Browse content similar to 14/11/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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stakes in this powder keg of a Tonight on news night Scotland: A | :00:15. | :00:18. | |
political row erupts as the Chancellor claims uncertainty | :00:18. | :00:23. | |
caused by the independence referendum is discouraging | :00:23. | :00:26. | |
businesses investing in Scotland. We'll hear from a Scotland office | :00:26. | :00:30. | |
minister. And in the latest in our series of Labour leadership | :00:30. | :00:35. | |
interviews, we speak to the man Ed Miliband called "the other | :00:35. | :00:41. | |
excellent candidate", Ken Macintosh. Good evening. So who is scared of | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
investing in Scotland? The Chancellor started a war of words | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
at the weekend, when he told BBC Scotland that some of the world's | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
largest companies are worried about putting money into Scotland because | :00:52. | :00:56. | |
of constitutional uncertainty. He refused to name any of the firms. | :00:56. | :01:01. | |
So is he scaremongering or reflecting genuine fears of big | :01:01. | :01:11. | |
business? David Allison reports. The respect agenda has moved on, | :01:11. | :01:16. | |
shuffled off or simply collapsed, depending on your point of view. | :01:16. | :01:18. | |
Now thinly-veiled threats are becoming the order of the day. | :01:18. | :01:22. | |
think the instability and the uncertainty that hangs over the | :01:22. | :01:28. | |
Scottish economy because of Alex Salmond raising the prospect of | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
independence without providing detail of when he wants the | :01:31. | :01:34. | |
referendum, what the question would be, I think that uncertainty is | :01:34. | :01:37. | |
damaging investment in Scotland. There are major businesses around | :01:37. | :01:40. | |
the world who have asked me in the last year, tell us what's going on | :01:40. | :01:43. | |
in Scotland. We're worried about making an investment in that | :01:43. | :01:46. | |
country. I've told them, go ahead with the investment. I have to say, | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
those questions are being asked. I think that is having a direct | :01:50. | :01:57. | |
impact on Scottish jobs and Scottish prosperity. | :01:57. | :02:01. | |
That's stuff and nonsense from George Osborne. He can't name a | :02:01. | :02:09. | |
single company. I can point to the great companies of the world like | :02:09. | :02:11. | |
Amazon, companies which have invested in Scotland in the last | :02:11. | :02:16. | |
few months. Indeed, as leader of team Scotland, the First Minister | :02:16. | :02:21. | |
has often been present at announcements, such as wind turbine | :02:21. | :02:29. | |
producer, or Doosan power services or the Swiss banking software firm | :02:29. | :02:34. | |
Avolok. Or Amazon creating a new centre in Dunfermline. Who are the | :02:34. | :02:37. | |
companies thinking twice about investing in Scotland? I don't want | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
to go into the specific companies, by I can tell you they are some of | :02:41. | :02:43. | |
the largest companies in the world. These are private conversations | :02:43. | :02:53. | |
:02:53. | :02:53. | ||
I've had. I have to say, always answer, invest in Scotland. | :02:53. | :03:01. | |
today the MD of bab cock's marine division insisted his firm is A | :03:01. | :03:05. | |
political about independence. They said they serve a number of bodies | :03:05. | :03:10. | |
and will never have a political opinion. But the local MP for the | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
area asked the Defence Secretary what the company perhaps couldn't. | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
Will he confirm if there was a separate Scotland the Ministry of | :03:17. | :03:21. | |
Defence would have to look again at the long-term refitting options for | :03:21. | :03:27. | |
our aircraft airiers? honourable gentleman is right, that | :03:27. | :03:32. | |
it is unlikely that Her Majesty's forces would wish to use facilities | :03:32. | :03:36. | |
in a fully interScotland in the way that they would wish to use | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
facilities within the United Kingdom. What about business more | :03:39. | :03:45. | |
