |
according to you, with the peg, do not fatten the pack. What this | :51:09. | :51:14. | |
disrupted the relationship between pupil teacher and that is critically | :51:15. | :51:19. | |
important. The second thing it does is it undermines the curriculum for | :51:20. | :51:22. | |
important. The second thing it does excellence, which is supposed to be | :51:23. | :51:23. | |
important. The second thing it does put power back into the hands of | :51:24. | :51:27. | |
teachers. What testing does is strives teaching to the test, it | :51:28. | :51:31. | |
also makes sure that resources go into areas that are being tested, | :51:32. | :51:35. | |
rather than the areas that improve all-round education. What I am | :51:36. | :51:42. | |
getting at is how under your prog -- how do your policies would we know | :51:43. | :51:45. | |
if you extra spending has had any effect? You have the inspection | :51:46. | :51:52. | |
regime that is there, that tests how schools are performing. They go in | :51:53. | :51:53. | |
and investigate schools to see the schools are performing. They go in | :51:54. | :51:59. | |
property of investigation. We would have fewer failing schools, is | :52:00. | :52:00. | |
property of investigation. We would what you're saying? Make sure the | :52:01. | :52:07. | |
fundamentals of education are right by having proper investigations and | :52:08. | :52:09. | |
put power back in the hands of teachers. If you can do that and | :52:10. | :52:12. | |
allow them to teach pupils in the way they were trained to then I | :52:13. | :52:17. | |
think we will get an improvement in our education system. You can | :52:18. | :52:19. | |
think we will get an improvement in understand how some people watching | :52:20. | :52:22. | |
this thing hang on, we're being asked for our taxes to go for money | :52:23. | :52:26. | |
that may or may not be spent on education and they are against the | :52:27. | :52:30. | |
measure is the SNP are proposing, which would enable us to tell | :52:31. | :52:33. | |
whether the spending is having any effect not. I disagree with that | :52:34. | :52:38. | |
completely, what we are seeing here is the SNP ripping right into the | :52:39. | :52:42. | |
heart of the week education works in Scotland, we need to trust the | :52:43. | :52:46. | |
teacher to do their job. We need to make sure they have the B sources to | :52:47. | :52:51. | |
do their job. That way we can have an improvement in our education | :52:52. | :52:55. | |
system. Of course you can review how education is performing, we have the | :52:56. | :53:00. | |
OECD conduct their own studies as that is showing that education in | :53:01. | :53:03. | |
Scotland has gone from one of the best to just average. That is not | :53:04. | :53:09. | |
good enough. Policing is one of your biggest issues, why are you not | :53:10. | :53:13. | |
proposing to break up the national police force and put it under the | :53:14. | :53:16. | |
control of local authorities? I do not think it would be a good idea to | :53:17. | :53:22. | |
impose another top-down... But you have been one of the biggest critics | :53:23. | :53:27. | |
of this. And we were right. Look at what has happened. Industrial skill | :53:28. | :53:31. | |
of this. And we were right. Look at stop at steps, there have been some | :53:32. | :53:35. | |
terrible things happening to the police. -- industrial scale stop and | :53:36. | :53:40. | |
search. In other mass of your organisation would be the wrong | :53:41. | :53:46. | |
thing to do. If they had listened to us in the first place he would not | :53:47. | :53:49. | |
have gone through this pain and agony. We are going to allow them to | :53:50. | :53:54. | |
do their job. Apart from seeing local policing plans should be | :53:55. | :53:59. | |
agreed by local people, none of your proposals in policing seem to do | :54:00. | :54:04. | |
very much to restore... That is nonsense. What we want to do is spit | :54:05. | :54:08. | |
out the target culture in the police, if you speak to the Police | :54:09. | :54:11. | |
Federation they would agree wholeheartedly with what I'm saying. | :54:12. | :54:15. | |
The second thing we would do is make sure -- we would allow local | :54:16. | :54:18. | |
authorities to agree policing plans to inject democracy back in. | :54:19. | :54:23. | |
Effectively local authorities would have a veto in policing policy and | :54:24. | :54:28. | |
local authority areas. That would inject democracy back in and return | :54:29. | :54:32. | |
Scottish policing to where it was before the SNP started meddling with | :54:33. | :54:36. | |
that. Why argue reluctant to impose the named person legislation? We | :54:37. | :54:44. | |
