:00:09. > :00:12.and how your report. All right, thank you very much. Tonight on
:00:12. > :00:17.Newsnight Scotland. It's taken more than ten years, but is the Shirley
:00:17. > :00:20.McKie fingerprint case finally at an end? Today an inquiry the found
:00:21. > :00:23.she was a victim of "human error" and there was "nothing sinister" at
:00:24. > :00:28.work in her case. And when Scottish unemployment was below the UK
:00:28. > :00:31.average the SNP were happy to take the credit. Now the opposite is the
:00:31. > :00:41.case, it's all the fault of Westminster. How does the blame
:00:41. > :00:44.
:00:44. > :00:47.game help those looking for work? Good evening. If it did not have
:00:47. > :00:50.hanging over it the tragedy of an unsolved murder, today's report on
:00:50. > :00:52.the Shirley McKie affair would read like one of the most gripping
:00:52. > :00:55.detective novels of the year. It has a young policewoman falsely
:00:55. > :00:59.accused and then prosecuted for denying her fingerprint was at a
:00:59. > :01:02.crime scene. A murder verdict which was overturned, a trial which finds
:01:02. > :01:05.Ms McKie innocent of wrongdoing and the wrecked careers of fingerprint
:01:05. > :01:08.officers who it now turns out were acting in good faith all along. And
:01:08. > :01:11.it has a bigger picture. Right round the world, fingerprint
:01:11. > :01:19.evidence will never be seen in quite the same way again. Reevel
:01:19. > :01:24.At the heart of the cider was a refusal of fingerprint experts to
:01:24. > :01:28.accept they might have been wrong. Today, the head of the service
:01:28. > :01:36.apologised to Katia Zatuliveter, and her father. A tears the most
:01:36. > :01:39.romcom thing that has happened. -- to Shirley Mickey. They have
:01:39. > :01:44.apologised to Shirley, and my family for mistakes made in the
:01:44. > :01:49.past. That gives us optimism and hope that we can move ahead, and
:01:49. > :01:54.implement the recommendations in this report and finally make
:01:54. > :01:58.fingerprinting in Scotland a forensic science. The story goes
:01:58. > :02:03.back 15 years to the brutal murder of former bank clerk, Marion Ross.
:02:03. > :02:07.The body of the 51-year-old was found in her home in commander.
:02:07. > :02:13.Local joiner David Astbury was convicted of killing one
:02:13. > :02:18.fingerprint evidence. The fingerprints of detective surely
:02:18. > :02:21.Nikki had been identified in the house. She told the trial at the
:02:21. > :02:25.murder that she have never been inside and was just what perjurer
:02:25. > :02:30.can stop on a unanimous decision of the High Court jury, Shirley Mickey
:02:30. > :02:36.was found not guilty. Experts from the Scottish Criminal Records
:02:36. > :02:41.Office suspended from Miss identifying fingerprints in the
:02:41. > :02:45.case. David Asprey had his conviction quashed and the Shirley
:02:45. > :02:55.Mickey was a war that the quarter of a million pounds worth of
:02:55. > :02:57.
:02:57. > :03:01.compensation. -- McKie. In the 900 page report on the affair, this was
:03:01. > :03:05.the recommendation. Fingerprint evidence should be recognised as
:03:05. > :03:11.opinion evidence and not fat. Those involved in the criminal-justice
:03:11. > :03:15.system need to assess it, as such, on its merits. The fingerprint
:03:15. > :03:20.services it has implemented many of the recommendations and the report
:03:20. > :03:24.also a leading Dutch experts is that means it can now move on.
:03:24. > :03:28.can move ahead but I would like to see that they have studied the
:03:28. > :03:33.prints themselves, but they do not accept the conclusion of somebody
:03:33. > :03:38.else, but to conclude themselves that a mistake has been made and
:03:38. > :03:42.then the cops can change it. This may not be an end to the cider. The
:03:42. > :03:45.MSP for some of the fingerprint experts dismissed for their part in
:03:45. > :03:49.the investigation continues to claim they have been let down.
:03:49. > :03:53.Everyone who has any contact with this case has been damaged by it.
:03:53. > :03:57.The family of Marion Ross, the family of surely, Sir, but my
:03:57. > :04:01.concern is that the Singapore and officers of the public service,
:04:01. > :04:05.doing a job, who had their reputations ruined and careers
:04:05. > :04:15.destroyed. This inquiry will not put that right. Everyone has been
:04:15. > :04:20.
