:00:11. > :00:16.Next week it will be the Culture Secretary having to explain himself
:00:16. > :00:21.to Lord hef will lef, today we learned that lawyers -- Lord
:00:21. > :00:26.Leveson, today we learned that lawyers warned him off the BSkyB
:00:26. > :00:31.bid, and then he was in charge of the decision himself. Will he be
:00:31. > :00:35.hearing the same thing he told his special adviser, Adam Smith. Then
:00:35. > :00:39.you had meeting with Mr Hunt? That's right. Can you remember
:00:39. > :00:43.precisely what he said. To the best of my recollection is everyone here
:00:43. > :00:45.thinks you needing to, is what he said. The Deputy Chairman of the
:00:45. > :00:55.Conservative Party is here to tell us what we should make of the
:00:55. > :00:56.
:00:56. > :01:00.revelations. The SNP want the people of Scotland to say Yes Yes
:01:00. > :01:04.Yes to an independent Scotland. the parliament can run education,
:01:04. > :01:14.why not the economy. If it can be trusted to protect our own people,
:01:14. > :01:15.
:01:15. > :01:19.why can't we protect the country. Also tonight, as Catalonia and
:01:19. > :01:29.Spain's fourth largest bank teeter on the brink. Is this the
:01:29. > :01:33.Eurovision they and everybody else want to lose.
:01:33. > :01:37.Hello, good evening. The Leveson Inquiry has rapidly become
:01:37. > :01:41.Westminster's version of Wimbledon. Endless hours of early summer
:01:41. > :01:45.diversion with a revolving cast of exotic character. For the Culture
:01:45. > :01:50.Secretary rbgts Jeremy Hunt, there is little amusing --, Jeremy Hunt,
:01:50. > :02:00.there is little amusing for the drip, drip ammunition for his
:02:00. > :02:04.critics. Today the inquiry heard he was warned by his lawyers not to
:02:04. > :02:09.mention the bid to Vince Cable. After weeks of the world discussing
:02:09. > :02:12.his likely demise, Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, was given double
:02:12. > :02:17.protection. From below, the man he sacked came out in his support. And
:02:17. > :02:19.from above, the man who refuses to sack Mr Hunt did the same. You are
:02:20. > :02:27.all over the front of the newspapers today. Way before Levitt
:02:27. > :02:35.got to work, David Cameron was up with the lark, and on ITV's setee,
:02:35. > :02:39.he was by no mean chillaxed. He did act impartially, because he took
:02:39. > :02:44.independent at every stage, and he followed independent advise. I
:02:44. > :02:49.didn't want anybody to have the job, I wanted Vince Cable, the existing
:02:49. > :02:55.secretary to go on and do the job. We heard of close contact between
:02:55. > :03:01.Frederic Michel, and the former adviser Adam Smith. The 191 phone
:03:01. > :03:03.calls and 799 texts exchanged in 11 months. Mr Smith, who said he felt
:03:03. > :03:08.under bombardment, said he couldn't remember telling Frederic Michel
:03:08. > :03:13.that it would soon be game over for the bid's opponents. But he could
:03:13. > :03:18.imagine having a conversation along those lines. On other conversations
:03:18. > :03:25.he was more vague. What about the reference to judicial review, Mr
:03:25. > :03:28.Smith. Do you think there was a discussion about that? There may
:03:28. > :03:33.well have been a discussion about it. There may well have been, or
:03:33. > :03:39.there was a discussion? I can't remember. How much to News Corp's
:03:39. > :03:49.likes was Mr Hunt's special adviser. It is an e-mail from last year.
:03:49. > :03:57.
