:00:00. > :00:00.The Prime Minister is fighting on two fronts.
:00:00. > :00:08.Not content with hitting the EU head on over Brexit,
:00:09. > :00:11.she's taken a huge swipe at the Scottish Government.
:00:12. > :00:14.Politics is not a game, and government is not a platform for
:00:15. > :00:18.which to pursue constitutional obsessions.
:00:19. > :00:22.A tunnel vision nationalism, which focuses only on
:00:23. > :00:27.independence at any cost, sells Scotland short.
:00:28. > :00:29.Is this how you talk to a neighbour supposedly
:00:30. > :00:37.We ask the SNP and the Conservative Secretary of State for Scotland.
:00:38. > :00:40.Also tonight - she was a serving officer for 13 years, the face
:00:41. > :00:44.Now she has quit spectacularly on Facebook saying the stress
:00:45. > :00:47.and anxiety brought on by falling police numbers and lack of care
:00:48. > :00:55.And later we'll be live from Belfast, from the Northern Ireland
:00:56. > :00:58.elections where Sinn Fein look like they are having their best
:00:59. > :01:10.showing ever and the leader of the Ulster Unionists has resigned.
:01:11. > :01:15.Few would dispute that we are in a constitutional maelstrom
:01:16. > :01:18.in the UK at the moment, but today that vortex intensified.
:01:19. > :01:22.We had a bruising referendum campaign about the future
:01:23. > :01:25.of the United Kingdom in the EU, but now the fight within the UK
:01:26. > :01:30.Today, Theresa May took the Brexit gloves off with a speech to the Tory
:01:31. > :01:33.Party in Scotland which accused the Scottish Government
:01:34. > :01:37.of an obsession with Independence stoking up endless constitutional
:01:38. > :01:40.grievance, and tunnel vision nationalism.
:01:41. > :01:43.Is this the same Prime minister who arrived in Scotland's capital
:01:44. > :01:48.the day after she won the Tory leadership in July assuring
:01:49. > :01:50.the Scottish government that she wanted it fully engaged
:01:51. > :02:03.Are we heading for a rematch, Indi Ref II?
:02:04. > :02:06.The Brexit referendum has turned what was supposedly a once
:02:07. > :02:10.in a generation decision into a live question once again.
:02:11. > :02:12.The Prime Minister was at the Scottish Conservative Conference
:02:13. > :02:17.today, accusing the SNP of using the EU vote to reheat
:02:18. > :02:24.arguments that the Scottish people have already rejected once.
:02:25. > :02:26.Politics is not a game and government is not
:02:27. > :02:28.a platform for which to pursue constitutional obsessions.
:02:29. > :02:32.It is about taking the serious decisions to improve people's lives.
:02:33. > :02:37.A tunnel vision nationalism which focuses only on independence
:02:38. > :02:47.The SNP government has been pressing for what it calls a differentiated
:02:48. > :02:50.settlement for Scotland post-Brexit, staying in the EU single market
:02:51. > :02:57.Today, the Prime Minister ruled out such an arrangement.
:02:58. > :03:00.I am determined to ensure that as we leave the EU,
:03:01. > :03:04.we do so as one United Kingdom which prospers outside the EU
:03:05. > :03:10.That means achieving a deal with the EU which works
:03:11. > :03:12.for all parts of the UK, England, Scotland, Wales
:03:13. > :03:23.And for the United Kingdom as a whole.
:03:24. > :03:26.The truly irritating thing about it all is that there are deals
:03:27. > :03:31.There is a deal with Nissan, a deal for the City of London.
:03:32. > :03:33.There's probably going to be a deal for Ireland,
:03:34. > :03:36.maybe one for soft fruit farmers in East Anglia.
:03:37. > :03:39.And yet the one group of people who have voted so
:03:40. > :03:47.emphatically to want a deal to stay in the EU and the single
:03:48. > :03:53.market are the Scots, and there's no deal available for us.