generally? Are they asking questions? They have an open mind | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
about the prospect for independence. When companies invest, they do a | :03:49. | :03:56. | |
lot of dew diligence. -- due diligence. I don't think companies | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
are persuaded that independence is going to happen. If one looks at | :03:59. | :04:03. | |
all the opinion polls over time, it probably is unlikely. But that does | :04:03. | :04:09. | |
not mean that they shouldn't ask the questions and undertake a risk | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
assessment. It's entirely right that they should. Today the | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
Scottish Secretary reiterated George Osborne's remarks about the | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
uncertainty caused by the proposed independence referendum. Meanwhile, | :04:21. | :04:26. | |
the SNP produced a list of 15 major companies concerned about the | :04:26. | :04:31. | |
impact of the Chancellor's North Sea windfall tax. The challenge | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
we've got is George Osborne's negative policies. That's dissuaded | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
people from investing in the North Sea. A range of companies will sign | :04:39. | :04:43. | |
up to that. That is the difficulty the Scottish economy has at the | :04:43. | :04:45. | |
present moment. He's trying to blame everybody else, Europe, | :04:45. | :04:51. | |
Scotland, everybody. With the referendum not happening | :04:51. | :04:56. | |
before November 2013, this weather is set to be with us for a while. | :04:56. | :04:59. | |
Earlier I spoke to the SNP Stewart Maxwell and Scotland office | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
minister, David Mundell. I began by asking Mr Mundell if he could name | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
any of the companies the Chancellor was talking about? I think | :05:08. | :05:11. | |
obviously the Chancellor is in contact with a lot of British | :05:12. | :05:15. | |
companies, a lot of multinational companies. He's involved in a lot | :05:15. | :05:20. | |
of conversations which demonstrate whether businesses want to invest | :05:20. | :05:26. | |
in Britain and in Scotland. Can you name of the companies? That sort of | :05:26. | :05:31. | |
information is inevitably commercially sensitive. The | :05:31. | :05:34. | |
Chancellor does have a clear impression of what businesses are | :05:34. | :05:38. | |
saying about investing in Scotlandment Can you name any | :05:38. | :05:45. | |
companies? Can you name any company?... We have the uncertainty | :05:45. | :05:49. | |
over the independence referendum. Can you name a company which has | :05:49. | :05:53. | |
raised a similar concern with you? I've raised this issue with a | :05:53. | :05:58. | |
number of businesses and they have let me know that they do have a | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
concern about the independence referendum and about what the | :06:02. | :06:06. | |
future of Scotland is, about the uncertainty that sounds, surrounds | :06:06. | :06:10. | |
the referendum, about the date, about the question, about the | :06:10. | :06:15. | |
franchise. This is an unhealthy situation for business in Scotland. | :06:15. | :06:18. | |
It needs to be resolved. The SNP Scottish government could resolve | :06:18. | :06:23. | |
it now by coming forward with details of what the referendum will | :06:23. | :06:26. | |
actually involve and when it will be held. How many multinational | :06:26. | :06:30. | |
companies feel this way? I think it's quite clear that when | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
businesses look at Scotland and think "Will this country continue | :06:34. | :06:41. | |
to be in the EU? What currency will it have? What form of | :06:41. | :06:45. | |
revelationship will it have with the rest of the United Kingdom and | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
kfpbt answer that question, and these companies, as you know, do a | :06:49. | :06:54. | |
lot of internal... Which companies?... Analysis. They look | :06:54. | :06:58. | |
at different locations around the world for investment. Stewart | :06:58. | :07:01. | |
Maxwell, from SNP, you're not a minister, maybe you're not party to | :07:01. | :07:06. | |
that detail. You will have heard CBI Scotland today say that | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
