16/09/2014 The Papers

Many apologies for that, some gremlins in the system.

Hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the papers

Joining us from Glasgow this evening is Torcuil Crichton, the Westminster

Editor for the Daily Record, and here with me is Hugh Muir,

The mac congratulations on the new job. We will start with the papers.

``. Women could prove decisive factor, according to the Telegraph

and the Metro has families of two Britons paying tribute to loved ones

killed in the Thai resort. The Financial Times reports two

of the mobile operators that contributed to the demise of Phones

4U are in talks with the administrator to

buy parts of the company. As well as reporting

on the referendum, the Guardian carries a story that US ground

troops could be sent to Iraq. Those are some front pages and we

will start with the Guardian. I will start with you, this is your paper.

The Scottish independence would, NHS leaked fuel campaign clashes. Whose

hands with the NHS be safer in, independent Scotland or with the

union? This is an issue that has come to the forefront again today?

Were getting very much to the endgame and both sides are trying to

focus on what they can see as the critical issues that might get them

over the line. The NHS has been at the heart of this and the feeling

throughout has been that the Labour vote amongst the old no voters will

settle this on the NHS Israeli important to them and both sides are

keen to show that they will be more protective of the NHS and you can

guarantee the NHS will be safe. What the no campaign has got today is

this league that they say they have that shows, that purports to show

there would be heavy cuts in the NHS even with independence and the yes

campaign says we can guarantee the NHS in Scotland, the only way to

guarantee the NHS in Scotland and the no campaign is pouring cold

water on that with this league helping them to do that with a

whistle`blower. In the next 48 hours the SNP will have a much different

interpretation of that and they will make their own claims for the NHS.

This issue shows just how tense and fraught this is getting and will

get. Yes, it will get worse, and Torcuil Crichton, the SNP makes

clear that if the NHS as far as Scotland is concerned stays within

the rebate of Westminster, in terms of funding, then there will always

be the potential for cuts in the future? Or creeping privatisation?

That is a good point? It is one that will infuriated the Labour Party

because of the roof has been any game changer in this long campaign

over two years and with less than two days left to go, it is an alex

Salmond has turned the danger of leaving the United Kingdom into a

story of the danger of staying with the UK. And the Tories `` the story

using this is the claim that the NHS will be privatised if you stay in

the union. And that seems to have had an effect on his Labour voters

at the SNP need to get over the finish line and that infuriates

Labour because Labour knows that the NHS in Scotland is fully devolved,

the only people who can privatise it in Scotland or the Scottish

government. So they have been fighting back hard on that and this

story today in the Guardian picks up on a story that was in the Glasgow

Herald this morning showing that NHS management in Scotland under

devolution and the Scottish government face ?450 million of cuts

over the next two years. They will have to cut back and close wards and

hospitals and reorganise things. And Labour say this is a silver bullet

that shows that it is the SNP themselves cutting back on health

spending and not the UK government. And the SNP have hit back but this

makes the case for independence, but with one click in the box on

Thursday you'll be free from austerity changes. The Daily

Telegraph, women give the no campaign eight boost, according to

The Daily Telegraph poll. And the position of women, which side the

majority will come down on. That has been pretty influential in

determining a lot of opinion polls? I am sure that Alistair Darling will

be delighted by this because right from the outset, he has been helping

that he could, with that very pragmatic approach, appeal to women.

The feeling was... That very approach but lots of women off? It

still does! I think that he has been thinking they would be looking

through this lost and making the decision based on the hard, cold

facts and that has been the criticism of this, there have been

too many cold, hard facts and know the romance of the campaign or the

grand vision. Of staying within the UK. Part of his reasoning for having

a campaign like that is to try to get flat facts about what will

happen to individual households, what will happen to people that hold

the purse strings in the family? It might be old`fashioned but that is

how the policy sees things. He will be pleased that this survey of 150

Scots and within that, the six team % lead for the no vote amongst

women. That is directly contrasted by the figures for men, 47 no and 53

yes. That does look like women could hold the key here. There seems to

be, according to this, and this is just one poll, suggesting that women

are moving a little bit more towards the no campaign but isn't it perhaps

problematic that so late in the day, we're getting this shift for

Alistair Darling and Cameron and Westminster, happening so late? I

will tell you something, Alistair Darling will not be pleased with

this tonight, this is one of three polls in the Telegraph shows 58`42,

the Scotsman has 48`52 and the Daily Mail has 58, 42. That is too close

to call and Alistair darling and want to be 20 points ahead and they

are in the fight of their lives. Darling says this would always go to

the wire and it does look as if it is going to. More women have been

persuaded back into the no camp by this Rauch of economic stories in

the past week and because they are coming around to making their

decision that perhaps a more rational and cautious decision about

finance and the way things go, I am not a sociologist, I cannot explain

why women more than men are less inclined to vote independence but

these are very tight, 52, 48, with just 36 hours left to go. It shows

the result to play for. Before we go, let his move to The Times. MPs

warn of a Dalyan. That goes to the fact that for many people in the

union, it should not be this close? And the stakes have been made, no

question? As a result, we get all of this time are being thrown at the

yes camp, devo max, super Max, some would suggest. And MPs in England

are talking about rebelling. This week has been extraordinary,

the things that the no campaign have had to promise to Scotland. What

will annoy particularly English MPs is the promise they will retain the

Barnett formula, the funding formula Scotland has seen to benefit from

disproportionately. Tory MPs have always hated that formula and they

have talked about getting rid of it. Even Lord Barnett himself thinks

it's an old`fashioned formula. The idea that the Tories have had to say

they will keep the formula will infuriate the backbenches of David

Cameron. Keeping the Barnett formula was something Gordon Brown, Nick

Clegg and Ed Miliband is the way to keep the union. It has been

extraordinary in two senses. In the daily record we got all three party

leaders, to sign a pledge, a promise to keep the Scottish Parliament, to

give it more powers, and to ensure an equal and fair distribution of

funding across the UK and that includes keeping the Barnett

formula. And for very good reason, it gives Scotland because of the

sparsity of its population, a bigger share. It is surprisingly Tory MPs

in Westminster have kept a lid on the rebellion till now. Hopefully

you will both be back for a full ten, 12 minutes in about one hour's

time. Thank you for that. Stay with us on BBC News because it's time for

the sport. Hello and welcome to sports day.

This is what is coming up on the programme. Liverpool begin their

Champions League campaign with a victory but they leave it late to

beat Ludogorets. Defeat for Arsenal in Germany in their opening group