14/09/2014 Sunday Politics West

Welcome to the Sunday Politics, coming to you live from Edinburgh.

Terrorists who use the name Islamic State have carried out

their threat to murder the British aid worker, David Haines.

They released a video late last night, showing a masked man

beheading Mr Haines, who was taken captive in Syria 18 months ago.

The jihadist group have already beheaded two American journalists.

Now it's threatening the life of a second British hostage.

David Cameron described the murder as an act of pure evil.

As we speak he's chairing a meeting of the Cabinet's COBRA

President Obama said the US stood shoulder to shoulder

Alex Salmond says Scotland "stands on the cusp of history" as

he predicts a historic and substantial victory in

As the latest polls show the two sides neck and neck,

I'll ask Yes campaigner and socialist Tommy Sheridan about his

And after last week's last-minute interventions from Gordon Brown

David Cameron, Ed Miliband and big business, I'll ask

In the West. The doctor won't see it's enough to win over waverers.

In the West. The doctor won't see you now. Surgeries teeter on the

brink of closing step closer back to Parliament. Is

it a lame-duck administration? Late last night, as most folk were

preparing for bed, news broke that Islamic State extremists had carried

out their threat to murder the The group released a video, similar

to the ones in which two American journalists were decapitated,

showing a masked man apparently beheading Mr Haines who was taken

captive in Syria last year. The terrorist,

who has a southern British accent, also threatened the life

of a second hostage from the UK Mr Haines is

the third Westerner to be killed His family have paid tribute to

his humanitarian work; they say he David Cameron described the murder

as an act of pure evil, and said his heart went out to Mr Haines

family, who had shown extraordinary Mr Cameron went on to say,

"We will do everything in our power to hunt down these murderers

and ensure they face justice, Mr Haines was born in England

and brought up in Scotland. Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond

condemned the killing on the Marr Well, it's an act of unspeakable

barbarism that we have seen. Obviously our condolences go to the

family members of David Haynes who have borne this with such fortitude

in recent months -- David Alex Salmond was also asked

whether he supported military action Haines there is no reason to believe

whatsoever that China or Russia or any country will see their will to

deal with this barbarism. There is a will for effective, international,

legal action but it must come in that fashion, and I would urge that

to be a consideration to develop a collective response to what is a

threat to humanity. Our security correspondent

Gordon Corera joins me now Gordon, as we speak, the Cobra

emergency meeting is meeting yet again. It meets a lot these days. I

would suggest that the options facing this committee and Mr Cameron

are pretty limited. That's right. I think they are extremely limited.

They have been all along in these hostage situations. We know, for

instance, that British government policy is not to pay ransom is to

kidnappers. Other Europeans states are thought to have done so to get

hostages released, and also not to make substantive policy concessions

to the groups, so while there might be contact, there won't be a lot of

options left. We know the US in the past has looked at rescue missions

and in July on operation to free the hostages, landing at the oil

facility in Syria but finding no one there. If you look at the options,

they are not great. That is the difficult situation which Cobra will

have been discussing the last hour. Does this make it more likely,

because it might have the direction the government was going in any way,

that we join with the Americans in perhaps the regional allies in air

strikes against Islamic State, not just in Iraq, but also in Syria We

heard from President Obama outlining his strategy against Islamic State

last week when he talked about building a coalition, about

authorising air strikes. And training troops. We are still

waiting to hear what exact role the UK will play in that. We know it

will play a role because it has been arming the fishmonger forces but the

question is, will it actually conduct military strikes in Iraq --

arming the passion are there. We have not got a clear answer from

government and that is something where they are ours to discuss what

was around the table. It's possible we might learn some more today as a

result of the Cobra meeting, but I think the government will be wanting

to not be seen to suddenly rushed to a completely different policy as a

result of one incident, however terrible it is. Whether it hardens

their reserve -- resolved to play more active role in the coalition,

that's possible, but we have to wait see to get the detail. -- wait and

see. What the whole country would like to see would be British and

American special forces going in and getting these guys. I think that

would unite the nation. But that is very difficult, isn't it? It is As

you saw with a rescue mission a few months ago, the problem is getting

actionable intelligence on the ground at a particular moment. The

theory is that the group of kidnappers are moving the hostages

may be even every or few days, so you need intelligence and quickly

and then you need to be able to get the team onto the ground into that

time frame. That is clearly a possibility and something they will

be looking at, but it certainly challenging, particularly when you

have a group like this operating within its own state, effectively,

and knowing that other people are looking very hard for it and doing

everything they can to hide. Gordon, thank you very much.

Clegg dropped everything and headed to Scotland when a poll last Sunday

gave the YES vote its first ever lead in this prolonged referendum

If their reaction looked like panic, that's because it was.

Until last weekend, though the polls had been narrowing,

the consensus was still that NO would carry the day.

The new consensus is that it's too close to call.

If we look back at the beginning of the year, public opinion in Scotland

was fairly settled. The no campaign had a commanding lead across the

opinion polls, excluding the undecided voters. At one point, at

the end of last year, an average of 63% backed the no campaign and only

37% supported a yes vote. As we move into 2014 and up to this week, you

can see a clear trend emerging as the lead for the no campaign gets

narrower and narrower and the average of the most recent polls has

the contest hanging in the balance. There was a poll a week ago that put

the Yes campaign in the lead for the first time, 51% against 49%, but

that lead was not reflected in the other polls last week. For polls

were published last night, one by Salvation, for the macro-2 campaign

-- Better Together campaign, and there was another that gave a one

percentage point different. ICM have the yes campaign back in the lead at

54% and the no campaign at 46%, but their sample size was 705 Scottish

adults, smaller than usual. Another suggests that the contest remains on

a knife edge with 49.4% against 50.6%. When fed into the poll of

polls the figures average out with yes at 49% and polls -- no at 5 %.

