08/02/2017 Reporting Scotland

even at lower levels of light dusting to come as well. Winter

That's all from the BBC News at Six - so it's goodbye from me -

As MPs prepare to vote on the Brexit bill,

the SNP says the Prime Minister doesn't have UK-wide backing

be left in the North Sea when the Brent field

Measures to improve forensic examinations

On show for one day only, Mary Queen of Scots last letter.

And what to do about the marauding gulls stealing our seaside snacks.

My niece was here at one point and a seagull swiped a hot dog from her

hand. MPs are tonight preparing

for a major Brexit milestone, as they vote on whether to give

the Prime Minister the authority to begin the formal

process of leaving the EU. But the SNP's Leader

at Westminster says after Holyrood rejected the legislation,

Theresa May doesn't have UK-wide Here's our Westminster

correspondent, Nick Eardley. It is increasingly fast paced. It

can feel relentless. There are still Brexit twists and turns down the

road. Tonight an important step in the process. MPs are due to give

Theresa May permission to proceed with triggering Article 50. The

overwhelming majority are expected to back the Government but not

everyone. Questions to the Prime Minister. Given Scottish Parliament

has voted overwhelmingly against the approach and all but one MP

representing a Scottish constituency in this House of Commons has voted

against her approach, she does not have an agreed UK wide approach. The

Prime Minister says she will continue to consult with Scottish

ministers but... The Supreme Court was very clear that the Scottish

Parliament does not have a veto on the triggering of Article 50. He

constantly refers to the interests of Scotland inside the European

Union. An Independent Scotland would not be in the European Union. They

seem as far apart as ever. Brexit sparks passion and tension as well.

It was seen in Parliament this afternoon as MPs continue to discuss

triggering article 15. Why can't the Honourable lady read the memo before

she makes a wild assertion? We can all see these amendments are an

attempt to pull the wool over the British people's eyes, an attempt to

fob people off and I will have nothing to do with them. The

barracking of rebel members opposite and preventing SNP MPs speaking in

the House plays right into Adams and headlines like this, reports for --

support for independence surgery. Sir Alex Salmond said it was now

game on for independence voters. The UK is now heading for the EU exit

door. What that means for the future, Scotland and the UK, is just

getting started. Well our political correspondent,

David Porter, joins me Another day, another Brexit debate.

How significant is it? What will happen tonight is it will be a very

important moment in the UK's brochure is to leaving the EU.

Within the next hour and a half, MPs will vote for me to give Theresa May

the authority to invoke or trigger Article 50, which will then allow

her formerly to begin negotiations with the EU. It is worth saying the

legislation still has to go through the House of Lords. Ministers are

very relaxed. They are pretty confident they will get their way.

It means by the middle or early part of March, the legislation will have

gone through the houses of Parliament. Theresa May will trigger

Article 50 and trigger the Brexit negotiations. While that was

happening, discussions were going on between the UK and the devolved

administrations about the Brexit process. The Scottish Government

came out and was very frustrated by what they see as a lack of progress.

Doing nothing to hose down speculation there could be a second

independence referendum if things do not go the way of the Scottish

Government -- that the Scottish Government would like. It is

important for the UK's relationship with the EU and also within the

various countries within the UK. Our political editor, Brian Taylor,

is at Holyrood for us tonight. More talk of a second

independence referendum, Brian, and reports that Downing Street

are already making preparations? Reports that the UK Government is

preparing for a possible referendum on Scottish independence. Of course

they are preparing for a possible referendum on independence. It is

what governments do when it comes to process. They were not all that shop

in preparing for the aftermath of the EU referendum. Of course they

are preparing. Is it likely? Think it is decidedly likely that there

would be a referendum. To independence in 2018. It is about

moving to demands by the Scottish Parliament and government and

suggesting the UK Government is not meeting the requirements of Scotland

within these figures she ages. If it comes to the point where the SNP,

the Scottish Government, says it comes to an end and the UK

Government is adamantly and definitely not producing a deal, I

think there will be a referendum. It could be announced by Nicola

Sturgeon at the SNP conference in March was too I think she will set

out the details and the date? No. Will she mention Brexit and

independence? I think she might will stop

It was once one of the North Sea's most valuable assets.

But after 40 years of production, Shell has formally submitted

its plans for dismantling its oil and gas platforms in the Brent field

The company says it wants to leave in place many of the supporting legs

but it insists its decommissioning proposals are environmentally sound.

Here's our environment correspondent, Kevin Keane.