gave cautious support initially. A lot of people are opposed. Let me | :54:45. | :54:49. | |
answer the question, you are very good at the drop in, let me answer | :54:50. | :54:52. | |
the question. We need to make sure it is reviewed properly. Primarily | :54:53. | :54:59. | |
because it came from a bottom-up exercise and a pilot conducted in | :55:00. | :55:03. | |
Highland in Edinburgh, that made sure that there was nobody going to | :55:04. | :55:06. | |
slip through the net. I recognise that there are considerable concerns | :55:07. | :55:11. | |
from parents and others, that is why I want to review it, to make sure | :55:12. | :55:16. | |
that local authorities do not overreach, they do not do more than | :55:17. | :55:19. | |
they are entitled to do and if they do then we will recommend pulling | :55:20. | :55:24. | |
back but I think it is right to make sure that we try and progress this | :55:25. | :55:28. | |
and review it. But you are not against it in principle, a lot of | :55:29. | :55:31. | |
the opponents of this and say the are engaged in principle, the idea | :55:32. | :55:36. | |
of having a named person. I am not against it in principle, I want to | :55:37. | :55:39. | |
review it carefully to insure it discipline to properly. Drugs, you | :55:40. | :55:47. | |
see a new manifesto that the Liberal Democrats in favour of legalising | :55:48. | :55:53. | |
cannabis, why not do it here? We propose a sense that I was a system | :55:54. | :55:59. | |
like Portugal that has decriminalisation and ensure that | :56:00. | :56:04. | |
rehabilitation is essential part. This will push the powers that the | :56:05. | :56:07. | |
Scottish probe that has rights to the edge but we believe this is the | :56:08. | :56:10. | |
enlightened way to do it to tackle the real problem we have in Scotland | :56:11. | :56:15. | |
of drugs. We must finish there. Your plans and resolution for the | :56:16. | :56:19. | |
campaign, puppies, but it -- bunny rabbits, pigs are out, right? Maybe! | :56:20. | :56:23. | |
A14 thank you very much. The Scottish Conservatives have big | :56:24. | :56:25. | |
ambitions for this election. They want to overtake Labour and | :56:26. | :56:28. | |
become the biggest opposition party. There's been some sneering | :56:29. | :56:31. | |
that the Tory leader Ruth Davidson is not even claiming she's | :56:32. | :56:33. | |
going to win. But there's no doubt coming | :56:34. | :56:35. | |
second would be a huge But have they really any | :56:36. | :56:37. | |
chance of doing that? The Scottish Conservatives under | :56:38. | :56:48. | |
Ruth Davidson's leadership claim that in this election they really | :56:49. | :56:53. | |
are snapping at Labour's heels to take second place behind the SNP. | :56:54. | :56:59. | |
She was born in Edinburgh, worked as a newspaper reporter then at BBC | :57:00. | :57:03. | |
Scotland, she left the BBC to study at Glasgow University and joined the | :57:04. | :57:07. | |
Conservative Party. She is a member of the Church of Scotland, a kick | :57:08. | :57:11. | |
boxer, a Dunfermline athletic supporter and has been promised a | :57:12. | :57:14. | |
new puppy by her partner once the campaign is over. The parties try to | :57:15. | :57:20. | |
position itself as the go to option for no voters after the dependence | :57:21. | :57:23. | |
referendum and tested against the idea of tax rises as Holyrood has | :57:24. | :57:30. | |
power over rates. The Conservatives seem to be playing a popular tune on | :57:31. | :57:36. | |
key issues north of the border, one undoubtedly is tied to keep taxation | :57:37. | :57:39. | |
the same as England, half of Scots like that idea and have strong | :57:40. | :57:43. | |
commitment to increasing spending on the health service. That is | :57:44. | :57:46. | |
something that most Scots would like to see happen. | :57:47. | :57:51. | |
But the Conservatives face a long-standing difficulty if they | :57:52. | :57:53. | |
want to generate mass support in Scotland again. The problem the | :57:54. | :57:58. | |
Conservatives face is the one they have faced ever since the late 90s | :57:59. | :58:01. | |
and that is that people are still not convinced that this is a party | :58:02. | :58:05. | |
that puts Scotland first as opposed to Britain as a whole. Despite the | :58:06. | :58:09. | |
fact that the new devolution settlement that Scotland will enjoy | :58:10. | :58:13. | |
was written by a Conservative UK Government, it is still plagued by | :58:14. | :58:17. | |
the perception that it is an English party that originally wanted to deny | :58:18. | :58:21. | |
