26/11/2013 BBC News at One

A blueprint for independence. Scotland's First Minister calls it a

mission statement for the country's future. If Scots vote yes,

Independence Day would be 24th March 2016. Alex Salmond says a separate

Scotland would mean better childcare and education, and a reformed,

fairer tax system. We could tap powers and responsibilities we need

to face our major challenges. There is nothing new. Nothing they have

told us today they could not have told us yesterday. They have ducked

the fundamental questions. I am live at Holyrood with all the latest

reaction as people die just the contents of the latest White Paper.

Also this lunchtime... A police constable has been charged with

misconduct in public office in relation to the Plebgate row, which

involved the former Chief Whip, Andrew Mitchell. The killer winter.

Last year's cold weather was responsible for the deaths of more

than 30,000 people in England and Wales. The new report which reveals

shocking sexual violence being carried out by children against

other children, some as young as 11. Pulling the plug. Plans for a huge

wind farm off the north Devon coast have been shelved. A third Westfield

shopping centre. New technology in Ealing to keep cyclists safe.

Good afternoon and welcome to the BBC News at One. Scottish First

Minister Alex Salmond has launched the SNP's blueprint for an

independent Scotland. The Scottish Government white paper is promising

to build a more democratic, more prosperous, fairer society and forms

the framework for debate ahead of next year's referendum. We can go

live to Jane Hill at Holyrood. Thank you very much. Good afternoon from

Holyrood. This is the White Paper. Not so much a paper, more a weighty

tome to put by your bedside table. Your guide to an independent

Scotland. This is what has been produced. The key question, is there

enough detail in this document to persuade the people of Scotland to

vote yes next September? Is there enough explanation as to how an

independent Scotland would be able to operate?

This was their moment, on their stage with their version of what an

independent Scotland could look like. The first minister came to

Glasgow to launch the White Paper. What it is about is explaining how

independents and constitutional change and completing the powers of

our Parliament can change Scotland for the better. The no campaign

dream up their extraordinary suggestions as to why people should

refuse to co-operate after Scotland becomes independent. We will say

what we can do with independence. There would be no tax rises, they

would keep the pound. As expected, the nuclear deterrent, Trident,

would be removed from the Clyde by 2020. Any defence force would be

created with 20,000 personnel in total. -- a new defence. There would

be universal childcare and pensioners in an independent

Scotland would get more, ?160 a week. As the first 20,000 copies run

off the press, critics were quick to scrutinise the detail. There is

nothing new. What is plan B if we cannot get into a currency union and

the pound? Who will pay the pensions? The promises on childcare,

why can't they do it now? These are the voters that need to be

convinced. Fewer women back independence. When it comes to

shaking up the country, they falter. With my life change? Would it impact

on us as a family? I would love written evidence from Alex Salmond

that Scotland can afford to be independent. That is the bottom

line. It sounds good but I am frightened. What frightens you?

Whether or not we can cope on our own. Will this cast a spell over

voters? The SNP need to tell people what independence is about. If they

do not succeed in doing that, it is very difficult to see how in three,

4-macro, five and six months time, they can turn the tables around? The

focus is on theirs. The Scottish Government hopes that people across

Scotland will read it. With the yes campaign trailing in the polls,

today is the day they hope they can turn the course of this campaign

their way. In a minute, we'll be talking to our chief political

correspondent, Norman Smith, in Downing Street. First, our Scotland

political editor, Brian Taylor, who joins us from Glasgow. What strikes

you? Is that the detail in this document that people have been

hoping for? There is detailed - whether it is enough to convince the

people is a different matter. People are looking for answers, precision.

You cannot have precision in political life or life more

generally. It is a challenge and a conundrum. They are trying to give

as much assurance as they possibly can. The launch was at the science

centre in glass go. Politics is sometimes a dark art. -- glass go.

They pose a question to themselves. They asked the voter what does it

mean to me? The answer is, it means, enhanced childcare. It means

maintaining benefits and scrapping the bedroom tax and improving the

offer with regard to the benefit system more generally. It means

improving matters for the household in other words. What they are trying

to do is say you have the conundrums of questions on the European Union,

NATO and, above all, on the currency. This issue will be judged

not by a tribunal of experts but by the people of Scotland. Alex Salmond

hopes he can appeal directly to them. Is that going to be an appeal?