They have produced 3 billion barrels of oil but now these platforms are

at the end of their lives. Today, the operator, Shell, submitted plans

to decommission them. The top portions will go but controversially

Shell wants to leave behind the concrete legs. Between them they

hold 42 oil storage cells, still containing sediment, made up of

sand, water and oil, and they will be left behind to the mercies of the

North Sea. At some point in the future they will collapse. If we do

not remove the contents of the cells, they could leak into the

environment. It is not the first time Shell has proposed leaving its

installations at sea. The occupation of Brent Spar in the mid-1990s

eventually forced the company to change plans to drop it in the deep

ocean. Today's decommission means the legs will not be moved at all.

Shell insists this time it has got it right. The environmental impact

associated with removing transport, treatment, and disposal of the

sediment, one of the key issues we have looked at, is far greater than

just leaving the sediment in place. In an offshore simulator, the

minister -- the First Minister announced a fund to give a lift to

decommissioning infrastructure. And she says the Brent plan needs to be

properly scrutinised. That has to be part of this process, making sure

not only that decommissioning is done in a safe, efficient and

cost-effective way in everyone's interests but in a way that respects

the Marine and natural environment. In the next few months, Shell will

use the ship to remove the top portion of the Brent Delta platform.

Today's mission is for the rest of this field. The consultation is due

to last 60 days. Rape campaigners have welcomed

the announcement that new standards are to be introduced to improve

forensic examinations It follows claims that rape victims

in the Northern Isles don't report it because they have to travel

to the mainland for forensic tests. Our Home Affairs Correspondent,

Reevel Alderson, reports. This is the forensic

examination area, where any client who has been raped

or sexually assaulted will be This Glasgow clinic was the first

of its kind in Scotland. Rape victims receive

medical attention. Evidence was gathered

for a possible prosecution. On this side of the area

is the medical practitioners and on the other side of the screen

are the police officers. Rape victims elsewhere have

different experiences. One reason, a lack of female doctors

to carry out testing. A government survey has been

launched to find out why. The government survey aims to find

out why so few female doctors are prepared to offer this service

for victims of serious Whether it is because they don't

understand what is involved or whether there is a fear

about the length of time the events -- the eventual time

the court process. In Shetland and Orkney,

because no doctor carries out forensic examinations,

it has been claimed some victims do not come forward

because they would have to travel without washing to the mainland

for forensic tests. In the Northern Isles no doctor is

carrying out forensic examinations will stop some big teams are

reluctant to travel without washing for forensic tests. Campaigners have

welcomed the view and a government announcement for a new national

standard for Parenti examinations. There is far too much variation

depending where you live in Scotland and the time you are raped. The

service can vary considerably. The need to look at how to get more

female doctors to do these examinations because we know that is

what is being looked at. The Government hopes the changes will be

looked at later this year. The Holyrood parliament has called

for jobcentre closures A debate today heard warnings that

shutting offices would increase travel costs for those already

struggling to make ends meet. But UK ministers say many centres

are underused because most claims for jobseeker's allowance

are now made online. Here's our political

correspondent, Glenn Campbell. In Glasgow, this Jobcentre is to

close. Those coming here to look for work once the UK Government to think

again. This job-seeker is worried about having to travel to

appointments. They should not take away the Jobcentre because it is

going to give a lot of people aggro, stress, mental health problems,

different things are going to occur because obviously they are going to

have to worry about getting to Springburn for the appointment times

when they have kids to pick up from school. The Scottish Govan shares

that concern. This does not reflect reality that increased travel cost

will be a strain for families already under financial pressure.

Tonight the Scottish Parliament voted for a halt to Jobcentre

closures in Scotland. But it is not for MSPs or the Scottish Govan to

responsibility of the UK Government. responsibility of the UK Government.

-- government. There are 97 Jobcentres in Scotland. Merry Hill

is one of 14 to be closed by the Department for Work and Pensions.

This includes eight Jobcentres in Glasgow and others from Inverness to

Broxburn. An enquiry has heard existing officers are underused

because benefits are increasingly claimed online and implement is

falling. The fact there is lower unemployment in Glasgow and Scotland

as a whole is very welcome. That has an effect on the fact that we have

relatively low utilisation of the building. Closing Jobcentres will

cut costs. Critics say it is those who use them who will pay.

Refugee doctors living in Scotland are to benefit from a programme

to help them retrain to work in the NHS.

The scheme, which is funded by the Scottish government,

will give training and language support to help medics

meet the standards required to practice here.