:03:54. > :04:02.For our precious union, of nations and of people. Theresa May's defence
:04:03. > :04:07.of the union went down well in the hall, but how strong is it in the
:04:08. > :04:16.hearts of Scottish voters? At the independence referendum in 2014,
:04:17. > :04:21.44.7% of Scots voted yes. After that, the pro-independent side got a
:04:22. > :04:27.boost into the high 40s but it settled down to mostly occupy the
:04:28. > :04:31.40, 40 5% zone. Then came the Brexit vote. The fact Scotland was being
:04:32. > :04:35.taken out of the EU against its will created a slight in the
:04:36. > :04:40.pro-independence polling numbers, but then it settled back down to the
:04:41. > :04:45.same zone it was in before the Brexit vote. There has been a
:04:46. > :04:50.significant number of voters, about 15% have, according to the polls
:04:51. > :04:55.move to yes. But that has been balanced by a significant number of
:04:56. > :05:01.voters moving in the opposite direction. So there has been a fair
:05:02. > :05:05.amount of churn. It hints at something deeper and longer
:05:06. > :05:09.standing, which is nobody really knows exactly how a second
:05:10. > :05:16.independence referendum, if it were to happen in 2018 or in 2019, if it
:05:17. > :05:30.happens at all, would play out. Scotland's economic standing has
:05:31. > :05:35.worsened. North Sea oil prices have dropped. And according to the
:05:36. > :05:42.Scottish Government's own figures, Scotland runs a fiscal deficit of
:05:43. > :05:46.9.5% of GDP, or ?15 billion a year. But in politics these days, other
:05:47. > :05:50.arguments seem to carry more weight than simple economics. Another
:05:51. > :05:54.potentially important change since the independence referendum was the
:05:55. > :05:59.wiping out in Scotland of the Labour Party. In 2014 they were confident
:06:00. > :06:06.of delivering their voters for the no side. Since then, those voters
:06:07. > :06:10.have deserted them. Jeremy Corbyn's apparent willingness for abandoning
:06:11. > :06:15.the notion Labour could be a plausible party of government at
:06:16. > :06:21.Westminster, opens the door to Conservative rule in London from
:06:22. > :06:25.2010 to 2030. The SNP think that is something that will powerfully
:06:26. > :06:31.concentrate Scottish minds and make independence see more plausible and
:06:32. > :06:35.unappealing motion. Securing Scotland's place in the EU was a key
:06:36. > :06:40.plank of the 2014 anti-independence campaign. Now it is a key part of
:06:41. > :06:44.the nationalist case. How decisive it might be in changing minds,
:06:45. > :06:46.depends on the Brexit we end up with.
:06:47. > :06:48.David Mundell is the Secretary of State for Scotland.
:06:49. > :06:50.He'll make his speech at the Tory Party Conference
:06:51. > :07:02.Good evening to you. David Mundell, a good photo call with Nicola
:07:03. > :07:06.Sturgeon two days after she became leader, great sound bites. This is
:07:07. > :07:12.the real Theresa May, it was an attack on a national government with
:07:13. > :07:17.its own mandate? It is not anything of that kind. What it is, it is
:07:18. > :07:22.asking Nicola Sturgeon to take the issue of independence of the table.
:07:23. > :07:26.What your report didn't cover was the fact that all polling that has
:07:27. > :07:33.taken place in Scotland indicates the overwhelming majority of people,
:07:34. > :07:35.whether they are for or against independence, are against having
:07:36. > :07:41.another independence referendum at this time. They believe we have made
:07:42. > :07:45.the decision, they think another referendum would be divisive. It is
:07:46. > :07:54.about saying, let's not talk all the time about independence, let's focus
:07:55. > :07:58.on the day job, the issues with health and education. Education,
:07:59. > :08:02.where standards have slumped in Scotland. And on the issue of
:08:03. > :08:09.Brexit, let's come together, work together and get the best deal for
:08:10. > :08:14.Scotland. Working together you assume, means taking a well
:08:15. > :08:18.considered substantial document produced by the Scottish Government
:08:19. > :08:22.before Christmas, giving it credence, having a discussion about
:08:23. > :08:27.it. Why does the reason may not think this is a legitimate document?