:04:20. > :04:30.damaged. The force, the Strathclyde police forces that it is still an
:04:30. > :04:31.
:04:31. > :04:34.open investigation into the murder of Moray Ross. -- Marion Ross. I'm
:04:34. > :04:37.joined by Shirley McKie's father Iain McKie, who led the campaign to
:04:37. > :04:40.clear her name, and by the director of Forensic Services at the
:04:40. > :04:43.Scottish Police Services Authority, Tom Nelson. This is it, it is
:04:44. > :04:48.finished, isn't it? Surely, what was her reaction? She was
:04:48. > :04:51.speechless. It is getting an apology after 14 years of no
:04:51. > :04:56.apologies, and the Government and the police pretending that nothing
:04:56. > :05:01.had happened, but it lets us draw a line under things. My attitude is
:05:01. > :05:06.that it is now up to the authorities to sort this mess out.
:05:06. > :05:10.They have been acting in good faith but they were also incompetent and
:05:10. > :05:15.arrogant. And if that was to continue there would be no whiff of
:05:15. > :05:22.it. With the benefit of hindsight, this could have been handled much
:05:22. > :05:28.quicker. It has not been in your interest as a fingerprint service
:05:28. > :05:33.to have this going on for so long. It has been going on for 14 years.
:05:33. > :05:38.Today, with the depth and breadth of the inquiry was vital focus on
:05:38. > :05:42.this particular case, I believe we have an inquiry which allows us to
:05:42. > :05:46.move forward as an organisation. It has hopefully put a lot of the past
:05:47. > :05:51.to bed and we can move forward and implement the recommendations. We
:05:51. > :05:55.have made a lot of changes since 2009 and we will continue to make
:05:55. > :05:58.changes in line with the recommendations of the inquiry.
:05:59. > :06:04.said there had been incompetence but are you happy to accept the
:06:04. > :06:10.conclusion of the report, that what happened was based on human error,
:06:11. > :06:14.and no more than that, Sir Anthony specifically says there was no
:06:14. > :06:18.conspiracy in the fingerprint service, and that there was no
:06:18. > :06:22.conspiracy in my Strathclyde police force. There is little sense in
:06:22. > :06:27.going brother. The report has spoken and they have agreed to
:06:27. > :06:31.abide by the recommendations. Expert evidence in Scotland, the UK
:06:31. > :06:35.and in many places across the world is in chaos. The standards are not
:06:35. > :06:40.there. The judiciary has no idea of the expert evidence and the expels
:06:40. > :06:47.are not tested when they go to court, so, Tom has a lot of work to
:06:47. > :06:51.do, and I wish him well in it. key finding is that fingerprint
:06:51. > :06:56.evidence from now on, rather been treated as infallible, as in the
:06:56. > :07:02.past, should be treated as a matter of expert opinion. I have been a
:07:02. > :07:05.forensic scientist for more than 30 years. I don't understand this new
:07:05. > :07:12.fallibility issue to stop you cannot have issue -- evidence that
:07:12. > :07:16.is infallible. I actually did say that you cannot have evidence which
:07:17. > :07:23.is infallible. That might be your personal view, but that is the way
:07:23. > :07:28.that it was seen. In the report, it spells out exactly how, because the
:07:28. > :07:37.police in Kilmarnock thought of fingerprints as being infallible,
:07:37. > :07:40.they start the suspecting Ian's doctor. -- Ian's daughter. That is
:07:40. > :07:44.why the fingerprint community needs to sit up and listen and take
:07:44. > :07:49.ownership of this report. This report will fundamentally change
:07:49. > :07:54.the way we deal with fingerprints throughout the world.
:07:54. > :07:57.implication is that an expert giving evidence in fingerprints
:07:57. > :08:02.would be dealt with like an expert witness from any other area, and
:08:02. > :08:09.that is a can of worms. You have your expert witness, I have mine,
:08:09. > :08:14.and the challenge each other. evidence is not infallible. We give
:08:15. > :08:19.a probability when the report it. When the report other types of
:08:19. > :08:24.evidence, we give an opinion and the strength of that opinion. That
:08:24. > :08:31.is where fingerprinting needs to go, and to move away from this point
:08:31. > :08:34.were they say we are infallible to the point where we say we are not
:08:34. > :08:41.infallible or 100% confident. that is not quite the way this was
:08:41. > :08:46.working, was it? Not at all. The procedures laid down are fine. But
:08:47. > :08:50.is a cultural problem. It always has been. If people are run --
:08:50. > :08:54.allowed to remain in an organisation and holder of wrong
:08:54. > :08:59.opinion for 14 years and people in that organisation still hold that
:08:59. > :09:04.wrong opinion, that is a cause for concern. We need to raise standards.
