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and on BBC One we now join the BBC's news teams where you are. | :00:00. | :00:24. | |
Convicted drug smuggler, Melissa Reid, could soon be back | :00:25. | :00:31. | |
in Scotland after spending almost three years in prison in Peru. | :00:32. | :00:33. | |
A woman dies after being attacked at a house to the south of Glasgow. | :00:34. | :00:36. | |
Also on tonight's extended election special, just one week | :00:37. | :00:40. | |
Labour launches its manifesto, saying it marks a return | :00:41. | :00:47. | |
The Conservatives' Ruth Davidson joins me live in the studio | :00:48. | :00:51. | |
for the latest in our series of leader interviews. | :00:52. | :00:53. | |
And after floods from storm Frank ruined people's homes, | :00:54. | :00:55. | |
businesses and infrastructure, how the army is still | :00:56. | :00:57. | |
A convicted drug smuggler, Melissa Reid, could soon be back | :00:58. | :01:22. | |
in Scotland after spending almost three years in prison in Peru. | :01:23. | :01:32. | |
Reid, from Lenzie near Glasgow, was jailed in 2013 | :01:33. | :01:34. | |
for trying to smuggle cocaine worth one and a half million | :01:35. | :01:37. | |
A Peruvian judge will decide in the next few days whether she'll | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
be released and expelled from the country, or transferred | :01:42. | :01:43. | |
Here's our home affairs correspondent, Reevel Alderson. | :01:44. | :01:46. | |
It began on the Spanish island of IB is, where Melissa Reid on the left | :01:47. | :01:55. | |
and Michaela McCollum from Northern Ireland were recruited to smuggle | :01:56. | :02:00. | |
drugs. The women were arrested in August 2013 in Lima with cocaine | :02:01. | :02:08. | |
valued at ?1.5 million. The pair claimed they had been coerced to act | :02:09. | :02:12. | |
as treadmills but later pled guilty in approving court. McCollum was | :02:13. | :02:19. | |
freed from jail last month but was ordered to spend part of her parole | :02:20. | :02:22. | |
in Carew. Melissa Reid opted to take a different approach. She returned | :02:23. | :02:28. | |
to court where a judge considered whether she should be expelled from | :02:29. | :02:38. | |
Peru. While it is unclear exactly what is happening to Melissa Reid, | :02:39. | :02:42. | |
her family are hoping it will not be long before they can welcome her | :02:43. | :02:46. | |
back home. 18 months ago her father took part in a Foreign Office video | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
warning of the consequences of taking part in drug smuggling around | :02:51. | :02:54. | |
the world. It is horrendous to see your daughter in handcuffs, the | :02:55. | :02:58. | |
living conditions she has to put up with. Events such as Christmas are | :02:59. | :03:03. | |
nonexistent for us, there will be no celebrations in our house, no | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
Christmas tree, until we get her back and. If Melissa Reid is | :03:08. | :03:11. | |
expelled from Peru she will be able to come home here, without spending | :03:12. | :03:13. | |
any more time in prison. Well our reporter in the Peruvian | :03:14. | :03:17. | |
capital Lima is Dan Collyns To be perfectly honest there's not | :03:18. | :03:29. | |
much more that we can add at this stage to the report that we have | :03:30. | :03:34. | |
just heard. We still don't know the decision of the judge. As we heard, | :03:35. | :03:36. | |
Melissa Reid attended the hearing decision of the judge. As we heard, | :03:37. | :03:43. | |
yesterday, and that decision, we are yet to hear the decision on that, | :03:44. | :03:47. | |
and the Foreign Office has also confirmed that we are still waiting | :03:48. | :03:49. | |
to hear that decision from the judge. We do understand, though, | :03:50. | :03:55. | |
that if that decision is confirmed by the judge, Melissa Reid will be | :03:56. | :04:00. | |
able to return home a free woman. Previously we'd understood that the | :04:01. | :04:03. | |
legal team had applied for a transfer back to the UK under a | :04:04. | :04:06. | |
separate agreement which would have meant that she would have had to | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
serve the remainder of her sentence, having to serve 30% of her sentence | :04:12. | :04:16. | |
in Peru in a UK prison. We understand that this could be | :04:17. | :04:18. | |
in Peru in a UK prison. We superseded by this other agreement | :04:19. | :04:22. | |
which would allow her to return home a free woman. Michaela McCollum, her | :04:23. | :04:29. | |
friend and partner in this drug smuggling crime which they committed | :04:30. | :04:39. | |
in 2013 is now at liberty in Peru. She has to sign in at a police | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
officer every month, and she has two remain in contact with the | :04:44. | :04:46. | |
authorities. She will have to serve the remainder of her sentence which | :04:47. | :04:53. | |
is a little more than three years in Peru. Melissa wanted to return home | :04:54. | :04:57. | |
to be reunited with her family, and hopefully this will come off for | :04:58. | :05:01. | |
her. If she is released she will return home as soon as possible. She | :05:02. | :05:09. | |
may even be remanded to the plane at Lima's remain a -- main airport to | :05:10. | :05:15. | |
take her home. A 39-year-old woman has died | :05:16. | :05:17. | |
after being attacked at a house in Newton Mearns in East | :05:18. | :05:19. | |
Renfrewshire. Police say the woman died following | :05:20. | :05:21. | |
a disturbance at the property Officers are thought to be following | :05:22. | :05:23. | |
a definite line of inquiry. Forensics team has spent much of | :05:24. | :05:38. | |
today at this home in Beech Avenue. Police were called at around | :05:39. | :05:42. | |
midnight after a disturbance. The 39-year-old woman who lived here | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
died. It is understood she was the mother of two young children and had | :05:47. | :05:50. | |
lived here with her husband and children for some years. Neighbours | :05:51. | :05:54. | |
expressed sadness and disbelief at what had happened. One had written a | :05:55. | :06:02. | |
note on this bouquet. I just felt I had to do something. It is such a | :06:03. | :06:06. | |
small neighbourhood. You only hear about it in other places. When it | :06:07. | :06:11. | |
happens on your own street it hits you. I am really shocked. This is a | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
very quiet area. You never hear of anything like that here, I am badly | :06:17. | :06:21. | |
shocked. Police have been following a definite line of enquiry and it is | :06:22. | :06:24. | |
understood that robbery is not thought to be a motive in this case. | :06:25. | :06:26. | |
This is the kind of quiet suburban street where | :06:27. | :06:28. | |
people not wave and For a young mother to lose her life | :06:29. | :06:37. | |
in such circumstances has shocked and upset people here. | :06:38. | :06:40. | |
The Scottish Labour Party has launched its manifesto | :06:41. | :06:44. | |
for the Holyrood election, saying it's "a return | :06:45. | :06:46. | |
Labour plans to increase income tax in Scotland to boost | :06:47. | :06:54. | |
spending on schools, the NHS and other services. | :06:55. | :06:56. | |
Party leaders say the richest will pay most - while the low paid | :06:57. | :06:59. | |
will be helped by a UK increase in the point at which | :07:00. | :07:02. | |
Here's our political editor Brian Taylor. | :07:03. | :07:05. | |
Grassmarket, awaiting the latest manifesto. Into the mix | :07:06. | :07:13. | |
deliberately bland, even iced onto cupcakes. Scottish Labour has | :07:14. | :07:23. | |
struggled of late. links to a pledge to protect health | :07:24. | :07:33. | |
spending, passing on all UK increases. This is a manifesto in | :07:34. | :07:37. | |
the best traditions of the Labour Party. A key policy, 1% of all tax | :07:38. | :07:41. | |
rates plus a new 50p top rate to boost | :07:42. | :07:46. | |
