:00:02. > :00:12.involved in the cover up. They should never work in public office
:00:12. > :00:15.
:00:15. > :00:25.Tonight: The government's budget for next year has been passed. The
:00:25. > :00:27.
:00:27. > :00:37.finance sector is conjuring up more money for schools and housing. And
:00:37. > :00:41.we are to have a network of charge 0.4 electric cars. -- a network of
:00:41. > :00:45.charges for electric cars. Good evening. Lots of big numbers were
:00:45. > :00:50.floating around Parliament today. The biggest of the lot was �30
:00:50. > :00:57.billion, the size of the Budget that John Swinney has had to play
:00:57. > :01:01.with. Its real value is falling as the UK wide spending cuts kick in.
:01:01. > :01:06.�61 billion, that is how much Mr Swinney has vowed to give two
:01:06. > :01:13.Further Education over the next three years. Big cuts to the
:01:13. > :01:20.funding had caused lots of problems in recent months. The cash will
:01:20. > :01:24.ensure that the cut will be less severe than first envisaged. Here
:01:25. > :01:30.are two small numbers. 68, the number of MSPs who supported the
:01:30. > :01:39.Budget, and 56, the number of voters who voted against. We will
:01:39. > :01:44.be speaking to Mr Swinney about what he called a budget for growth.
:01:44. > :01:48.We are building on our original spending plans, having listened to
:01:48. > :01:52.the views of Parliament and the country, and are delivering extra
:01:53. > :02:00.funding for housing, creating jobs and cutting emissions. Funding to
:02:00. > :02:06.regenerate town centres and investment in our trouble that work.
:02:06. > :02:15.This -- in our trouble at work. I commend this to Parliament and to
:02:15. > :02:18.the people of Scotland. Even if we look at this Budget as the worst of
:02:18. > :02:23.the Tory cuts and are not as an engine for growth, it would do
:02:24. > :02:33.nothing to protect the Scottish people. -- and not as an engine for
:02:33. > :02:39.growth. The net effect will be the same. Cuts to public services.
:02:40. > :02:45.is a government that has at its disposable -- disposal, �7 million
:02:45. > :02:52.more this year than it had it next year -- this year than it had last
:02:52. > :03:01.year. Therefore, any cuts or changes that we make our political
:03:01. > :03:09.choices of the SNP. They do not like its -- they do not like it,
:03:09. > :03:17.but the choices are entirely theirs. Last year I think we made quite a
:03:17. > :03:24.bit of progress at reversing the �40 million cut to the college
:03:24. > :03:30.budget. This year, Our ambition was to rid her -- restore �35 million
:03:30. > :03:34.of cuts. Those cuts would have had significant effects on our colleges.
:03:34. > :03:39.Expecting them to reform in a period of contraction is very
:03:39. > :03:45.difficult, which is why I found it astonishing that there was a
:03:45. > :03:51.celebration on the benches, the SNP benches, when a cut of �25 million
:03:51. > :03:56.was announced. That is nothing to celebrate. Just before we came on
:03:56. > :04:03.air, John Swinney came to error Dundee studio. I asked him first
:04:03. > :04:06.with the additional cash is coming from. -- came to our Dundee studio.
:04:06. > :04:15.�10 million will come from consequent of funding that has come
:04:15. > :04:22.from us from the UK -- come to us from the UK government. We had to
:04:22. > :04:26.that the Budget from the original one that was in place. The decision
:04:26. > :04:29.will have to come from decisions that by making the preparations for
:04:29. > :04:39.the Budget coming up, which will be concluded in September, and that
:04:39. > :04:41.
:04:41. > :04:50.will be -- that will mean... Obviously, the September but it
:04:50. > :05:00.will show a change of plans to take into account the fact... It is
:05:00. > :05:03.
:05:03. > :05:09.coming from a change, from two sources. One is the change that
:05:09. > :05:14.Scottish water has put in place for its investment programme. Contract
:05:14. > :05:22.will prices have been coming in at a lower level than anticipated. --
:05:22. > :05:29.contractual prices. Also, the investments that we had expected to
:05:29. > :05:36.have to fund in Grenoble in -- renewable energy are taking longer
:05:36. > :05:45.to come through. When you reallocate this money next year,
:05:45. > :05:49.you will of course be reminded of your lectures to opposition parties.