:08:28. > :08:35.There is nothing to suggest it is her view. Have you had a formal
:08:36. > :08:40.response? She has said and I have said, we take this document as a
:08:41. > :08:45.serious contribution to the debate. That is why officials from both
:08:46. > :08:48.governments have been working assiduously together to look at the
:08:49. > :08:52.areas in that document where we have common ground and there are a large
:08:53. > :08:59.numbers of areas where we have common ground, workers' rights,
:09:00. > :09:03.criminal justice, and security. But not the single market? What the
:09:04. > :09:07.position is in relation to the single market, the SNP position is
:09:08. > :09:14.to have membership of the single market. Our position is to have
:09:15. > :09:19.access to the single market. In so many areas, the ends we want to
:09:20. > :09:26.achieve the same. If we can agree on those, it seems to me there is a way
:09:27. > :09:30.forward. Why does Theresa May think her voice in Scotland is more
:09:31. > :09:34.legitimate than the First Minister in a country where there was only
:09:35. > :09:39.one Conservative MP returned in the whole country, and that was you. She
:09:40. > :09:43.doesn't think her voice is more legitimate, but she is the Prime
:09:44. > :09:50.Minister of the whole of the United Kingdom. She is entitled to say to
:09:51. > :09:54.Nicola Sturgeon, stop banging on about independence all the time. The
:09:55. > :09:58.people of Scotland made their decision in 2014. They made it clear
:09:59. > :10:07.in all the polling they don't want to have another... I don't think
:10:08. > :10:10.Theresa May started talking about independence three hours after the
:10:11. > :10:15.declaration of the result in the EU referendum. It is the first time
:10:16. > :10:20.Nicola Sturgeon mentioned independence and she has mentioned
:10:21. > :10:27.it every single day since the 24th of June. You cannot say she has
:10:28. > :10:31.mentioned it every day, so let's leave that. Why does the government
:10:32. > :10:36.reject the idea Britain cannot go it alone outside the EU, and uses the
:10:37. > :10:42.same arguments for why Scotland cannot go it alone? We have had a
:10:43. > :10:47.referendum in Scotland and people have decided to remain decisively,
:10:48. > :10:52.part of the United Kingdom. The overwhelming view of people in
:10:53. > :10:56.Scotland is they should move on from this constitutional debate. I think
:10:57. > :11:00.people want to see both governments working together so we can get the
:11:01. > :11:09.best possible deal from the EU as we exited. That is what we are trying
:11:10. > :11:16.to achieve. In the possibility there is another referendum on Scottish
:11:17. > :11:21.independence, who is going to run a better together campaign? Argument
:11:22. > :11:23.remains, there could be another independence referendum, but we
:11:24. > :11:27.don't believe there should be and we will continue to make the argument
:11:28. > :11:32.we should not have another independence referendum. But the
:11:33. > :11:37.Theresa may put herself on the front of a better together campaign? What
:11:38. > :11:41.Theresa May is doing is emphasising her commitment to the United
:11:42. > :11:46.Kingdom, setting out the benefits of Scotland being in the United
:11:47. > :11:49.Kingdom, but calling on Nicola Sturgeon to take this divisive issue
:11:50. > :11:54.of the threat of another independence referendum of the
:11:55. > :11:57.table. Let's not talk about the independence referendum, Theresa May
:11:58. > :12:02.said she would not be triggering Article 50 until she had a UK
:12:03. > :12:09.approach. The truth is, you don't have a UK approach yet? What doing
:12:10. > :12:12.is continuing to work with the Scottish Government and other
:12:13. > :12:17.devolved administrations to take on board issues and concerns they have
:12:18. > :12:21.raised, so we can go forward into these EU negotiations with a team UK
:12:22. > :12:25.approach. That is the approach that will get is the best results and
:12:26. > :12:29.that is why we want the Scottish Government and the government in the
:12:30. > :12:32.other part of the UK on board, so we can work together. That is how we
:12:33. > :12:37.will get the best approach and that is Theresa May's approach.
:12:38. > :12:38.Stephen Gethins is the SNP's Europe Spokesperson.
:12:39. > :12:52.Theresa May has called Nicola Sturgeon's bluff, so why not just
:12:53. > :12:58.call a referendum and be done with it? Well, in the interview you have
:12:59. > :13:03.just had, we have had David Mundell saying it is still alive document.