public spending, particularly education. | :07:47. | :07:49. | |
You cannot get a world-class education system on the cheap. | :07:50. | :07:56. | |
Somebody has to pay. We are going to ask the richest 1% to pay more tax | :07:57. | :07:59. | |
so that we can invest in our schools. We will also put a penny on | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
the basic rate of income tax that we can generate the revenue is we need | :08:05. | :08:08. | |
to stop the cuts. If we choose not to do that, we are faced with ?3 | :08:09. | :08:13. | |
billion worth of cuts yet to come to our schools, community centres, | :08:14. | :08:17. | |
libraries, care for the elderly. All those public services we hold dear. | :08:18. | :08:21. | |
We have a chance to stop the cuts, to invest in the future. Within the | :08:22. | :08:25. | |
package that comprises Labour's education policy they are | :08:26. | :08:29. | |
breakfast club for every primary school. | :08:30. | :08:31. | |
guaranteed GP appointment within 48 hours, although that is not | :08:32. | :08:40. | |
necessarily with a GP. 60,000 affordable homes plus extra help for | :08:41. | :08:45. | |
first-time buyers. Among other policies, Labour plans police | :08:46. | :08:48. | |
re-form with greater local accountability. They'd ban fracking, | :08:49. | :08:55. | |
unconventional drilling for gas. And they'd used Holyrood powers to top | :08:56. | :08:59. | |
up pensions for women is born in the early 1950s who have lost out on UK | :09:00. | :09:04. | |
changes. Kezia Dugdale rules out another referendum on independence | :09:05. | :09:06. | |
jarring the lifetime of the next Holyrood parliament. The manifesto | :09:07. | :09:13. | |
reflects Scottish Labour's decision that Trident should | :09:14. | :09:16. | |
A sign, she says, that this is about different line. | :09:17. | :09:22. | |
A sign, she says, that this is about party policy, not the personal | :09:23. | :09:23. | |
A sign, she says, that this is about choice of the leader. Final major | :09:24. | :09:29. | |
manifesto, finally launched, final We now have a complete set. Complete | :09:30. | :09:38. | |
set of the major manifesto is indeed. In our end is our beginning. | :09:39. | :09:45. | |
The fundamental division that has been there from the outset of this | :09:46. | :09:47. | |
prolonged election campaign remains there with | :09:48. | :09:48. | |
only one week to go. That is on tax and spending. | :09:49. | :09:56. | |
Labour's offer is a penny across all bands, whereas the SNP say they will | :09:57. | :09:59. | |
reverse a planned tax cut for higher earners but would not impose an | :10:00. | :10:02. | |
increase on the standard rate, arguing that it | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
would be penalising the poor for cuts imposed elsewhere. | :10:07. | :10:07. | |
The Tories say people in Scotland should not pay more than people | :10:08. | :10:12. | |
UK, and the Liberal Democrats are also in favour of a penny across all | :10:13. | :10:19. | |
bands. A fundamental choice and a fundamental series of offers. | :10:20. | :10:21. | |
A poll this evening suggesting a setback, electoral | :10:22. | :10:24. | |
It's not exactly good news for Labour, coming on the day of their | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
manifesto launch. This poll suggesting that | :10:30. | :10:30. | |
a 1-point lead on the constituency, but is two points | :10:31. | :10:37. | |
behind the Conservatives on the list vote. | :10:38. | :10:45. | |
Given the importance of the top up list vote it could be the case that | :10:46. | :10:47. | |
it would leave Labour, in terms of conservative in third place. Labour | :10:48. | :10:56. | |
discounts that, you would expect them | :10:57. | :10:56. | |
so, but they are able to counter any trend in that direction. | :10:57. | :11:01. | |
Other suggestions, a comfortable lead in first place for the SNP, and | :11:02. | :11:07. | |
just possibly the Greens ousting the Liberal Democrats in fourth. The | :11:08. | :11:11. | |
caution, though, it is one pole and the vote that matters comes in a | :11:12. | :11:17. | |
week. But it might put a smile on Ruth Davidson's face when she is | :11:18. | :11:19. | |
interviewed on this programme. Union leaders from shipyards | :11:20. | :11:23. | |
on the Clyde have been lobbying MPs at Westminster over fears that | :11:24. | :11:25. | |
a delay in Royal Navy work Our correspondent David Porter | :11:26. | :11:28. | |
is at Wesminster for us tonight. David did any of the lobbies | :11:29. | :11:31. | |
or politicians thrown any light they may disagree on, all sides | :11:32. | :11:34. | |
agree on one thing. Royal Navy orders are vital, not | :11:35. | :11:44. | |
just for the prosperity of the yards, but more fundamentally | :11:45. | :11:47. | |
for their survival. Originally the UK Government said | :11:48. | :11:51. | |
that it wanted to order 13 of the so-called type 26 | :11:52. | :11:53. | |
frigates. government and ministers have said | :11:54. | :12:05. | |
that they are committed. That those vessels will be built and | :12:06. | :12:06. | |
constructed. The language they are using is quite | :12:07. | :12:15. | |
stark. They say the future of Scottish | :12:16. | :12:16. | |
shipbuilding is hanging by a thread. They say they fear that if those | :12:17. | :12:19. | |
orders are delayed or some work is moved down | :12:20. | :12:25. | |
south to England, that that would have | :12:26. | :12:25. | |
very worried that the workers on the Clyde are perhaps | :12:26. | :12:34. | |
A lot of promises have been made about building frigates. The huge | :12:35. | :12:47. | |
amount of investment that has not happened. | :12:48. | :12:48. | |
constant slippage in the frigate building programme. What we are | :12:49. | :12:57. | |
being told is that the government are pushing BAE Systems to cut the | :12:58. | :12:59. | |
work and outsource some of the work are pushing BAE Systems to cut the | :13:00. | :13:02. | |
that was planned for the Clyde down to England. The issue was raised by | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
the SNP at Prime Minister's Questions? It was, the Nationalists | :13:08. | :13:10. | |
raised the issue together with what they said was the ongoing crisis in | :13:11. | :13:12. | |
the UK steel industry, and they they said was the ongoing crisis in | :13:13. | :13:17. | |
accused David Cameron of basically selling the UK and Scottish steel | :13:18. | :13:20. | |
industries and Scottish shipbuilding industry short. They did Cameron | :13:21. | :13:24. | |
said that this was a very good example of where the UK and the | :13:25. | :13:27. | |
Scottish governments should work together. Particularly on areas like | :13:28. | :13:32. | |
procurement. And he queried how much Scottish steel was being used in the | :13:33. | :13:36. | |
new Forth Road Bridge crossing. He also made the point as well back if | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
it was an independent Scotland, there would be no UK warships being | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
built on the Clyde. Thank you very much. | :13:47. | :13:48. | |
Well it's time now for the latest in our series of interviews | :13:49. | :13:50. | |
Tonight it's the turn of Ruth Davidson the leader | :13:51. | :13:54. | |
Ruth Davidson wasn't an MSP at the time of the last Scottish election. | :13:55. | :14:08. | |
As a former journalist, she knows the meaning of a photo opportunity. | :14:09. | :14:13. | |
And like so many Scottish Conservatives, she is trying to | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
reach out to those who believe the party is more of a sewer flume | :14:19. | :14:22. | |
banner bonbon, even when they find the policies more pleasant on the | :14:23. | :14:29. | |
planet. Unusually for the leader of a major party, she is not even | :14:30. | :14:32. | |
pretending she has a chance of becoming First Minister. Instead her | :14:33. | :14:37. | |
aim is to turn the Tories into the main opposition party at Holyrood, | :14:38. | :14:42. | |