:03:57. > :04:03.This is the one that I do regret the most. By this stage I was
:04:03. > :04:09.probably coming towards the end of my tether, as it were, and I sent
:04:09. > :04:14.him a text to get him off my back. But I certainly don't think anybody
:04:14. > :04:19.in the department would have said that's what I had been doing, and I
:04:19. > :04:23.certainly ofn't doing anything on their behalf. But in hindsight I
:04:23. > :04:27.shouldn't have sent it. It was an attempt to molify him. Adam Smith
:04:27. > :04:34.was told to resign after the department's permanent secretary,
:04:34. > :04:40.Jonathan Stephen, saw the e-mails and felt they -- Jonathan Stevens,
:04:40. > :04:48.saw the e-mails and felt they were inappropriate. I struggled to
:04:48. > :04:52.understand why, as what seems to be, he came under intense pressure, he
:04:52. > :04:56.didn't talk to somebody about that. It didn't need to be me, it could
:04:56. > :04:59.have been someone else. The inquiry heard when Vince Cable was in
:04:59. > :05:02.charge, on the very day Mr Hunt was warned off lobbying him, by
:05:02. > :05:08.departmental lawyers, he pressed the Prime Minister to intercede. So
:05:08. > :05:11.what did the permanent secretary think of Mr Hunt's time in charge?
:05:12. > :05:16.Mr Stevens, who said they worked in a small office, stressed Jeremy
:05:16. > :05:23.Hunt had always been scruplous about his quasi-judicial role,
:05:23. > :05:27.handling the bid. But then Mr Stevens had been unaware what Adam
:05:27. > :05:37.Smith had been up to until hours before the sacking. Mr Smith was
:05:37. > :05:39.
:05:39. > :05:45.asked about events in the small office in the time before the event.
:05:45. > :05:50.Was the mood relaxed? No, it was very pressured and one of the most
:05:50. > :05:56.stressful I had experienced. said you agreed you had just been
:05:56. > :05:58.doing your job and left the office at 8.30pm that evening. That have
:05:58. > :06:03.the reflection of the conversation between myself and the other
:06:03. > :06:07.special advisers. The next morning he arrived to find Mr Hunt had been
:06:07. > :06:14.having meeting, then Mr Hunt met him. Can you remember precisely
:06:14. > :06:20.what he said? To the best of my recollection, is that everyone
:06:20. > :06:24.there thinks I needing to. And go he did, his boss, Mr Hunt, remains.
:06:24. > :06:29.It is his turn before Mr Leveson on Thursday, on Monday it is Tony
:06:29. > :06:34.Blair. The Deputy Chairman of the party is
:06:34. > :06:38.with me now. Nice of you to come in. The crucial allegation this evening
:06:38. > :06:42.is Jeremy Hunt misled parliament when he said he had made absolutely
:06:42. > :06:45.no interventions. We now understand that he tried to make those
:06:45. > :06:48.interventions. He didn't intervene, the memo he sent the Prime Minister
:06:48. > :06:51.is absolutely clear, I have it here. He said it would be totally wrong
:06:51. > :06:57.for the Government to get involved in a competition issue, which has
:06:57. > :07:01.to be decided at arm's length. However, he did think we should
:07:01. > :07:04.meet to discuss the policies issues thrown up afterwards. He tried to
:07:04. > :07:07.set up a meeting with the Business Secretary after he had been told
:07:07. > :07:12.not to? He tried to set it up, after the decision was going to be
:07:12. > :07:16.taken. The decision needed to go to the Competition Commission by the
:07:16. > :07:19.31st December, the following month what he did, it was his policy area,
:07:19. > :07:22.he was responsible for media ownership. It was his policy area
:07:22. > :07:27.it was natural he wanted to reflect on the issues involved, discuss
:07:27. > :07:30.them in Government, once the regulator, the Competition
:07:30. > :07:35.Commissioner had decided whether or not to refer the bid. He was given
:07:35. > :07:39.advice, 19th of November, it would be unwise to do so, it would be
:07:39. > :07:42.unwise to tell Vince Cable what he thought. And then he set up a
:07:42. > :07:46.meeting, or tried to set up a meeting with that memo through the
:07:46. > :07:50.Prime Minister as well. Let's be clear he didn't send that memo to
:07:50. > :07:54.Vince Cable. He sent it to the Prime Minister? He did not send it
:07:54. > :07:56.to Vince Cable, he sent nothing to Vince Cable. Why not if there was a
:07:56. > :08:01.recommendation from the lawyers that it would be unwise to do so?
:08:01. > :08:05.The memo says, in November, Ofcom will issue their report by 31st of
:08:05. > :08:15.December, it would be wrong of Government to get involved. But he
:08:15. > :08:15.