:13:04. > :13:10.The biggest crisis we face right now is being taken out of the European
:13:11. > :13:14.Union in a Tory hard Brexit. It could cost thousands of jobs. The
:13:15. > :13:19.most detailed document was produced by the Scottish Government, looking
:13:20. > :13:24.for a compromise that would bring in Northern Ireland and Scotland who
:13:25. > :13:29.voted to remain overwhelmingly. I think trying to pull together that
:13:30. > :13:36.compromise was the right thing to do. It is a serious document. If
:13:37. > :13:40.Theresa May has made it clear she is not interested in an approach which
:13:41. > :13:45.allows you to differentiate and remain in the single market, if she
:13:46. > :13:50.has made it clear and it seems that she has, why not just call the
:13:51. > :13:56.referendum? As soon as she has triggered Article 50? Let's give
:13:57. > :14:01.them the opportunity to come back, David Mundell said it is still live
:14:02. > :14:06.so let's take them on their word. Theresa May had an extraordinary
:14:07. > :14:10.speech lashing out at a government when she doesn't have other problems
:14:11. > :14:17.to seek right now. This is the biggest crisis of this time right
:14:18. > :14:22.now, it could cost 80,000 jobs if we are taken out of the EU. David
:14:23. > :14:25.Mundell talks about independence, Theresa May talks a great deal about
:14:26. > :14:29.independence. People like me are happy with that. When the Scottish
:14:30. > :14:35.Government said we could put that to one side, we can try and compromise,
:14:36. > :14:38.we can look at the deal across the United Kingdom, that is an
:14:39. > :14:43.opportunity they should have seized. We have a situation in the UK where
:14:44. > :14:51.we are getting very few details nine months on. We know there is chaos in
:14:52. > :14:53.a number of Whitehall departments about what happens next. That should
:14:54. > :14:59.be the Prime Minister's priority right now. If you are getting
:15:00. > :15:03.signals in the key plank of your document, which is remaining in the
:15:04. > :15:06.single market, is not a runner, Nicola Sturgeon will look weak if
:15:07. > :15:09.she doesn't call a referendum now and you will be letting down the
:15:10. > :15:15.people who expect you to take one forward? Our first responsibility is
:15:16. > :15:23.about maintaining jobs in the economy. If you look at my own
:15:24. > :15:26.constituency, the University of St Andrews, which relies heavily on its
:15:27. > :15:31.relationship with the European Union, we have to try and seek the
:15:32. > :15:39.least worst option. This is a problem and this is chaos of
:15:40. > :15:42.Westminster's making. It was a Gross responsibility of believe campaign
:15:43. > :15:49.who campaigned on a blank piece of paper. How will the Scottish
:15:50. > :15:53.Government make the decision that concessions, whatever they are or
:15:54. > :15:57.what ever they are not, are sufficient or insufficient enough to
:15:58. > :16:03.call a referendum, when will we have some clarity on this from the SNP.
:16:04. > :16:07.The uni 's Prime Minister is talking about independence, but Nicola
:16:08. > :16:12.Sturgeon did raise it within a month of the referendum. Why not tell
:16:13. > :16:17.people what will govern your decision?
:16:18. > :16:22.Rather than coming up north to Scotland and indulging in some sabre
:16:23. > :16:26.rattling, maybe Theresa May would have been better to work in terms of
:16:27. > :16:31.partnership, take the document seriously. It sets out how we can
:16:32. > :16:36.deal with problems. Remember, this EU decision will have an impact and
:16:37. > :16:39.each and every one of us in terms of our rights, livelihoods, in terms of
:16:40. > :16:43.every single part of the economy. This is the biggest crisis we are
:16:44. > :16:49.facing and it will have an impact on each and everyone of us. There a
:16:50. > :16:53.live document at the moment that came from the Scottish Government
:16:54. > :16:57.that came from the Scottish Government that has more detail than
:16:58. > :17:00.we have seen so far. We want the Westminster government to take that
:17:01. > :17:03.more seriously, and try to work in partnership.
:17:04. > :17:06.Laura Beal joined Devon and Cornwall police 13 years ago when she was 19,
:17:07. > :17:11.She was regarded as such a good officer that her face was
:17:12. > :17:13.on the Constabulary's Annual Report and on posters advertising
:17:14. > :17:16.But this week she did something no other serving
:17:17. > :17:21.She quit very publically, publishing her resignation
:17:22. > :17:27.In it she talked about her mental breakdown.
:17:28. > :17:29.She says she was left disillusioned and suffering from stress
:17:30. > :17:31.and anxiety as a result of the increasing
:17:32. > :17:36.Falling police numbers in the Constabulary took its toll
:17:37. > :17:39.on her capacity to do her job and crucially, she says
:17:40. > :17:53.Good evening. Thank you for joining us. You had a tough time, but do you
:17:54. > :17:58.remember back when you first wanted to be an officer? Very well and very
:17:59. > :18:01.fondly. I used to hear so many fantastic stories from my father.
