13/03/2017 The Papers

Hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the papers will be

With me are Matthew Syed, columnist at the Times,

and Kevin Schofield, editor of PoliticsHome.

Tomorrow's front pages: The Times, unsurprisingly leads

on the Scotland First Minister's demand for a second referendum

on Scottish independence, calling it an ambush,

and reporting that Theresa May is preparing to reject

A witty play on words from the Metro.

Scots throw a sporran in the works, reporting that the First Minister's

announcement has thrown Downing Street's Brexit

And the Guardian continues the theme, headlining

that the Prime Minister's plans have been upstaged by Scotland's First

The Daily Telegraph calls the face-off between the two leaders

the new battle for Britain, and the paper includes quotes

from Theresa May accusing Nicola Sturgeon of tunnel vision.

Finally, the Daily Express switches focus to this evening's events

in Westminster, saying that, following the votes in Parliament

pushing through the Government's Article 50 bill, the Queen

could sign Brexit into law as early as tomorrow morning.

Well, let's have a look at some of those at least in detail over the

next few minutes. We start with the Telegraph. A new battle for Britain.

Picture of Nicola Sturgeon at her press conference early this morning.

That is the way this is being portrayed by a number of the papers

going into the morning. Yes, and I sort of agree with it. I think this

is blatant opportunism for Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish

Nationalists. It was supposed to be a once in a generation referendum

the last campaign, and 900 and something days later they are

calling for another one. Has been material change since. That is what

she claims. She does indeed, and she campaigned on that during the

elections, but I don't remember during the election campaigns, even

though David Cameron had promised them and in out referendum and those

who voted for remaining in the United Kingdom must have understood

and those who campaigned against the jury that referendum must have

understood that if that was the democratic will of the Scottish

people that they would have to respect the opinion of the UK as a

whole. I also think this is a dangerous gamble, because there is

quite an interesting detail here towards the end of the Telegraph

piece, saying that there is a BMG poll, showing that 43% oppose,

equally significantly, 49% say they should be no referendum before

Brexit, which is precisely what Theresa May as saying. Nicola

Sturgeon would seem to want to have one before then, of course. You can

see why, it is a moment of maximum chaos as far as Great Britain is

concerned, so I suppose at that point in time the thought of being

able to have an escape hatch, if you like, becomes very, very attractive.

But I just don't see why it Theresa May would agree to have... To allow

the Scottish Parliament the power to vote in the referendum at the same

time she is trying to extricate Britain from the European Union. We

are going to be. I mean, the last are going to be. I mean, the last

independence referendum was all-encompassing, certainly in the

final weeks of the campaign. The government effectively shut down

here. They cancelled Prime Minister's Questions, when that

famous poll put the yes campaign in front. David Cameron's sole focus

was on keeping the country together. So the idea that the Prime Minister

could do that while also holding these discussions with 27 other EU

member states is just fanciful. I wonder how this will be seen in

terms of the two prominent women involved at the top of this dispute

in the coming weeks and months, looking at what Theresa May decides

to do. Last time it was David Cameron and Alex Salmond, this time

it is Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon, it will be interesting how

that is covered. I think so, and I think as well that Theresa May's

approach will be very different from David Cameron's. A bit more of a

gambler, he was a bit more arrogant, I think he thought he was a lucky

general. He had won the election in 2010, squeak at it, really, in

coalition and in 2015 it was a surprise victory but he was a guy

who thought he would come out on top -- squeaked it. So he didn't drive a

hard bargain when it came to give giving Alex Salmond a referendum and

this time around Theresa May will drive a harder bargain, put down

some more red lines and conditions on this, so it won't be quite a

straightforward for Nicola Sturgeon as it was for Alex Salmond. In the

Daily Mail very much a tie in with Brexit, as far as they are

concerned, as a result of what Nicola Sturgeon has decided to do.

Two yes, quite. I think it is noteworthy that there is a lot of

uncertainty both in the United Kingdom but also in Scotland. For

businesses in England, for example, they don't know precisely what the

terms of Brexit are going to be. That is going to be very complex,

thorough negotiation over the following two years. They are

probably going to take the view that they will not be the single market,

and probably won't be in the customs union. For Scottish businesses, the

time of uncertainty is endemic, because they don't know either of

those two things, but they don't even know what the currency is going

to be. When it comes to inward investment, forward planning, all

these strategic investments that businesses and others are making,

this will be an extraordinarily difficult time. The Guardian's take

on it is more about the way Nicola Sturgeon has played it politically

in the last 12 hours or so, her timing, which took a lot of people,

apparently including the prime apparently including the prime

minister, by surprise. I think it certainly did. There was not much of

a prior indication, I think it was on the front of the Telegraph this

morning, they have the late last night that Nicola Sturgeon was going

to have this event in Edinburgh. So Number Ten did not see this coming.

It is incredibly canny, astute politics late Nicola Sturgeon,

because she will appreciate that the Article 50 bill would probably pass

today. At that time all the briefing coming from Number Ten was that

Article 50 will actually be triggered tomorrow. All that went as

soon as Nicola Sturgeon got up and said this is what I want, I want a

referendum in 2019. These are my red lines. Everything changed as far as

Downing Street was concerned. All of a sudden Article 50 was not going to

the month has always been the plan. the month has always been the plan.