Scotland's devolution. Despite talk of a party on the up the reality | :58:22. | :58:28. | |
remains that in last year's Westminster general election | :58:29. | :58:30. | |
Scottish Conservatives took the lowest share of the vote for a | :58:31. | :58:31. | |
century and a half. Your big pictures -- your big | :58:32. | :58:48. | |
picture for you is to stop independence? I would love to be | :58:49. | :58:52. | |
First Minister tomorrow but what we need here is a strong opposition to | :58:53. | :58:54. | |
the Scottish Government because we have not had won the last nine | :58:55. | :58:59. | |
years. I was going to ask you, have you written of people who voted yes? | :59:00. | :59:06. | |
Now, but we must start, the SNP want to start a campaign to reopen this | :59:07. | :59:10. | |
in the summer but we must plan for the long-term. What would you say to | :59:11. | :59:14. | |
someone who voted yes? I to listen to them and reassure them that the | :59:15. | :59:17. | |
someone who voted yes? I to listen ambitions we have for our country | :59:18. | :59:22. | |
can exist within the newly re-empower Scottish parliament and | :59:23. | :59:23. | |
can exist within the newly in order for our country to come | :59:24. | :59:26. | |
back together we need to do less shouting and more listening. Problem | :59:27. | :59:32. | |
you have as you know is that many people say that Ruth Davidson is | :59:33. | :59:35. | |
really nice but many people like Annabell Goldie as well. There is | :59:36. | :59:40. | |
this resistance in Scotland, isn't there, people think I can actually | :59:41. | :59:43. | |
say that I cannot bring myself to vote Conservative. You still have | :59:44. | :59:50. | |
the image of the nasty party. What we are seeing is there is a really | :59:51. | :59:53. | |
specific job I will do for you if you vote for us. This does not make | :59:54. | :59:58. | |
you a trolley or died in the wool trueblue but what people see as we | :59:59. | :00:02. | |
can do you a job because this country needs a strong opposition. | :00:03. | :00:05. | |
We have passed some bad laws in the last nine years, we have nine years, | :00:06. | :00:10. | |
six leaders had no success for a Labour Party in opposition. That | :00:11. | :00:14. | |
Scottish sense of fair play kicks in, give someone else a try. I will | :00:15. | :00:20. | |
hold the SNP to account and say no to a second referendum. U just ask a | :00:21. | :00:28. | |
few questions. To test this image problem the Conservatives have had. | :00:29. | :00:32. | |
Nicola Sturgeon has proposed a register of controlling interests | :00:33. | :00:35. | |
which in the wake of the Panama papers affair would allow us to know | :00:36. | :00:40. | |
who owns land in Scotland. Would the Conservative support that? We always | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
said by the land reform was coming through that we want a register of | :00:45. | :00:47. | |
who owns the land in Scotland. What we did not support was absolute | :00:48. | :00:51. | |
right to buy which stops the entrants coming in. Do you think we | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
should know who the beneficial owners are of all land in Scotland? | :00:56. | :00:59. | |
That is why we supported the land Registry just a few weeks ago. What | :01:00. | :01:05. | |
a new manifesto would cut the number of people relying on food banks? | :01:06. | :01:11. | |
Getting more people into jobs. That is a bit like the old Monty Python | :01:12. | :01:13. | |
Getting more people into jobs. That joke about blue Peter, isn't it? Did | :01:14. | :01:19. | |
lots of trenches and film absorb water. Of course growing the economy | :01:20. | :01:25. | |
would help people not going to fit bikes but there is nothing | :01:26. | :01:27. | |
mentioning new manifesto and that is bikes but there is nothing | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
not a specific proposal. If you look at the SNP government's own, every | :01:32. | :01:36. | |
year they must publish a big paper on poverty in this country that | :01:37. | :01:40. | |
shows that poverty levels are down, income is up, there are fewer people | :01:41. | :01:43. | |
in poverty in Scotland that there has been, few people in child | :01:44. | :01:48. | |
poverty and that this is specifically because even the | :01:49. | :01:50. | |
Scottish Government acknowledges this, more people in Scotland are in | :01:51. | :01:53. | |
employment and more people have more hours of deployment than previously. | :01:54. | :01:58. | |
Many people will say what world is she living in when we have had a | :01:59. | :02:01. | |
report from the Castle trust seeing the number of people visiting fit | :02:02. | :02:05. | |