:05:49. > :05:56.They will ask where the money will come from. We can expect a full and
:05:56. > :06:02.frank from you? I have balanced the budget six years in a row and I
:06:02. > :06:09.have seen every bit of public expenditure has come from. I have
:06:10. > :06:13.no intention of breaking that standard. I am sure the viewers
:06:13. > :06:18.will note that you have got millions of pounds of an allocated
:06:18. > :06:21.funds to stick into colleges when you are constantly telling us how
:06:22. > :06:29.terrible the British government's cuts are. This is an allocated
:06:29. > :06:36.money that you are getting from the British government. Yes, but it is
:06:36. > :06:40.�10 million. But keep a sense of perspective. The important thing to
:06:40. > :06:44.remember, the main point that I have made to the UK government, has
:06:44. > :06:49.been about the draconian cuts to capital expenditure that they have
:06:49. > :06:59.been taken. -- taking. The UK government has been rolling back
:06:59. > :07:00.
:07:00. > :07:04.from the savage cuts they have made a capital spending. OK. The number
:07:05. > :07:13.of students in Further Education colleges has fallen by something
:07:14. > :07:22.like 60,000 since he came into power in 2007. Are you proud of
:07:22. > :07:25.that? What I am proud of that... The but are you part of that?
:07:25. > :07:33.proud of the fact that we said we would maintain student numbers at
:07:33. > :07:36.the level of 116,000, which was the full-time equivalents. That means
:07:36. > :07:46.that we have had a shift from the number of students to have come
:07:46. > :07:54.through the door of colleges. They are better equipped for work.
:07:54. > :07:58.time equivalents is a bureaucratic term. These are real people. Surely
:07:58. > :08:03.it is better to have young people studying in college and possibly
:08:03. > :08:08.being on the dole during a recession. You have cut real people,
:08:08. > :08:16.not these full-time employees, by about 60,000. Are you proud of
:08:16. > :08:22.that? We have a guaranteed to every young person in this country that
:08:22. > :08:25.if they cannot find a place in college or in a training
:08:25. > :08:30.establishment or in work, the government will help them to do
:08:30. > :08:35.that and will guarantee that they get a place. That guarantee exists
:08:35. > :08:40.for every person between the ages of 16 and 19 in this country. This
:08:40. > :08:45.is not some bureaucratic nonsense that you refer to. What it is is a
:08:45. > :08:49.recognition that young people need substantial courses to enable them
:08:49. > :08:55.to access work. That is why we have shifted resources away from some of
:08:55. > :08:59.the part-time courses in two more substantial learning that better
:08:59. > :09:03.equips young people to get into the labour market and to find
:09:03. > :09:08.sustainable employment. That is the sustainable shift that we have made.
:09:08. > :09:14.I am proud of that. You are always telling us about tough choices. You
:09:14. > :09:18.have made them. You are always telling us about how the MSPs want
:09:18. > :09:24.a social democratic government. Why is a social democratic to have
:09:24. > :09:32.60,000 fewer college students? Middle-class people still get free
:09:32. > :09:35.bus passes. It is cutting something like �200 million a year, I think.
:09:35. > :09:43.If you could recoup even a quarter of that, you could restore the cuts
:09:43. > :09:48.you have made a Further Education colleges and more. The travel
:09:48. > :09:53.scheme has got many attributes. It provides social mobility. That is
:09:53. > :09:57.more important than having students in Further Education colleges?
:09:57. > :10:00.agree with you on the importance of the Further Education policy, which
:10:00. > :10:05.is ensuring that young people are given a guarantee that they will
:10:05. > :10:08.have a training place or employment opportunity in Scotland. That is a
:10:08. > :10:17.guarantee that is made available to date to every young citizen of our
:10:17. > :10:21.country. -- made available today. We are equipping young people with
:10:21. > :10:31.sub-standard training and skills to enable them to go into the label
:10:31. > :10:35.