But some people think 18% are undecided, and it is how they vote

gets -- when they get to the polling booths that could make all the

difference. campaigner and Respect Party MP

George Galloway. Welcome to the Sunday Politics. Big

business, big oil, big banks, the Tories, the Orange order, all

against Scottish independence. You sure you are on right side? Yes

because the interests of working people are in staying together. This

is a troubled moment in a marriage, a very long marriage, in which some

good things and bad things have been achieved together. And there is no

doubt that the crockery is being thrown around the house of the

minute. But I believe that the underlying interests of working

people are on working on the relationship rather than divorce. I

have been divorced. It's a very messy, acrimonious, bitter affair

and it's particularly bad for the children will stop that's why I am

here. You talk about working people, and particularly Scottish working

people, they seem to have concluded that the social democracy they want

to create cannot now be done in a UK context. Why should they not have a

shot of going it alone? Because the opposite will happen. Separation

will cause a race to the bottom in taxation. Alex Salmond has already

announced he will cut the taxes on companies, corporation tax, down to

3% hello whatever it is in the rest of these islands. And business will

only be attracted to come here, country of 5 million people on if

there is low regulation, low public expenditure, low levels of taxation

for them will stop you cannot have Scandinavian social democracy on

Texan levels of taxation. The British government, as will be, the

rest of the UK, they will race Alex Salmond to the bottom. If he cuts it

by three, they will cut it by four. And so on. So whether some people

cannot see it clearly yet or not, the interests of the working people

on both sides of the border would be gravely damaged by separation. Let's

take the interest of the working people. As you know, as well as

anyone, the coalition is in fermenting both a series of cuts and

reforms in welfare, and labour, Westminster Labour, has only limited

plans to reverse any of that. Surely if you want to preserve the welfare

state as it is, independence is the way to do it. For the reasons I just

explain, I don't believe that. But Ed Miliband will be along in a

minute. He will be along in May The polls indicate... They say he is

only four or 5%, that is the average. Like the referendum, the

next general election could be nip and tuck. I don't, myself, think

that the time of David Cameron as Prime Minister is for much longer. I

think there will be a Labour government in the spring and the

Labour government in London and a stronger Scottish Parliament, super

Devo Max, that is now on the table. That is the best arrangement of

people in the country. But the people of Scotland surely cannot

base a decision on independence on your feeling that Labour might win

the next general election. It is my feeling. When the Tories were beaten

on the bedroom tax last week in the house, it was written all over the

faces of the government side not only that they were headed for

defeat, but probably a massive fishy -- Fisher. I think the race to the

bottom that I have proper size will mean that the welfare state will be

a distant memory quite soon. The cuts and the run on the Scottish

economy here in Edinburgh, the financial services industry, that

will be gravely damage. The Ministry of Defence jobs in Scotland

decimated, probably ended, more or less. It will be a time of cuts and

austerity, maybe super austerity in an independent Scotland. You

mentioned defence. What about nuclear weapons? The Tories and

Labour will keep them. You are against them. Surely the only way to

be rid of them in Scotland is by independence. But you are not rid of

them by telling them down the river. The danger would be the same --

telling them down the river. The danger would be the same. Nuclear

radiation does not respect Alex Salmond's national boundaries. They

would be committed to immediately joining NATO, which is bristling

with nuclear weapons and is what -- involved in wars across the

Atlantic. So anyone looking for a peace option will have to elect a

government in Britain as a whole that will get rid of nuclear weapons

and get out of military entanglements. We are in one again

now. I have been up the whole night, till 5am, dealing with some of the

consequences and implications of the grave international matter that you

opened the show with. David Haines and the fate of the hostage still in

their hands. There are many other hostages as well. And there are many

people dying who are neither British nor American. I have, somehow, been

drawn into this matter. And it showed me, again, that the world is

interdependent. It is absolutely riven with division and hatred, and

this is the worst possible time to be opting out of the world to set up

a small mini-state on the promises of Alex Salmond of social democracy

funded by Texan taxes. Let's, for the sake of the next question,

assume that everything you have told us is true. Why is your side

squandering a 20 point lead? I will have a great deal to say

about that, whatever the result This is very much a Scottish Labour

project, is that not a condemnation of Scottish Labour? It is

potentially on its deathbed. The country breaking up, the principal

responsibility will be on them. And the pitiful, absolutely pitiful job

that has been made of defending a 300-year-old relationship in this

island by the Scottish Labour leadership is really terrible for me

to behold, even though I'm no longer one of them. I don't know how they

are going to get out of this deathbed. Do you agree that if this

referendum is lost by your side it will be because traditional

working-class Labour voters, particularly in the west of

Scotland, have abundant Labour and decided to vote for independence?

