Browse content similar to 04/02/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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proving there can be piece in the least. We are inviting all these | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
people to come and see it before they shut it down. -- in the Middle | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
East. Tonight on Newsnight Scotland: | :00:00. | :00:14. | |
Should the unionist parties have a united line on more devolution? The | :00:15. | :00:18. | |
Liberal Democrats are on a mission to find points of consensus, but | :00:19. | :00:25. | |
will the other parties play ball? And after years of campaigning, | :00:26. | :00:27. | |
debating and consulting, Scotland becomes the 17th country in the | :00:28. | :00:30. | |
world to legislate for same sex marriage. | :00:31. | :00:34. | |
Good evening. If some form of increased powers for the Scottish | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
Parliament, the so-called devo max option, was on the ballot paper, it | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
would be ahead in the polls. So should the unionist parties be | :00:44. | :00:45. | |
joining together to offer increased powers if Scotland votes no? The | :00:46. | :00:49. | |
Liberal Democrats seem interested in that idea and are seeking points of | :00:50. | :00:52. | |
consensus with Labour and the Tories. But are the other parties | :00:53. | :01:02. | |
listening? It was little over a year ago that | :01:03. | :01:06. | |
the Liberal Democrats published their alternative to Scottish | :01:07. | :01:09. | |
independence and no Willie Rennie is to ask the party's former leader, | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
Sir Menzies Campbell, to take a process a stage further. Tonight, in | :01:14. | :01:20. | |
the keynote speech, he talked of building a consensus on further | :01:21. | :01:25. | |
devolution. The principle of raising the majority of the money that you | :01:26. | :01:29. | |
spend will be a common feature of all the plans. Labour have already | :01:30. | :01:33. | |
talked about income tax. The Conservatives have even talked about | :01:34. | :01:37. | |
federalism, a great move forward! The trade union movement, also TiVo | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
plus have come up with the same principles. -- also devolution plus. | :01:42. | :01:48. | |
I reckon there is an emerging consensus and I think Menzies | :01:49. | :01:53. | |
Campbell will be able to bring the parties together to show the | :01:54. | :01:56. | |
Scottish public that voting on the referendum does not mean no change. | :01:57. | :02:03. | |
Sir Menzies Campbell's task will be threefold, to review the consensus | :02:04. | :02:09. | |
around and invite other parties, planning a timetable for change and | :02:10. | :02:14. | |
deciding how that change will be commented after the referendum. In a | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
recent debate, there was precious little sign of any clear commitment | :02:19. | :02:22. | |
to work together from the other unionist parties. I cannot speak for | :02:23. | :02:28. | |
the Conservatives Liberal Democrats. What I am saying is that | :02:29. | :02:32. | |
for the Labour Party, we will publish our detailed proposals in | :02:33. | :02:34. | |
March at our party conference and then it is about what process that | :02:35. | :02:40. | |
goes through from there on to the actual next stage itself. What would | :02:41. | :02:43. | |
be very help full head of the referendum is that we understand, as | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
unionist parties, the parameters by which the debate has to take place. | :02:48. | :02:56. | |
If they can agree, the prize for the unionist is to secure a high | :02:57. | :02:58. | |
proportion of undecided voters who say they would like the option of | :02:59. | :03:06. | |
further powers. In Europe, in work. Willie Rennie says decentralising | :03:07. | :03:09. | |
power across Britain is building such momentum that it will happen, | :03:10. | :03:12. | |
whether he and Sir Menzies Campbell can build an all-party consensus is | :03:13. | :03:18. | |
another matter. I'm joined from Westminster by the | :03:19. | :03:21. | |
Liberal Democrat peer and devo max enthusiast Jeremy Purvis. Jeremy, | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
when Willie Rennie talks about forming a consensus, what are we | :03:27. | :03:34. | |
talking about? I think it is for those organisations that have | :03:35. | :03:37. | |
already published their proposals. One of those is of course the | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
Liberal Democrats. But the think tank Reform Scotland has published | :03:43. | :03:48. | |
the devolution plus rather than devo max proposals. There seems to be an | :03:49. | :03:56. | |
emerging common ground among some basic principles and I think our | :03:57. | :04:00. | |
task as a party is to try and bring us together. Is your ambition, with | :04:01. | :04:09. | |
no disrespect to the IPPR and similar organisations, I hardly | :04:10. | :04:11. | |
think that is going to floor the yes campaign, if you manage to achieve a | :04:12. | :04:16. | |