:09:04. > :09:10.I wish Tom well, but it is not just a case of following the report. I
:09:10. > :09:14.don't know how you can alter the culture of an organisation, the
:09:14. > :09:20.service has excellent fingerprint officers, in Aberdeen, in
:09:20. > :09:22.Edinburgh... You both mention that it is important that the
:09:22. > :09:28.fingerprint service internalise his report rather than just reading it.
:09:28. > :09:32.What do you mean by that? We have got six were extremes as an
:09:32. > :09:37.organisation that we developed immediately after the inquiry. We
:09:37. > :09:41.now use those works dreams and does have identified a number of the
:09:41. > :09:46.recommendations and we have delivered on aren't -- on a number
:09:46. > :09:51.of those and we will continue until we deliver on us. So we, as an
:09:51. > :09:56.organisation, have taken us forward. We have only been in charge of
:09:56. > :10:00.fingerprints since 2007. But you people need to understand, and
:10:00. > :10:03.shift the way they might think about the work they are doing.
:10:03. > :10:08.has, and that will not change overnight. Culture will take time
:10:08. > :10:13.to change, but I believe that we have the right people and the right
:10:13. > :10:16.staff in place to make those changes. The other side of this is
:10:16. > :10:22.that the fingerprint officers involved, who, Sir Anthony
:10:22. > :10:27.concludes, believed in what they were doing, it might have been that
:10:27. > :10:32.they made a mistake on two fingerprints, but they genuinely
:10:32. > :10:37.believed they were doing the right thing. They were vilified. There
:10:37. > :10:44.Korea's were current as a result of this. They suffered an injustice,
:10:44. > :10:49.as well. There have been a lot of issues relating to this case, but
:10:49. > :10:55.today, we have a report that allows us to put all that to rest, and to
:10:55. > :11:05.move forward, for Ian's family, for the fingerprint community in
:11:05. > :11:05.
:11:05. > :11:09.Scotland, we need to move forward The SNP administration has claimed
:11:10. > :11:13.economic success in number of areas, not least employment. They even
:11:13. > :11:18.suggested the Chancellor should adopt a Scottish style Plan Mac B.
:11:18. > :11:21.The jobless figures were published today did not look so good for
:11:21. > :11:25.Scotland and policy emanating from Westminster got the bulk of the
:11:25. > :11:34.blame from the Scottish government. But the blame game is no -- by no
:11:34. > :11:38.means confined to spats across Hadrian's Wall.
:11:38. > :11:41.Since taking power, the SNP has frequently hailed falling
:11:41. > :11:45.unemployment and increased employment as a result of their
:11:45. > :11:49.approach to running the Scottish economy. Unemployment still remains
:11:49. > :11:53.too high, but we are doing and the actions we have taken to support
:11:53. > :11:57.for public expenditure, particularly in the face of earlier
:11:57. > :12:01.cast -- cut on the Westminster government is now delivering the
:12:01. > :12:05.returns of a better labour-market here in Scotland. This is the 9th
:12:05. > :12:09.month of a rise in employment in Scotland, and the 5th set of
:12:09. > :12:13.figures of falling our own planet. That is because we pursued a
:12:13. > :12:18.different economic strategy from the one in London. We are facing a
:12:18. > :12:21.40% decline from Westminster of capital investment. I am urging the
:12:21. > :12:24.Chancellor to look at the Scottish experience and see within that
:12:24. > :12:34.experience some of the ingredients of had to get through this
:12:34. > :12:38.recession. Imagine not just a plan B, but a Plan Mac B.
:12:38. > :12:41.But let's not pretend the blame game is an activity unique to the
:12:41. > :12:45.present Scottish government. In his Autumn Statement last month, the
:12:45. > :12:50.Chancellor still chose to blame Labour's economic legacy, despite
:12:50. > :12:55.being in power for 1.5 years. debt challenge is even greater than
:12:55. > :13:01.we thought because the boom was even bigger, the bust even deeper,
:13:01. > :13:08.and the effect will last even longer. His economic and Fiscal
:13:08. > :13:17.Strategy is in tatters. After 18 months in office the verdict is in
:13:17. > :13:22.- a plan a has failed, and it has failed colossally. Then, of course,
:13:22. > :13:26.there is Europe. 26 of the 27 went along with the Franco-German bail-
:13:26. > :13:36.out plan, leaving David Cameron isolated and opting to use
:13:36. > :13:39.
