29/04/2014 Newsnight Scotland

have noticed she has slowed down. -- basketball supporters may have

noticed he has slowed down. Sometimes a draw is the best you can

hope for. Tonight on Newsnight Scotland: Is it

now safe to say the economy is recovering and we can all stop

holding our breath? Can George Osborne claim the credit? And will

his opponents give him any? And as the capital pays homage to

John Muir - the founding father of National Parks - farmers say they

should be working areas and not theme parks for townies.

Good evening. Britain's coming back was the message from the Chancellor

today. For the first time since before the recession, just about

every economic indicator is going in the right direction. Figures out

today show GDP rising for the fifth quarter in a row - up 0.8% in the

first quarter of this year. The economy is now growing at over three

per cent a year - that's pre-crisis levels of growth.

Labour say there is a cost of living crisis and that people aren't

experiencing any recovery. Incomes are still below pre-recession

levels, but after six long years, recent figures showed they now have

caught up with inflation. The property market is also growing.

Registers of Scotland said today prices are going up. More

significantly, sales are now running at pre-crisis levels. As to who gets

the credit for all this - well some argue George Osborne's policies have

held up recovery. Others, that his opponents have been left clutching

at straws. I joined by Cathy Jamieson, Malcolm

Bruce and Marco Biagi. Does the Coalition Government

deserve any credit for the fact that the economy now seems to be

recovering at the strongest rate of most of the world economies? GDP has

not hit the plenary session level yet. But it will later on this year.

But if you look at the great depression, GDP reached the level a

lot faster than less. Why has it taken such a long time to get to

this level. And this is a level many people are still not feeling.

Decisions taken in the early days of the Tory Government to cut back

spending on capital areas - we were correct to criticise those. But you

are arguing a counterfactual. It is difficult for you to show that you

are correct. You cannot point to any evidence. I can point to the things

that were said. If politicians say that the policies would result in

GDP growth being stagnant for years, and GDP growth was stagnant,

then credit is deserved. We are now moving into some kind of recovery,

but who is feeling the benefit? So much of it is concentrated in London

and the south-east. Malcolm Bruce, do you see this as surrogates? I do.

This is not a Conservative Government. This is a quality

Government. We wanted to get a stronger and theatre society. We

were told it would be a double-dip recession. We are now growing

stronger than any economy in the developed world. It was tough, it

was difficult, but we have stuck with it and that is delivering

results raped across-the-board. -- it is delivering results

across-the-board. But people said it would take longer than it otherwise

would. This idea of the economy and Britain are growing stronger than

anywhere else is a red herring, because austerity was so much more

severe, when you bounce back from hostility it will be faster. We had

the biggest date of any of our major partners. The markets would not have

allowed us not to tackle the deficit. We have raised the tax

threshold. That has put ?800 into the pockets of the standard rate

taxpayer. This is the basis for a strong and balanced recovery. I

would suggest that our opponents should give us some credit. Will you

give them any credit, Cathy Jamieson? It would be churlish not

to accept that any amount of growth is to be welcomed. That ordinarily

people across the UK are not feeling this recovery. Families are around

?1600 per year worse off. We are not yet seeing the living wage. It is

also a fragile recovery. All that economic commentators would say

that. It is good that we are seeing a bit of improvement in the

manufacturing sector. By definition, at the start of the

recovery, we just will not have recovered to where they were. Do we

do have any policies -- do the Labour Party have policies to

increase wages? They could have looked at the living wage. We also

have to tackle unemployment. These are the things that are important.

Even if you don't implement the living wage policy that would not

bring wages and salaries back to where they were before the

recession. It is difficult to know what point you are trying to make.

In our view that recovery could have come about at that cracker. It was

chalked off right at the beginning. And also the recovery at the moment

is not being felt by ordinarily people. 24 million people have had

that tax cuts. The problem about the tax cut is things like the VAT rise

completely took that away. Marco Biagi, what is your answer to the

question? People are not feeling the benefits, he said. What are the SNP

policies to make people as well off right now as they were before the

recession? We have tried to make sure as much economic growth has

happened in Scotland. We have been relatively successful and had youth

unemployment a lot lower in Scotland and the rest of the UK for example.

Our performance compared to most of England has been excellent. But

looking ahead, the kinds of things Cathy talks about, the minimum wage,

living wage, these are things which are beyond the current powers of the

Scottish Parliament. The living wage, you could do that, with

respect. The Scottish Government pays the living wage. I don't want

to get diverted into the living wage. You criticise the Coalition

Government by saying people aren't feeling the recovery. By definition,

at the start of a recovery people aren't going to be as well of as

before the recession happened. You keep going on about this but it is

difficult to see what your point is. It implemented a living wage that's

not going to make us all as well off as we were before the recession, so

it's not an answer to the question I'm asking. This isn't the start of

the recovery. It should have started five years ago. We are getting a

very belated half-hearted last-minute recovery after so many

years. The best way for people to feel better office to be... In what

way is the fastest-growing economy half-hearted recovery? The USA is 7%

higher than it was prerecession in GDP. Even if we continued the

current level, we will still be three levels behind that. It's about

how much you've actually got full the UK GDP is far behind it. That is

the real point. It's not the economy is growing fast, that we are still

not at prerecession levels and the USA is way ahead and the argument

is, it's the policies of your government that delayed the kind of

recovery in Britain that we have seen in the USA. It was the nature

of the crash in the UK which was quite different in character to the

USA particular fraud trading nation depending on exports. Our financial

system dragged the economy down faster and it's taken us longer to

get back on track but now we're seeing not just the service sector

but manufacturing and construction growing. They have done for five

consecutive quarters. We have lower unemployment, falling faster than

anywhere else, except in Scotland. And we have seen a much stronger

position in terms of inflation which is low. I think people should

recognise that what we have now is the basis of a sustainable recovery.