consensus within. What you need to do is achieve a consensus with the | :04:17. | :04:18. | |
Conservative and Labour party, do you not? With respect back, it is | :04:19. | :04:24. | |
not just about political parties. It is of course the parties that will | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
be tasked in any future administration... But it is because | :04:29. | :04:31. | |
I am sure John Curtis will be arguing later on when we talk to him | :04:32. | :04:35. | |
that the point is that if Labour and the Liberal Democrats and | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
Conservatives had some come in position which you could put in your | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
2015 election manifestoes and announced that before September, | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
then people could vote no and be sure that these more devolution | :04:48. | :04:53. | |
measures would be carried out. Let me answer this answer in school, for | :04:54. | :04:57. | |
people to end a sentence. In principle, I think there is a lot to | :04:58. | :05:04. | |
that. Willie Rennie have indicated today and I am certainly in favour | :05:05. | :05:08. | |
of the people knowing that when the vote in the referendum that they | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
would be rejecting independence that they understand what the process | :05:13. | :05:15. | |
will be that will happen. That is about forming some form of agreement | :05:16. | :05:20. | |
among basic principles that he is political parties can deliver | :05:21. | :05:25. | |
post-referendum that can also try and attract as much consensus as | :05:26. | :05:29. | |
possible with other groups that have contributed to the debate. That was | :05:30. | :05:33. | |
the founding basis of the Constitutional Convention in the | :05:34. | :05:36. | |
1990s and I think it is a strong principle to go forward with now. So | :05:37. | :05:39. | |
you're saying that you do think there could be some joint position, | :05:40. | :05:45. | |
at least in a very basic sense, between EU, the Liberal Democrats, | :05:46. | :05:50. | |
the Conservatives and Labour? We are waiting for the Conservatives and | :05:51. | :05:53. | |
Labour to publish their because of the need space to do that and I | :05:54. | :05:55. | |
respect that fully. -- their proposals. My party have already | :05:56. | :06:02. | |
published their proposals. I think Menzies Campbell, looking at where | :06:03. | :06:05. | |
we are at the moment, a number of months ahead of the referendum, will | :06:06. | :06:08. | |
already gather which of the basic principles to go forward. Already, | :06:09. | :06:12. | |
it seems to be emerging that raising the majority, or close to the | :06:13. | :06:17. | |
majority of funding, for the Scottish Parliament and having it on | :06:18. | :06:20. | |
a constitutional footing is a positive offer. We will await what | :06:21. | :06:23. | |
the other parties do that already there seems to be a growing | :06:24. | :06:26. | |
consensus in the middle ground that we are wanting to capture and have | :06:27. | :06:30. | |
that as a basis of what form of agreement could be delivered after | :06:31. | :06:33. | |
the referendum. While many as may be willing, are you getting any | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
indication that Labour and the Conservatives are willing to join | :06:39. | :06:41. | |
question -- while Menzies maybe willing. I was watching in the hall | :06:42. | :06:49. | |
a speech and the Labour interim report also and they have both | :06:50. | :06:53. | |
indicated there direction of travel. We will await what they say and I | :06:54. | :06:56. | |
respect that they have their own processes to go through. By the time | :06:57. | :06:59. | |
of the referendum on the boat, I think that we should be able to know | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
what is the likely process after what the Liberal Democrats are doing | :07:05. | :07:10. | |
is indicating yes, we have published proposals but won't know that next | :07:11. | :07:14. | |
step, to understand what the middle ground is and where are the bones of | :07:15. | :07:20. | |
what will be delivered afterwards. People are aware that there are | :07:21. | :07:23. | |
parties like the Liberal Democrats that are very clear that improving | :07:24. | :07:27. | |
the union is one of the things that we wish to see. That is a stronger | :07:28. | :07:30. | |
argument than simply rejecting independence. Do not go away. | :07:31. | :07:33. | |
Also here is Scotland's polling guru, Professor John Curtice, and | :07:34. | :07:36. | |
the critic and commentator Joyce McMillan. John Curtis, explain why | :07:37. | :07:42. | |
you think this is a bit of a no-brainer for the unionist parties? | :07:43. | :07:46. | |
It is certainly true that the part of the current no float that | :07:47. | :07:51. | |
consists of people whose first preference is more devolution, along | :07:52. | :07:56. | |
the lines of what he has been talking about, it certainly looks | :07:57. | :08:06. | |
like the softer part of the no vote. Around 45% of people who say they | :08:07. | :08:10. | |