to make things sticky for the Scottish Government. In the party's | :14:43. | :14:46. | |
manifesto, she says she is applying for the job of Leader of the | :14:47. | :14:50. | |
Opposition. One thing Ruth Davidson would strongly oppose is any renewed | :14:51. | :14:56. | |
drive for independence. The party says its commitment to keeping | :14:57. | :14:59. | |
Scotland in the UK is beyond question. But how would it use the | :15:00. | :15:04. | |
powers of the Scottish Parliament? Top priorities include what is | :15:05. | :15:07. | |
described as a competitive rate of income tax, and more money for | :15:08. | :15:14. | |
mental health services. Winning won't be the measure of success for | :15:15. | :15:17. | |
Ruth Davidson, it will be coming second. But is this realistic, and | :15:18. | :15:21. | |
what might a strong Tory opposition be like? Can she take the bull by | :15:22. | :15:24. | |
the horns? Some interesting photocalls there. | :15:25. | :15:36. | |
At the buffalo farm, we were talking about the rural economy and rural | :15:37. | :15:39. | |
businesses, so I thought I would go to one that was a little bit | :15:40. | :15:43. | |
different, in Fife, not far from where I grew up, in fact. You have | :15:44. | :15:49. | |
made the defence of the Union one of the key part of this campaign, and | :15:50. | :15:54. | |
one of the pivotal issues of the independence referendum was Scottish | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
shipbuilding. And yet, we here tonight, there are very real fears | :16:00. | :16:04. | |
that the industry that you said would be safe is facing some very | :16:05. | :16:09. | |
real problems. Well, I have heard the concerns from the unions, I | :16:10. | :16:13. | |
spoke to the Defence Secretary at the weekend, and there is a | :16:14. | :16:16. | |
comprehensive guarantee of the work coming in terms of the Type 26 | :16:17. | :16:21. | |
programme, the offshore patrol vessels that were promised in | :16:22. | :16:25. | |
November of last year. That is ?8 billion worth of investment in the | :16:26. | :16:29. | |
Clyde, and I think it is worth pointing out that although the SNP | :16:30. | :16:33. | |
have been ramping up the rhetoric on this, the UK Government does not | :16:34. | :16:37. | |
build complex warships outside the UK. If Scotland had been | :16:38. | :16:40. | |
independent, none of this work would have come to the Clyde. But there | :16:41. | :16:46. | |
was a guarantee, and we're not talking about orders not coming to | :16:47. | :16:52. | |
the Clyde... Hang on a second, we're talking about delays that will cost | :16:53. | :16:54. | |
jobs. Two, outsourcing of some of the work. Can you give us a | :16:55. | :17:00. | |
guarantee, you heard the unions, they say they are still in the dark, | :17:01. | :17:05. | |
David Cameron was asked at Prime Minister's Questions, he did not | :17:06. | :17:09. | |
answer the question. Here and now, can you tell us there will be no | :17:10. | :17:15. | |
delays and no outsourcing? These are the questions I asked the Defence | :17:16. | :17:19. | |
Secretary at the weekend, and his answer to me was absolutely. What | :17:20. | :17:23. | |
was in the SDSR is what the UK Government is going out with, no | :17:24. | :17:27. | |
changes since November. I have said we need to make sure the workforce | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
feel secure, and there are issues about that. If there is an issue | :17:32. | :17:36. | |
regarding wind down of work on the carrier programme, mostly being done | :17:37. | :17:41. | |
and recite, and work starting on the Type 26 frigates, that is where the | :17:42. | :17:45. | |
company and government and the unions need to work together to | :17:46. | :17:48. | |
smooth the transition, but in terms of the eight frigates being built at | :17:49. | :17:56. | |
Scotstoun and Govan, in terms of the patrol vessels, I have assurances | :17:57. | :18:00. | |
from the Defence Secretary that the work is going ahead. No delays, no | :18:01. | :18:07. | |
outsourcing, yes or no? It is my third time of telling you, that is | :18:08. | :18:12. | |
what the Defence Secretary told me. At the very least, Ruth Davidson, | :18:13. | :18:15. | |
one week before the Scottish election campaign, the fact that | :18:16. | :18:20. | |
fears were allowed to be raised over such a totemic industry that played | :18:21. | :18:24. | |
such a part in the independence referendum, do you ever look down | :18:25. | :18:28. | |
south, to Number Ten and number 11 Downing Street and think, thanks, | :18:29. | :18:35. | |
guys?! I have to say, there is no coincidence that the SNP has sought | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
to raise this... I'm not talking about the SNP, and talking about the | :18:41. | :18:44. | |
Treasury and David Cameron. It is integral to the question you are | :18:45. | :18:48. | |
vast me, there is no question they have ramped up this rhetoric before | :18:49. | :18:52. | |
the election, because creating a grievance with Westminster, real or | :18:53. | :18:56. | |
imagined, has never served them badly. But people understand that | :18:57. | :19:01. | |
the country voted to stay part of the United Kingdom, we voted to be | :19:02. | :19:05. | |
part of the UK, to have a Royal Navy, for ships to be built within | :19:06. | :19:09. | |
the UK. If Scotland was not in the UK, they would not be being built in | :19:10. | :19:15. | |
Scotland. No-one the complexities and obfuscation of David Cameron's | :19:16. | :19:20. | |
tax returns, of a party riven by infighting over the EU referendum. | :19:21. | :19:26. | |
And yet this is your party, and you are trying to get the Scottish | :19:27. | :19:30. | |
electorate to trust you, and perhaps, more importantly, trying to | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
lose the label of Tory toxicity. It seems to be that every time you make | :19:35. | :19:40. | |
one step forward, what happens? South of the border you get knocked | :19:41. | :19:45. | |
back. You are doing a disservice to the electorate in Scotland, they | :19:46. | :19:48. | |
know they are voting for who will be First Minister and who will be a | :19:49. | :19:51. | |
strong opposition that we have not seen in Scotland, and that is the | :19:52. | :19:55. | |
job I am asking to fulfil. I can do a job for the people of Scotland, I | :19:56. | :20:00. | |
can hold the SNP to account in a way that, with Labour, they have not | :20:01. | :20:04. | |
been able to. But forward scrutiny they have never had before, | :20:05. | :20:08. | |
challenge and debate in a way we have not seen. You even had your | :20:09. | :20:11. | |
cheap political correspondent, your political editor, saying we are at | :20:12. | :20:14. | |
cheap political correspondent, your record levels in the polls since | :20:15. | :20:18. | |
devolution, so that messages getting through. People want somebody to | :20:19. | :20:22. | |
hold the SNP to account, and that is a job I can do. You are low tax | :20:23. | :20:27. | |
party, so why are you not campaigning for tax cuts? We have | :20:28. | :20:30. | |
been honest over the medium term we would like to be able to cut taxes | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
in Scotland, but we cannot go into an election next week and say that | :20:36. | :20:38. | |
we can cut taxes next week and have the level of service provision that | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
you enjoy right now. Those tax cuts have to be earned, and I have been | :20:43. | :20:46. | |
doing this all week, businesses north and south and all sorts of | :20:47. | :20:51. | |
sectors, talking of how we grow the Scottish economy, how we can earn | :20:52. | :20:54. | |
those future tax cuts. No other party is doing that in Scotland, | :20:55. | :20:58. | |
they are all talking about how much money they can take out of the pay | :20:59. | :21:03. | |
packets of workers. Some workers and quite low wages. What we are seeing | :21:04. | :21:06. | |
is that we do not benefit as a country from saying we are the high | :21:07. | :21:11. | |