:18:02. > :18:07.Who was an officer for ten years. Yes. The day I got in wasn't
:18:08. > :18:11.drastic, I was so proud. You were in the force for 14 years, do you
:18:12. > :18:17.remember when he started to feel unwell? It is probably a year or two
:18:18. > :18:20.after the cuts came in, there was the Windsor report and Theresa May
:18:21. > :18:27.did drastic cuts about two years after that. What actually happens to
:18:28. > :18:31.you, what were your symptoms? It ranged from just struggling to get
:18:32. > :18:37.out of bed, and the stereotypical ones where you struggle, it's got to
:18:38. > :18:41.a point to even going shopping was too much. So you just come back.
:18:42. > :18:46.What happened when you were actually on the beat, what impact did your
:18:47. > :18:50.stress levels have on you then? Dramatically. You put your uniform
:18:51. > :18:54.on and put a face on, and that's what everyone is able to do, but it
:18:55. > :18:58.got to the point where even putting your uniform on, which is kind of a
:18:59. > :19:03.mask, you can't even do it any more, and I wasn't able to do it any more,
:19:04. > :19:08.and it was affecting me too much. Did you feel exposed out in the
:19:09. > :19:14.field? Yes, I didn't feel safe. There's not enough of us. I didn't
:19:15. > :19:20.feel safe to drive the vehicle is so quickly in a night and so far. They
:19:21. > :19:24.were expecting us to do so much and there is no support for mental
:19:25. > :19:28.health. The procedures we have to go through, if you say you are not
:19:29. > :19:32.coping well, they sent you to occupational health, who ask if you
:19:33. > :19:35.have seen your doctor, and you'll only get six counselling sessions.
:19:36. > :19:40.If you can't have those sessions, they say you have to find your own
:19:41. > :19:45.route to getting well. Did you feel, as it were, when I say exposed in
:19:46. > :19:49.the field, did you feel frightened or in danger or putting others in
:19:50. > :19:52.danger? I was too professional to feel like I was putting others in
:19:53. > :19:56.danger. The reason I went off sick was because I felt I couldn't do my
:19:57. > :20:02.job properly. I wouldn't put myself at other people in danger because I
:20:03. > :20:08.couldn't do my job properly. You made a career, 13 years, how did you
:20:09. > :20:12.come to the decision? When you are thinking about going into work and
:20:13. > :20:17.it's a sad thing, it shouldn't be said. The whole point of being alive
:20:18. > :20:21.is to be happy, I think. When you go into work and you are making out you
:20:22. > :20:26.are trying to be happy and you can't, it's so suffocating. Even the
:20:27. > :20:29.thought of putting on my uniform was suffocating. How did your family
:20:30. > :20:33.deal with that? How did your father help you, was it difficult for him?
:20:34. > :20:40.My family and friends have been my rocks. I doubt has been so
:20:41. > :20:44.supportive. He has been my inspiration to join, and also to
:20:45. > :20:51.have the courage to leave and say, no, you need to be happy, and that's
:20:52. > :20:55.most important. You have made quite a lot of serious criticisms of
:20:56. > :20:58.police numbers, the way the police are deployed and so forth. Some
:20:59. > :21:02.people might say a stressful job isn't the job for you. I wouldn't
:21:03. > :21:07.have been doing it for 13 years if that was the case. Stress is
:21:08. > :21:11.something you can manage. It is manageable, and I loved my job and I
:21:12. > :21:16.was damned good at it, and you just have to see the comments put on
:21:17. > :21:20.there, it's not just me. A lot of messages of support. So many. All of
:21:21. > :21:24.them resonate about mental health, they were so stressed, they were
:21:25. > :21:27.telling supervisors they were stressed and not coping. What
:21:28. > :21:33.happens is as a result of that they go off sick, and they can't go off
:21:34. > :21:37.sick. These are colleagues in the police that have contacted you. They
:21:38. > :21:40.can't go off sick, and because they are stressed little things happen,
:21:41. > :21:44.they make mistakes, then they are penalised and forced out of the job
:21:45. > :21:48.that weight and all because of their mental health. Do you think there
:21:49. > :21:53.are circumstances you would go back into the police force? No, it's too
:21:54. > :21:59.broken for me. I found my way out and I'm starting to find happy
:22:00. > :22:05.happiness again. I'm doing mobile dog grooming now. Completely