Without a doubt, the number of Labour voters intending to vote yes

is disturbingly high. Even just months ago during the European

Parliament elections, swathes of people who didn't vote SNP will be

voting yes on Thursday. That is a grave squandering of a great legacy

of Scottish Labour history, which history will decree as

unforgivable. If Labour is to get out of its deathbed in Scotland it

will have to become Labour again. Real Labour again. I am ready to

help them with that. My goodness, they need help with it. I wonder if

it isn't just a failure of Labour in Scotland. People all over Britain

are increasingly fed up with the Westminster system, but it is only

the Scots who currently have the chance to break free from it, so why

shouldn't they? That is exactly right. They see a parliament of

expenses cheats led by Lord snooty and the Bullingdon club elite,

carrying through austerity for many but not for themselves and they are

repulsed by it. They need change, but you can go backwards and call it

change but it will be worse than the situation you have now. A lot of

Scottish people don't buy that. It is a big gamble. If I were poised to

put my family's life savings on the roulette table in Las Vegas, my wife

would not be scaremongering if she pointed out the potential

consequences if I'd lost. She would not be negative by telling me that

is my children's money I am risking. If I jumped off this roof it would

change my point of view, but it would be worse than the point of

view I have now. There is another issue here because the Scots are

being asked to gamble on the Westminster parties, which they are

already suspicious of, of delivering home rule. Alistair Darling could

not even tell me if Ed Balls had signed off on more income tax powers

for Scotland, so that is a gamble for the Scots. I feel the British

state has had such a shake out of all this that they would be beyond

idiots, they would be insane now to risk all of this flaring up again

because whatever happens, if we win on Thursday, it is going to be

narrowly. It will be a severe fissure in Scotland. A great deal of

unpleasantness that we are already aware of. That could turn but we're

still. It would be dicing with death, playing with fire, to let

Scottish people down after Thursday if we narrowly win. If you narrowly

win, and if there are moves to this home rule Mr Brown has been talking

about, England hasn't spoken yet on this. Whilst England would probably

not want to stop -- stop Scotland getting this, they would say, what

about us? It could delay the whole procedure. It is necessary, you are

right. England should have home rule, and I screamed at Scottish

Labour MPs going into the vote to introduce tuition fees in England. I

told them this was a constitutional monstrosity, as well as a crime

against young people in England It was risking everything. We are led

by idiots. Our leaders are not James Bonds, they are Austin powers. We

need to change the leadership, not rip up a 300-year-old marriage.

Thank you. It's been one of the longest and

hardest fought political campaigns in history, with Alex Salmond firing

the starting gun on the referendum Adam's been stitching together

the key moments of the campaign It is the other thing drawing people

to the Scottish parliament, the new great tapestry of Scotland. It is

the story of battles won and lost, Scottish moments, British moments,

famous Scots, and not so famous Scots. There is even a panel

dedicated to the rise of the SNP. Alex Salmond's majority in the

elections in 2011 made the referendum inevitable. It became

reality when he and David Cameron did a deal in Edinburgh one year

later. The Scottish Government set out its plans for independence in

this book, just a wish list to some, a sacred text to others. This White

Paper is the most detailed improvements that any people have

ever been offered in the world as a basis for becoming an independent

country. The no campaign, called Better Together, united the Tories,

Labour and the Lib Dems under the leadership of Alistair Darling. Then

the Scottish people were bombarded with two years of photo

opportunities and a lot of campaigning. For the no campaign,

Jim Murphy went on tour but took a break when he was egged and his

events were often hijacked by yes campaigners who were accused of

being intimidating. In turn, they accused the no campaign of using

scare tactics. Things heated up when the TV dinner -- during the TV

debate. Fever pitch was reached one week ago when one poll suggested the

yes campaign was in the lead for the first time. The three main

Westminster leaders ditched PMQs to head north. I think people can feel

it is like a general election, that you make a decision and five years

later you can make another decision if you are fed up with the Tories,

give them a kick... This is totally different. And Labour shelved not

quite 100 MPs onto the train, Alex Salmond took a helicopter instead.

This is about the formation of the NHS. A big theme of the yes campaign

is that changes to the NHS in Linden -- in England would lead to

privatisation in Scotland. Alex Salmond's plan to share the pound

was trashed by big names. There were other big question is, what would

happen to military hardware like Trident based on the Clyde? Would an

independent Scotland be able to join the EU? And how much oil was left

underneath the North Sea? This panel is about famous Scots, we

have Annie Lennox, Stephen Hendry, Sean Connery. I cannot see Gordon

Brown. These are big changes we are proposing to strengthen the Scottish

parliament, but at the same time to stay as part of the UK. A regular on

the campaign, he was front and centre when things got close,

unveiling a timetable for more devolution. People wondered whether

Ed Miliband was able to reach the parts of Scotland Labour leader

should reach, and at Westminster some Tories pondered whether David

Cameron could stay as prime minister if there was a yes vote. This

tapestry is nonpartisan so it is a good place to get away from it all

but it is crystallising voters' views. Look at what we have

contributed to Great Britain, and I am British and I hope to be staying

British. This is what people from Scotland have done, taken to the

rest of the world in many cases and I think I am going to vote yes. I am

so inspired by it. It has certainly inspired me to have a go at

stitching. How long do you think it would take to do the whole thing? I

would say to put aside maybe 30 hours of stitching. Maybe by the

time I am done, we will know more about how the fabric of the nation

might be changing. And I've been joined

by yes campaigner and convenor of Scotland's Solidarity socialist

party, Tommy Sheridan. An economy dependent on oil, the

Queen as head of state, membership of the world 's premier nuclear

alliance of capitalist nations is that the socialist Scotland you are

fighting for? No, that is the SNP's prospectus and they are entitled to

put forward their vision, but it is not mine or that of the majority of

Scotland. We will find out in two years. On Thursday we are not voting

for a political party, we are voting for our freedom as a country. That

is why people are going to vote yes on Thursday. A lot of people are

voting for what you call freedom because they think it will be more

Scotland. You have already got free prescriptions, no tuition fees, free

care for the elderly. You might not in future have that if public

spending is overdependent on the price of oil, over which you have no

control. We don't have to worry about one single resource, we

already have 20% of the fishing stock in Europe. We already have 25%

of the wind, wave and solar power generation. We, as an independent

country, have huge resources, natural resources but also people

resources. We have five first-class universities, food and beverages

industry which is the envy of the world. We have the ability to

produce the resources on the revenues that won't just maintain

the health service and education but it will develop health and

education. I don't want to stand still, I want to redistribute

wealth. But all of the projections of public spending for an

independent Scotland show that to keep spending at the current level

you need a strong price of oil and you are dependent on this commodity

which goes up and down and sideways. That is a gamble. I have got to

laugh because I have been told the most pessimistic is that in 40 years

the oil is running out, panic stations! If you were told by the

BBC you could only guarantee employment for the next 40 years you

would be over the moon. I am talking about in the next five. You need 50%

of your revenues to come from oil to continue spending and that is not a

guarantee. Of course it is, the minimum survival of the oil is 0

years. Please get your viewers to go onto the Internet and look at the

website called oilandgas.com. The West Coast has 100 years of oil to

be extracted. It hasn't been done because in 1981 Michael Heseltine

said we cannot extract the oil because we have Trident going up and

down there. Let's get rid of Trident and extract the oil. You are a trot

right, why have you failed to learn his famous dictum, socialism in one

country is impossible. Revolutions and change are not just single

event. What will happen here on Thursday is a democratic revolution.

