Ruth Davidson Sunday Politics

I am joined by the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth

Davidson. With Kezia Dugdale, can we briefly start with Manchester.

Drummer Corbyn's speech was described by Boris Johnson as

absolutely monstrous, he said it was absolutely extraordinary and

inexplicable in this week for weeks that there should be any attempt to

legitimate the action of terrorists in this way. Would you distance

yourself from that, on the grounds that having a sensible level-headed

debate without that kind of language is what we need at the moment? I

think that Rice said themselves what was behind this attack, they said

that the foreign policy were secondary, they said it was an

attack because this country is not a Muslim country and not a country of

believers. In terms of who perpetrated this, whose fault this

is, this is the coward that walked into the 48 of the Manchester indoor

arena as streams of teenagers were leaving. He is at fault for this. We

could talk about foreign policy all we like, but to suggest when such

attacks have happened encourages like Belgian, Sweden, who have not

shared foreign policy... That is Jeremy Corbyn is suggesting that,

that he did not mean that at all? If you read the text, and the very

quote you read to Kezia Kezia Dugdale Dugdale, he is saying it is

part of the issue of why they are attacking us. We were not involved

in Iraq RF can stand before the bombing, Sweeting was not involved

in these sorts of conflicts either, but have been subject to these

attacks. This is about a death cult that hate our freedoms, Don Mock

Krissy, and that we tell our young girls that it is OK to a pop

concert. And the way that we beat them is continuing to tell our young

women that they can do that, there is nothing to stop them.

Independence, your number one issue, all over the leaflets, but in the

manifesto, you introduce two new criteria are over whether there

could be another independence referendum, you said it would meet

public consent. Nicola Sturgeon said she was forcing through to organise

Brexit to drugs to another referendum on independence. There

are two principles here, one, Scotland cannot be dragged back to

another independence referendum when we do not know what the options look

like because we do not know what exit are independence looks like

because Nicola Sturgeon will not say whether she is in our out of the EU.

We should not be dragged when the people of Scotland do not want it. I

have a bit of an aisle while Matt, which is Nicola Sturgeon, because

the 2016 election, I was standing next to her on a platform doing one

of these television debates and she said time and time again that if the

people of Scotland did not want to referendum, there would not be won.

She would not have the right to call one if people did not call... We won

the Scottish elections last year, the ScottishPower and has voted for

this, what are you saying? Are you saying these opinion polls have to

go it different way? A conditional statement in their manifesto, they

lost their majority, they also told the public that if there was not a

change in public will for this, then they would not drag us there. Also,

we saw in 2011 but what public consent looks like, we saw broad

agreement across parties, even like Kezia Dugdale and myself recognised

there was a mandate for independence. But the SNP do not

have legitimacy arguing for a referendum unless you agree with

them? You ask them any question at all and it is always about

independence. But with democratic norms, they have a mandate for it. I

do not accept that they do. I do not accept when you lose your majority

Let's but the Scottish Parliament has voted for their majority. But

only did they sign an agreement that says we will not come back, we will

respect the result. They are clearly not respecting it. Nicola Sturgeon

looked the people of Scotland in the eye and said if there is not the

changing public opinion, she would not drag us back. She is. We need to

stop her and people can help you stop her by voting for my party.