:08:16. > :08:18.does think that they should discuss any policies thrown up as a result,
:08:18. > :08:24.in other words, afterwards. lawyers in your department to say
:08:24. > :08:29.not to do something, would you issue a memo to do the thing you
:08:29. > :08:34.were warned not to do. He didn't do that. Wouldn't it have stopped you
:08:34. > :08:38.from writing a memo asking to do what you had been told not to do?
:08:38. > :08:44.He makes it absolutely clear, that there will be issues to be
:08:44. > :08:49.discussed, big policies about media ownership, once the regulatory body,
:08:49. > :08:53.the Competition Commission has been told not to refer. He has been told
:08:53. > :08:56.not to talk to the Business Secretary, and then he attempted to
:08:56. > :09:00.do so? He does not send a memo to the Business Secretary. He asked
:09:00. > :09:04.for a meeting with him? He suggests to the Prime Minister that once all
:09:04. > :09:08.this is over, once the regulator has decided, yes then there will be
:09:08. > :09:12.a need to look at the general question of media ownership. Given
:09:12. > :09:16.he sent that memo, was it wise for the Prime Minister to ask Jeremy
:09:16. > :09:19.Hunt to be responsible for the bid. Was there no-one else available,
:09:19. > :09:24.knowing what he knew then about Jeremy Hunt and's position?
:09:24. > :09:28.Prime Minister took the cabinet secretary's advice on, that the
:09:28. > :09:31.cabinet secretary took legal advice. The cabinet secretary looked at
:09:31. > :09:34.everything Jeremy Hunt had said previously in public. He knew what
:09:34. > :09:37.Jeremy Hunt thought before he gave him the position? He was quite
:09:37. > :09:42.satisfied that the statements Jeremy Hunt had issued earlier,
:09:42. > :09:44.long before, and don't forget he was shadow Culture Secretary. The
:09:44. > :09:48.cabinet secretary was quite satisfied, having taken legal
:09:48. > :09:54.advice that those statements would not amount to helping him prejudge
:09:54. > :09:59.any of these issues, and they didn't. It must strike you as quite
:09:59. > :10:05.odd that after he is given responsibility that he asks Ofcom
:10:05. > :10:08.if he can share the report but not with interested parties. Why would
:10:08. > :10:12.you want to ask that, though? you are dealing with the
:10:12. > :10:14.competition issue like this h you are negotiating on things like the
:10:14. > :10:18.undertakings that you are going to require. You are obviously
:10:18. > :10:21.negotiating with the person that has put in the bid. There a lot of
:10:21. > :10:25.contact. Negotiating in favour of one side and not the other?
:10:25. > :10:28.Absolutely not. The permanent secretary, by the way, completely
:10:28. > :10:30.coroborated Jeremy Hunt's evidence to parliament, that he did not
:10:30. > :10:35.favour the bid. The permanent secretary goes out of his way,
:10:35. > :10:39.today, to say that at every turn he took the advice of the regulator,
:10:39. > :10:44.and limited his own discretion. Let's look at some of Adam Smith's
:10:44. > :10:49.words. He said he had to resign because he had created a perception
:10:49. > :10:53.of impropriety. You heard Adam Smith in that clip, he was told the
:10:53. > :10:56.night of Rupert Murdoch's evidence he would be -- James Murdoch's
:10:56. > :10:59.advice that he will be all right, and then told the next morning that
:10:59. > :11:03.most people there thought he should go, because of the headlines,
:11:03. > :11:06.presumably. Is that the right way to treat an adviser, a junior
:11:06. > :11:12.employee in his office? It was the scale of the texts and the
:11:12. > :11:15.inappropriateness of some of them. By Adam Smith afterwards realised.
:11:15. > :11:19.Which was clear the night before? It became much clearer the
:11:20. > :11:24.following day. The sheer scale, the number of texts. After the
:11:24. > :11:27.headlines told him that? After everybody had gone through the e-
:11:27. > :11:31.mails and texts. Jeremy Hunt told him he was doing his job. You know,
:11:31. > :11:34.as I do, they are very intertwined those roles, Adam Smith wouldn't
:11:34. > :11:40.have gone off on a leg without Jeremy Hunt knowing what he was
:11:40. > :11:43.doing? He wouldn't have resigned if he hadn't accepted he had gone too
:11:43. > :11:46.far and acted inapropriately. One point here, he was clearly under
:11:46. > :11:50.pressure, not just from those in favour of the bid, there was the
:11:50. > :11:56.BBC. Doesn't it feel a little bit shameful for someone to take the
:11:56. > :12:02.rap for something that comes from higher up? He was the one doing the
:12:02. > :12:06.texting. There were others opposing the bid, Channel 4, the BBC,
:12:06. > :12:09.lobbying the department all the time. This was a young man, under
:12:09. > :12:13.enormous pressure. Thank you for coming in.