tax part of the UK. I was interested to watch last night that you had on | :21:12. | :21:15. | |
your programme the chairman of the chamber of commerce who said that | :21:16. | :21:18. | |
the Scottish economy is on a knife edge, we could slip back into | :21:19. | :21:22. | |
recession, we have a bigger gap in unemployment than down south, and | :21:23. | :21:26. | |
our economy is growing out of the pace. That is why we need to | :21:27. | :21:29. | |
concentrate on growing the Scottish economy. You want tax levels here to | :21:30. | :21:34. | |
be the same as the rest of the UK? Our clear policy is that there | :21:35. | :21:38. | |
should be no higher, but a business rate we would reduce them. In the | :21:39. | :21:43. | |
Welsh elections, why are they campaigning for tax cuts? That is | :21:44. | :21:47. | |
something they say they can sort, perhaps they won't commensurate cuts | :21:48. | :21:50. | |
to public services. I am saying we can work towards tax cuts in future, | :21:51. | :21:58. | |
but if you want to invest in the health service and in schools, those | :21:59. | :22:02. | |
tax cuts have to be earned by growing the economy. To make round | :22:03. | :22:06. | |
in the campaign, you will have to get people who have never thought of | :22:07. | :22:10. | |
voting Conservative to vote for you, so how is making students basic | :22:11. | :22:14. | |
thousand pounds and reintroducing prescription fees, how is that | :22:15. | :22:19. | |
playing out on the doorsteps? -- pay ?6,000. People understand what we | :22:20. | :22:24. | |
are offering, and I know that some of my opponents have tried to scare | :22:25. | :22:27. | |
people at home, but pensioners would never paper prescriptions, neither | :22:28. | :22:32. | |
would people with long-term conditions, low incomes, students, | :22:33. | :22:36. | |
pregnant women. When we scrap prescription charges, only 10% of | :22:37. | :22:39. | |
prescriptions were ever paid for, by people like you and me, who have | :22:40. | :22:44. | |
jobs and wages and can afford it. The decision we made is this - that | :22:45. | :22:49. | |
takes ?65 million out of the NHS budget in Scotland, to have free | :22:50. | :22:58. | |
descriptions. The choice I make is that instead of having somebody like | :22:59. | :23:00. | |
a First Minister on ?150,000 able to get free paracetamol, somebody with | :23:01. | :23:03. | |
cancer being told they cannot get the joke they could get down south, | :23:04. | :23:06. | |
that is not right, we would put it back into the NHS. -- the drugs. | :23:07. | :23:14. | |
Your opponents say these are stealth taxes, taxing people through the | :23:15. | :23:17. | |
back door. This is clearly showing people what it is, and you forget | :23:18. | :23:21. | |
that we always used to pay for things like prescriptions, and | :23:22. | :23:24. | |
people were willing to do so because they know that it helps the NHS, and | :23:25. | :23:29. | |
it helped as care for people, and it was a situation where somebody on a | :23:30. | :23:32. | |
cancer ward was able to get the drugs available to someone somewhere | :23:33. | :23:34. | |
cancer ward was able to get the else in the UK. So it is about | :23:35. | :23:41. | |
choices. If I a leader of a strong opposition, which I hope I will be, | :23:42. | :23:44. | |
I will have to persuade other people to support me on this. At the moment | :23:45. | :23:47. | |
I am not having much luck, but it is one of the ways we need to look at | :23:48. | :23:53. | |
investing and looking after our NHS. Your campaign has had you front and | :23:54. | :23:57. | |
centre, you are the face on the pamphlets and all the literature. | :23:58. | :24:03. | |
However, isn't there a need in any party for team Tory? And it is a | :24:04. | :24:10. | |
case of needing more than just a charismatic leader, you need | :24:11. | :24:13. | |
strength in depth. It doesn't seem that you have that. On the contrary, | :24:14. | :24:18. | |
the reason we have put me front and centre is because we knew the SNP | :24:19. | :24:22. | |
would run a presidential style campaign starring Nicola Sturgeon. | :24:23. | :24:26. | |
Do you have to do everything they do? I want to match a stride for | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
stride, and we can take them on and fight them on their ground. We knew, | :24:31. | :24:37. | |
because we had seen them register names with the Electoral Commission, | :24:38. | :24:39. | |
that we knew they would do this, and I want to take Nicola Sturgeon on | :24:40. | :24:42. | |
every week at First Minister's Questions doing that. It is a big | :24:43. | :24:46. | |
transition for the Scottish Conservatives, more than half of our | :24:47. | :24:49. | |
number are retiring, so more than half of our MSPs are going to be new | :24:50. | :24:54. | |
faces, people from outside politics that bring expertise into the | :24:55. | :24:56. | |
parliament, can raise the level of debate and do a job for Scotland. | :24:57. | :25:02. | |
Will you work with the SNP in Parliament if their policies call | :25:03. | :25:06. | |
for decentralisation, restructuring local government? Well, the problem | :25:07. | :25:09. | |
with what they have done in the past is that they are centralised almost | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
everything in Scotland, from a centralised police force to | :25:15. | :25:17. | |
amalgamating colleges. My worry is that the system they have raised | :25:18. | :25:21. | |
about local government... So no matter what they do, even if you | :25:22. | :25:26. | |
agree? We have always been instructive and able to put forward | :25:27. | :25:30. | |
alternatives, we are not like the Labour Party moaning from the | :25:31. | :25:35. | |
sidelines, we always put forward alternatives that we think would | :25:36. | :25:38. | |
make Scotland work better. I will continue to do that and seek to gain | :25:39. | :25:42. | |
people on my side. My worry with the LOCOG and reorganisation that has | :25:43. | :25:45. | |
come from nowhere, since the manifesto was published, and that it | :25:46. | :25:53. | |
is about centralisation too, so places like Angus into Dundee. There | :25:54. | :25:57. | |
is more work that local authorities can do behind the scenes, | :25:58. | :26:01. | |
back-office staff... We are running out of time. I want local people to | :26:02. | :26:09. | |
feel they have a sense of ownership. Are you proud of David Cameron's | :26:10. | :26:12. | |
record? We have done a tremendous job of getting the economy back on | :26:13. | :26:17. | |
track. So why, with that record that you are proud of, why is he not | :26:18. | :26:21. | |
coming up to campaign? You launched our campaign at the party conference | :26:22. | :26:26. | |
last month. Why is he not campaigning with you? He is not in | :26:27. | :26:31. | |
any of the literature. Do you see him as a liability? With respect, | :26:32. | :26:35. | |
his name is not on the ballot paper, he will not be serving in Hollywood, | :26:36. | :26:38. | |
and you will not find Jeremy Corbyn's name on the Labour | :26:39. | :26:45. | |
manifesto. He is not a double term Prime Minister. He is a party leader | :26:46. | :26:49. | |
down south, and his name is not on the ballot paper. This would be a | :26:50. | :26:52. | |
strong opposition that can take the fight to the SNP, it is a job | :26:53. | :26:54. | |
strong opposition that can take the think I can do for the people of | :26:55. | :26:56. | |
Scotland. Thank you for your time. And our interviews | :26:57. | :26:58. | |
with the party leaders continue tomorrow night | :26:59. | :27:00. | |
on Reporting Scotland with the Scottish Labour | :27:01. | :27:02. | |
leader, Kezia Dugdale. Elsewhere in the Holyrood | :27:03. | :27:03. | |
election campaign, there's been an outbreak | :27:04. | :27:05. | |
of agreement. Five party leaders have called | :27:06. | :27:07. | |
on Royal Troon golf club to stop excluding women from membership, | :27:08. | :27:10. | |
as it prepares to host and will make | :27:11. | :27:12. | |