bikes in Scotland is up by 30% at the rate of increase in Scotland is | :02:06. | :02:09. | |
higher than the rate of increase in the rest of the UK. You have not | :02:10. | :02:14. | |
told me anything specifically about food banks. F I was quoting my own | :02:15. | :02:21. | |
figures they would be right to say that, but I am quoting the figures | :02:22. | :02:25. | |
from the Scottish Government. Your specific proposals were not to | :02:26. | :02:29. | |
anything about food banks apart from creating jobs. We want to cut the | :02:30. | :02:32. | |
appointed by for disabled people, we want to use our powers to insure we | :02:33. | :02:37. | |
have a dedicated appointed agency, we want to grow the Scottish | :02:38. | :02:40. | |
economy, freeze business rates to allow people to hire more people and | :02:41. | :02:45. | |
create more skills for people leaving education that do not find a | :02:46. | :02:49. | |
place in college. We want to increase the number of | :02:50. | :02:52. | |
apprenticeships. If I were a young man or woman... This is more people, | :02:53. | :02:58. | |
very specific policies. If I were a young man or woman who has perhaps | :02:59. | :03:02. | |
had relationship problems and mental health problems, lost her job, I | :03:03. | :03:05. | |
have been sanctioned for some reason or other by the DWP, been refused an | :03:06. | :03:10. | |
emergency loan and I were watching this before visiting the feedback I | :03:11. | :03:14. | |
would think, well that is just waffle. There's nothing there that | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
specifically addresses by problem. If you want specific segment that | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
worked choice, and it which exists to help people who have either | :03:24. | :03:25. | |
mental or physical disabilities get into the workplace. It is | :03:26. | :03:30. | |
voluntarily, it is for people who want to have obscurely, extra | :03:31. | :03:34. | |
skills, he was confidence and help in terms of application. 5000 | :03:35. | :03:38. | |
people, the furthest from the jobs market, have gone into that. Down | :03:39. | :03:42. | |
south there is a movement to combine up with other employment agencies, | :03:43. | :03:45. | |
we say that under the new powers in up with other employment agencies, | :03:46. | :03:48. | |
Scotland will have that is something we will keep going. We will have a | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
specific pledge in our manifesto to have an increased by ?300 million | :03:54. | :03:56. | |
over the course of Parliament to help fund it. You said specifically | :03:57. | :04:00. | |
for people of mental health issues and that is one that will help | :04:01. | :04:05. | |
address that. David Cameron's Panama papers adventures, that presumably | :04:06. | :04:08. | |
has not been very helpful to you try to run a campaign to convince people | :04:09. | :04:12. | |
that the Conservatives have a different image. The people of | :04:13. | :04:16. | |
Scotland aren't daft, they know what this election is about, it will be | :04:17. | :04:20. | |
your First Minister that he will be the Leader of the Opposition. I can | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
do a good job for people as the Leader of the Opposition. I have put | :04:25. | :04:31. | |
my own tax affairs out there. There's nothing to hide there. It | :04:32. | :04:34. | |
was on the Internet for all to see. Are you saying I am not like David | :04:35. | :04:40. | |
Cameron at all? And seeing how the press the ballot paper, I'm the | :04:41. | :04:44. | |
person voting for. Do you think he did make a mistake in not being more | :04:45. | :04:49. | |
open about what he... He has put more information in the public realm | :04:50. | :04:51. | |
in any previous Prime Minister. Do more information in the public realm | :04:52. | :04:55. | |
think it would have been better if he did it all at the beginning | :04:56. | :05:00. | |
rather than over a couple days? In retrospect, yes. Your tax commission | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
recommended a 30p rate of tax. What happened to that? We looked at it | :05:06. | :05:10. | |
and how much it would cost of the also looked at ways in which we can | :05:11. | :05:13. | |
call the Scottish economy and we have a real philosophical belief and | :05:14. | :05:16. | |
it is backed up by today's polling that 60% of people across goal and | :05:17. | :05:20. | |
believe us, that we should not have tax rates higher in Scotland than | :05:21. | :05:23. | |
the rest of the UK, so we're seeing things like the vessel to change for | :05:24. | :05:27. | |