:12:13. > :12:17.As Scotland was bathed in sunlight and blue skies, was the best advert
:12:17. > :12:20.the nationalists could have hoped to, as they linked arms, fixed
:12:20. > :12:24.grins and launched the campaign for independence. But the Scottish
:12:24. > :12:29.Government doesn't want the referendum until 2014, that is a
:12:29. > :12:34.long time to hold a smile. The yes yes campaign's preference is to
:12:34. > :12:40.keep the Queen and the pound. We look at how it could work, the
:12:40. > :12:45.report contains flash photography. It is often called the most
:12:45. > :12:49.successful union the world has ever seen. It is certainly made for a
:12:49. > :12:55.striking flag. The two crosses have more or less
:12:55. > :12:59.lane comfortably over each other for 400 years, in just over two
:12:59. > :13:03.years it could look so different. The question for us, as we begin
:13:03. > :13:06.this journey, is how do we mobilise that sentiment. From the beginning
:13:06. > :13:12.the Scots were agrieved that the Red Cross overlaid the blue one,
:13:12. > :13:15.today the descendants of that agrieved party, launched that
:13:15. > :13:20.campaign -- launched the campaign for independence. We want a
:13:20. > :13:24.Scotland that is greener, in the words of the declaration, greener,
:13:24. > :13:27.fairer and more prosperous. If the parliament can run education, why
:13:27. > :13:32.can't it run the economy. If it can be trusted to run the health
:13:32. > :13:37.service, why can't had represent Scotland internationally. If it can
:13:37. > :13:43.be trusted to protect our own people, then why can't we protect
:13:43. > :13:48.the country, and do so without the obscenity of nuclear weapons.
:13:49. > :13:52.Ahead of this launch, the Save The Union campaign, sought to spike
:13:52. > :13:56.their opponents' guns. Not yet up and running, they released an
:13:56. > :14:01.opinion poll, it showed only 33% of Scots would opt for independence,
:14:01. > :14:06.57% would reject it. They also dug into the views of the SNP voters,
:14:06. > :14:12.polling of them suggested 58% of those who voted for the SNP last
:14:12. > :14:15.May, would back independence. 28% of SNP voters opposed it.
:14:15. > :14:20.The SNP say they are not surprised by this morning's polling. That is
:14:20. > :14:24.why, they say, they need a two-and- a-half lead-in time to the
:14:24. > :14:28.referendum. To give people time to get used to the arguments on how
:14:28. > :14:33.defence and social security would work post independence. There has
:14:33. > :14:37.been possibly a slight change in language. The SNP appeared to know
:14:37. > :14:41.they had independence diehards in the bag, and they need to reach out
:14:41. > :14:44.to middle Scotland. That is why this morning they made a slightly
:14:44. > :14:47.different argument. That is our preference would be to remain
:14:47. > :14:50.within sterling, we think that would be good for Scotland in terms
:14:50. > :14:53.of the stability of that. We also think there would be advantages,
:14:53. > :14:58.big advantages to the rest of the UK as well. Because it would mean
:14:58. > :15:04.the UK's balance of payments would still get the advantage of
:15:04. > :15:09.Scotland's massive oil export, our whiskey exports, and other exports,
:15:09. > :15:11.that would help to support a sterling zone. Keeping the pound,
:15:11. > :15:15.some people call it independence light, and say it raises more
:15:15. > :15:19.questions than it answers. They say the Scots would end up with no MPs
:15:19. > :15:21.in Westminster, and a monetary policy set in Threadneedle Street
:15:21. > :15:25.at the Bank of England. They believe Scotland would have ended
:15:25. > :15:30.up being more dependant on London than it was before. Some think it
:15:30. > :15:34.is a foolhardy exercise. When Czechoslovakia split up in 1992
:15:34. > :15:38.into two separate countries, they thought they would have a monetary
:15:38. > :15:42.union. They both agreed to this, it didn't work. It lasted all of five