Just make sure this is nice and tight. BP is the same the world

over. If you can take it in Syria, you can measure it in Glasgow. This

man was a trainee orthopaedic surgeon. Today he is getting

refresher training. We are losing our skills we are not training. I

hope in the near future that we can work as a doctor. He is from here,

Aleppo, in Syria. Parts of it are reduced to rubble after years of

civil war. He left family, including his wife, three years ago, to come

to Scotland. It was a difficult decision but I did not have any

choice because it is life. I need to survive. Once the war started,

medicines were sparse and queues were long. It was too difficult.

Sometimes we did not have an indication. Sometimes we did not

have enough rooms for our patients. Today Angela Constance amounted

funding of ?161,000 for a programme which helps to train doctors in the

NHS. Language can be a barrier and refugees have to pass strict English

and clinical test before they can practice. It will help clinical

doctors getting their met -- registration. It would give them

support for English language training and clinical training. It

will give them access to lots of places will stop Iranian in origin

Fatima is 28 and being trained in general surgery she left her country

two years ago she says being a woman in surgery is difficult. It is long

and predictable -- unpredictable hours. I want to show myself as a

woman and as a Muslim woman. The type of career women. We are smart

and can give a lot to this country. It is better language skills and

training like this which will help doctors like Ahmed get jobs in the

NHS. As MPs prepare to vote

on the Brexit bill, the SNP says the Prime Minister doesn't have

UK-wide backing to He kicked Scotland to

victory against Ireland - is Greig Laidlaw the glue that holds

the team together? Hundreds of people have been queuing

for a rare glimpse of the last letter Mary Queen of Scots wrote

on the day she was executed. As Morag Kinniburgh reports

the National Library of Scotland says it's so precious it can only go

on show for the day. Queueing up to see one of the most

powerful and precious papers in Scotland, on show for one day only.

It is 430 years today since Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded. It

shows the Queen probably at the most stressful time of her life, she was

to be executed at eight o'clock in the morning and was only told of it

the night before. So with what little time she had left she tried

to make the most of that time and she prepared herself and rode one

last letter to her brother-in-law the King of France. -- wrote. If you

listen to my doctor and other unfortunate servings you will learn

the truth and how thanks to God I score and death and meet it innocent

of any crime. The Queen is angry at being branded a criminal, killed for

being Catholic. Demand to see the letter has been so high that the

library has extended its opening hours. But why queue up for so long

when you consider it in many other formats? Because it is the real

thing and you imagine this lady, Mary Queen of Scots, actually

touched it and wrote it. We're just honoured to have that here in

Scotland and the fact is that we can see it in the flash and it is so

rare to be able to do that, you would be silly not to. I know you

can do all kinds of things on a computer screen but really it is not

the same as actually seeing it. This letter has special security status

and returns to the safe tonight. No one will say when it will be shown

in public again. A look at other stories

from across the country... Police in Kilmarnock say they're

becoming increasingly concerned for the safety of a 58 year old man

who hasn't been seen Alan Galbraith went missing

after he and his wife spent the evening at a friend's house

in the Dundonald Road area. The M74 has fully reopened

after an early morning lorry crash forced the northbound carriageway

to be closed. The vehicle overturned

north of Lockerbie. There was heavy congestion

on the approach to the accident It's understood that

the recovery of a lorry carrying part of a wind turbine

tower which crashed in Dumfries and Galloway earlier in the week

won't be completed until Friday. The abnormal load was part

of a convoy travelling under escort to the Brockloch Windfarm

site near Cars-phairn. The vehicle overturned on the road

between Parton and New Galloway A new picture shows how the M8

in the centre of Glasgow could look if it was covered

by a rooftop garden. Plans for a "cap" over the motorway

near the Mitchell Library Glasgow City Council

said feasibility work The proposal is part of a plan that

aims to reconnect the city A facial reconstruction has been

made of Orkney's St Magnus to help mark the 900th anniversary

of his death. Forensic artist Hew Morrison's

research included studies of photographs taken in the 1920s

of what is said to be the skull Apple's chief executive

surprised staff by dropping into the Glasgow

store this afternoon. Tim Cook is in the city

to collect an honorary degree Before leaving, he was presented

with two gifts - a tartan scarf He's the man who kept his head

to make sure Scotland recorded their first opening match

win in the Six Nations He's also the national captain -

and according to one of his predecessors the most

important member of the team. He's Greg Laidlaw and he's been

speaking about how to keep calm under pressure -

and his dislike of mobile phones. It is easy to look relaxed before a

media conference but what about when 68,000 spectators and millions of TV

viewers have their eyes fixed on you? And you have one shot to make

sure of your first opening-day win in the Six Nations as Scotland

captain. I have always enjoyed kicking and that helps. I'm not

going to lie, I do not think anyone really likes it when a game is tight

going to lie, I do not think anyone especially. It has been mentally

tough and if you can hold your technique under pressure it is good.