The people are fed up of being patronised and lied to by this mob

in Westminster who have used and abused us for far too long. The

smaller people now have a voice What about socialism in one

country? Mr Trotsky warned you against that. The no campaign

represents the past. The yes campaign represents the future. That

is the truth of the matter. What we are going to do in an independent

Scotland is tackle inequality and a scourge of low pay. If we vote no on

Thursday, there will be more low pay on Friday, more poverty and food

banks on Friday. I'm not going to be lectured by these big banks, you

vote less -- yes and we will leave the country! The food banks will be

the ones closing. If you got your way, for the type of Scotland you

would like to see, state control of business, nationalisation of the

Manx, the roads to Carlisle will be clogged with people

Yes, hoping to come into Scotland, because in their hearts, the

Scottish people know that England want to see the people having the

bottle. The working class people in Liverpool, Newcastle, outside of

London, they are saying good on the jocks that are taking on big

business. When we are independent and investing in social housing the

people of England will say, we can do that as well, and they will

rediscover the radical tradition. In wanting to build socialism in one

country, it really means you are fighting for the few, rather than

the many. You are bailing out of the socialist Battle for Britain. You

think it will be easier to make it work. Think globally, act locally

and we will build socialism in Scotland but I wanted across the

world. I won my brothers and sisters in England and Wales to be

encouraged by what we do so they can reject the Westminster consensus as

well -- I want. We had the three Stooges coming up to London, three

millionaires united on one thing, austerity. Doesn't matter whether Ed

Miliband wins the next election he said he would stick to the story

spending cuts. Why vote for Ed Miliband? You wouldn't trust him to

run a bath, not a country. Let's see if this is realistic, this great

socialist vision. At the last Scottish election, the Socialist

party got 8000 votes. The Conservatives got 30 times more

votes. Where is the appetite in Scotland for your Marxist ideology

question we might not win it. But do you know what, see in two years

time. See when we have the Scottish general election. You won't -- you

are saying you might win and you went to the Holyrood election and

got 8000 Pope -- votes. The SNP won a democratic election and then won

the 2011 election and you know why they won? Because they picked up the

clothes that the Labour Party has thrown away. They picked up the

close of social democracy and protecting the health service was --

service. There are people in the SNP who believe in public ownership and

people in the SNP who believe in the NHS should be written into a

constitution as never for sale people in the the SNP that think the

Royal mail should return to public ownership. That is there in black

and white. Do you agree with George Galloway that this is potentially a

crisis for Scottish Labour? Scottish Labour is finished. They are

absolutely finished. George is right in that. Scottish Labour is

finished. The irony of ironies is, Labour in Scotland has more chance

of recovery in an independent Scotland that they have in a no

vote. Labour in Scotland in an independent country will have to

rediscover the traditions of Keir Hardie, the ideas of Jimmy Maxon,

because right now, they are to the right of the SNP as a political

party. I understand the socialist vision, but it is where the appetite

is. And you look at the independence people in Scotland. One of your

colleagues, Brian Souter, a man who fought against the appeal -- repeal

of homosexual rights in Scotland. Another of your allies would seem to

be Rupert Murdoch, the man who engineered your downfall. You say he

engineered your downfall, but I m still here and his newspaper has

closed. Whether it Rupert Murdoch, Brian Souter, or any other

millionaire supporting independence, I couldn't care less. This boat on

Thursday is not about millionaires, it is about the millions. -- this

vote. We will not be abused any young -- longer. Would you rather

not have their support? I couldn't care about the support. You know who

is supporting the union. It is the unions of the big businesses, the

BNP, UKIP, they are the ones who support it. You are giving me a

stray that has wandered into the campaign and are you seriously going

to argue with me that the establishment isn't united to try

and save the union? That is what they are trying to be. The BBC, you

have been a disgrace in your coverage of the campaign. Not you

personally. You don't have editorial control. The BBC coverage,

generally, has been a disgrace and the people. Oil and gas, go and look

at that, why is that not feature. Why is the idea of 100 years of oil

not featured in the campaign. Because the BBC does not want to see

it. Are you getting in your excuses if you lose? You better be kidding.

Is this the face of somebody looking to lose. We are going to win, 6 /40.

Absolutely. There is a momentum that you guys are not seeing on the

working-class housing estates. Working class people are fed up

being taken for granted fed up with the lives of people dragging us into

tax cuts, bedroom tax for the poor. They will have power on Thursday,

and they will use it and vote for freedom. Are you happy with the way

the BBC has treated you today? So far, yes. I have still not been

offered a Coffey, but that might happen. That is an obvious example

of our bias. Tommy, we will speak to you later with George Galloway.

Good morning and welcome to Sunday Politics in the West.

We are back, it's nice to be with you ag`in.

They warn surgeries may havd to close as there aren?t enough GPs

We will be examining the crisis that is causing doctors

to leave the profession thex work so hard to join.

And on our consulting room couch this Sunday, both of them hoping to

pull a sickie, they are the former Labour MP Anne Snelgrove and deputy

This time next week we may not even have a United Kingdom,

I was born British and I want to remain British,

I do hope that Scotland stays with us.

Any Scots with a vote out there ` vote for the union.

Neil, you must be able to understand that people want to leave the EU,

I could understand that if what was on offer was real independence, but

they want have their economhc policy effectively decided by the Bank of

England and everything else decided by their masters in Brussels.

That doesn?t seem like real independence.

But what will happen if Scotland vote No

and all those extra powers `re given to the devolved parliament there?

There will then be growing demand for something in England

which stops Scottish MPs voting on purely English issues.

Gordon Brown is up there, hd seems to think he?s Prime Minister again.

He is making huge offers to the Scots!

I think those offers have bden worked out on a cross`party basis,

I don?t think it?s just Gordon going off on his own in doing that.