:10:35. > :10:41.market. -- substantial of training. This is the right focus we should
:10:41. > :10:49.take folk -- forward. The non- profit distributing model which had
:10:49. > :10:53.so many high hopes for, the value of this investment this year was
:10:53. > :10:59.projected at �350 million, and it is now going to be �20 million. Is
:10:59. > :11:02.that something you are proud of? What I am proud of is that, in the
:11:02. > :11:08.face of a very substantial reduction in capital expenditure,
:11:08. > :11:13.which would have resulted in a cancellation of a number of
:11:13. > :11:18.strategic projects and Scotland, we have brought forward a model which
:11:18. > :11:22.enables us to support these projects. The projects have taken
:11:22. > :11:27.on -- longer to take to procurement than anybody would have liked, but
:11:27. > :11:37.what is happening is that we now have �1.6 billion of contracts in
:11:37. > :12:01.
:12:01. > :12:06.The projection for 2013 is �338 million. The following year,
:12:06. > :12:09.instead of the Mick -- the prediction will be in excess of
:12:10. > :12:14.�900 million. The point I am making is that it is taking these projects
:12:14. > :12:17.longer to get into procurement so it will take longer for the
:12:17. > :12:22.projects to be delivered on the ground. The alternative to that
:12:22. > :12:25.would be to follow the UK Government's agenda and cancel
:12:25. > :12:32.range of capital investment projects and I was not prepared to
:12:32. > :12:37.do that. We are making every endeavour to get that work
:12:37. > :12:41.undertaken as quickly and effectively as we can.
:12:41. > :12:45.What would you -- make you buy an electric car? A commitment to
:12:45. > :12:50.tackling climate change, a government subsidy or just the
:12:50. > :12:58.knowledge that you will arrive your destination before your car runs
:12:58. > :13:02.out of energy? We have been looking at the latest plan to tackle that
:13:02. > :13:11.particular road block to electric car ownership.
:13:11. > :13:15.Easily outnumbered and drowned out by engine noise. It is a sight that
:13:15. > :13:18.remains relatively unusual on Scotland's roads and the Scottish
:13:18. > :13:22.government have identified them as a key part of their vision for
:13:22. > :13:28.LOCOG and future, convincing people to take the plunge has been easier
:13:29. > :13:38.said than done. Too expensive is just one of the complaints levelled
:13:39. > :13:39.
:13:39. > :13:42.against electric vehicles. Another thing that can put -- put people
:13:42. > :13:49.off is their concern about whether or not it will get them where they
:13:49. > :13:59.want to go. It is a specific condition called range anxiety and
:13:59. > :13:59.
:13:59. > :14:09.the cure can be found here. planted in like any circuit. --
:14:09. > :14:14.plug it in. How long would that take? About seven hours to give the
:14:14. > :14:17.car a full charge. Now similar charging points are said to be
:14:17. > :14:22.installed throughout Scotland's road network and Scots are being
:14:22. > :14:25.offered free installation for charges. The idea is that an
:14:26. > :14:34.electric car on a trunk road will never have to travel more than 50
:14:34. > :14:39.miles to plug in. People will see this as a viable alternative. We
:14:39. > :14:46.are also investigating hydrogen powered vehicles and others but
:14:46. > :14:51.this is a vital part of the mix in reducing our carbon footprint. This
:14:51. > :14:58.is a high-performance car but nonetheless an electric car. For an
:14:58. > :15:07.80,000 pound test car to be precise, an eye-catching way to advertise
:15:07. > :15:16.the complete removal of carbon from our roads by 2050. It costs about
:15:16. > :15:24.three pence per mile in an electric -- electric vehicle. About 16p for
:15:24. > :15:31.regular vehicle. You can get a Mitsubishi for �13,000 or so brand-
:15:31. > :15:41.new from the shower room. Something but those who backed the steam car
:15:41. > :15:44.
:15:44. > :15:50.all those years ago would say is, the question whether it will be
:15:50. > :15:54.motoring into the future or left stranded on history's hard shoulder.
:15:54. > :16:00.Four I am joined by Neil Greig, from the Institute of Advanced
:16:00. > :16:06.Motorists. These charging points, are they going to be the fast ones
:16:06. > :16:11.or the slow ones. You can charge these things in about 12 minutes?