:15:42. > :15:45.week. That is because they spent four of them figuring out how to
:15:45. > :15:49.end it. The problem wasn't really the international monetary system,
:15:49. > :15:53.or the speculator or the banks, it was ordinary people, wondering what
:15:53. > :15:55.was going to happen to their money, their contracts, ordinary
:15:55. > :15:59.businesses, and they moved their money from one side of the country
:15:59. > :16:04.to the other. To ease this transition, one way the SNP think
:16:04. > :16:09.they can bring in revenue, is a cut to corporation tax. The Scottish
:16:09. > :16:13.Government has said that it would like to emulate Irish policy on
:16:13. > :16:17.corporation tax. At some point reduce the British rate of
:16:17. > :16:21.corporation tax, currently in place in Scotland, to around 12.5%, that
:16:21. > :16:25.is the Irish rate. That would mean that Scotland would have to find an
:16:25. > :16:29.extra �1.8 billion in revenue, to fill the gap that was caused by
:16:29. > :16:33.that decrease. The SNP have their own facts and
:16:33. > :16:40.figures, when they tell Scots that independence could make them �500
:16:40. > :16:44.richer, per person, per year. One opinion poll sut65% of respondents
:16:44. > :16:49.supporting an independent Scotland. They show the latest figures could
:16:49. > :16:55.bear that out. Their official statisticians show last year that
:16:55. > :17:03.Scotland contributed to more in UK taxes than it got in return, to the
:17:03. > :17:06.tune of �500 a person. The Save The Union campaign will be kicking off
:17:06. > :17:10.in June, and headed by Alistair Darling. Why are they waiting until
:17:10. > :17:14.the end of June. Alex Salmond is due shortly before the Leveson
:17:14. > :17:19.Inquiry. Labour believes the SNP was damaged in local elections
:17:19. > :17:22.recently, because of the recent suggestion of a link between Alex
:17:22. > :17:26.Salmond and Rupert Murdoch. Labour believe it tarnished Salmond's
:17:27. > :17:29.reputation as a man of the people, and it damaged them in the local
:17:29. > :17:33.elections and might damage their campaign for independent. Back at
:17:33. > :17:39.the flag's inception, Scotland and England were still separate. Today
:17:39. > :17:41.begins a two-year debate to decide if they will be again. The former
:17:41. > :17:48.Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, has been helping
:17:48. > :17:53.toe organise the No Campaign. When I spoke to him earlier, I asked how
:17:53. > :17:57.prominent a role he would play. will play a major role, along with
:17:57. > :18:00.other political parties, and crucially, along with people who
:18:00. > :18:03.are not allied with political parties. This is not an argument
:18:03. > :18:06.won by two sets of politicians arguing with each other over the
:18:06. > :18:10.next two-and-a-half years. We have to engage Scottish opinion, and
:18:10. > :18:14.what will be the biggest dwegs we make as a country, for -- decision
:18:14. > :18:18.we make as a country for perhaps 300 years. These are important
:18:18. > :18:22.decisions to be discussed. I believe very strongly that Scotland
:18:22. > :18:27.would be better off remaining part of the UK. These are arguments that
:18:27. > :18:31.have to be pursued and debated. Isn't the blunt truth that the SNP
:18:31. > :18:34.currently have the only charismatic voice in Scotland at the moment?
:18:34. > :18:39.you look at the poll published today, opinion on independence
:18:40. > :18:43.hasn't shifted really in the five years since the nationalists took
:18:43. > :18:47.power here. Their momentum hasaled, there is no doubt about it. They
:18:48. > :18:51.did not -- has stalled, there is no doubt about it. They didn't do as
:18:51. > :18:58.well as they thought in Scottish elections, have a look at the polls,
:18:58. > :19:02.they are not shifting opinions. The reason is, prom people in Scotland
:19:02. > :19:05.are pretty canny. Would a single currency work for two nations?