a decision this autumn. At Royal Troon, they are getting | :27:13. | :27:33. | |
ready to host the open for the ninth time. But it is a controversial | :27:34. | :27:37. | |
venue because the club does not allow women to join. The Labour | :27:38. | :27:44. | |
leader is against the men only rule and, like others in a party, will | :27:45. | :27:49. | |
stay away from the championship. I don't think I would personally go, | :27:50. | :27:54. | |
no. I welcome the investment coming to Scotland, but the onus will be on | :27:55. | :27:59. | |
the club now to maybe change its policy before this competition | :28:00. | :28:02. | |
comes. I think people across Scotland would really welcome the | :28:03. | :28:08. | |
change. For the Greens, tradition is no excuse for excluding women. The | :28:09. | :28:15. | |
fact that we have male only golf courses belongs in the 19th century, | :28:16. | :28:20. | |
and it is iconic of just how far we have got to go in terms of gender | :28:21. | :28:22. | |
equality. Gender equality is one of the things | :28:23. | :28:35. | |
that really matters to me. I did think in this day and age it is | :28:36. | :28:39. | |
acceptable to have anywhere off-limits to women. The open was | :28:40. | :28:46. | |
posted here three years ago, Alex Salmond turned down his invitation | :28:47. | :28:51. | |
to attend in protest at the club's mail only membership policy. At | :28:52. | :28:56. | |
Royal Troon the circumstances are different. It's hosting this year's | :28:57. | :29:00. | |
championship together with the ladies golf club, Troon. And it has | :29:01. | :29:06. | |
announced the compounds of review of its own membership policy. Royal | :29:07. | :29:13. | |
Troon would go up in the Liberal Democrat leader's estimation if it | :29:14. | :29:16. | |
speeded up a decision on admitting female members. This is regrettable | :29:17. | :29:23. | |
and I think true need to come into the 21st century. I think they need | :29:24. | :29:27. | |
to bring forward a vote on whether to allow women into the club and | :29:28. | :29:31. | |
then they can send a very clear signal, not just to people of | :29:32. | :29:35. | |
Scotland, but across the world, that they are a modern club. Royal | :29:36. | :29:40. | |
Troon's membership is a matter for the club according to the executive | :29:41. | :29:43. | |
member for championships at golf's governing body. The Conservative | :29:44. | :29:50. | |
leader is happy to toast the move 's golf has made towards gender | :29:51. | :29:53. | |
equality, but she wants the game to go further. I think the RMT have | :29:54. | :29:59. | |
come a long way, they had their own referendum about allowing women | :30:00. | :30:05. | |
members -- the R have come a long way. I tell you something, if Troon | :30:06. | :30:11. | |
don't let women in, there may not be a national boycott but I certainly | :30:12. | :30:16. | |
will not be going to watch. Troon stresses that it is reviewing rules | :30:17. | :30:22. | |
but that current arrangements worked well for male and female golfers. I | :30:23. | :30:27. | |
always say it is one venue, two clubhouses and fully shared | :30:28. | :30:30. | |
facilities. The ladies can play the old course at any day of the week | :30:31. | :30:36. | |
free of charge and can come across and use this clubhouse. So we are | :30:37. | :30:39. | |
very close in working relationships between the two clubs. Getting ready | :30:40. | :30:42. | |
very close in working relationships for the open is not the only | :30:43. | :30:47. | |
activity at Royal Troon. The policy on female membership is work in | :30:48. | :30:48. | |
progress, too. The Liam Fee murder trial has heard | :30:49. | :30:50. | |
claims that two women accused of murdering the toddler | :30:51. | :30:53. | |
were "panicking" in which they allegedly | :30:54. | :30:54. | |
imprisoned another boy. The evidence was from a child | :30:55. | :31:00. | |
witness who was in the house near Glenrothes when Nyomi | :31:01. | :31:04. | |
and Rachel Fee realised that This was the third day of recorded | :31:05. | :31:17. | |
evidence from the second child witness, who was asked about the day | :31:18. | :31:24. | |
that happened on the day that Liam Fee died. He spoke about a makeshift | :31:25. | :31:29. | |
cage in which it is alleged another boy was imprisoned by Rachel and | :31:30. | :31:33. | |
Nyomi Fee. He said they were panicking about the cage and kept | :31:34. | :31:37. | |
asking where it could go. He was asked what happened to the cage. The | :31:38. | :31:44. | |
court heard allegations that the child and another boy had been | :31:45. | :31:47. | |
forced to hit each other. The young witness said that one of the | :31:48. | :31:52. | |
accused, Nyomi Fee had encouraged the other boy to strike him with a | :31:53. | :31:57. | |
shoe and a tube of skin cream. He said the other boy kept whacking him | :31:58. | :32:00. | |
and made him bleed. The young witness also said before the police | :32:01. | :32:05. | |
came, the accused told him he would go to prison if he didn't tell them | :32:06. | :32:10. | |
what the other boy had done to him. Nyomi and Rachel Fee and I murdering | :32:11. | :32:15. | |
Lee and mistreating two other boys. We all remember the damage done | :32:16. | :32:20. | |
by Storm Frank in December. Much of that was to Aberdeenshires | :32:21. | :32:25. | |
bridges, and the debris left behind | :32:26. | :32:26. | |
has been a big problem. Today the Army have been in Ballater | :32:27. | :32:29. | |
lending a hand to clear it, The raging torrent caused by storm | :32:30. | :32:41. | |
Frank didn't just flood houses, even caravans were carried away. Many of | :32:42. | :32:46. | |
them damaging bridges and leaving huge amounts of debris behind. | :32:47. | :32:53. | |
Clearing it is a logistical problem. Some jobs require that extra bit of | :32:54. | :32:56. | |
muscle and that's why the Army have come here to help clear debris from | :32:57. | :33:04. | |
this bridge. Soldiers from two support the town used a winch and a | :33:05. | :33:10. | |
vehicle to do the heavy work. It is a slow job, though, which requires a | :33:11. | :33:14. | |
lot of patients. We need to finish the task off. We are about five | :33:15. | :33:19. | |
hours into our first day, managed to make quite a lot of progress. Once | :33:20. | :33:24. | |
we are done with the caravan behind us, on the far side, we are going to | :33:25. | :33:29. | |
try to remove that as well. This is just one place that storm Frank has | :33:30. | :33:37. | |
left its Mark. Aberdeenshire Council has over 300 damaged bridges from | :33:38. | :33:40. | |
storm Frank. We are slowly making our way through that prioritised | :33:41. | :33:49. | |
programme of repairs. We started with the Inver Corbridge, we were | :33:50. | :33:50. | |
programme of repairs. We started able to get opened within a week. We | :33:51. | :33:56. | |
are now working our way through, and this is one of the major ones we are | :33:57. | :34:00. | |
keen and we are very pleased the Army has tackled. There's only so | :34:01. | :34:05. | |
much a winch can do, though. Sometimes you just need to get hands | :34:06. | :34:10. | |
on to finish the job. Or even a good old-fashioned boot. | :34:11. | :34:12. | |
Prince Charles was in the Highlands today to present medals to soldiers | :34:13. | :34:15. | |
The Prince is Royal Colonel of the Black Watch, 3rd Battalion | :34:16. | :34:21. | |
of the regiment, which is based at Fort George near Inverness. | :34:22. | :34:26. | |
Seven members of the regiment as well as one civil servant | :34:27. | :34:29. | |
received medals during a ceremony at the base. | :34:30. | :34:32. | |
A look at other stories from across the country. | :34:33. | :34:36. | |
The transport company First Bus has ordered more than 300 new vehicles. | :34:37. | :34:39. | |
and will be built by Alexander Dennis of Falkirk. | :34:40. | :34:44. | |
The rest will be produced in Northern Ireland. | :34:45. | :34:46. | |
says the deals are worth a total of ?70 million. | :34:47. | :34:54. | |
Hargreaves, the operator of opencast coal mines in Scotland, | :34:55. | :34:58. | |