the additional rate of tax, the threshold change for the operator | :05:28. | :05:31. | |
tax, and that moves that up to about ?45,000 and beyond. We cannot a way | :05:32. | :05:37. | |
with in their constrain spending to make sure that we were able to do | :05:38. | :05:38. | |
that at this time. It was one that we thought that we | :05:39. | :05:51. | |
as a country could not afford right now if we wanted to have the same | :05:52. | :05:58. | |
level of services. I am fairly sure that Ukip will not | :05:59. | :06:05. | |
be travelling the scorers at this election. You say in your manifesto | :06:06. | :06:11. | |
you would allow councils to put in place a moratorium on wind farms. So | :06:12. | :06:17. | |
if local people lobby fodder and councils bought Phillip there will | :06:18. | :06:25. | |
be no wind farms? We would be the most densely properly to the country | :06:26. | :06:28. | |
and the entire world with wind turbines. We think that local people | :06:29. | :06:33. | |
should have a level and degree of control over what happens in the | :06:34. | :06:37. | |
area. That is why you have local Government. Local Government should | :06:38. | :06:42. | |
be empowered to make some decisions. You sit there is a precedent for | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
this in your manifesto because of that moratorium on fracking. But you | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
are in favour of fracking. Again with local authorities giving it the | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
Green light. They are happy with it is up to them. Local authorities | :06:57. | :07:04. | |
will be able to have moratoriums on fracking. Absolutely but we do not | :07:05. | :07:06. | |
think there should be a blanket ban fracking. Absolutely but we do not | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
on gas extraction. We also see fractured extraction happening | :07:12. | :07:11. | |
on gas extraction. We also see offshore in Scotland right now. You | :07:12. | :07:20. | |
see that schools should be allowed to operate outside local authority | :07:21. | :07:24. | |
control. How is that going to work? The policy of the Conservatives in | :07:25. | :07:28. | |
Westminster is to take all schools in England out of local authority | :07:29. | :07:33. | |
control? We have had a different education system here since the dawn | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
of time. We want more schools and more school leaders, headteachers | :07:39. | :07:42. | |
and others in the school board, to have control over hiring and firing. | :07:43. | :07:46. | |
How do you get it? If you are a parent watching this and Ruth | :07:47. | :07:52. | |
Davidson is the next First Minister, how do I get my school out of local | :07:53. | :07:58. | |
authority control? There is a school that is going to be shut down. It is | :07:59. | :08:03. | |
a catholic school. Their patents they have a business model that is | :08:04. | :08:07. | |
ready to go. They think we have got the plan in place and the teaching | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
in place to rant at outside local authority control. We see this | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
should not be stopped from doing so. We have a good example in Jordanhill | :08:18. | :08:21. | |
and Glasgow, a school that has been run outside local authority control | :08:22. | :08:25. | |
for some time. It is not completely new but that should be allowed to | :08:26. | :08:30. | |
happen. Whether schools are in or out of local authority control are | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
you saying you are agnostic? No. I am not good to be proscriptive but | :08:36. | :08:38. | |
all schools must be one or the other. The point about believing as | :08:39. | :08:42. | |
I do that children are not all the same, should not be topless scene, | :08:43. | :08:45. | |
it about empowering the leadership of the | :08:46. | :08:57. | |
school -- should not be topped the same. People feel disconnected from | :08:58. | :09:13. | |
Holyrood. Local oversight is not beer. Centralisation of colleges and | :09:14. | :09:17. | |
services. People should be empowered to make decisions when they know | :09:18. | :09:20. | |
better than faceless bureaucrats at Holyrood. The graduate tax, you say | :09:21. | :09:28. | |
you want ?6,000... Contribution. What a lot of people will think is | :09:29. | :09:35. | |
that there is a low the level in England. Scottish universities are | :09:36. | :09:39. | |
at a disadvantage and they would still be in the though there a | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