business is concerned and is making calculations that may well affect | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
the amount of investment that the Scottish economy enjoys. I think we | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
heard there in the answers or lack of answers from David Mundell very | :07:21. | :07:25. | |
-- the very state of those who are trying to put forward a case forts | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
union. If you're running a business you would ask these questions, | :07:29. | :07:32. | |
wouldn't you? I'm afraid that the evidence is quite the contrary. We | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
have an enormous list of companies who have invested, probably | :07:36. | :07:39. | |
something like �1 billion over the last year in Scotland. They know a | :07:39. | :07:45. | |
referendum is coming up. Companies like Amazon and Doosan have real | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
confidence in the Scottish economy and in the confidence of the skills | :07:49. | :07:53. | |
of the workforce. I can tell you about one big business, the UK | :07:53. | :07:58. | |
Government, which spends a lot on defence contracts, which is | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
indicated today through David Mundell's boss that Scottish firms, | :08:01. | :08:06. | |
Scottish outfits would not be in the front line for orders in future, | :08:06. | :08:13. | |
if Scotland was an intercountry. think that's frankly ridiculous. | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
Most Scots will be absolutely sick to the back teeth of UK ministers | :08:17. | :08:21. | |
talking Scotland down and talking high quality, high skilled | :08:22. | :08:25. | |
workforces around the country, who could easily bid for this work and | :08:25. | :08:28. | |
I'm sure would win the work in the future. You have to remember that | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
the UK was signed up to the European defence procurement | :08:32. | :08:35. | |
programme by the Labour Government, supported by the Tories and the | :08:35. | :08:39. | |
liberals, that means there's open competition for defence contracts | :08:39. | :08:44. | |
across Europe. Isn't there to be a level playing field across the EU? | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
The first issue that comes to mind is whether Scotland would even be | :08:48. | :08:55. | |
in the EU. That question has been raised in recent consideration of | :08:55. | :08:59. | |
that issue. If the Scottish Government is confident that post- | :08:59. | :09:03. | |
independence that Scotland would even be in the EU, they should | :09:03. | :09:07. | |
publish their advice which supports that. A Scotland out with the EU | :09:07. | :09:11. | |
would certainly not be able to attract the level of investment | :09:11. | :09:17. | |
that it has previously. It wouldn't have the sort of level playing | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
field that Stewart Maxwell talks about. The future relationship with | :09:20. | :09:25. | |
the EU is just one of the very many uncertainties that surrounds | :09:25. | :09:29. | |
independence, because we don't have a definition of what independence | :09:30. | :09:33. | |
involves and we don't have a time scale for a referendum about | :09:33. | :09:39. | |
independence. I'm really getting a bit sick of this. I'm sure many | :09:39. | :09:43. | |
people are as well. You're supposed to be Scotland's man in the Cabinet, | :09:43. | :09:49. | |
but here you are... He's not in the Cabinet yet. A minister then, | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
certainly in the UK Government. Talking Scotland down, and telling | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
us how awful it's going to be. on a minute why don't you tell us | :09:57. | :10:02. | |
when you're going to have your referendum? Well, we'll have it in | :10:02. | :10:05. | |
the second half of this Parliamentary session. We have said | :10:05. | :10:09. | |
it and we have repeated that. published a question in the last | :10:09. | :10:14. | |
Parliament, when you said you would move towards holding a referendum. | :10:14. | :10:19. | |
Any reason to doubt that a question of the same nature won't appear on | :10:19. | :10:23. | |
the ballot paper when eventually you get round to a referendum? | :10:23. | :10:26. | |
