:00:00. > :00:07.now on BBC Two, 11.00pm in Scotland. That's Evan
:00:08. > :00:11.Labour is calling for Scots to pay extra income tax.
:00:12. > :00:13.It says a 1p-in-the-pound rise could be spent
:00:14. > :00:18.Holyrood will have additional powers over income tax rates from April
:00:19. > :00:22.and even more powers are due to come under the Scotland Bill.
:00:23. > :00:24.The Scottish Government says it won't alter tax rates until these
:00:25. > :00:36.Here's our political correspondent, Glenn Campbell.
:00:37. > :00:42.In Aberdeen, where the oil price crash hitting hard, a taxing
:00:43. > :00:50.question for locals. Would you pay a little more income tax to preserve
:00:51. > :00:55.local services? Yes or no? No, I think we pay enough tax as it is. I
:00:56. > :01:03.work virtually full-time. I do have a full-time, but -- I do have a
:01:04. > :01:07.pension, but I am taxed on that. Yes, I would, because what is a
:01:08. > :01:09.penny in today's terms if it helps other people and other
:01:10. > :01:16.organisations. Yes, I would pay a penny. In Edinburgh, the Labour
:01:17. > :01:21.leader thinks putting a penny on all income tax rates in Scotland will
:01:22. > :01:27.prove popular as an alternative to local government cuts. Altogether it
:01:28. > :01:32.will generate ?480 million, more than enough to Jews and tenant of
:01:33. > :01:37.path from the cuts are being imposed on local schools and vital public
:01:38. > :01:41.services, those cuts which will cost countless jobs across the country.
:01:42. > :01:45.What does that have to do with the price of fish? Labour says someone
:01:46. > :01:50.earning around ?30,000 a year would only pay an extra ?4 a week under
:01:51. > :01:56.their tax plan. Far less than the cost of this supper. And those on
:01:57. > :02:04.low earnings would actually receive a ?100 a year rebate. But the SNP is
:02:05. > :02:08.not buying it. It seems unworkable. It is not fair because it is not
:02:09. > :02:11.progressive. It will hammer many people on low incomes in contrast to
:02:12. > :02:16.what the SNP government is doing, and they have not worked out how it
:02:17. > :02:21.will actually work. The SNP wants to match UK income tax rate in the year
:02:22. > :02:24.ahead. Like the Scottish Greens, they think the extended income tax
:02:25. > :02:31.powers coming in 2017 offer more scope for reform. We should be
:02:32. > :02:34.looking in the round at how national and local tax powers will work
:02:35. > :02:38.together. Council tax has to go as well, so we need to look at how
:02:39. > :02:44.across the balance we are being progressive. Labour's penny for
:02:45. > :02:49.local services is similar to the Liberal Democrats' penny for
:02:50. > :02:52.education. Our priority is for education for simple reasons, it is
:02:53. > :02:56.to give everyone the opportunity to get up and get on the matter their
:02:57. > :03:02.background, but also to feed the skills that the economy needs. The
:03:03. > :03:07.Conservatives want to cut income tax when finances allowed. The first
:03:08. > :03:13.thing the Labour Party has said it will do is whack the Labour Party --
:03:14. > :03:25.backwaters for tax. We do not think you should be more than another part
:03:26. > :03:29.of the UK. Not since the SNP's penny plan has income tax been such a big
:03:30. > :03:32.issue. Voters rejected paying more then. In these tough Financial
:03:33. > :03:33.Times, Labour hopes attitudes have changed.
:03:34. > :03:35.Meanwhile, the Scottish Government says it is "strongly opposed"
:03:36. > :03:38.to a European referendum being held in June because it would be too
:03:39. > :03:40.close to the Scottish Parliament elections in May.
:03:41. > :03:49.The issued was raised in the House of Commons earlier.