graduate tax. Scottish universities say they want more money in the | :09:45. | :09:49. | |
system to compete. Universities punch above their weight in the | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
world. People say this is the thin end of a wedge. We are seeing this | :09:54. | :09:57. | |
as the policy, this is how we want to roll it out. Inters... Parliament | :09:58. | :10:05. | |
this is for people who then graduate and are earning more than ?20,000. | :10:06. | :10:13. | |
You give no guarantee. The ?6,000 is for an honours degree. In end | :10:14. | :10:23. | |
understand that ?1000 it is now ?9,000 why should anybody believe | :10:24. | :10:25. | |
that under a Conservative administration would not start at | :10:26. | :10:29. | |
?6,000 for an honours degree course and writer ?25,000? Because we have | :10:30. | :10:34. | |
a separate education system. These are my proposals. Once you breach | :10:35. | :10:45. | |
the principle of having three higher education there will inevitably be | :10:46. | :10:50. | |
pressure from the educational establishment, the situation in the | :10:51. | :10:58. | |
economy, to produce these up. Nothing is inevitable. There used to | :10:59. | :11:02. | |
be a contribution. It was then scrapped. We are looking at a model | :11:03. | :11:05. | |
by which we know that people who graduate with a degree are likely to | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
earn ?100,000 in their working life more than somebody without. We are | :11:11. | :11:13. | |
asking them to pay a small proportion of that back into the | :11:14. | :11:16. | |
education system which has helped them. We want to charge students | :11:17. | :11:20. | |
from overseas and Europe or June be a penny for the degree that they get | :11:21. | :11:24. | |
out off Scotland. They do not have to make any contribution. That would | :11:25. | :11:29. | |
raise ?100 million to help the further and higher education in | :11:30. | :11:34. | |
Scotland. Yes the state should put in lots but this should be a | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
contribution that those that directly benefit. And the important | :11:40. | :11:47. | |
thing is the money would be used to help people from Bhullar backbones | :11:48. | :11:50. | |
get into university because in Scotland that is not happening. -- | :11:51. | :11:56. | |
help people from less well-off backgrounds. If people to leave the | :11:57. | :11:59. | |
help people from less well-off European Union and I know you are | :12:00. | :12:03. | |
against that, and the SNP say they want to have a referendum, should | :12:04. | :12:08. | |
against that, and the SNP say they David Cameron block that? I do not | :12:09. | :12:09. | |
think there is any grounds at all... David Cameron block that? I do not | :12:10. | :12:16. | |
Should the British Government have the right to say that is it we will | :12:17. | :12:20. | |
not allow you to do that? There is no mandate for the SNP party to say | :12:21. | :12:26. | |
that Brexit is the trigger. There is no mandate for that. In the same way | :12:27. | :12:33. | |
Scotland have voted yes... Let me finish. She said this is a material | :12:34. | :12:43. | |
change was not the you thought that the other way. Scotland voted yes in | :12:44. | :12:48. | |
2014 with the other side of that I would be that I could see letters | :12:49. | :12:53. | |
have another referendum because the oil price tanked, that is a material | :12:54. | :12:58. | |
change. No. The egg in it was signed by the UK Government and the | :12:59. | :13:01. | |
Scottish Government to say the the result of the referendum. After this | :13:02. | :13:06. | |
election will you be the main opposition? Yes. And I will work so | :13:07. | :13:10. | |
hard for people to hold them to account. We asked Willie Rennie but | :13:11. | :13:16. | |
you will be doing for the rest of the campaign. Do you have any plans | :13:17. | :13:24. | |
to sit on a tag any form of lethal weapon? No thanks in this campaign | :13:25. | :13:30. | |
that there might be other forms of transport. | :13:31. | :13:31. | |
We'll have continuing coverage of the election campaign | :13:32. | :13:33. | |
On Tuesday, energy and the environment is the subject | :13:34. | :13:37. | |
of an hour long debate on Scotland 2016. | :13:38. | :13:39. | |
A studio audience will get their chance to put | :13:40. | :13:41. | |
questions to politicians, chaired by Shelley Jofre. | :13:42. | :13:43. | |
That's on Tuesday on BBC Two Scotland at half past ten. | :13:44. | :13:46. | |
I'll be back at the same time next week. | :13:47. | :13:51. |