Would that be your best guess? Over the next ten months, does it appeal

to people 's hearts as much as heads? I think that Alex Salmond

calculates that people in Scotland feel a sense of Scottish identity.

That is the default position which is as well expressed in the union as

it would be by independence. The debate is on the question of, with

the individual Scottish voter be better off? They have the offer on

childcare. They have the offer on benefits and on maintaining

pensions. They have the offer on cutting fuel bills. Alex Salmond

says that trumps the concerns and anxieties - genuine concerns and

anxieties that exist about the European Union and NATO. Alex

Salmond talks about the currency and says it would be in the best

interests of the remainder of the UK and perverse to turn it down. His

opponents say the opposite in that the UK would see no benefit. And we

can talk to Norman Smith, who is in Downing Street. There have been some

robust comments very much already this morning. It seems today was the

day the gloves came off at Westminster. To date, Alex Salmond

has been able to get away with presenting an independent Scotland

as a land of milk and honey where there are only happy outcomes.

Ministers want to spell out what they regard as some of the harsh

consequences and choices involved in independence. Number one, an

independent Scotland could not expect to keep the pound. Why? They

say it is not credible to expect UK tax payers, through the Bank of

England, to be the lender of last resort, to what would be a foreign

country. They say they are not bluffing about this. They say that

Scottish taxpayers could end up paying a lot more in tax. What do

these warnings tell us? Here, the view is it is the economy where the

Scots feel they are better or worse of that will determine how they vote

and that it will still be a very close contest and they have two

punch hard. Here is the one peculiarity. Do not expect David

Cameron and senior Tories to be doing much of that punching. Why?

The one game changer for Alex Salmond is, if he can turn this into

a row between Edinburgh and London, between a Scottish nationalist

government and an English tourist -- Tory government. There is lots more

on the BBC News website, including a live page detailing the latest

developments minute by minute. And there's a special Scotland's Future

website where there's plenty more background and analysis. That's at

bbc.co.uk/scotlandsfuture. That is all in the run-up to the

referendum on 18th of September next year. Within the past hour, it has

been announced that one police officer has been charged in

connection with an incident in Downing Street, involving the former

Conservative Chief Whip, Andrew Mitchell. The officer will also face

gross misconduct proceedings along with four others. The MP, who lost

his job in government over the affair, admitted swearing but denied

having used the word pleb. A September evening last year and

Andrew Mitchell, then the government Chief Whip, begins a bike ride which

would end his Cabinet career. His departure through the gates of

Downing Street was marred by an ill tempered exchange in which he swore

at police. He has denied he used the word collapse to describe officers

on the gates. It was that word which caused the Minister 's downfall. The

Police Federation lined up against the government. Under massive

pressure, Andrew Mitchell quit. As more details of the episode is

managed, Scotland Yard began an investigation into some of its own.

This led to a series of arrests. One officer, Keith Wallace, a

comfortable in the diplomatic protection group, has been charged.

He is accused of misconduct in public office by falsely claiming to

have witnessed the incident and claiming -- asking his nephew to

witness his false claims. In a statement, it added... The CPS has

also found there is insufficient evidence to show that Mr Mitchell

was the victim of a conspiracy of misinformation. The fallout when

beyond London. A few weeks ago, members of the Police Federation is

in Warwickshire and the West Midlands were brought before a

parliamentary committee to answer questions. They have been accused of

deliberately discrediting Mr Mitchell. 14 months on from the bike

ride which brought him down, focus moves from the behaviour of Mr

Mitchell to the courts. And June is with me now. What we have been told

by the Independent Police Complaints Commission is that they are

investigating five officers, including Keith Wallace, the officer

facing criminal charges. They are all facing disciplinary charges

accused of gross misconduct. The Police Federation says it welcomes

the decision by the Crown Prosecution Service that there was

insufficient evidence that the officer at the gate of Downing

Street should be charged or that Andrew Mitchell was the victim of a

computer is the. They point out -- a conspiracy. They have looked at all

the evidence, including CCTV footage from Downing Street. The police had

said this footage has been edited and does not show the full picture.