:13:39. > :13:44.Britain's veto. What is on offer is not in Britain's interests, so I
:13:44. > :13:48.vetoed it. David Cameron asked for something that we thought was
:13:48. > :13:52.unacceptable. The United Kingdom, in exchange for giving its
:13:53. > :13:57.agreement, asked for a civic -- specific critical and financial
:13:57. > :14:07.services which, as presented, was a risk to the integrity of the
:14:07. > :14:11.international market. This made compromise impossible. Which brings
:14:11. > :14:16.us back to the Scottish jobs situation. The SNP's run of good
:14:16. > :14:19.news on this fund has come to an abrupt end. An employment is up by
:14:20. > :14:24.25,000 and the rate is now higher than the rest of the UK -- higher.
:14:24. > :14:28.Will Alex Salmond take responsibility? Only up to a point,
:14:28. > :14:31.and he is certainly not blaming Bella Caledonia. Of course we take
:14:31. > :14:34.responsibility for what we can do and we do a great deal to stimulate
:14:34. > :14:38.jobs and employment and attract new investment into Scotland. But we
:14:38. > :14:42.are part of the UK macro-economic framework at the present moment,
:14:42. > :14:47.and the cutbacks which are causing a loss of jobs in the public sector
:14:47. > :14:52.are enforced on the local authorities by Westminster.
:14:52. > :14:58.Confused? Well, that is the idea. This one is not for the faint-
:14:58. > :15:02.hearted. And joined now from Edinburgh by
:15:02. > :15:05.the SNP's Joe FitzPatrick and from Westminster by Labour's Willie Bain.
:15:05. > :15:10.Joe FitzPatrick, when the unemployment figures were published
:15:10. > :15:13.last month, John Swinney claimed that the SNP's Plan Mac B was
:15:14. > :15:19.responsible for unemployment being lower than the UK average here. Now
:15:19. > :15:26.it is higher than the UK average - that presumably means that Plan Mac
:15:26. > :15:31.B is not working? Let's look at the figures in their entirety. There
:15:31. > :15:40.are now 200,000 more people in work in Scotland than they were in 1999.
:15:40. > :15:45.Employment in Scotland is higher than the rest of the UK. You are
:15:45. > :15:51.quoting back to 1999?! I am saying that the figures are higher now
:15:51. > :15:56.than in 1999. Why is that relevant to anything? Let me finish.
:15:56. > :16:00.Economic inactivity is lower in Scotland than it is in the rest of
:16:00. > :16:04.the UK, and employment is high in Scotland than in the rest of the UK.
:16:04. > :16:07.Clearly, the unemployment figures are disappointing which is why the
:16:07. > :16:11.first minister has taken action. Does clutching at straws come to
:16:11. > :16:14.mind? You specifically claimed credit when the unemployment was
:16:14. > :16:18.lower than the UK average, why not take responsibility for the fact
:16:18. > :16:22.that it is now above UK average? What the Scottish government is
:16:22. > :16:26.doing is taking what action they can within the limited powers they
:16:26. > :16:30.have. That is why last week the first minister created a new
:16:30. > :16:37.ministerial post to tackle the particular problem of youth
:16:37. > :16:41.unemployment. I am sure joy among Scottish Youth is unconfined!