:22:06. > :22:08.different! If you see officers in the same circumstances as you,
:22:09. > :22:14.should they stay and fight for change or should they quit? It's all
:22:15. > :22:17.on an individual basis. You know yourself, be honest and true with
:22:18. > :22:21.yourself. It's not as daunting as you think it's going to be and you
:22:22. > :22:23.owe the police force nothing. You are your own boss. Thank you very
:22:24. > :22:26.much indeed, Laura. A spokesperson for Devon
:22:27. > :22:29.and Cornwall told us... "We do hear concerns from officers
:22:30. > :22:31.and staff and recognise It requires skills and personal
:22:32. > :22:36.resilience which are often We are a supportive force
:22:37. > :22:40.and will always assist an officer It's been another tumultuous
:22:41. > :22:45.week for Donald Trump. Days after a senior member
:22:46. > :22:48.of his team had to resign because of his contacts
:22:49. > :22:50.with a Russia diplomat, the President's top legal official
:22:51. > :22:54.Jeff Sessions also became embroiled in a similar row, leading him
:22:55. > :22:56.to distance himself from any official role in investigating
:22:57. > :22:58.Russian links to I have now decided to recuse myself
:22:59. > :23:06.from any existing or future investigations of any matter
:23:07. > :23:10.relating in any way to the campaigns So, the Presidency mired
:23:11. > :23:17.in another week of scandal. But to one leading American
:23:18. > :23:20.Academic, Timothy Wu, there is no such thing as a bad
:23:21. > :23:27.headline for Mr Trump. Earlier I asked him why the
:23:28. > :23:31.president thrives on negative press. He has a completely different
:23:32. > :23:33.strategy and different way His main interest is always
:23:34. > :23:37.getting attention first, always being the centre of every
:23:38. > :23:40.headline, dominating all the news. I think as far as he's concerned,
:23:41. > :23:43.if he does that, he wins. But did he come upon this
:23:44. > :23:47.by accident or design? You know, I think certain things
:23:48. > :23:50.are just people's intuition. He's an entertainer, however,
:23:51. > :23:53.he understands that the show with the greatest ratings
:23:54. > :23:58.tends to win. And I think what he understands
:23:59. > :24:00.is that the American public's Got a million things
:24:01. > :24:05.going on and most of all And if he actually gets to reach
:24:06. > :24:11.people with his messages, In a sense, his own unpredictability
:24:12. > :24:18.is exciting, are you suggesting? You know, the things that really get
:24:19. > :24:21.people hooked are unpredictable Whether it is on purpose or not,
:24:22. > :24:29.he seems to have more of America paying attention to the presidency
:24:30. > :24:32.than any time maybe since So, he has really succeeded
:24:33. > :24:40.in a very unusual method that most So the idea is, you don't
:24:41. > :24:45.necessarily have to win a quick hit, you just have to keep going and be
:24:46. > :24:48.out there the whole time and by even It's kind of counterintuitive,
:24:49. > :24:55.but it suggests that ultimately it is a contest for attention
:24:56. > :24:58.and the win-lose All that matters in the end is who's
:24:59. > :25:03.getting the most attention, who's getting their message
:25:04. > :25:05.across and by that metric, Donald Would that also suggest
:25:06. > :25:12.that there is no such thing as bad publicity or is there something that
:25:13. > :25:16.could be his downfall? You know, for him I really
:25:17. > :25:20.believe his downfall will not be through normal means,
:25:21. > :25:22.but more like by being Not like Richard Nixon,
:25:23. > :25:27.but more like Paris Hilton where people just get sick of him
:25:28. > :25:31.and forget about it and then His power comes from
:25:32. > :25:33.a very different place But you could forget
:25:34. > :25:37.about Paris Hilton, it's a little bit more difficult to forget
:25:38. > :25:39.about the president, isn't it? He will have other forms of scrutiny
:25:40. > :25:42.than Paris Hilton had. That's why I think it's safe to say
:25:43. > :25:45.he's hacked the media. Even the story we are doing
:25:46. > :25:52.here, it's irresistible, he is the President,
:25:53. > :25:54.you can't ignore him He's hacked the power
:25:55. > :25:59.of the media and he's using it Even if that means losing -
:26:00. > :26:05.losing in the superficial sense - he's trying to win in
:26:06. > :26:08.the deeper sense. So, is the kind of counterpunch then