I'm glad to see that everybody is pulling the stops out.

I was glad to see David Camdron up there this week,

I think the Prime Minister of the Britain and should bd there,

We want to send a message to the Scots cross`party,

OK we will talk more about that later on.

First, it seems that one of the pillars of the community, the local

Doctors say morale is at an all`time low as they struggle

Older GPs are retiring earlx, while younger doctors are t`king

It has caused a shortage of staff which could see surgeries close

I found that the conflicting demands were greater than I could ddal with.

That the pressure was such that I had a feeling of panic most days. I

wondered, can I get through all the demands and conflicting dem`nds of

running the business? Of seding the patients, of dealing with the

admin, the results, the prescriptions, the referrals. Screen

`` strain is beginning to show. In June, two doctors left this Bristol

surgery blaming work pressures. Now this practices shut the two days

away because they cannot find the stuff to keep it open. People living

nearby grade. I think it will be harder to get an appointment. You're

definitely going to wait longer And in convenience of patients having to

get onto buses, that's if they can get out of the house! In a

statement, the Government s`id: Just as GPs warning of a, political

parties are permitting to m`ke it easier to see your doctor. The Lib

Dems say they want to see what out of hours appointments, UKIP want to

see GPs open in the evenings if there is the demand. The

Conservatives say they want GPs open at evenings and weekends. L`bour,

say if Alexa, they will be `ble to see your GP within 48 hours

guaranteed. It all leaves doctors asking where on earth the stuff will

come from. I actually think politicians promises vanish in the

dawn. There is no point in promising unlimited rice pudding if you can't

harvest the rice. And if `` the rice of general practice is very scarce

on the ground, the paddy fidlds are empty, and most of the rice because

of emigrated. We shouldn't `nd a metaphor to four, but, therd is a

serious problem and it starts from a demographic where people of my

generation are looking for the exit door in their droves. I've never

known so many of my colleagtes retiring early. Because the pressure

of the work is just too much,. Using that specialise in part with

patients. This member of thd health Select Committee provoked a storm

when she called for people to be charged if they missed appohntments.

People do not how much their appointment costs. I think simple

things like understanding when you see a GP, it is not free, it costs

about 30 quid. Understanding that, people take their own decishons as

to whether they think they need to go and see a GP for that money.

People are sensible generally, and if we understand what we cost the

state we will generally takd much more sensible decisions. Whhle

politicians argue, it is believed several other surgeries in the West

will soon be pulling down their shutters as doctors cry out for a

cure to their ills. We asked to speak to the Government and NHS

England about this but both turned down now offer, we couldn't get an

appointment. We can now spe`k to Doctor Holly Hardy who handdd in her

notice earlier this year. Doctor Hardy also oversees the trahning of

junior doctors in the city. Welcome. Doctors in Britain are the

second`highest paid in the world, the highest`paid in Europe. You d

expect to bit of pressure for that sort money? has always been

pressure, but the point is, every system reaches its limit and because

there is so much more work coming out of secondary care, from

hospitals into primary care, general practice, for GPs and nurses, and

patients, problems are getthng more complex and patients are living

longer. The workload has gone up, and I think the appointments have

more than doubled in quite ` short time. Is a tough job. But on the

other side, because doctors are paid so much, so the partners will be

well over 100,000, often now might other doctors and so they c`n afford

to take early retirement. Why wouldn't you? I think the ddcision

to take early retirement is a personal decision. If you c`n afford

it? It is not just about th`t, it is about being able to sustain yourself

in the role and if we are fhnding lots of GPs leaving in their 50s,

that says something about the workload because most would carry on

because they love their jobs, if they could. I don't think any doctor

would leave. If we are so short of doctors, I don't understand why

youngsters leaving school whth three straight A 's in good subject, says

medical school? With three straight says they would get in. It hs

compared to did to get in. Lots have been turned away. We don not

training of doctors are we? The many people wants to be doctors? There is

an issue of supply. So, how may be people to medical school and how

many of us are trained to bd GPs, but the other issue is how lany were

losing and the balance is wrong and there is about a ten year lhke. If

we try up and rectify what hs happening now... The clip w`s saying

it is not a popular choice for doctors, but there is a lot of

demand for people to become medics? There is, but general practhce is

not a pillar at the moment for the reasons you see. The media portrayal

is that it is difficult job and people are leaving and it is an

unpleasant job. I would say, I'm a GP, I'm still a GP despite ly

problems, and other doctors are choosing to go into hospital

medicine and win it encourage that, we need at least 50% of thel to

become GPs are not stay in hospital. It was a Labour Government that

brought in this country which gave GPs a good pay deal. It also

relieved them of out of hours work. Although not a big mistake? It has

not. We were able to fulfil the 48`hour pledge up until 2010. It was

the Coalition Government th`t scrapped it. It is the ?1.3 billion

reorganisation we have seen of the NHS which has put a huge amount of

work on to GPs and GP practhces I do reject that. For me, it hs very

worrying that young doctors, newly trained doctors are not going into

GP surgery to basics like that. Because we do need to attract the

young and the bright. Be ond no pulses to address that? we have We

will make sure that the burdaucracy that this Government said it

wouldn't do but has actuallx brought, and the pressure on GPs.

The pressure is ameliorated in some way. We must make sure that GPs have

the space to do their job which is not what is happening. Neil, I have

been looking at the UKIP website are trying find out your health policy.

Six words: Open GPs surgerids in the evening. You want tax cuts `s well?

we will be announcing our policies at Doncaster Conference in ` few

weeks. Dalby revealed at th`t point. But I think most people will find it

difficult to sympathise with the argument that is being put forward,

that people are being paid on average, more than 100,000 ` year.