:16:11. > :16:17.You can do. It is good to have both. This gives people the chance to
:16:17. > :16:27.think about their -- there driving in the future and makes electric
:16:27. > :16:30.
:16:30. > :16:39.cars more than option. �2.5 million is not going to transform the
:16:39. > :16:49.transport network. That he is the free installation at home. These
:16:49. > :16:49.
:16:49. > :16:59.cars are aimed at short journeys. - - the key is the free installation.
:16:59. > :17:00.
:17:00. > :17:10.The other thing is, of -- what to has a trunk road? Is it any A or
:17:10. > :17:11.
:17:11. > :17:17.Roeder? -- A Road. We are never going to have the same road network
:17:17. > :17:27.as we have for petrol and diesel cars. Presumably some day you could
:17:27. > :17:28.
:17:28. > :17:33.have, if these things became the norm? People don't know yet which
:17:33. > :17:39.technology will win out, we have hybrid cars, hydrogen cars. If you
:17:39. > :17:45.are deciding now to buy a car, do you know what it will be like in
:17:45. > :17:49.five years' time? What is the answer to that question you have
:17:49. > :17:56.raised? Surely it is more the infrastructure. If the
:17:56. > :18:03.infrastructure is there, it might still be worth buying for five
:18:03. > :18:07.years. It is a start, we need the network in place. In 10, 20 years
:18:07. > :18:14.we are still going to be using fossil fuels in most of our
:18:14. > :18:19.vehicles. The value of a hybrid is that if the battery goes flat you
:18:19. > :18:25.still have petrol to keep you going the last few miles. Hydrogen cars
:18:25. > :18:31.seem to be the way that a lot of manufacturers are going. Some of
:18:31. > :18:34.the manufacturers, like Toyota, actually stopped making an electric
:18:34. > :18:42.only vehicle because they found they could not sell them around the
:18:42. > :18:52.world. Can you buy a hydrogen car? Not yet, but ultimately hydrogen
:18:52. > :18:52.
:18:52. > :18:59.will take over. But they are still rather expensive compared to
:18:59. > :19:04.mainstream models. FE even with the hybrid cars, people say that if you
:19:04. > :19:14.buy a new one you are not going to recoup the extra money with your
:19:14. > :19:17.
:19:17. > :19:23.fuel savings. It depends on the mileage. We need all public bodies
:19:23. > :19:28.to be buying electric cars. Then that establishes a market and
:19:28. > :19:34.perhaps the public will move towards it. To be clear, you think
:19:34. > :19:39.hydrogen is the car of the future? Yes, but for the next 10, 20 years
:19:39. > :19:47.hybrid is the way to go. Let's start with the Scotsman for the
:19:47. > :19:51.front pages. Another day of shame for Britain's banks. RBS is fined
:19:51. > :19:58.millions of pounds for fixing interest rates. The Financial Times,
:19:58. > :20:02.interest rate fixing scandal shakes three continents. Underneath that,
:20:02. > :20:07.George Osborne urges Bank of England to take action in push for
:20:07. > :20:17.growth. The Scottish Daily Mail, a rise of the child criminals as
:20:17. > :20:17.
:20:17. > :20:27.young as three years old. The Guardian, Cameron's prescription
:20:27. > :20:30.
:20:30. > :20:37.for NHS misses targets. That is all It is the coldest night of the week
:20:37. > :20:41.so far with a widespread frost. Temperatures at or below freezing
:20:41. > :20:51.across northern England and the Midlands. Still a few of these
:20:51. > :20:54.
:20:54. > :20:59.sleet or snow showers but they will eventually he's away. -- he's away.
:20:59. > :21:03.There will be high cloud increasing due to a weather system from the
:21:03. > :21:08.Atlantic. One or two showers affecting the north and west of
:21:08. > :21:14.Wales. They will leave some icy patches. But cloud is thickening
:21:14. > :21:18.for Northern Ireland and rain at not too far away. Still some icy
:21:18. > :21:24.patches to contend with in Scotland. The rest of the day, cloud is going
:21:24. > :21:30.to increase. To the west we will see this weather system coming in
:21:30. > :21:34.with rain, sleet and snow. Despite the lighter wind it will still feel
:21:34. > :21:42.quite cold. Some snow affecting Scotland during the Thursday