is to accelerate the closure of six out of its seven sites, | :34:59. | :35:01. | |
leaving only the House of Water site in Ayrshire. | :35:02. | :35:06. | |
The company says it plans to spend more than ?3 million | :35:07. | :35:09. | |
on the Scots closures, across Lanarkshire, | :35:10. | :35:10. | |
and the closure of coal-burning power stations. | :35:11. | :35:16. | |
Three Scotch whisky distilleries and a bottling plant have been sold | :35:17. | :35:19. | |
to the Jack Daniels maker Brown-Forman for ?285 million. | :35:20. | :35:24. | |
The Kentucky based company is acquiring the Ben Riach, | :35:25. | :35:27. | |
Glen Dronach and Glen Glassoch single-malt brands. | :35:28. | :35:31. | |
The company's Edinburgh headquarters, which has 165 | :35:32. | :35:33. | |
employees, will operate as a subsidiary of Brown-Forman. | :35:34. | :35:38. | |
A campaign is being launched to save two ancient trees thought | :35:39. | :35:42. | |
to be from the forest immortalised in Shakespeare's Macbeth. | :35:43. | :35:45. | |
The Birnam Oak and Sycamore were damaged when Storm Desmond | :35:46. | :35:48. | |
The storm caused severe flooding in the Birnam Woods | :35:49. | :35:53. | |
Ultrasound scans have revealed damage to the trees | :35:54. | :35:56. | |
The programme for the 2016 Borders Book Festival | :35:57. | :36:02. | |
Appearing in Melrose this June will be veteran thriller | :36:03. | :36:08. | |
writer Frederick Forsyth, acclaimed percussionist | :36:09. | :36:10. | |
Evelyn Glennie, and Genesis founder Mike Rutherford. | :36:11. | :36:14. | |
The winner of the ?25,000 Walter Scott Prize | :36:15. | :36:16. | |
for historical fiction will also be announced. | :36:17. | :36:25. | |
David is here which means he either just wants to be near me, or he's | :36:26. | :36:29. | |
got the sport. Or both! Scottish Olympians have been set | :36:30. | :36:38. | |
ambitious targets by the performance sport director. | :36:39. | :36:42. | |
With 100 days to go until Rio, we've been speaking to the man | :36:43. | :36:45. | |
who's set these ambitious targets and who believes | :36:46. | :36:47. | |
the Scottish athletes competing at the Olympic will deliver. | :36:48. | :36:50. | |
The GB team will be dressed to impress in Rio. Designer Stella | :36:51. | :36:59. | |
McCartney has seen to that. But will the athletes impress on other | :37:00. | :37:04. | |
fronts? For Scottish athletes, this man has set the bar high. More Scots | :37:05. | :37:09. | |
in the team and more names for the Olympic roll of honour. In Beijing | :37:10. | :37:15. | |
in 2008, 31 Scots were part of Team GB, the most ever named in an away | :37:16. | :37:21. | |
Olympics, winning six medals. But there was greater medal success at | :37:22. | :37:25. | |
the Sydney games in 2000, when eight medals were won by Scottish | :37:26. | :37:30. | |
athletes. Scotland is contributing massively to the world-class system. | :37:31. | :37:35. | |
We've got a record number of athletes on world-class programmes. | :37:36. | :37:38. | |
I think we're on track to have really successful games. We want to | :37:39. | :37:42. | |
get more than 31 Scots on Team GB for the Olympics. The eight medals | :37:43. | :37:49. | |
is a challenge, but at the moment it's looking pretty good. So far 14 | :37:50. | :37:53. | |
Scots have booked their seats on the plane to Rio. Laura Muir is going to | :37:54. | :38:00. | |
finish... Others will follow as more teams are confirmed, with the | :38:01. | :38:03. | |
athletics squad likely to boost numbers considerably. Just great to | :38:04. | :38:07. | |
know we can support each other in terms of GB and Scotland as well. | :38:08. | :38:11. | |
It's great that a lot of Scottish athletes are in the ratio of | :38:12. | :38:15. | |
Scottish athletes, it is looking good. So, it is looking good. The | :38:16. | :38:17. | |
bigger wall might just be required. Who would be your Premiership Player | :38:18. | :38:22. | |
of the Year? I'm sure you have your Who would be your Premiership Player | :38:23. | :38:31. | |
own favourites. The players themselves have voted for who they | :38:32. | :38:32. | |
think is best. Here's our senior football | :38:33. | :38:35. | |
reporter, Chris McLaughlin. Three of the four men vying to be | :38:36. | :38:42. | |
named Scotland's best footballer for this season. An award voted for by | :38:43. | :38:50. | |
their fellow players. No surprises with this one, Celtic's top striker | :38:51. | :38:55. | |
has been their main man this term. Personally it has been the best | :38:56. | :38:59. | |
season of my career. I can't really complain with 38 goals. And | :39:00. | :39:03. | |
hopefully there's a lot more to come. I got myself back in the | :39:04. | :39:08. | |
Scotland squad which is good. And hopefully I can add another league | :39:09. | :39:13. | |
title to my collection. The man that missed today's photocall has rarely | :39:14. | :39:17. | |
missed this season. Aberdeen winger Johnny Haynes scoring here against | :39:18. | :39:20. | |
Celtic and showing why he's made the cut. The other two come from Dundee | :39:21. | :39:26. | |
side who failed to make the top six but has impressed for most of the. | :39:27. | :39:30. | |
So take it away, Stuart on Hemmings and Hemmings on Stewart. To score 25 | :39:31. | :39:36. | |
goals for a team not in the top six is obviously brilliant. Delighted | :39:37. | :39:41. | |
for him to reach that mark and he still has time to get more, no | :39:42. | :39:47. | |
pressure. If I had a left foot like his, I could take on more people and | :39:48. | :39:51. | |
put them in the bottom corner, I'd expect to be nominated as well. This | :39:52. | :39:55. | |
is the list of those nominated from the young players of the year. And | :39:56. | :40:00. | |
the winners will be announced The race for second place | :40:01. | :40:04. | |
in the Championship, and with it one fewer | :40:05. | :40:06. | |
round of matches in the Premiership promotion play offs, | :40:07. | :40:08. | |
is going down to the wire. Hibs beat Dumbarton 4-0 last night. | :40:09. | :40:11. | |
with Falkirk going into the final But a win against Queen of the South | :40:12. | :40:18. | |
on Sunday because Falkirk, who play Morton, | :40:19. | :40:20. | |
have a better goal difference. If they manage to do the business | :40:21. | :40:31. | |
and get three points then they fully deserved to finish in second place. | :40:32. | :40:36. | |
It's not through luck or anything like that. We've let ourselves down | :40:37. | :40:42. | |
over the course of March and April. To be in this position. Six games to | :40:43. | :40:46. | |
get promoted. We are willing to do what ever it takes. | :40:47. | :40:51. | |
John Higgins has the advantage over fellow Scot Alan McManus | :40:52. | :40:54. | |
in the all Scottish semi-final at the World Snooker Championship. | :40:55. | :40:56. | |
The Wizard of Wishaw, winning the final frame | :40:57. | :40:58. | |
of this afternoon's session for a 9-7 lead. | :40:59. | :41:00. | |
They're back on the table shortly, | :41:01. | :41:01. | |
Glasgow Warriors have announced that ten players will be leaving the club | :41:02. | :41:06. | |
Fijian forward Leone Nakarawa is one of the most notable departures. | :41:07. | :41:12. | |
Another Fijian Jerry Yanuyanutawa also leaves, | :41:13. | :41:13. | |
as will back-rower Tyrone Holmes, meaning this team huddle | :41:14. | :41:16. | |
will be considerably smaller for the time being. | :41:17. | :41:26. | |
Let's see what the weather is up to with Christopher. | :41:27. | :41:34. | |
Further wintry showers across the country today. As you can see by | :41:35. | :41:39. | |
this picture from one of our weather watchers. Daffodils getting pelted. | :41:40. | :41:44. | |
There was sunshine out with the showers, as you can see here. But it | :41:45. | :41:49. | |
was not warm. Tonight the showers ease, it will be cold and frosty, | :41:50. | :41:53. | |
and still there will be some showers around the west coast of the islands | :41:54. | :41:58. | |
and the far north. Wintry mix. For most of the mainland, dry, cold, and | :41:59. | :42:03. | |