:03:50. > :03:57.It simply cannot be right to have these elections and a referendum
:03:58. > :04:03.campaign clash with a June polling day. Will the government to take the
:04:04. > :04:08.opportunity to confirm that it will respect the electorates in Scotland,
:04:09. > :04:13.Wales, Northern Ireland and London by not announcing a June referendum
:04:14. > :04:16.date? No decision has been taken about a referendum date, not least
:04:17. > :04:23.because we do not yet have a deal and we'll will not know until
:04:24. > :04:27.February at the earliest when we do. It is a decision for the house
:04:28. > :04:28.because the date is set by statutory instrument subject to affirmative
:04:29. > :04:28.resolution here. New figures suggest emergency
:04:29. > :04:31.departments in Scottish hospitals recorded their best December
:04:32. > :04:33.performance in recent years. 95% of people were dealt with within
:04:34. > :04:36.the Scottish Government's target It's the best performance
:04:37. > :04:41.in Scotland since 2009. Figures for the rest of the UK
:04:42. > :04:44.are released at different times, but overall Scottish emergency
:04:45. > :04:46.departments are treating people more quickly than England,
:04:47. > :04:51.Wales or Northern Ireland. A Scottish holidaymaker who died
:04:52. > :04:54.after being attacked by an elephant in Thailand has been named
:04:55. > :04:57.locally as 36-six-year He's said to have been thrown
:04:58. > :05:02.by the animal after it turned on its handler during an outing
:05:03. > :05:07.on the island of Koh Samui. It's understood Mr Crowe's
:05:08. > :05:09.teenage daughter escaped Our correspondent
:05:10. > :05:24.Daniela Relph reports. Behind the trees is the elephant,
:05:25. > :05:27.still with the seat on its back. It is the one Gareth Crowe and his
:05:28. > :05:31.daughter were riding, the one who attacked them. It is thought Gareth
:05:32. > :05:35.Crowe was thrown off as the elephant handler tried to take a photo. Some
:05:36. > :05:40.reports say the handler had already struck the elephant a number of
:05:41. > :05:43.times. A local vet who examined the animals had the elephant's behaviour
:05:44. > :05:47.could have stemmed from the hot weather and being stressed. It may
:05:48. > :05:51.also have been startled by something, he said. Elephant
:05:52. > :05:55.trekking remains a popular activity for tourists in Thailand. It is,
:05:56. > :06:00.they'll come an increasingly controversial choice. Animal welfare
:06:01. > :06:04.groups say elephants are subjected to brutal treatment to make them
:06:05. > :06:08.submissive and able to train a but they remain unpredictable. If you
:06:09. > :06:12.saw an elephant in the wild you would literally run a mile. You
:06:13. > :06:17.would go anywhere near it because it is so dangerous. It is one of the
:06:18. > :06:20.most dangerous animals in the wild, and so for it to be forced into this
:06:21. > :06:26.type of submission it is because of this repeated beating and cruelty.
:06:27. > :06:30.At the camp where Gareth Crowe died, vets found animals change
:06:31. > :06:33.At the camp where Gareth Crowe died, Others looked poorly cared for. Some
:06:34. > :06:37.of the world's biggest travel companies now refuse to promote
:06:38. > :06:42.elephant treks, knowing the dangers tourists face.
:06:43. > :06:45.Police investigating a rape in Aberdeen city centre are trying
:06:46. > :06:47.to trace a group of people, thought to be students.
:06:48. > :06:49.A woman was attacked at around 3 o'clock
:06:50. > :06:52.last Thursday morning in Union Terrace Gardens.
:06:53. > :06:54.The five men and one woman were seen leaving a takeaway
:06:55. > :06:56.on Belmont Street, before heading towards the area
:06:57. > :07:07.BP says it's shedding up to 3,000 more jobs
:07:08. > :07:10.from its operations across the world blaming falling oil prices for a big
:07:11. > :07:15.Its Chief Executive has said the current situation is as bad
:07:16. > :07:17.as 1986, when a crash in the oil price
:07:18. > :07:22.So, can we learn anything, from what happened then?
:07:23. > :07:24.Our business correspondent David Henderson has been
:07:25. > :07:33.These are tough times for BB and those who rely on it. Three weeks
:07:34. > :07:38.ago the company announced plans to lay off about 600 North Sea oil
:07:39. > :07:41.workers. Today they have said even more of their global workforce will
:07:42. > :07:46.have to go in another round of cost-cutting. The collapse in the
:07:47. > :07:53.price of oil has also hammered the company's profits. Today, BP posted
:07:54. > :07:56.their largest annual loss for over 20 years, but they are not alone.
:07:57. > :08:06.The whole industry is feeling the pain in a way it has not done for
:08:07. > :08:11.years. Three decades ago, a booming industry was hit hard. The chief
:08:12. > :08:16.executive refused to be interviewed on television, and at a briefing
:08:17. > :08:19.with journalists he said the decision to make 750 employees
:08:20. > :08:26.redundant had not been taken lightly. And it got worse. The price
:08:27. > :08:30.of oil for the world is plummeting. North Sea oil fell today to its lows
:08:31. > :08:34.level for six years. Some of it will be sold for less than $20 a barrel,
:08:35. > :08:39.that is half what it was costing in the early 1980s. And worse. The cost
:08:40. > :08:42.of a barrel of the early 1980s. And worse. The cost
:08:43. > :08:52.market fell to less than $10. Jobs were lost. I was just
:08:53. > :08:55.market fell to less than $10. Jobs building. And this use oil rigs
:08:56. > :09:00.littered Scotland's coastline. These echoes from the past are frightening
:09:01. > :09:04.investors and producers today. But how long will it take for the oil
:09:05. > :09:09.price to recover? Will it be quick or will it take decades like last
:09:10. > :09:14.time? China's demand for oil is still growing, but not so fast. In
:09:15. > :09:18.room in shale oil leaves America less reliant on imports, and Saudi
:09:19. > :09:24.Arabia is refusing to cut back oil production. In terms of price
:09:25. > :09:28.recovery to anywhere like $100 a barrel, that is a very long way into
:09:29. > :09:31.the future, because one of the other key parallels with the situation we
:09:32. > :09:36.have at the moment is that technology in the form of US shale
:09:37. > :09:40.has once again proved able to commercialise a lot of hydrocarbon
:09:41. > :09:44.that was otherwise uncommercial, and that genie is not going back in the
:09:45. > :09:47.bottle. The cost of extracting oil from the North Sea does not get
:09:48. > :09:53.cheaper, and to make it happen, producers like BP have to invest.