referendum will happen. It will happen in the second half of this | :10:26. | :10:33. | |
Parliamentary term. There will be a clear yes/no question on | :10:33. | :10:38. | |
independence. On inds or on empowering the Scottish Government | :10:38. | :10:43. | |
to empowering a settlement to lead to independence? There has to be an | :10:43. | :10:46. | |
advisory referendum because that power is reserved. The wording will | :10:46. | :10:49. | |
be clear and it will be clear we're talking about independence for | :10:49. | :10:55. | |
Scotland. That's a fact. Everybody will know that's it. David Mundell, | :10:55. | :10:59. | |
if you're so worried about uncertainty, why don't you call the | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
referendum or put the Scottish Government's ability to hold it | :11:03. | :11:07. | |
beyond legal doubt by passing legislation to that effect? I think | :11:07. | :11:14. | |
at this stage, we want to hear what the Scottish government proposed. | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
Stuart's given more information than the First Minister or his | :11:18. | :11:21. | |
Government gave about what the terps of the referendum are. I hope | :11:21. | :11:25. | |
that they will be now more forth coming and tell us what they | :11:26. | :11:31. | |
propose. Then we can make a judgment on its legality, on | :11:31. | :11:37. | |
whether we think that the terms of it are fair, you know, we have | :11:37. | :11:40. | |
issues around, for example, whether the Electoral Commission would be | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
involved. It seems very odd that the Scottish government don't want | :11:43. | :11:46. | |
them to be involved in this referendum. But as the Chancellor | :11:46. | :11:50. | |
said, the ball's in their court. Let's hear what they propose and | :11:50. | :11:56. | |
end this uncertainty. David Mundell and Stewart Maxwell thanks both | :11:56. | :12:01. | |
very much. Now Ed Miliband described him as | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
the third candidate, who's also putting himself forward. He | :12:04. | :12:08. | |
couldn't quite remember his name. That slip helped to draw attention | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
to Ken Macintosh and in a moment, he'll be here for the second of our | :12:12. | :12:16. | |
interviews with those hoping to lead the Labour Party in Scotland. | :12:16. | :12:20. | |
If he struggles to be recognised in his own party, what hope does he | :12:20. | :12:25. | |
have of becoming its next leader. Ken Macintosh has been a member of | :12:25. | :12:34. | |
the Scottish Parliament from day one. He's one of a few original | :12:34. | :12:38. | |
MSPs never to have been given a ministerial role. Of the three | :12:38. | :12:43. | |
candidates vying for the leadership, the former BBC producer is arguably | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
the lowest profile among voters. Recently even slipped the mind of | :12:47. | :12:52. | |
the UK party leader. Can you name the three of them? What I say | :12:53. | :12:59. | |
there's Tom Harris, erm... Joanne Lamont, and a third candidate who | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
is also putting himself forward. is the front runner, Ken Macintosh. | :13:03. | :13:09. | |
Ken Macintosh, yeah. You can't name him. He is going to be an excellent | :13:09. | :13:13. | |
candidate. I forget the names of my kids half the time. It show that's | :13:13. | :13:17. | |
politicians are human. Macintosh was first to put himself | :13:17. | :13:23. | |
forward as a replacement for the outgoing leader Ian Grey. He | :13:23. | :13:27. | |
describes himself as a devolutionist. He promised to put | :13:27. | :13:31. | |
jobs, the economy and education at the top his priorities. He also | :13:32. | :13:35. | |
described May's Holyrood election as disastrous, saying the party | :13:35. | :13:38. | |
needed to get better at listening to its own members. We need to | :13:39. | :13:42. | |
unite as a party and start talking positively about what we believe in, | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
go out and talk to people about their lives and how we can make a | :13:46. | :13:50. | |
difference in those lives. That way we cannot just unite as a party, | :13:50. | :13:54. | |
but unite Scotland. He's shown he can come out top in a political dog | :13:54. | :13:59. | |
fight, as his party suffered defeat after defeat at the last election, | :13:59. | :14:03. | |