:19:05. > :19:09.nationalists have changed their position, they were in favour of
:19:09. > :19:12.the euro until the beginning of the year. Then they said they would use
:19:12. > :19:15.the pound like Panama uses the dollar, when it was pointed out
:19:15. > :19:20.that interest rates would be fixed by a foreign currency, they say
:19:20. > :19:23.they want a currency union. The problem with currency unions, as we
:19:23. > :19:27.can see in Europe, they lead to increasing economic and then
:19:27. > :19:30.political union. So what is the point of leaving a union, only to
:19:30. > :19:34.arrive back in a situation where you are forced back into it. And
:19:34. > :19:39.you have all the problems that you see with the euro just now. Where
:19:39. > :19:44.you have to have your budgets agreed by some sort of central body.
:19:44. > :19:49.We have to send our budgets down to London. This is nonsense and will
:19:49. > :19:59.be exposed as such, and the majority of people in Scotland will
:19:59. > :20:00.
:20:00. > :20:03.see it as complete nonsense. Could you see the -- If you look at the
:20:03. > :20:08.MPC at the moment, it doesn't have representation from different parts
:20:08. > :20:12.of the UK, it has people on it, whose expertise is trying to
:20:12. > :20:16.forecast what will happen on inflation and setting interest
:20:16. > :20:21.rates. It is not a representative body. If you think about it, if
:20:21. > :20:25.Scotland decided to leave the UK, why is it that the remaining parts
:20:25. > :20:29.of the UK will say here is our Central Bank and here is our policy
:20:29. > :20:32.committee thatics ifs interest rates. But we are having -- that
:20:33. > :20:37.fixes interest rates, but we are having someone from another country
:20:37. > :20:43.on it. We are invite bid the nationalists to take unquantified
:20:43. > :20:46.risk with our future, at probably the most uncertain time in modern
:20:46. > :20:49.timesment we are in a very difficult situation, we have a
:20:49. > :20:55.European situation that seems to be getting worse by the day. Problems
:20:55. > :20:59.with banks there, as well as the economy. They are asking for risks
:20:59. > :21:04.they can't quantify. Would you in any circumstances countenance a
:21:04. > :21:08.second question on the referendum balance, that said, shorthand, deaf
:21:08. > :21:12.very max? I don't think you can put another question on the ballot
:21:12. > :21:17.paper, unless you specify exactly what it is. The problem with what
:21:17. > :21:22.is known as devo max and plus, is it is not defined. There are 57
:21:22. > :21:26.varieties of these things. I'm inclined to agree with the SNP's
:21:26. > :21:31.deputy leader, on this point and this point alone, she said unless
:21:31. > :21:34.you have a specific defined opposition you can't quantify it on
:21:34. > :21:39.the ballot paper. We understand independence and being part of the
:21:39. > :21:43.UK, that is the question to put on the ballot paper, we don't have to
:21:43. > :21:48.wait two-and-a-half years for that. We could have that referendum now,
:21:48. > :21:53.and the only reason we don't have it now is Alex Salmond doesn't
:21:53. > :21:56.think he can win, he wants to sit it out, I don't think that is right
:21:56. > :22:01.for Scotland. Stuart Hosie is the SNP's Treasury spokesman in
:22:01. > :22:07.Westminster, he's in the Dundee studio. You heard there from
:22:07. > :22:11.Alistair Darling that they were being asked to take unqualified
:22:11. > :22:14.risks at the most uncertain economic time. Why would you choose
:22:14. > :22:17.such a vulnerable moment to convince people this was a good
:22:17. > :22:21.idea? Alistair Darling made a whole series of assertions in his package.
:22:22. > :22:25.It amounts to no more than the usual scaremongering. We have seen
:22:25. > :22:28.them, and the best one was the stuff about the Central Bank. The
:22:28. > :22:32.Bank of England's our Central Bank as well. It is completely
:22:32. > :22:37.independent. What would happen with independence, of course, is because
:22:37. > :22:42.the Central Bank doesn't work or set debt targets or deficit target
:22:42. > :22:45.or growth targets, and the Government and the MPC studious low
:22:45. > :22:51.avoid commenting on fiscal policy, is the Scottish Finance Minister,
:22:51. > :22:55.and a UK Chancellor, would have exactly the same powers, that is
:22:55. > :22:57.monetary discipline set by the Central Bank. It sets interest
:22:57. > :22:59.rates, and its remit is set by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, you
:22:59. > :23:03.heard there from a former Chancellor that Scottish
:23:03. > :23:06.politicians would not have a place at that table, wouldn't that worry
:23:06. > :23:10.you? UK politicians don't have a place at the table, because it is
:23:10. > :23:15.completely independent. The only target which is set is the
:23:15. > :23:20.inflation target, that is sensible. In a currency union, if you agree a
:23:21. > :23:24."stability pact", say deficits to run more than 3% over the cycle,
:23:24. > :23:28.that is extremely sensible. We are very comfortable with that.