Or how overworked they are just can't cope. Most people strdss in

their lives and I do not sed why doctors should be any more stressed

than anybody else. My wife's father was a GP in the 1940s through to the

1960s, and, in those days, he was on call 24 hours a day. If you went to

the cinema and something pops up on the screen same all the doctor

please go to the reception `nd a beer foam core from a patient. you

should come as bad a day with us in general practice as bad a d`y with

us in general practice and see what it is like! I have been a GP for

over 20 years and I concur with what you are saying. We used to do on

call, and now the out of hotrs Rangers are different. But different

pressures, so many things all at once. One GP said he thought

panicking `` panicky everyd`y. Do they that is happening across the

West Country? I think it is a national problem. Especiallx for

young doctors, right at the start of their careers. It is very worrying.

Writing the big problem is the NHS is so vast, it consumes so

Government spending, so how do you match demand to the resourcds? Are

you committed to it? Yes, wd are. Charging people to see their doctor

is what Charlotte Leslie was advocating. I think that is a

disaster. We have to leave ht there. Thank you. Now back to the Scottish

referendum. Who knows which way the vote will go, but if they ddcide to

stay as part of the UK, thex will get more powers. But where does that

leave us English? The south`west is about the same size as Scotland with

the same amount of people. Do we need more powers to? Lots of passion

and promises. We are proposhng the Scottish parliament should have

increased powers. In welfard, in social and economic policy, and in

finance. Gordon Brown have the backing of Westminster's three

biggest parties. The more power for Holyrood would increase what people

say is a democratic deficit south of the border in Westminster and in the

West Country. English polithcians would have even less that the less

sale over what happens in Scotland while Scottish MPs will still vote

on our Parliament. Experts reckon there will be demands for change,

not just our parliament, but even for English regional devolution no

vote would mean more power, then people might actually get the link

of saying Scottish... We have got to get a bit more power from

Westminster, Wales, Northern Ireland, some of the conurb`tions.

is easy to be cynical about attitude of voters to local governments. Only

a third turn out to vote in council elections, after all. The l`st

attempt to do this fell flat. The talk will the good things that could

be showered on Scotland does stoke up some passion. There is no reason

at all they should get anything better than others. I do not see why

they should have additional powers. the next step will be Yorkshire

wanting independence! That the zoom the south`west will do the same It

could be the start of quite a lot of aggro. They want more, they want

more, they want more. And it gets more if they vote no. It is not

fair. Could idea of elected regional as emblems be revived? Efforts by

the last Government were mocked by critics and rejected in a rdferendum

in the north`east of England. we tried this in the other 2000s and it

didn't work, there are many reasons why, one of them was that it was not

really a bottom`up process, it was forced by new Labour. The powers

given at that time were fairly weak and some would argue, quite pathetic

inability of two the actual local government structures. one notable

south`west resident who is passionate about giving powdr to the

people is Billy Bragg. why hsn't it a good thing for England if it is

good for Scotland? To engagd young people, you must make them feel they

are heard. Better devolution will begin to re`engage that process and

we could start to get peopld to feel that their voice is heard. Hf there

were regional assemblies, wd would be able to decide perhaps, with the

north`east and north`west on important issues like agrictlture,

fisheries and care. And if hn the south`west we have the same powers

as Holyrood, we would have things like student fees, prescriptions.

There was much talk about ddvolved powers. The debate over how Scotland

is ruled is nearly over. Thd debate over how England will be run is just

beginning. Let's pick up on some of those issues. Neil, you're like Alex

Salmond without the kilt on June? The same arguments about le`ving the

EU as him about leaving the UK. Quite the opposite. He's not

offering real independence. He is prepared to allow the Bank of

England... We want Britain to be an independent, self`governing country

again. I understand why the Scots might think that if they ard

nationalists. But what is bding offered to the Scottish people is a

bogus choice and bogus independence. They want independence if they vote

yes. But they will be leaving the EU as far as we understand if they vote

yes and they will have to ndgotiate to get back in? If it meant the rest

of the UK left automaticallx I would be voting for Scottish

independence! But I do not think that is the case. There is no

question that Scotland will remain in the EU. Will they have to adopt

the Euro if they do? Labour tried regional assemblies, trying to get

the minute the north`east and they were given a great big fat

raspberry. Nobody wanted thdm. and there is no clamour in the

south`west either. We need to look at a different system. We h`ve to

wait on the outcome of next week's referendum. What I would like to see

is something we have had a look at with the Adonis report, is groups of

local authorities coming together and working in the weather greater

Manchester authorities work. So they are looking at a specific area. That

would work for Cornwall, but it would also work. Wind and, because

we are different, though in the same region. I am looking at a mtch

looser federation of areas, pubs of towns and country areas, whhch have

things in common. Would that work? Some sort of federal system? No I

don't think so. Does Cornwall feel much affinity with Gloucestdrshire

or Dorset? It is merely a unit of Government and people do not have an

affinity with it. Scotland `nd Wales are nations, that is differdnt.

Inevitably's inevitably, th`t creates different emotional

pressures, there is no publhc demand for regional assemblies in Dngland

because people don't feel any connection with other regions. When

you see National is in Scotland comedy like a? Yes, but I sde it in

a UK context. I was raising Wales, and I can understand `` I w`s raised

in Wales. I can understand why people feel more affinity whth it

than the UK. I don't share that affinity, but... If Scotland goes,

how tough the youth in the settlement deal should be? we need

to look at that if or when ht happens. I do not want to sde us

getting into that kind of argument. It is clear as a bell, that we will

suffer, financially, as the Scots will suffer financially. , Neil

Nigel Farage we say we should drive a hard bargain. absolutely. If they

want free Jewish and for sttdents and free prescriptions, things we

can't have in England, let them pay for it themselves. `` free Jewish.