:16:41. > :16:46.Willie Bain, what is your alternative, given that you have no
:16:46. > :16:50.more money to spend than the SNP. By and large, pumping money into
:16:50. > :16:54.infrastructure projects is exactly what you want to do, too. Good
:16:54. > :16:58.evening. I think it is clear that Scotland faces a crisis of growth,
:16:58. > :17:01.jobs and demand, and that is why we need a combination of policies from
:17:01. > :17:05.the Westminster government to increase demand in the economy by
:17:05. > :17:08.putting money back into people's pockets through a cut in VAT, a cut
:17:08. > :17:13.in National Insurance for a new start workers to help growing
:17:13. > :17:17.employment. Frankly, the poor figures that we have seen together,
:17:17. > :17:21.with 93,000 young people being out of work, there is a responsibility
:17:21. > :17:25.for the disastrous decision John Swinney made over the past two
:17:25. > :17:29.years to cut capital spending, a rate 2.5 times more quickly than
:17:29. > :17:36.even the Chancellor did. But he only had to cut it that far because
:17:36. > :17:39.the SNP increased capital spending by more than the UK in 2010 - 2011,
:17:39. > :17:42.and surely that is a policy that in the middle of a recession you would
:17:42. > :17:47.have thought was good. Don't blame them for the logical consequences
:17:47. > :17:50.of that. The logical consequences were shown by Vic Fraser Alan
:17:50. > :17:55.institute last month which said that the cuts in capital
:17:55. > :17:58.expenditure lead to a 2.3% drop in construction by the second quarter
:17:59. > :18:02.of this year. If you look at the Bank of Scotland's PMI report
:18:02. > :18:06.issued on Monday, we can see that manufacturing output is falling for
:18:06. > :18:09.the third month in a row, new orders in the private sector are
:18:09. > :18:13.falling. There is a lack of demand are the Scottish economy and both
:18:13. > :18:16.governments, the SNP government at Holy Rood, and the Tory lead
:18:16. > :18:21.government at Westminster, are culpable for this crisis that we
:18:21. > :18:25.face. Joe FitzPatrick, you were calling lots of fancy statistics.
:18:25. > :18:32.Let me make a statistical point to you. Unemployment in Scotland is
:18:32. > :18:36.now only 8,000 away from its peak at the trough of the recession.
:18:36. > :18:39.That 8,000 is about one-third of the increase that we saw in the
:18:39. > :18:43.last three months alone. It is hardly anything to be proud of, is
:18:43. > :18:49.it? It is something we have to take very seriously, which is why today
:18:49. > :18:53.the first minister called for a job summit so that the devolved
:18:53. > :18:57.administrations can go jointly, and that would include the Welsh First
:18:57. > :19:05.Minister who is dealing with worse but islanders that we have in
:19:05. > :19:07.Scotland, do go and lobby the UK Exchequer for that Plan Mac B for
:19:07. > :19:10.that infrastructure investment that we need. I think we did exactly the
:19:10. > :19:15.right thing when we brought forward the capital spending in Scotland.
:19:15. > :19:19.It was agreed by Parliament with the support of the Labour Party,
:19:19. > :19:24.and I think we can work with the Labour Party on this as well.
:19:25. > :19:28.Briefly, Willie Bain, presumably you want a jobs summit as well?
:19:28. > :19:37.think we need to create jobs. The time for talking is done. The time
:19:37. > :19:40.for doing his head. We have seven times as many people chasing each
:19:40. > :19:44.vacancy in the Scottish economy. Both governments need to create
:19:44. > :19:49.jobs in the next few months as a matter of urgency. Thank you both
:19:49. > :19:56.very much. A quick look at Berra's front pages.
:19:56. > :20:00.Talking about what we just talked about - Alex Salmond under fire.
:20:00. > :20:10.And the Guardian - tensions rise as the UK tries to rip up Europe deal.
:20:10. > :20:14.
:20:14. > :20:20.There is a storm brewing, as I'm sure you are aware. Before that
:20:20. > :20:24.the fork many of us on Thursday. They could be an icy start, but
:20:24. > :20:28.many of us will have a reasonable day with some sunshine in between
:20:28. > :20:32.the showers. Quite a mixture through the afternoon, for example.
:20:32. > :20:36.A band of showers pushing up through parts of the Midlands. Some
:20:36. > :20:40.will be a wintery, but mostly will fall as rain are on the lower
:20:40. > :20:44.levels. A few showers getting into the London area. Temperatures
:20:44. > :20:47.around seven or eight degrees. The winds are not excessively strong,
:20:47. > :20:51.but it does turn wet and windy across the far South West of
:20:51. > :20:54.England as we end the day - a sign of things to come. That rain
:20:54. > :20:58.pushing into the far South West of Wales as well. Before that happens,
:20:58. > :21:03.most of Wales having a reasonable interlude. Some sunshine through
:21:03. > :21:06.the afternoon. Northern Ireland, too, after a showery period, things
:21:06. > :21:10.will dry out for a time in the afternoon. Scotland looks like
:21:10. > :21:15.having a cold day with lingering fog patches and services could well
:21:15. > :21:20.be quite slippery. The fun starts as we go into the night time. Very
:21:20. > :21:23.wet and windy in the southern half of the UK. And yes, there is snow.
:21:23. > :21:27.The worst of the conditions will gradually clear way on Friday, but
:21:27. > :21:30.we will be left with a very cold winds and temperatures struggling.