The Labour Party and SNP have started to abandon the discipline

and create a situation with the market will force up interest-rate

and they will build inflation back into the economy. That's why we need

to maintain a clear, confident determination to ensure employment

growth, inflation continues to be low and people can invest

confidently. We don't need to break up the UK and create uncertainty in

this picture. The problem Labour has is that you can keep going on about

people aren't feeling the recovery and all the rest of it. It all

sounds a bit lame when all the figures are going in one direction.

By and large, people are accepting these have been tough times, they

don't expect everything to be going swimmingly all of a sudden. And they

are prepared to give the government some credit for what they have done

and it just sounds like you're standing on the sidelines saying

it's not as good as it used to be. Actually, what we're doing is

reflecting what people right across the UK, ordinary people are feeling.

They want to see the energy frozen, young people out of work in

Scotland, youth unemployment, get back into work. They want to see

things like infrastructure projects moving, the manufacturing sector

take on more people, on decent wages, not zero hours contracts. We

are reflecting that, it's not standing on the sidelines. Does the

fact the economy is recovering, even though you give Malcolm Bruce and

his government no credit for it, designated easier for you to argue

for a yes case? Will people say Britain is turning around, why risk

it? I think people had to ask themselves why it is that Scotland,

in 2010 we voted overwhelmingly for the kind of approach to recovery

that Labour and the SNP were putting forward, did we get the kind of

policies which have delayed that recovery for four years since?

Looking ahead, do we think there is a better chance for Scotland to be

prosperous, to be fair, so everyone is feeling the effects of recovery

under a government elected here in Scotland or a continuation of the

politicians we have Westminster? Thank you all very much indeed.

There have been a series of events across Scotland to mark the

centenary of the death of John Muir, the Dunbar man often called the

father of national parks. But at the same time there's growing resistance

among farmers in Wales to the whole idea of national parks. They want

them be stripped of all their planning powers. So should we

celebrate Muir's legacy? Or ditch it? Huw Williams reports.

This morning in Edinburgh, a plaque unveiled to John Muir in the

capital's literary monument, the Mac is caught. The man who loves the

woods, the mountains in the wild things have in him some indefinable

quality which appealed even to those who care little outside of brick

walls. John Muir the fine illustration of this rule. He is

revered as the father of national parks.

The man who preserve the wilderness of Yosemite, protecting it from

destructive development. But his story and his love of nature started

here in East Lothian. John Muir was a Scot from Dunbar who emigrated to

America. Early in the 19th century. And became very interested in the

American wilds, very concerned about what was happening in America, with

a clearance of land, and persuaded the president of the USA, President

Roosevelt, to set aside a beautiful places in America. Its legacy has

been marked with a festival which lit up the kelpie 's. The opening of

an extended John Muir Way and plans for a conference in Perth in the

middle of May. But in Wales, there are signs of a backlash against

national parks. With the farmers union of Wales voting to strip them

of all their planning powers. There is an inconsistency in the way they

operate. It is undemocratic and I don't think the park appreciates,

because of its membership or of its officers, they don't seem to

appreciate the history and traditions and culture of Wales and

it tends to be more concerned with tourism and incomers than with the

population and agriculture generally. The three Welsh national

parks disagree. We undertook some research independently a few months

ago which highlighted that national parks in Wales, it brought 500

million to the Welsh economy. Some of the beneficiaries would be

farmers who are diversifying into tourism. Therefore, obviously, to

remove the work of national park authorities might have a detrimental

impact on that. In Pembrokeshire, we manage the coastal path in

partnership with landowners, farmers, we recognise the excellent

work they do. They are imported to the future. The law to establish

national parks is one of the first bills passed by the then new

Scottish Parliament back in the year 2000. Unlike national parks in

England and Wales, parks here have an explicit legal responsibility

that they care for the sustainable economic development of the

communities which means the people that live in the areas they manage.

Eff there are not thriving businesses and communities in the

area, the conservation jobs more difficult. So finding that balance

where we can maximise the opportunities of national parks with

the many visitors that come here and businesses benefiting from that, it

helps us to look at how we can conserve the healthy economy,

because landowners can look after the landscape. Why should be so

different here than in Wales? I think, having the aim of social and

economic developers of communities is fundamental

economic developers of communities that perspective to be able to look

means we get it right for the economy and the environment. You

might expect Scotland's national parks to say that but it seems

landowners and rural businesses agree. While parks in England and

Wales has focused on preservation or conservation of the environment, in

Scotland, we have also looked at promoting sustainable economic

growth, development, and that's a major benefit for us. The other

thing which has happened is a national park authorities have

embraced the new modernised planning system far more than local

authorities and