It was not always so, in the past Laidlaw admitted being too emotional

at times. He consulted a sports psychologist for the World Cup in

2015. Now according to one of his predecessors he is the main man in

the team. In a team full of stars like Stuart Hogg, Greig Laidlaw in

many ways is the glue holding the team together because of his

leadership, his goal-kicking and the fact that he is the go to man in a

tactical sense for Vern Cotter. His next challenge is to lead Scotland

to win against France in Paris on Sunday. If we can stay in the game

and play in the right areas for the first 20 minutes, if we can do that

hopefully we will put them under pressure and upset the crowd a bit.

You have been caricatured as a Braveheart figure in social media.

What did you think of that question what I had not seen any of that to

be honest with you. I try to steer clear as much as I can. The world is

getting obsessed with mobile phones but I like talking to people. Isn't

that a mobile phone? He's probably just looking for that Braveheart

thing on social media. Now have you ever been accosted

by a seagull while eating a snack Well the problem has become so bad

that it's been the subject MPs heard that Largs

in North Ayrshire is one town that's been badly affected

by the marauding birds. Our reporter Huw Williams has been

to find out how people They are definitely getting bolder.

Remember this bird in Aberdeen? Get out of my shop! Or this? Now a

debate at Westminster has heard MPs tell about the goals the size of

dogs and that you cannot eat anything on the seafront earing

Largs without risking life and limb from the beak of a vicious seagull.

My own granddaughter was about 18-month-old and I was pushing her

in the pram and a seagull swooped down and took a chip from her hand.

It just shows you that they're so daring, if you're carrying food they

will come in. Local people know this and they're careful. Unfortunately

it is when visitors come to the town, they mean well when feeding

the birds but it causes a problem. They're trying to get the message

across in Largs but almost everyone here seems to have their own story

of a close encounter with a seagull. We were sitting over there eating

ice cream and a lady was eating chips and the seagulls came down and

ate her chips. Out of her hand. I came down in the summer to have

chips with my friends and the seagulls would attack you, hundreds

of them everywhere. I had bad knees down here walking with a hot dog in

your hand and the seagull swiped it from her hand. I was eating fish and

chips and the seagull grabbed the fish. Personally I love seagull.

Perhaps we should not blame the birds. The reason people find them

irritating is that we are seeing them as a mirror of society being so

wasteful. The issues to deal with the waste that we leave lying

around, putting rubbish bins in place and dealing with the rubbish

will be in towns and cities. A whole range of solutions are now under

consideration from seagull proof smart bins to contraceptives for

seagull. To the weather now and it's

over to Christopher. Good evening. There was some

sunshine around today towards western part of the country and some

blue skies. Tonight it is cold and frosty under those clear skies.

Still a number of showers across eastern areas, rain or sleet and

perhaps some snow on elevated ground. Some icy patches as a result

but for many it is a dry, cold and frosty night. Milder around the

coast where the breezes stronger. As low as -4 in sheltered parts. So

cold tomorrow but sunny for most. Further east some showers coming

from the North Sea but even here some brighter moments. As we had

through the afternoon the cloud built across the West and south-west

after those sunny skies in the morning, a little bit grey by the

afternoon and quite chilly at three or 4 degrees at best. Adding on Marc

Breeze around the eastern coasts it will feel quite raw and again those

showers affecting parts of the north-east. To the North west of the

great Glen, that is where the prolonged sunshine will be. But

still quite breezy around the west coast at times and a scattering of

showers for the Northern Isles. The rest of the afternoon and overnight,

showers still with us across eastern parts. Further west it is clear and

cold. And overnight into Friday the easterly theme continues, a bit of a

split for the end of the week with eastern areas seeing a number of

showers, a game at times but further by -- bright and cold with some

sunshine. At the weekend it will be quite a cold start, wintry showers

across eastern parts, Sun in the West but the weather front to the

north-west, keep a close eye on that because it could edging towards the

Highland and Islands bringing some snow.

Now, a reminder of tonight's main news.

MPs will vote later on whether to give the Prime

minister the authority to begin the formal process

I'll be back with the late bulletin just after the ten o'clock news.

Until then, from everyone on the team - right

across the country - have a very good evening.