:23:28. > :23:31.know the Treasury is involved in major decisions, like quanative
:23:31. > :23:35.easing, you have to approve things like that. What was spelled out, is
:23:35. > :23:39.you wouldn't have a force in the economic cycle and movement n with
:23:39. > :23:42.what would be essentially your own country? That is simply not the
:23:42. > :23:45.case. You accept the discipline of the Central Bank, of course you do,
:23:45. > :23:50.in relation to monetary policy S what we would have, and it is a
:23:50. > :23:55.thing we don't have now, is full control over all of the fiscal
:23:55. > :23:59.levers, in order to grow the economy, and not make the same
:23:59. > :24:04.austerity policy driven mistakes that the UK Government are making,
:24:04. > :24:09.and Alistair Darling made when he was Chancellor, laying out �87
:24:09. > :24:13.billion worth of taxes and cuts. You don't have to look very far to
:24:13. > :24:17.Europe to understand it is not a great idea to shoe horn two
:24:17. > :24:24.economies into one monetary policy? That is right, the reason we have
:24:24. > :24:31.problems in Europe is preSicily that. Productivity in Greece and
:24:31. > :24:33.the rest are not the same. wouldn't be able to make those
:24:33. > :24:43.decisions independently? Productivity is across Scotland and
:24:43. > :24:43.
:24:43. > :24:47.the UK is near idea ka. You don't epbtder a currency union with --
:24:47. > :24:50.identical, you don't enter a currency union with those
:24:50. > :24:55.differences, it is not the same as southern Greece and northern
:24:55. > :25:00.Germany. You heard the poll that showed 30% would vote yes if it was
:25:00. > :25:03.asked today. Doesn't it tell us a lot about your confidence in your
:25:03. > :25:07.campaign, that it is not even on the table for another two years?
:25:07. > :25:12.it is going to be in 2014, that is the promise we made at the election.
:25:12. > :25:16.In terms of today's poll, it was one poll, it was a very strange,
:25:16. > :25:19.skewed question, but we will set that aside. Some polls have showed
:25:19. > :25:24.independence ahead, others not so well ahead. What we need to do is
:25:25. > :25:29.run the campaign, get it bottomed out, published a detailed
:25:29. > :25:34.prospectus and win the argument. someone offered you devo max, a bit
:25:34. > :25:37.more power, the SNP would be happy with that? The SNP stands for
:25:37. > :25:39.independence, and we want independent, and the campaign was
:25:40. > :25:46.launched today. More gloomy news from the eurozone
:25:46. > :25:51.today, Spain's fourth-largest lender, Bankia, has requested a 90
:25:51. > :25:56.million euro bail out, on top of 4.5 billion euros appealed for
:25:56. > :26:02.earlier in the month. In Catalonia, regional Government could be unable
:26:02. > :26:07.to pay their bills. Could this be the year where many countries try
:26:07. > :26:13.their hardest to lose, because it would cost millions to host next
:26:13. > :26:23.year. The spannic Prime Minister denied remarks she was alleged to
:26:23. > :26:33.make last year, which would be -- the Spanish contestant has denied
:26:33. > :26:37.remarks she was alleged to have made last week which would be to
:26:37. > :26:44.lose would be better. # If you love someone
:26:44. > :26:54.# Follow your heart # I am close to the
:26:54. > :27:00.
:27:00. > :27:04.# Border line # Um come on a dance
:27:04. > :27:08.Paddy O'Connell has the enviable task for covering Eurovision for
:27:08. > :27:11.the BBC, he joins us now. I guess the joke used to be that nobody
:27:11. > :27:18.voted for Britain, because they didn't really like us, now if you
:27:18. > :27:21.didn't like us, you might vote for us, right? Well, no-one can dislike
:27:21. > :27:30.Spain, and you can probably speak the language. What has happened
:27:30. > :27:35.here is Pastorus has come back from comments that a TV executive said,
:27:35. > :27:39.for heaven's sake don't win because it costs too much. It costs many
:27:39. > :27:44.millions to stage this circus. Everyone wonders about being landed
:27:44. > :27:51.with a bill in a time of austerity. But the Spanish girl says she's in
:27:51. > :27:55.it to win it, and don't report those remarks you earlier did.