are going to vote no of people whose first preference is that they would | :08:11. | :08:16. | |
like to see more devolution in the wake of a no vote. Maybe around a | :08:17. | :08:26. | |
third of that 45% of potential no voters say, I might change my mind | :08:27. | :08:31. | |
if I were not convinced that more devolution was not going to happen. | :08:32. | :08:38. | |
In general, those people who say, my first preference is more devolution, | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
they are located amongst those people who have not yet fully make | :08:44. | :08:49. | |
their mind up. Therefore, put that together, this looks like the soft | :08:50. | :09:00. | |
underbelly. If it is true, the lead of the no side has narrowed | :09:01. | :09:05. | |
somewhat, we might be beginning to enter the territory that that | :09:06. | :09:10. | |
movement could make a difference and returned the referendum into a close | :09:11. | :09:15. | |
fight. We will use you as a swing voter, because you have not made up | :09:16. | :09:21. | |
your mind yet, but if you were to see a platform from Labour and the | :09:22. | :09:28. | |
Tories and Lib Dems saying, here are our proposals for more devolution, | :09:29. | :09:31. | |
you do not need to vote for independence, and you know it would | :09:32. | :09:36. | |
be in the manifesto is that this would be implemented, would that | :09:37. | :09:41. | |
have an influence? I do not know. I have been pretty well put off by the | :09:42. | :09:49. | |
negativity we have seen from the no camp so far, but I welcome any | :09:50. | :09:55. | |
development that makes the people on the no side think possibly the spec | :09:56. | :10:00. | |
positively about what they might have to offer Scotland in the | :10:01. | :10:03. | |
future, because until now, it has been, you cannot do that. So if they | :10:04. | :10:11. | |
get themselves into a frame of mind where they are offering some kind of | :10:12. | :10:17. | |
positive change, that can only have a positive effect on the quality of | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
the debate, and there is clearly a large chunk of the electorate who | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
would, if the devolution campaign got itself together at an earlier | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
stage, and got it onto the ballot paper, who would have been choosing | :10:32. | :10:36. | |
that option, and will now be reassured if the three unionist | :10:37. | :10:41. | |
parties get together and guarantee some kind of better devolution | :10:42. | :10:50. | |
offer. The crucial thing here is that it has got to be all three of | :10:51. | :10:56. | |
them. If I am a voter, I think, I will vote no for more devolution, so | :10:57. | :11:06. | |
if all three do it, they will be the next government. The crucial thing | :11:07. | :11:12. | |
is, will it happen? The unionist parties have only done something | :11:13. | :11:15. | |
when they have been under pressure from the SNP. The concern that some | :11:16. | :11:21. | |
people have is, if there is a no vote, the pressure on the unionist | :11:22. | :11:29. | |
parties will not deliver, so people want the unionist parties to have a | :11:30. | :11:32. | |
clear commitment in advance of September, and they are committed to | :11:33. | :11:36. | |
putting it in their manifestoes in 2015, and that is as close as a | :11:37. | :11:41. | |
guarantee as we can get. This is the crucial point, it is not just you, | :11:42. | :11:47. | |
you have got to get the others to do it. It does not work if Labour and | :11:48. | :11:52. | |
the Liberal Democrats do it, it has got to be all three, so voters know | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
it will happen, irrespective of which party is the next government | :11:57. | :12:02. | |
of the UK. All of those three parties will have their own plans, | :12:03. | :12:10. | |
and Ming Campbell has do find the common ground that exist and allow | :12:11. | :12:14. | |
that to be clear going forward. Alistair Carmichael will be | :12:15. | :12:18. | |
Secretary of State for Scotland after the referendum, and he is | :12:19. | :12:23. | |
clear that a no vote to independence is not a no vote to change. But the | :12:24. | :12:28. | |
critical thing, will these be the best reforms to allow the long-term | :12:29. | :12:31. | |
relationship that works well to strengthen the Scottish Parliament | :12:32. | :12:35. | |
in the UK? I think so, that is why we are working hard to secure the | :12:36. | :12:40. | |
middle ground. We have to leave it here, thank you. | :12:41. | :12:46. | |
The debating, campaigning and consulting is over, MPs, or MSPs, | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
voted the bill legalising the same-sex marriage into law this | :12:52. | :12:57. | |
evening, a landmark for equality, but some religious groups said they | :12:58. | :13:00. | |
could be discredited against for opposing gay marriage. | :13:01. | :13:11. | |
The celebration started early outside Holyrood. But inside the | :13:12. | :13:19. | |
chamber, some MSPs were expressing concern about the law. Equality is | :13:20. | :13:23. | |