:09:54. > :09:58.But that is hard if they are barely making a profit. So oil companies
:09:59. > :10:01.operating in the North Sea and their workforces are watching the price of
:10:02. > :10:07.oil like a hawk. Will it rise anytime soon? The boss of BP, Bob
:10:08. > :10:12.Dudley, exceed barrel of oil will increase in price from around $30
:10:13. > :10:17.note to around $50 by the end of the year. Some say that is wrong and
:10:18. > :10:24.that the price will keep going down and down because of massive
:10:25. > :10:28.oversupply around the world. We have seen Scotland's oil industry falter
:10:29. > :10:29.and bounce back again, but we do not yet know whether that is any guide
:10:30. > :10:31.to the future. Scottish Power is cutting
:10:32. > :10:35.its standard domestic gas prices by an average of 5.4%
:10:36. > :10:37.from the middle of March. It is the third supplier
:10:38. > :10:40.to announce such a drop Scottish Power says the reduction
:10:41. > :10:43.will benefit over a million consumers and will take
:10:44. > :10:45.an average ?32 from the annual It follows announcements of roughly
:10:46. > :10:52.similar reductions by SSE and E.ON. Rare clouds which colour the sky
:10:53. > :10:56.with luminous hues have been spotted Photographers have reported seeing
:10:57. > :11:00.the iridescent nacreous clouds The brightly coloured weather
:11:01. > :11:06.feature has seen skies smeared with bright pinks, blues,
:11:07. > :11:08.yellows and greens. They are considered rare
:11:09. > :11:11.because they are usually found only Well, it's over to the weather
:11:12. > :11:23.now, and the outlook We have the cool air, but look to
:11:24. > :11:27.the skies tonight and you're likely to see some big shower clouds, and
:11:28. > :11:31.with temperatures already subzero that is a perfect recipe for eyes.
:11:32. > :11:35.We have a yellow warning from the Met Office covering most of
:11:36. > :11:38.Scotland. One band of showers making its way across southern England, and
:11:39. > :11:42.other working south across Scotland bringing snow to the hills on high
:11:43. > :11:48.ground, and even some snow to low levels in the heaviest showers. Once
:11:49. > :11:52.they go, behind that in the clear skies temperatures fall away and
:11:53. > :11:56.things will eyes up. Some tricky conditions into tomorrow morning,
:11:57. > :11:59.slippery surfaces, but a lot of dry and bright weather. This is the
:12:00. > :12:06.picture if you're heading out around it or clock. Services will be wet
:12:07. > :12:10.with a covering of snow particularly over higher roads. Tricky conditions
:12:11. > :12:16.for the morning commute. Showers for the Western Isles, Northern Isles
:12:17. > :12:19.and Aberdeenshire. Still some brisk winds over the Northern Isles, and
:12:20. > :12:25.those showers will be wintry elsewhere. For most of Scotland and
:12:26. > :12:28.most of England it is a cracking day with plenty of crisp sunshine and
:12:29. > :12:33.winds much lighter than they have been. The cloud tending to increase
:12:34. > :12:36.from the west later in the day, and bits and pieces of rain getting into
:12:37. > :12:39.Northern Ireland, the Hebrides and Wales. The first sign of a weather
:12:40. > :12:41.front that will move in tomorrow evening, bringing rain and sleet to
:12:42. > :12:46.lower levels and snow for higher evening, bringing rain and sleet to
:12:47. > :12:49.ground. Tricky conditions for a time, then this next truck moves in.
:12:50. > :12:55.It is a warm front. And that we're into much milder conditions for
:12:56. > :12:59.Thursday. Some brightness to start the day in the north-east but
:13:00. > :13:04.otherwise a lot of cloud across the country on Thursday. Bits and pieces
:13:05. > :13:07.of rain, some of it patchy, but still a grey and damp day. You will
:13:08. > :13:13.notice it milder, temperatures into double figures are the first time in
:13:14. > :13:16.quite a while. Friday, turns unsettled with this weather front
:13:17. > :13:18.bringing heavy rain. Winds strengthening and that rain could
:13:19. > :13:20.cause flooding in the South. Our next update is during Breakfast
:13:21. > :13:24.at 6.25 tomorrow morning. But, from everyone on the late team
:13:25. > :13:28.here in Glasgow and around