in areas once considered strong holds, Macintosh held on to his own | :14:03. | :14:08. | |
seat in the face of a strong Tory challenge to his redrawn | :14:08. | :14:15. | |
constituent. Ken Macintosh is here now. Why you? The clue is partly | :14:15. | :14:21. | |
there, the election in May, which was a disaster for Labour, had a | :14:21. | :14:27. | |
few chinks of light. One was in East woord where we won by 2,000 | :14:27. | :14:32. | |
votes. Wasn't that an anti-Tory move? Partly it was. But there are | :14:32. | :14:38. | |
other factors. We have to have a broad appeal. In Eastwood I have to | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
win traditional Labour voters, but there aren't enough. I have to | :14:41. | :14:45. | |
reach out beyond that. That's the message I want to get across now. | :14:45. | :14:48. | |
I'm worried that the Labour Party, following defeat, sticks on the | :14:48. | :14:51. | |
familiar course and sticks with the familiar and more of the same. But | :14:51. | :14:55. | |
we can't do that. We're on a steady decloin and we'll continue to lose | :14:55. | :14:58. | |
votes if we go that way. We need to reach out and become the voice of | :14:58. | :15:04. | |
Scotland. Make sure that people from all over think the party is | :15:04. | :15:07. | |
listening and speaking for them. Stkp if you're the right guy, if | :15:07. | :15:11. | |
you're so good, why were you never chosen for Government in eight | :15:11. | :15:19. | |
years when Labour had power? There are several reasons. I was a | :15:19. | :15:22. | |
ministerial aide quite early on. It's the first step on the greasy | :15:22. | :15:27. | |
pole. The trouble was, not the trouble, I stood by my constituents. | :15:27. | :15:32. | |
I voted against my party and my own Government on the removal of A&E | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
services from the Victoria Hospital. I had to resign as a result. I was | :15:36. | :15:39. | |
in the political wilderness on the backbenchs for several years. | :15:39. | :15:44. | |
were punished for that? Yes. I didn't expect to be pun ished for | :15:45. | :15:50. | |
quite as long. When we went back in opposition I was promoted back to | :15:50. | :15:53. | |
the frontbench. I think my talents have been recognised. When you put | :15:53. | :15:58. | |
your constituents first, as I did there, then clearly you're putting | :15:58. | :16:02. | |
you're career on the back burner. What kind of leader would you be? | :16:02. | :16:06. | |
Are you a socialist? Yes, I am. I'm proud to be a socialist. In what | :16:06. | :16:10. | |
way? I believe in equality, fighting against injustice. | :16:10. | :16:14. | |
Scotland a fantastic country, but this is a wealthy country, with one | :16:14. | :16:17. | |
in five children in poverty. That's not right. That's the reason I'm in | :16:17. | :16:20. | |
the Labour Party to tackle that. We can do things now. We can tackle it | :16:21. | :16:25. | |
now with the powers we have in this Parliament. Is it your socialism | :16:25. | :16:30. | |
that led you to suggest that the real franchise should be taken back | :16:30. | :16:35. | |
into -- rail franchise should be taken back into public ownership. | :16:35. | :16:40. | |
think it should be a mutual, not for profit. Some would say that's | :16:40. | :16:48. | |
not public ownership. It takes legislation at Westminster to make | :16:48. | :16:52. | |
it nationalised. With independence perhaps? Potentially. I'll be | :16:52. | :16:56. | |
interested to see if the SNP ever propose it. It's a dividing line | :16:56. | :17:01. | |
between us or the SNP. I would certainly take, end the ScotRail | :17:01. | :17:06. | |
franchise, which is a �300 million subsidy to a private company, going | :17:06. | :17:12. | |
up to �500 million and the SNP, who are looking at public transport and | :17:12. | :17:16. | |
bus regulation, chucked all those out when they received money from | :17:16. | :17:19. | |
private donors. You make a connection between the two things? | :17:19. | :17:24. | |
I absolutely make a connection, yeah. Absolutely. You mean their | :17:24. | :17:30. | |
policy was bought? I think it was compromised. It was tested, their | :17:30. | :17:33. | |
belief in whether or not public transport should be run in the | :17:33. | :17:37. | |
public interest was tested at that point. I think it was found wanting. | :17:37. | :17:45. | |
In our case, we would run, I'm not interested in private - good, | :17:45. | :17:52. | |