about fairness, not about making everyone the same. The indisputable | :13:24. | :13:29. | |
fact is the build them on issues the deeply held views of those that | :13:30. | :13:33. | |
consider marriage as between a man and a woman. There is nothing fair | :13:34. | :13:38. | |
in causing those who are opposed to same-sex marriage to feel | :13:39. | :13:40. | |
apprehensive about expressing this view. But this is the situation | :13:41. | :13:48. | |
which will now prevail in Scotland. The Health Secretary joined | :13:49. | :13:50. | |
campaigners in advance of the vote, confident his law would pass. This | :13:51. | :13:56. | |
is one of the biggest historic moments in the history of Scotland. | :13:57. | :14:01. | |
From today forward, Scotland will be a much more civilised society will | :14:02. | :14:07. | |
stop the law was passed, decisively. Yes, 105. No, 18. There were no | :14:08. | :14:18. | |
abstentions. The marriage and civil partnership Scotland Bill is passed. | :14:19. | :14:35. | |
And it's the cheering, notice the people in the calorie think the law | :14:36. | :14:38. | |
the thumbs down. There were protesters outside | :14:39. | :14:52. | |
Holyrood earlier, too. Matthew chapter five says that God sent the | :14:53. | :14:56. | |
rain on the just and the unjust, but which is which? If you are a man who | :14:57. | :15:00. | |
wants to marry a man or a woman who wants to marry a woman, the doors of | :15:01. | :15:04. | |
this magnificent building will remain closed to you stopped the | :15:05. | :15:09. | |
minister says it is a redefinition of what marriage is, a step too far, | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
but he was keen to stress that, as in parishes across the country, | :15:14. | :15:17. | |
every kind of person is welcome to play a full part in the life of the | :15:18. | :15:22. | |
community that worshipped here. The Kirk says safeguards in the law are | :15:23. | :15:28. | |
not robust enough. We are concerned that the scheme which the Scottish | :15:29. | :15:31. | |
government is promoting through the Scottish Parliament is full rubble | :15:32. | :15:35. | |
to challenge under European human rights legislation. We do not expect | :15:36. | :15:41. | |
there to be an immediate challenge, but there is a real prospect that, | :15:42. | :15:46. | |
in the future, there will be a challenge, perhaps a successful one, | :15:47. | :15:52. | |
and the church may be faced with a choice of either having to do all | :15:53. | :15:57. | |
marriages, same and different sex, or no marriages at all. Alan Watts | :15:58. | :16:03. | |
in a civil partnership. Until Malcolm died two years ago. This | :16:04. | :16:06. | |
week would have been their anniversary. We loved each other | :16:07. | :16:12. | |
ridiculously, we fought like cat and dog, but every couple does. However, | :16:13. | :16:19. | |
because we could, we thought we should, it would be the right thing | :16:20. | :16:24. | |
to do. It is not for everyone, but it was right for us, and it made | :16:25. | :16:32. | |
such a massive difference. Especially when Malcolm needed to | :16:33. | :16:35. | |
keep going back to hospital before he eventually died. Some of the | :16:36. | :16:41. | |
nursing staff, the older people, were a wee bit funny. But then, the | :16:42. | :16:50. | |
younger staff said, that is his husband. Is it his boyfriend? No, it | :16:51. | :16:56. | |
is his husband. That is the difference. Had we not been married, | :16:57. | :17:03. | |
I would have just been his boyfriend, no matter how long we had | :17:04. | :17:08. | |
been together. This couple met nine years ago when they were both | :17:09. | :17:12. | |
working on Edinburgh's ghost tours. They are in a civil partnership to. | :17:13. | :17:17. | |
Every marriage in the world is unique, it is between two unique | :17:18. | :17:21. | |
people, people have different things in common, and we are both women. | :17:22. | :17:26. | |
Somebody else might have in common that they both have run high, -- | :17:27. | :17:32. | |
both have brown hair, there is so much judgement about what you can | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
and cannot have in common. 50 years ago, interracial marriage, you have | :17:37. | :17:44. | |
to have that in common. The pictures from the ceremony already looked | :17:45. | :17:48. | |
like a wedding, now they say they plan to get married as soon as they | :17:49. | :17:54. | |
can. The Scotsman says, BP boss's warning | :17:55. | :18:02. | |
on independence, and people celebrating same-sex marriage. I am | :18:03. | :18:03. | |
back tomorrow, good night. Another story spell of weather is | :18:04. | :18:13. | |
with us, more heavy rain and strong wind overnight, continuing into | :18:14. | :18:17. | |
tomorrow. Brief spells to the east and north, and there will be some | :18:18. | :18:21. | |
pride in this between heavy showers, but the wind will be especially | :18:22. | :18:26. | |
strong, maybe touching 80 miles an hour for western coast. The rain | :18:27. | :18:31. | |
will be on and off all day in Northern Ireland. For the north-west | :18:32. | :18:36. | |
of Scotland sunny spells. Rain throughout the day across the | :18:37. | :18:37. |