The officer involved will face his first court appearance on 16th of

December. -- his first court appearance. There was a big rise in

the number of winter deaths last year. It is estimated there were

more than 31,000 excess deaths because of the cold weather. That's

up 29% on the previous winter. The Office for National Statistics shows

most of the deaths across England and Wales involved people over the

age of 75. Checking up on a pensioner in Cheshire. A visitor

from the snow angels project pops in to offer help. Keeping warm during

winter is a matter of life or death for the elderly. For many last year

the weather was leaf fall. The thing you remember about last winter is it

was very cold. -- lethal. In February, March and April it was

cold. What was the coldest March we have had since 1962. It was bitterly

cold last year with late snow in many areas. When temperatures drop,

it is the very elderly who are most at risk -- more likely to get

serious chest infections or have heart problems. Doctors are

concerned they may also worry about heating bills. We have a growing

proportion of people who are old and very old. Over 75 and over 85. Their

bodies are not as good as they were to resist the cold and they become

victims of the energy price crisis that we have got under the poverty

of the poor pensioners they are on. Energy prices have been going up.

The advice for older people is that heating your home matters and that

taking precautions for the colder months is important. You get the flu

jab. Keep your bedroom and living room warm during the day while you

are in bed. Also for all of ours, to make sure that we look out for

neighbours, relatives and friends and keep an eye on them during the

coming winter period. Labour said some deaths were due to cold homes

and the government should stand up to energy companies. Health

officials said the NHS was prepared with extra help in the community for

elder people. There is another row between the

British and Spanish after Spanish officials opened a diplomatic bag as

it was being carried out of Gibraltar on Friday. It is the

latest in an increasingly bitter dispute. James Robbins, how big a

deal is this? Well, the Foreign Office call this a serious

infringement of the Vienna Convention, which is what governs

all diplomacy between states, and it makes clear that diplomatic traffic

carried in diplomatic bags is inviolable, in other words no state

has the right to open bags passing between British missions, or any

mission and the parent government. So opening these bags at the border

seems to be a clear infringement of that principle. The Foreign Office

is clearly irritated, because it sees this as another escalation of

this sort of diplomatic warfare that has been going on between Britain

and Spain over Gibraltar, particularly over the last few

months. You may remember we have had disputes over territorial waters,

incursions by Spanish vessels alleged by the British, two small

patrol vessels of the Royal Navy trying to sea loch Spanish

incursions. We have had extra board checks on the land frontier, much

argued over between London and Madrid, whether they were legitimate

not. And now this, a sign that Madrid is spoiling for a fight over

Gibraltar, which has been British territory for 300 years, something

Spain has never really accepted. If you like, the constellation of stars

is perfectly aligned, there is a right of centre government in

Madrid, a hardline chief minister, a Gibraltarians in Gibraltar, and a

government here that is an willing to give any ground. I think we can

expect more of this row. Our top story this lunchtime: The

Scottish government has published its plans for independence, arguing

that leaving the UK would create a fairer and more prosperous Scotland.

Later in the programme, coming to a television year you, the first of

first of 19 new local stations went live this morning, broadcasting a

mixture of sport and entertainment to quarter of a million homes. David

Sillito reports. 365 days a year, number of staff

eight. Good evening and welcome... Emma is the news presenter. She is

also the news editor, the chief correspondent. And camera operator.

We met on Scunthorpe's estate which took a battering when it was

featured on a Channel 4 series, Skin. Emma feels local TV would

present a more rounded picture of where we live. There are places like

this in Scunthorpe and places in Grimsby and help that have had a

knock, especially by national media. The national media tends to

come in, they trample over everybody that live here, and then they can

walk out again. This is where the evening news is going to be coming

from Fort Northern Lincolnshire and Goole months to come. The question

is, who is going to be watching? There is not enough happens around

here for 24 hour telly. They might have a couple of hours a day,

Scunthorpe is only a little town. What is your thought about the idea

of more local television? Not interested, to be honest! You would

watch local television? Yeah, definitely! Definitely about my own

place. I have got to go. Local television has been tried

before. This was set up in Greenwich 40 years ago. History is littered

with television channels that have come and gone, remember Live TV's

news bunny? But the Government was behind this idea, there is support

from the BBC. Grimsby, Manchester, Scarborough, mould. You can get in

touch with us... A nationwide network...