it will be a sharp frost. Temperatures even in towns and | :42:04. | :42:06. | |
cities down close to freezing, in the countryside more like -3, or | :42:07. | :42:12. | |
four. Cold starts tomorrow, but plenty of sunshine once it comes up. | :42:13. | :42:16. | |
Number of light showers around. As we had food was late morning, this | :42:17. | :42:22. | |
system arrives off the Atlantic -- as we had food towards late morning. | :42:23. | :42:23. | |
Jenny Allen along the central belt On the hills on higher ground it | :42:24. | :42:33. | |
will be falling with snow. Rain foremost at low levels. And it will | :42:34. | :42:36. | |
be chilly when the wet weather arrives. Milder in the morning. | :42:37. | :42:44. | |
North of here, from Arbroath westwards reasonably dry. Just about | :42:45. | :42:46. | |
Some sunshine, one or two light rain showers, Orkney and Shetland. | :42:47. | :42:58. | |
Through the afternoon into the evening, the system marching | :42:59. | :43:01. | |
north-eastwards. Yellow warning from the Met office for risk of snow, | :43:02. | :43:05. | |
Angus and Aberdeenshire in particular. All courtesy of this | :43:06. | :43:09. | |
area of low pressure swirling its particular. All courtesy of this | :43:10. | :43:14. | |
way around. We will see several centimetres of snow, not only on | :43:15. | :43:17. | |
high ground but occasionally to lower levels. Still with us Friday | :43:18. | :43:20. | |
morning. Potential travel disruption. Through the course of | :43:21. | :43:25. | |
the morning, south again through the central belt. Wintry weather could | :43:26. | :43:30. | |
spread further south. North and west always driest and brightest with | :43:31. | :43:33. | |
spells of sunshine, feeling a touch milder, too. | :43:34. | :43:35. | |
You're watching a Reporting Scotland election special. | :43:36. | :43:37. | |
Here's a reminder of tonight's top stories. | :43:38. | :43:39. | |
Convicted drug smuggler Melissa Reid could soon be back | :43:40. | :43:41. | |
in Scotland after spending almost three years in prison in Peru. | :43:42. | :43:46. | |
saying it marks a return to the party's roots. | :43:47. | :43:52. | |
And still to come on tonight's programme: | :43:53. | :43:55. | |
Why transport is a key issue for elderly people in rural areas. | :43:56. | :44:04. | |
It's opened a lot of doors for people in the community, otherwise | :44:05. | :44:11. | |
we would have been housebound. It has just been great, because you are | :44:12. | :44:14. | |
picked up, taken back to your door. You might have noticed there's been | :44:15. | :44:18. | |
no shortage of visits to schools and nurseries by politicians | :44:19. | :44:21. | |
recently, that's because childcare provision has become a key issue | :44:22. | :44:24. | |
in this election campaign. Extended hours, new investment | :44:25. | :44:28. | |
and more nurseries have been promised, | :44:29. | :44:31. | |
but what's been the reaction of parents and providers? | :44:32. | :44:34. | |
Jackie O'Brien reports. They may still be small, but | :44:35. | :44:47. | |
research shows that nursery education helps young children | :44:48. | :44:50. | |
develop bigger ambition in their early years. Logan, what do you want | :44:51. | :45:02. | |
to be when you grow up? A dinosaur. Because I love to breathe fire. | :45:03. | :45:07. | |
Childcare provision has become a hot topic in Scotland in recent years. | :45:08. | :45:13. | |
All three and four -year-olds are now entitled to 16 hours of free | :45:14. | :45:18. | |
preschool care a week, but the SNP flagship policy has proved difficult | :45:19. | :45:21. | |
to implement, particularly in the cities. Sophie Patterson from | :45:22. | :45:29. | |
Edinburgh cannot use a local authority nursery because of her | :45:30. | :45:33. | |
work pattern and has to pay extra for more flexible, private care. It | :45:34. | :45:37. | |
is great that the Government wants to invest in childcare, but the | :45:38. | :45:42. | |
reality is that it is not accessible to everybody, although it is an | :45:43. | :45:45. | |
entitlement we should all be able to access. It means I have to pay a top | :45:46. | :45:50. | |
up, I have to bridge the gap between the local authority funding and the | :45:51. | :45:55. | |
actual hours I am entitled to. All parties are committed to extending | :45:56. | :46:00. | |
free childcare and making it work for children from all backgrounds. | :46:01. | :46:04. | |
The SNP has pledged to double free childcare provision. The Greens and | :46:05. | :46:09. | |
the Tories want more flexibility built into the system for working | :46:10. | :46:13. | |
parents. The Liberal Democrats want to concentrate on younger kids in | :46:14. | :46:18. | |
disadvantaged areas. Areas where children would receive a starter | :46:19. | :46:23. | |
fund and the Labour. The focus on disadvantaged areas is widely | :46:24. | :46:27. | |
welcomed by those attending this nursery in North Glasgow, where | :46:28. | :46:31. | |
parents and toddlers are being introduced to the benefits of | :46:32. | :46:34. | |
preschool education for the first time. All the children and families | :46:35. | :46:38. | |
are all playing together and learning together. What happens in | :46:39. | :46:43. | |
the very earliest years is a very strong predictor of what will happen | :46:44. | :46:46. | |
later on, further down the line for strong predictor of what will happen | :46:47. | :46:53. | |
children, so if we can ensure that all children, in their youngest | :46:54. | :46:56. | |
years, can have high quality provision to support the children | :46:57. | :47:00. | |
and the families, then that can go a long way. But many parents here a | :47:01. | :47:06. | |
more free childcare is needed before their return to work can make any | :47:07. | :47:10. | |
financial sense. Some politicians may be slightly out of touch, they | :47:11. | :47:14. | |
want us to go back to work and look for jobs and search for employment, | :47:15. | :47:19. | |
but when you only have three hours a day free, when you have someone, | :47:20. | :47:23. | |
your child nursery, no-one was going to want to employ you. It would be | :47:24. | :47:28. | |
great to be less dependent on other people to deal with your children, | :47:29. | :47:31. | |
and you could work more and provide for your family. But as the | :47:32. | :47:34. | |
and you could work more and provide politicians pledged to boost free | :47:35. | :47:38. | |
nursery care for all, there is a warning that existing problems with | :47:39. | :47:41. | |
capacity and funding must be addressed first. Scotland's funding | :47:42. | :47:46. | |
is much lower than England on average. The providers are getting | :47:47. | :47:51. | |
about ?3.56 an hour, and at the moment they are making a loss of | :47:52. | :47:56. | |
over ?1100 per child per year. I think this is the biggest issue that | :47:57. | :48:01. | |
needs to be addressed before any expansion of ours is put into | :48:02. | :48:03. | |
practice. practice. | :48:04. | :48:13. | |
# Somewhere over the rainbow... # A pot of gold may be required for | :48:14. | :48:18. | |
the new investment in childcare, but as election day approaches, parents | :48:19. | :48:22. | |
are urging politicians not to make promises they cannot keep. | :48:23. | :48:26. | |
campaiging in the EU referendum continues. | :48:27. | :48:30. | |
Today the Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, | :48:31. | :48:32. | |
challenged Nicola Sturgeon to a debate on the subject. | :48:33. | :48:35. | |
The SNP leader says she'll debate the big issues | :48:36. | :48:37. | |
Our political correspondent Glenn Campbell | :48:38. | :48:43. | |
He's in Edinburgh tonight. Is this going to happen, Glenn? | :48:44. | :48:51. | |
Well, clearly, Nigel Farage would like that, and Nicola Sturgeon is | :48:52. | :48:57. | |
not saying no, so it is possible, but I don't think the SNP will | :48:58. | :49:02. | |
decide on debates and tell after next week's elections. Now, these | :49:03. | :49:06. | |