Let's say you achieve your dream and URA position of becoming First

Minister, the SNP... You have something in your manifesto that you

wanted to implement and everyone turned around and said, even though

you have one, almost an absolute majority, you have no mandate for

that, view would be furious, you would say this is an attack on

democracy. But that happens all the time in Parliament. Attacks under

democracy ROK? You have to have a plurality of opinion in Scottish

politics,... You said in July last year that if the ScottishPower Mint

voted for another referendum, the UK should not stand on its way. I have

never said it should be denied. That is a direct quote. Why have you

changed your mind? The Prime Minister and the Secretary of State

as saying the same thing. The same as I have never said the UK

Parliament would and I devote? You have said they would never be a

referendum again was that they said there cannot be won and the people

of Scotland do not know what the options look like, the do not know

what Brexit looks like, nor should there be one when the people do not

want one. It is clear Scotland is not want one and why we have seen

some panicked reactions from the SMP because they are realising they

started the campaign putting independence at the heart. Now they

are talking about it less because they know people are turning away,

six schools, six-hour hospitals. You also say that there cannot be

another referendum until the Brexit process has played out. What does

that mean? Until we know how it is working. There will be a primary

transfer of powers as we leave the from Brussels to Westminster. But

then there will be a secondary transferral of power to devolved

administrations and local authorities in England. So does it

mean till we know the final deal, does it mean for a period after

that, do we know how it will work in practice? This is in response to

Nicola Sturgeon who is promoting this. The day after the Brexit vote,

she said she had already instructed to zil servants to drop the

necessary legislation for independence. We said we need to

know what we are voting on. We will know by 2019. We will know what the

focus of the deal is, but we will not know how it compares to Scotland

and the transferral of powers. There are lots of people who agree with me

that we need to make sure we get this right, and one way of not doing

that with different nations in the UK pulling apart, the countries pull

together to get a good deal. Can you see the conditions that the

Conservative Party Chairman the UK wide and Scottish manifesto Let's be

met before the next Scottish elections in 2021? I'm not going to

advocate for this to be held within the next Parliament, held within the

next generation which these people were promised. You have accepted the

SMP have some sort of mandate, you are not saying no. It is a weak

mandate. Can you see the conditions you have laid down in your manifesto

being met before 2021? Current play with support in this support going

down foreign independence referendum, I do not see it

happening soon. The people of Scotland do not want it. Not very

good while after 2021? At the moment, with what we have seen over

the last few years, there is no support for another independence

referendum, it is no look like there will be, and has weird scene from

Nicola Sturgeon trying to ditch independence as a campaigning to

all, we're not going to see it soon. Your critics will say a game you are

tampering with democracy. What you are trying to do is put things off

until the next Scottish election in the hope the SMP mandate runs out

and the do not have the majority for their position. Nicola Sturgeon once

this hell or high water, you have a Labour Party where Jeremy Corbyn

says he's fine with another independence referendum. You have

spoken to the Scottish Labour leader Hugh is barking deals that back who

is blocking deals. She says it is fine for SMP is to Let's if you want

to stop this, help me, I'm telling people at home, help me stop this. I

think to be fair to Kezia Dugdale, she went back, tinny interview she

has done with me. She should Nicola Sturgeon have a seat at the Brexit

talks? I want work for Scotland, so... But she wants a seat in the

talks. My problem with that is Nicola Sturgeon once Scotland to be

out of the UK but in Europe. I want to know which side of the table she

would be sad that because she does not want the UK to exist and she won

Scotland back in. You said you are open to a review of the so-called

white cause. And you have faced criticism for not calling for such a

review to take place, so would you like to take the opportunity to

rectify that and how it operates in practice? You would call an Theresa

May to institute such a review? We have not seen it work it because it

has just been brought in. What does it mean to say you are open to a

review? People have made criticisms of this, because this is a sensitive

issue and India deserves time spent on it. This is where people of

hard... There is a policy that has been brought in that is in place

that is for the first two children, you receive tax credits, and after

that you do not. People within the benefits system faced the same

questions that are out of it. There are right to be exceptions to that,

people who have children born of rape in this way. This is about

getting them extra help. The question has been how is that done.

It is the same system as having a third-party professional help fill

out the form with the person, help them do it, in the way we have

cross-party support for domestic violence victims as well. If we can

improve that, and people have suggested that it could, but have a

look at that. If we see there are problems and complications once it

is rolled out, we review that, and we are open to that. Why not just

oppose the underlying policy of restricting benefits to two

children? You are defined Theresa May on winter fuel payments. There

are many well-off pensioners asking why they get the payments when they

can afford to keep themselves. It seems an anti-Tory policy. I think,

to be fair, this is not about child benefit. You get it never mind how

many children you have. This is about child tax credits. This is

about the same decisions for people. Why not say that is wrong? It is

about making sure we have a fair system. Why is it right to restrict

tax credits to two children, but wrong to means test winter fuel

benefits? There are questions you have to ask when you start a family,

and your income does not automatically go a bit you have

another child. Some of the questions asked at the same for people who are

not in that situation. In terms of my choice on devolution of winter

fuel payments, this is about the envelope. Millionaires get wind of

your benefits, but were people with more than two children to not get

tax credits? That is what you are saying. It is a decision made. All

people over a certain age have help with their heating and fuel

allowance. They can means test that, and the money saved will be

reinvested into social care. There is no extra investment on one side

of the border or the other and we want to keep that with people over a

certain age with what they always wanted. What they all is wanted

before, sorry. Income tax, you want the rates to be the same in Scotland

and England. Given there is no commitment to not raising income tax

in the Tory manifesto, if they do raise it, will you support a rise in

Scotland? There are no plans for that,... Saying we have designated

the sky as green... Tories pledging no new taxes is normal and it is not

there. We have got income taxes, we have raised the threshold, we have a

situation where Scotland in a contracting economy which is one

quarter away from recession. We should not have higher taxes here,

because it is bad for the Scottish economy. We will have to leave it

there. Thank you very much.