You are fairly convinced that is all connected? I think it is definitely

connected and I think she has thrown Number Ten, Theresa May,

off-balance. If you see this as the first shots in the second referendum

battle than she has certainly won this particular leg. There may well

be a couple of things that suit Theresa May, but there is definitely

fatigue. Even though there were was an enthusiastic campaign last time,

there is a huge amount of enthusiasm for another referendum -- isn't a

huge amount of enthusiasm. The economic argument in favour of

independence is more robust now that it was last time. Over those things

that well for Theresa May. The two personalities involved in this one

at the top of the Scottish and UK governments are very different to

last time around, and I think that the psychology of the electorate

will be influenced by the credibility and power of those two

campaigns. I think they are quite canny politicians. Yes, Alex Salmond

was more of a divisive figure, I think it is safe to say. He was more

of a Marmite figure and Nicola Sturgeon is not in that vein of

politics. I think he could be a little bit limited, because I don't

think he is a vote winner. A quick nod to the Scottish Daily Mail,

where it is fairly clear where it is pointing. Very clear about their

editorial line. On any other day, the vote in the British Parliament

going through the House of Lords, Brexit Bill likely to get Royal

assent tomorrow would have been the dominant story. And yet it has been

completely scuppered. It just shows how monumental that upcoming period

is going to be in our politics, is entangling the UK and the European

Union. The constitutional crisis between Scotland and the rest of the

UK. Who knows what other things are going to be coming down the track?

What it seems to me is the level of political uncertainty is at a level

unprecedented in our lifetimes, and I think it is really difficult to

envision what else might come along. envision what else might come along.

Will there be other nations looking for independence? I think it is

unlikely, but I do think that there will be eventualities that we

haven't yet foreseen. Sinn Fein have said there should be a referendum on

a united Ireland. The Plaid Cymru leader has suggested something

similar. Those political assumptions we have lived with all our lives. We

thought the Thatcher watershed in 1979 was a big change in the

post-war consensus. What we have now is of a completely different scope.

As you are saying about Brexit and the competition is there, they are

writ large on the front of the Times. And the Times have a list of

legislation prepared by Whitehall to cover the various areas that have to

be dealt with as we leave the European Union. So we have this

great repeal bill coming, and that would tie up all the loose ends, in

one fell swoop, as it were. And that was going to be compensated enough

because it you imagine how much legislation that has been

accumulated over the last 40 or so years... According to this leaked

list of legislation being prepared, it is covering immigration, tax,

agriculture, trade and customs regimes, fishing, data protection,

sanctions, a bill for each one. A bill for each one, and amendments

reach one, and... The sheer complexity is mind blowing, really.

The idea that they are going to be able to get through all of this

within two years while also holding discussions with the other 27

leaders and trying to gain free trade deals, because the official

position at the moment is that Downing Street can do all of that

within two years, two years is nothing. It is the blink of an iron.

It is quite a to-do list. Imagine them waking up in the with post-it

notes all over David Davis's bathroom. I was very strongly in

favour of remain, but I think it is right that this is going to be

triggered and Brexit must happen. Whether they get a good deal or a

bad Deal or no Deal, I think it is vital that the democratic judgement

of the British people is carried through. And I just got the

impression last week, that backbench Conservative MPs and Lords were

using what looked like on the face of it democratic arguments, you

know, Parliamentary sovereignty, when they were really looking to

overturn Brexit itself. I think that would be wrong. Interestingly, in

today's voting or this evening's voting, one or two conservatives

were expected to vote against. There were some abstentions, but not many.

No, it completely collapsed. The talk of 20 Tory MPs voting against

it just didn't happen. The amendments were overturned pretty

comfortably. Let's finish with the Express, the Queen glowing on the

Commonwealth Games, they say. And further coverage on, with regards to

the Commonwealth, the start-up of the run-up to the Commonwealth

Games. On the 2020 to Commonwealth Games in Durban will not take place

there are any more. And there are other cities which are therefore now

in the running and I think Liverpool and Birmingham have made initial

soundings and they may be interest in hosting at. A second opportunity

to see it. Having played in the Commonwealth Games in 2000 in

Manchester, in table tennis, and having won a gold medal in the team

event, I know that you want to talk to me about that very much. Victory

over India in the finals. Some wonderful backhand slices on in

there. It is a wonderful festival of sport, very different from the

Olympic Games. People often say the Commonwealth Games is an anachronism

because there is no British Empire, but it is terrific fun. It is a

great privilege to play in it. I know you want to talk about your

swimming bronze medal. I actually made that up. You were panicking,

because you have nothing to contribute. I won a couple of golf

trophies, I wasn't as good as my friends. In the last Commonwealth

great success. A huge success, and great success. A huge success, and

it is an opportunity for the nations within the United Kingdom,

independently. I remember in 2014 Commonwealth Games there was a

feeling that that would be another boost of Scotland did well, they

would vote for independence. It didn't quite work out that way. On

that note, no more medal talk.