When they take a hardline? we were one of the major paymasters for the

EU. As far as the UK is concerned, we massive net contributors to the

EU, it will be far better off if we left. Time now for look likd. Here

is our round`up in 60 seconds. `` time for a look back. Animal rights

campaigners gathered in the West as a controversial call of badgers

resumed. For the next five weeks badgers will be shot as the

Government tries to control cases of TB in cattle. The revamp of

Swindon's oasis leisure Centre caused another political splash The

town's Conservative run council told the developer to meet new ddadlines

as work on the scheme slept yet again. Labour wants the deal

scrapped. A Bristol Ferry boat powered entirely by hydrogen was

labelled by councillors as wasteful vanity projects. Problems whth

fuelling the vessel mean it has not carried any passengers so f`r. Their

owners had to get it back on the water next year. And a formdr MP for

Newbury was selected as the Lib Dem candidate for through. David Rendell

is open to hold the seat for the Lib Dems when David Heath, five years

his junior, stands down next May. That was the week. Let's pick up on

that story of David Rendell. He is 65, as you. But Looe`macro H don't

look it or do I? Is there an age where it is a good time to start in

Parliament? You are as old or young as you feel. I am not ready to

retire. I am very active in politics at the moment, not being a lember of

Parliament, because, this is something I have been fighthng for

all my life. Where will you fight? That remains to be seen. We are in a

state of flux. Tellers. you will find out soon. Forest of De`n? I

must be sphinxlike. And, yot are hoping to get back? yes. Thdre are a

good mix of ages in Parliamdnt. But we need more than that age lix, what

about the balance between m`le and female? When you go to a selection

meeting, they really `` really looking for people in their 20s

They are looking for the best candidates. Sometimes, people get

elected when did not expect it, which happened in 1997 and ` certain

extent with the Conservativds in 2010. So you do get a youngdr group

coming in at that point. But if you are going to spend your whole life

as an MP, that is probably ` big thing. It's 15 years max, I'd say.

That is about it from the Wdst. From what is currently the western corner

of United Kingdom! Thank yot to my guests. We will

we would have a dirty River Thames. Andrew, back to you.

Can the No campaign still pull it off?

And even if they do is the whole of the UK now on the brink

I'm joined now by John McTernan former adviser to Gordon Brown

and Tony Blair, Alex Bell, former Head of Policy for the SNP

and Lindsay McIntosh, the Times Scottish Political Editor

And I'm delighted that Tommy and George have stayed too.

No fighting has broken out either. Where

No fighting has broken out either. have three full days to go

No fighting has broken out either. polling day. What is the state of

play? I think the poll of polls is accurate. 49 and 51%. What is vital

is to bring the undecided voters in, and they properly have about

500,000. I think there are a lot of undecided people. I think they know

which way they are leaning, but they haven't jumped. The hope of the no

campaign is that they will go for the status quo on Thursday. How do

you assess the state of the campaign now? The crucial thing is the big

swing. The swing has come towards yes, so will the momentum carry it

over the line? I will think it does, because it is an antiestablishment

swell, and its people responding to standard Western as the politicians

and saying that they want a new way -- Westminster politicians. I think

that yes will sneak it. A referendum can be more important than a general

election, and the Yes campaign have had the momentum. This was the week

the momentum stopped. We started the week looking as though yes were

going into the lead and then it stopped and most of the recent polls

show a distinct lead for the no campaign. A distinct lead? It is one

or two points. It is six in one poll, two in another, aiding

another. The poll of polls is a good way of measuring, and is it

statistically Nick -- nip and tuck? It is the week the momentum stopped.

About a fifth of the electorate That will be a quarter of the

turnout have voted already, by postal vote, and they are running

very strongly towards no, so there is a whole bank of votes there. The

postal votes are skewed to the over 60s, and that is the demographic

that the Yes campaign have had the biggest trouble with. Absolutely,

the Yes campaign faced a challenge amongst the 16 and 18-year-olds and

always based challenge with the older voters. Trust me, I was the

decision the day the civil servants made it possible for the 16 to

18-year-olds to vote, and we said there was a victory for the no

campaign in that alone. The young tend to be conservative by nature. I

think again that to say that the momentum has stopped when you had a

20 point lead, this is a referendum whether people will speak and they

will be heard. Except for the one poll which needs a huge health

warning because of the size of the sample, the momentum is

unquestionably all the way through August is going in the direction of

yes. It hasn't quite continue to get to the 55/45 four yes that Alex

Salmond thinks will be the result. I would agree with John. This was the

momentum stalled. We saw the three leaders coming up, and that kept

Alex Salmond off the front pages on the television and we had a raft of

economic warnings which, although they were dismissed as

scaremongering, they will have had a lot of traction with voters. What

does the no campaign have to do in the final three days? It has to

focus on the undecided, relentlessly. It has to do stick to

the question of risk and keep pushing back on Alex Salmond to say

it doesn't matter if the banks leave, it will all be all right on

the night. The huge question amongst the undecided voters is about the

economy. It is about jobs and currency, about business. That risk

is what will crystallise in the ballot box on Thursday and that has

to be the focus. What does the Yes campaign have to do? It has to drive

home that the swing to the Yes campaign is motivated by people who

want a different politics. They have decided amongst themselves that they

want to change Scotland. The unfortunate thing is, even though

the no campaign has had the chance to put up after proposals, they have

failed. The Scottish people want their powers were a purpose and they

say that only the Yes campaign can deliver that. There will be two days

of relentless campaigning from today, Monday and Tuesday, then the

media, the newspapers, including your own, will come out with the

final poll, the ones that will be the closest to the day that the

Scots actually go and vote. I think we will see more polling this week,

but what is interesting is the extent to which the pollsters are

picking up what is going on in the street. We know we have a huge

number of voters who have never voted before and are not engage with

politics, so what will they do? The third candidate in the election if

I can would in this way, are the polls. They might have a lot of

questions to answer on Friday morning. We were talking earlier

with George and Tommy about the Labour Party's consequences in all

of this. Gordon Brown, of course, has had a bit of a second coming as

a result of this referendum. I just want to play a clip of Gordon Brown

during the campaign and get a reaction. And I say this to Alex

Salmond himself. Up until today I am outside front line politics. If he

continues to peddle this deception, that the Scottish Parliament under

his leadership, and he cannot do anything to improve the health

service until he has a separate state, then I will want to join Joe

Hanlon want in and securing the return of a Labour government as

quickly as possible -- Johann Lamont. That was seen by some people

as Gordon Brown implying he might stand for the Scottish Parliament.