public-bad. I'm interested in a mixed economy. We have a private | :17:52. | :17:58. | |
company running services in Scotland. It's a monopoly. It's not | :17:58. | :18:04. | |
working for us. Would you tackle Scottish water? No I think | :18:04. | :18:08. | |
everybody is happy with it being a public company. You were talking | :18:08. | :18:12. | |
about the SNP and how you would differ from the Nationalists in | :18:12. | :18:17. | |
power, of course you have to beat two Labour rivals first. What is | :18:17. | :18:21. | |
the difference between you and the other two? Both of them are | :18:21. | :18:27. | |
colleagues and friends. I'm not going to compare myself with them. | :18:27. | :18:30. | |
You have to do that to some extent. The party needs to change and I | :18:31. | :18:34. | |
offer the biggest change F you're looking for a fresh voice for the | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
Labour Party in Scotland, if you want to broaden your appeal, if you | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
want to talk about hope and optimism in Scottish life and talk | :18:41. | :18:46. | |
positively, because in the past - You said earlier you were a | :18:46. | :18:51. | |
socialist, are you more of a socialist than Joanne Lamont? | :18:51. | :18:57. | |
centre of the party as far as I can tell. A centrist socialist? There's | :18:57. | :19:00. | |
not many people in the Labour Party would deny being a socialist. I | :19:00. | :19:08. | |
don't think there's any point in that. Why do the big trade unions | :19:08. | :19:13. | |
back Joanne Lamont and not you? have big trade unions. The biggest | :19:13. | :19:17. | |
ones back her. That's for them to decide. I happen to know the vote | :19:17. | :19:22. | |
in the GMB and the other unions was very, very close, very close indeed. | :19:22. | :19:27. | |
I don't think you can read more into it. The union members will | :19:27. | :19:31. | |
make up their own minds how they vote. Are you happy to wait for the | :19:31. | :19:36. | |
SNP to call its referendum? No, but it's up to the SNP to do so. We | :19:36. | :19:39. | |
have not got a mandate to interfere. They won the election. They're | :19:39. | :19:42. | |
elected on that mandate. They should call the referendum. I would | :19:42. | :19:46. | |
rather have it sooner than later. Ken Macintosh, thank you for | :19:46. | :19:52. | |
talking to us. A look at tomorrow's front pages. The Herald going with | :19:52. | :19:55. | |
defence jobs. The Scotsman with a similar headline. That's all we | :19:55. | :19:58. | |
have time for tonight. Watch again on the iPlayer. From all of us, | :19:58. | :20:08. | |
:20:08. | :20:12. | ||
Hello there. Pretty grey first thing on Tuesday morning. Another | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
drab start to proceedings. Unlike Monday, hopefully it will get | :20:16. | :20:18. | |
brighter through the day, particularly through the south and | :20:18. | :20:21. | |
parts of Wales. Like Monday, North West England and western Scotland | :20:21. | :20:25. | |
should be favoured for a little bit of sunshine. To the east, I think | :20:25. | :20:30. | |
it will stay mostly overcast. A lot of cloud too for the Midlands. | :20:30. | :20:32. | |
Brightening up through East Anglia and the southern counties of | :20:33. | :20:36. | |
England, we should get a bit of sunshine, lifting temperatures into | :20:36. | :20:42. | |
the teens. Like Monday, west Wales should see some sunshine. Elsewhere, | :20:43. | :20:46. | |
it will be fairly cloudy, but perhaps brighter than it was on | :20:46. | :20:50. | |
Monday. A lot of cloud covering Northern Ireland as well. But again, | :20:50. | :20:54. | |
along the north coast it may cheer up and temperatures could respond, | :20:54. | :20:58. | |
up to 12 degrees Celsius. North West Scotland will be favoured for | :20:58. | :21:02. | |
sunshine and maybe not as much fog around here, as during Monday. The | :21:02. | :21:05. | |
eastern side of Scotland stays rather grey. Wednesday should be a | :21:05. | :21:09. | |
bit brighter, again. A better chance of seeing some sunshine. We | :21:09. | :21:12. | |
could see thickening cloud bringing rain into Northern Ireland later on | :21:12. | :21:15. | |
Wednesday. That cloud could also bring rain into parts of South | :21:15. | :21:20. | |
Wales and maybe the far South West of England. We will see the cloud | :21:20. | :21:23. | |
increasing, certainly across Devon and Cornwall, rain arriving here | :21:23. | :21:29. |