:27:55. > :28:00.much did Azerbaijan throw at this one? Look behind me, this was
:28:00. > :28:04.briefly the world's largest flag hole, it is 300ms away. Then
:28:04. > :28:09.Malaysia made a larger one. This is the size of half a football pitch.
:28:09. > :28:12.Look at the light display. This is a new stadium. This is like the
:28:12. > :28:16.Olympic stadium, built for Eurovision. Which I think is
:28:16. > :28:19.getting your priorities right. But here it has come with a lot of
:28:19. > :28:24.human rights questions attached. We have been covering in other parts
:28:24. > :28:28.of the news bulletins. If you take aside the question of the
:28:28. > :28:32.construction costs, they are paying about 45 million euros to say to
:28:32. > :28:39.the world, here we are, we have Eurovision, and we have vast oil
:28:39. > :28:45.wealth, and you haven't. In the midst. Euro crisis, what is your
:28:45. > :28:49.redirection for the way the voting patterns will go tomorrow. We are
:28:49. > :28:53.post-soviet bloc era stuff now, aren't we? Greece is not going to
:28:53. > :28:58.give 12 points to Germany, let's start there. We have Ireland here,
:28:58. > :29:02.they rely on votes from the UK often, and they have got those two
:29:02. > :29:06.chirpping little quiff creature, Jedward, with a mobile water
:29:06. > :29:09.fountain, they are a country in crisis. Spain are here, Greece are
:29:09. > :29:18.here, Italy's here, I think they should all support each other,
:29:18. > :29:24.really, in it this time, show -- in this time, show a currency country
:29:24. > :29:29.kuen. -- currency union. I don't know who will win, Sweden are the
:29:29. > :29:33.favourites. Have a great night, thank you very much.
:29:33. > :29:40.Next week, ahead of the Jubilee, we look at modern Britain, through the
:29:40. > :29:45.writers of previous great regins, we have Shakespeare on Monday,
:29:45. > :29:50.Shakespeare and leadership. They all see themselves at the party
:29:50. > :29:55.conference, standing up and rousing the troops. As with Henry V, it is
:29:55. > :29:58.quite cynical, and it doesn't solve the problem of how to govern.
:29:58. > :30:08.that to come on Monday, that is all from Newsnight tonight, from all of
:30:08. > :30:28.
:30:28. > :30:36.from Newsnight tonight, from all of us here, a very good night.
:30:36. > :30:41.Good evening. The mercury soared to 29 degrees in some places this
:30:41. > :30:45.afternoon. Not as humid to start with tomorrow, an easterly wind
:30:45. > :30:49.bringing in the humid conditions. Temperatures always around the mid-
:30:49. > :30:55.teens along the coast, thanks to the breeze off the North Sea. We
:30:55. > :30:59.are getting into the mid-20s in the west. The sun will be every bit as
:30:59. > :31:04.strong. In the channel island, Cornwall, and the ielgs of silly,
:31:04. > :31:10.cloud later, a few rumbles of thunder in the night and with rain.
:31:10. > :31:15.Most completely dry. The torch passing through Cardiff to Swansea,
:31:15. > :31:18.clear skies overhead. Temperatures of around 25-126. Clear and sunny
:31:18. > :31:22.throughout, across Northern Ireland too, as it will be in Scotland.
:31:22. > :31:26.None of the mist and low cloud that bothered us on Friday morning. Blue
:31:26. > :31:30.skies to start with and blue skies to finish as well. The only threat
:31:30. > :31:34.to misty low cloud across the Shetlands. Paris sharing the heat
:31:35. > :31:39.as well. Elsewhere in Europe, Amsterdam cooler, and Berlin, a bit
:31:39. > :31:43.more cloud here. Some thunderstorms to come in Rome and Athens during
:31:43. > :31:46.the weekend, and it will temper the temperatures some what.