Whether it is yes or no, is Gordon Brown the saviour of Scottish

Labour? I did a double black the other night -- double act with him

the other night, and I must say he was a big beast all over again. He

crossed the stage Meli dealt with the audience brilliantly. He has a

certain presence, Gordon Brown, but he would really have to reinvent

himself quite considerably. He is capable of doing, but the man who

was the biographer of Jimmy Maxton, who pulled together the original red

paper on Scotland, he would have to be that Gordon Brown rather than the

Gordon Brown of some more melancholy events later. Tommy, you have both

been critical of the state of the Scottish Labour Party. Rather than

looking to Gordon Brown, which might be an interim solution, doesn't

Scottish Labour have to find a new generation of people to reignite it?

What George and I are agreed on and you have to remember this question

of independence see us disagreeing passionately, and in most other

things we find ourselves in agreement, one thing is clear,

Scottish Labour is finished. They have lost the heart and soul of

Scotland. The fact that we are discussing with four days to go an

independence referendum that is neck and neck, Labour have failed

miserably, absolutely miserably because they have given up

everything they stood for. The SNP has picked it up. They have just

taken on the bank -- mantle of a left of centre party and are picking

up support. Gordon and the rest in my opinion, they represent the past.

The yes vote on the Yes campaign represents the future. What do you

say to that? There is nothing socialist about an SNP that wants to

cut business tax by 3% in the pan. There is nothing socialist about an

SNP destroying further education so they can give middle-class people

free education. The Labour Party is alive and kicking. You can see if it

is Gordon Brown, or Jim Murphy with the 100 days tour. But I hesitate to

use this word, but they are kind of privatised from the Scottish Labour

Party. They have rode their own fallow. Jim Murphy was on the stump

because official Scottish Labour did not want him leading their campaign.

Gordon Brown was, I think, kept off the stage until it became so

critical that he had to be brought back. I agree with John, the SNP

talks left but acts right. That is before they get state powers. That

is what is exciting about the referendum, it's not about the SNP,

it's about the people deciding. What we have heard so far in the

referendum campaign is that there is a desperate yearning in the

electorate for real politics, purposeful politics and for the

people to be represented. It is probably to the eternal shame of

labour that they gave up that role and other people are now taking it

upon themselves. How would you assess the state of the Labour

Party? The problem is that it was demolished by the SNP in 2011 and

what they should have done since then and in other circumstances is

take a real look within themselves and brought forward new talent and

policies and watch out what they stood for. They've been unable to do

that because they are locked in a constitutional row. It is the plan

of the Nationalists to fight the first Scottish general election as

an independent nation as a nationalist party with its own

programme. You don't all go your own way. Why don't you do that? You have

more on your main reason to be, so why not go, left, right and centre

question you are presuming you don't go the one-way. I do not see the

function of the SNP after the yes vote. I think it is clear that there

is an SNP under Nicola Sturgeon an SNP which attracts votes from the

left and that is the one for me Whether that is called the SNP or

something else, I don't know. I think the assumption that we are

going into a mirror of old politics in a new world is just fundamentally

flawed. That is interesting. Let's just bring in the English

dimensional. In many ways, England has not spoken in this referendum

campaign. Whether it is yes or no, it will, and to give you a flavour

of what some in England might be thinking was saying, here is a clip

from John Redwood. We are fed up with this lopsided devolution, this

unfair devolution. Scotland gets first-class Devolution, Wales gets

second-class devolution and England gets nothing. If Wales wants the

same as us, they should have it and then there would be commonality so

we could discuss and decide in our own countries, in our own assemblies

in Parliament, all those things that are devolved. George, it was clear

that if Scotland voted yes for independence it has huge

implications for England than the UK, but it's also clear particularly

after Gordon Brown's intervention, even if it is no, it has huge

applications. You are, I suggest, agreeing with John Redwood that

there should be an English boys It would be a step too far for me to

agree with him -- English voice I appreciate I might have gone out on

a limb. He is the voice of Mars the Balkan from Mars. My own

constituents in Bradford are asking, what about us? All these things

being done, all the extra mile is being travel to Scotland, what about

us? Labour would be well advised to adjust quickly on this so that the

John Redwood types do not steal the show. England has yes to use -- yet

to speak. It's interesting when you hear a Labour backbencher in

Scotland talk about a command paper. He is not in government. Gordon

Brown is going round Scotland promising things and he has

absolutely no chance of delivering them. The MPs in England will say,

hey, what are you talking about We have never been discussed with that?

We have not agreed with that. The only way people in Scotland will get

the powers they deserve is by voting yes. Crystal ball time, Tommy, you

think it is 60/40. I will stick with it, because we have an unprecedented

election. 97% of Scotland is registered to vote. The working

class will vote in numbers never voted before. George? 55/45 for our

side. And if there is a rogue poll, the tek Levesley polled --

technically flawed poll, which should not be published because it

is so flawed, then we would be stretching towards what I am

predicting already. I think in the last few days we will reach that.

Come on. If the no campaign can get the silent majority out, they will

edge it. You think they will win, but how much? They cannot give up in

a second, a moment or a mile. It is that close. It will be won by the

passionate view. I will go for a narrow yes victory. I'm the George,

53 or 54% in favour of Joe -- no. -- I am with George. I will leave you

to argue about that later. Thank you for being with us on the special

Sunday politics from Edinburgh. That's all from us today

in Scotland. Don't forget the Daily Politics will

have continuing coverage of the referendum campaign all this

week on BBC2 at midday. On Thursday night Huw Edwards will

be in Glasgow and I will be in London to bring you live coverage

of the results on BBC1 from 10. 0 pm on a historic night for Scotland

and the rest of the United Kingdom. And I'll be back next Sunday

when we're live from the Labour Unless, of course, the referendum

result is so tumultuous even the Remember if it's Sunday,

it's the Sunday Politics.