two have clashed on television before, in the BBC leaders the' | :49:07. | :49:11. | |
debates during the UK election campaign, but they have not yet gone | :49:12. | :49:15. | |
head to head on the specific issue of the UK's membership of the | :49:16. | :49:21. | |
European Union. I have been to Wales, I had a debate with Carwyn | :49:22. | :49:25. | |
Jones a few months ago, I would be happy to do a debate with Nicola | :49:26. | :49:27. | |
Jones a few months ago, I would be Sturgeon. I would love to have that | :49:28. | :49:30. | |
debate about what independence really means. Is that a challenge? | :49:31. | :49:37. | |
You bet your life! Last time I devoted Nigel Farage, he did not | :49:38. | :49:41. | |
come off that well, but I will debate with anybody at any time, but | :49:42. | :49:46. | |
I will concentrate on making the positive case and leave Nigel Farage | :49:47. | :49:49. | |
to the rather depressing narrow case that he tends to make. To be clear, | :49:50. | :49:58. | |
next wants to remain in the EU, Nigel Farage wants us to get out, | :49:59. | :50:02. | |
and they will continue to argue their cases between now and the | :50:03. | :50:10. | |
referendum on the 23rd of June. Today the official Remain campaign, | :50:11. | :50:15. | |
stronger in, suggested Mr Farage was struggling for relevance in this | :50:16. | :50:19. | |
debate, because the campaign he supports, Grassrouts Out, failed to | :50:20. | :50:23. | |
be chosen as the official Leave campaign. That job falls to bow to | :50:24. | :50:28. | |
leave, and its chairman in Scotland, Tom Harris, and he said that Nigel | :50:29. | :50:34. | |
Farage can challenge anyone he likes but could not expect him to team up | :50:35. | :50:38. | |
alongside him in the TV studios to argue the case for British exit from | :50:39. | :50:41. | |
alongside him in the TV studios to the European Union. | :50:42. | :50:46. | |
One of the priorities for the new Scottish Government | :50:47. | :50:51. | |
will be addressing the needs of an increasing older population, | :50:52. | :50:53. | |
As Ian Hamilton has been finding out, one of the key concerns | :50:54. | :50:57. | |
for a community in rural Aberdeenshire | :50:58. | :50:58. | |
Living in the countryside can be idyllic, but it can be a real | :50:59. | :51:10. | |
problem when it comes to getting out and about. So what are your options | :51:11. | :51:14. | |
if the regular bus service is not frequent? To complement the regular | :51:15. | :51:20. | |
service, there is a network of community transport groups across | :51:21. | :51:26. | |
Scotland. There we go. These are funded by a mixture of local | :51:27. | :51:32. | |
authority and other grants. Here in Banff and Buchan, the local group | :51:33. | :51:37. | |
has been running for 16 years. They are ten accessible buses offering a | :51:38. | :51:40. | |
door-to-door service for those who needed. Many older people find it | :51:41. | :51:44. | |
difficult to use public transport. That is where project like this one | :51:45. | :51:53. | |
plugging the gap. We have got one of the poorest areas here, and we have | :51:54. | :51:57. | |
people with mental health difficulties, people with physical | :51:58. | :52:00. | |
difficulties. If they cannot get out, that is a huge drain on the | :52:01. | :52:05. | |
local economy, but it is also so damaging for them. You know, you | :52:06. | :52:09. | |
have somebody in hospital who cannot get out because they cannot get back | :52:10. | :52:13. | |
into their home because they cannot get transport. The community bus has | :52:14. | :52:16. | |
arrived after picking up passengers get transport. The community bus has | :52:17. | :52:20. | |
from the surrounding villages. They are meeting for tea and cake before | :52:21. | :52:24. | |
heading for a shopping trip to Inverurie. It has opened a lot of | :52:25. | :52:28. | |
doors for the community, the people in the community would have | :52:29. | :52:33. | |
otherwise been housebound. And it has just been great, because you are | :52:34. | :52:36. | |
picked up at your door, you are taken back to your door. I have a | :52:37. | :52:41. | |
lot of friends on the bus, so it's cheers everybody up. Scotland is in | :52:42. | :52:48. | |
the process of integrating health and social care, and transport is | :52:49. | :52:52. | |
seen by some as key to its success. And it is something the new Scottish | :52:53. | :52:55. | |
Government will have to tackle after the 5th of May. | :52:56. | :53:01. | |
Government will have to tackle after Community transport goes some way to | :53:02. | :53:02. | |
providing a solution to a reduced Community transport goes some way to | :53:03. | :53:08. | |
rural bus service, but it depends on different sources of funding from | :53:09. | :53:13. | |
users and already squeezed budgets. Ian Hamilton, Reporting Scotland, | :53:14. | :53:15. | |
Aberdeenshire. Let's have a look ahead to tonight's | :53:16. | :53:15. | |
Scotland 2016 with Andrew Kerr. What price leaving the EU? One | :53:16. | :53:25. | |
influential think tank says it is equivalent to a month's salary, but | :53:26. | :53:29. | |
those who backed Brexit say it is coming from people who said we | :53:30. | :53:33. | |
should have joined the euro. We will debate that. Also, taking the | :53:34. | :53:38. | |
temperature on turnout in the Holyrood election. That is at 10:30 | :53:39. | :53:44. | |
over on BBC Two. Before we go, let's return to Brian Taylor, firstly, | :53:45. | :53:48. | |
your reflections on what Ruth Davidson had to say? I was | :53:49. | :53:52. | |
intrigued, you press to entirely reasonably on the Cameron's presence | :53:53. | :53:59. | |
of otherwise during the campaign, but it struck me again that it is a | :54:00. | :54:01. | |
reminder, that is choice for the Conservative, that the Labour Party | :54:02. | :54:05. | |
would choose, with regard to their leader, the Lib Dems ditto. It | :54:06. | :54:08. | |
reminded me that political discourse in Scotland has always been | :54:09. | :54:13. | |
distinctive, that was more true is a consequence of devolution, and it is | :54:14. | :54:17. | |
ever more true as a consequence of the added powers, the tax powers and | :54:18. | :54:21. | |
social security and well for powers that are coming Holyrood's way. It | :54:22. | :54:25. | |
means there is a pure and distinctive discourse in Scottish | :54:26. | :54:33. | |
politics, and that is reflected in the election. We thought we knew | :54:34. | :54:36. | |
what the key issues would be before campaigning started, have there been | :54:37. | :54:38. | |
changes? It is coming down to tax and spending, but bear in mind this | :54:39. | :54:43. | |
chamber behind me is evenly quiet at the moment, there have been some VIP | :54:44. | :54:47. | |
tour is going around, a little puzzled as they stare at the | :54:48. | :54:50. | |
splendid building, but it will be filled soon enough again by 129 MSPs | :54:51. | :54:57. | |
taking decisions upon tax, upon spending, upon the law in all sorts | :54:58. | :55:01. | |
of areas, and that means that these elections really matter, they matter | :55:02. | :55:05. | |
to people, they matter to the parties, but far more importantly to | :55:06. | :55:09. | |
the people. On that thought, let me say to the young girl who wished in | :55:10. | :55:13. | |
the early reports to be a dinosaur, and on in there, sooner or later a | :55:14. | :55:17. | |
politician will offer to make that come true! | :55:18. | :55:19. | |
Now, a reminder of tonight's main news. | :55:20. | :55:23. | |
The Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police, | :55:24. | :55:25. | |
David Crompton, has been suspended over his force's behaviour | :55:26. | :55:27. | |
It follows a day of mounting anger over what the inquests revealed | :55:28. | :55:31. | |
about the role of the police throughout the 27 years | :55:32. | :55:34. | |
Our next main bulletin is just after the ten o'clock news. | :55:35. | :55:44. | |
Until then, from everyone on the team, | :55:45. | :55:46. | |
right across the country, have a very good evening. | :55:47. | :55:50. |