:26:09. > :26:12.to have the media ignore a lot of what he says,
:26:13. > :26:14.which would presumably I think that's the only
:26:15. > :26:22.way for him to really have his downfall is if the media,
:26:23. > :26:24.and frankly the public, just get sick of him,
:26:25. > :26:27.kind of like an act that's gone one It seems strange, he is
:26:28. > :26:33.still the president, but I think it's possible people
:26:34. > :26:37.could get sick of the whole shtick. Indeed, surely if there was some
:26:38. > :26:41.crisis that befell America, something which required
:26:42. > :26:44.the president to step up to the plate and he fell short
:26:45. > :26:47.in that, would that not be I think he could be impeached
:26:48. > :26:53.and that would be a turning point. I think his absurd handling
:26:54. > :26:58.of some crisis in some very strange way would,
:26:59. > :27:02.by his metric, not damage him as much as it would
:27:03. > :27:04.damage anybody else. Now we bring you the very latest
:27:05. > :27:11.on a very significant night As the votes come in for
:27:12. > :27:17.the Northern Irealnd Assembly elections, the Ulster Unionist Party
:27:18. > :27:19.leader Mike Nesbitt has resigned, and Sinn Fein are on their way
:27:20. > :27:23.to their best night ever. The BBC's Ireland correspondent
:27:24. > :27:37.Chris Buckler joins us There are still about 15 of the 90
:27:38. > :27:41.seats to be filled and counting continues, but it's clear Sinn Fein
:27:42. > :27:45.has had a very good election. They went into this vote campaigning
:27:46. > :27:49.about what they said was the DUP's arrogance, a botched green energy
:27:50. > :27:53.scheme and issues like the Irish language, and there is no doubt that
:27:54. > :27:57.motivated their vote to come out, and they have given them a great
:27:58. > :28:02.deal of support. In fact, they have narrowed the gap between their form
:28:03. > :28:08.a coalition partners, the DUP, two fractions of a percentage point
:28:09. > :28:10.whenever you look at the share of first percentage vote. Saying that,
:28:11. > :28:15.the DUP have done relatively well, they have shored up their position
:28:16. > :28:17.and it will be a very tight result. However, speak to some Democratic
:28:18. > :28:23.Unionists politicians and privately they say it's a bad day for
:28:24. > :28:27.unionism, partly because UUP President Mike Nesbitt has resigned
:28:28. > :28:31.because of his party's poor performance. We have seen the middle
:28:32. > :28:34.ground getting squeezed and this divisive election, this sectarian
:28:35. > :28:39.election, has led to success for Sinn Fein in particular and also the
:28:40. > :28:44.DUP. What do you think the most likely formulation will be at the
:28:45. > :28:48.end? The big problem is trying to form some sort of power-sharing
:28:49. > :28:52.government. That will not be easy. We have already had Sinn Fein set
:28:53. > :28:56.out a red line saying they want Arlene Foster to step aside, not
:28:57. > :29:00.become First Minister, if they are going to go back into government
:29:01. > :29:05.with the DUP, at least as long as a public enquiry lasts into the
:29:06. > :29:08.botched green energy scheme. She was the minister in charge of that
:29:09. > :29:13.scheme when it was set up inexplicably without cost controls.
:29:14. > :29:19.That'll put pressure on Arlene Foster and the DUP. I think trying
:29:20. > :29:24.to put a deal into power-sharing back. They have three weeks to get
:29:25. > :29:28.eight First Minister and Deputy First Minister elected. Frankly,
:29:29. > :29:30.that's looking like a tough ask. It raises the possibility that
:29:31. > :29:34.Westminster might have to step in and take over, effectively what's
:29:35. > :29:37.known as direct rule, where they run things in Northern Ireland while
:29:38. > :29:40.there isn't a functioning executive. Neither Sinn Fein nor the DUP want
:29:41. > :29:45.that, but tonight it doesn't look like they want to work with each
:29:46. > :29:47.other at this stage either. Thank you, Chris.
:29:48. > :29:51.But before we go, Nintendo launched a new games console today.
:29:52. > :29:54.No doubt it'll render Mario in ever more detail than before
:29:55. > :29:57.But a part of us wonders whether the energetic plumber
:29:58. > :30:50.Quite a wet start to the day for Scotland and Northern Ireland. It
:30:51. > :30:54.will be windy and quite cold as well. Any rain doesn't last too long
:30:55. > :30:55.in eastern England. There