28/03/2017 Reporting Scotland

The Scottish Parliament has voted in favour of asking Westminster

for the powers to hold a second independence referendum.

The vote followed a heated and sometimes angry debate.

It ended 69 to 59, with the Greens backing the SNP.

But the UK Government says there will be no

negotiation until the Brexit process is complete.

Our political editor Brian Taylor reports.

From Beijing to Bute House, Chinese visitors to Edinburgh top-up their

The tourists are well up on the controversy

Nicola Sturgeon acknowledges that the argument was robust,

and she urged an open and respectful approach.

She said she wished the Prime Minister

well in pursuing a Brexit deal, but that was matched with a warning.

I simply want Scotland to have a choice when the time is right.

I hope that the UK Government will respect the will of this Parliament.

If it does so, I will enter discussion in good faith and with a

However, if it chooses not to do so, I will

return to the Parliament following the Easter

recess to set up the steps that

the Scottish Government will take to progress

Ruth Davidson accused the SNP of promoting

This is not a reasonable plan of a government, it is the SNP

cooking up the same recipe for division.

It might have worked once, but it stinks and the

people of Scotland are not buying it.

The First Minister says that Scotland must have the choice of

independence, the Prime Minister says the focus must be on the Brexit

She argued firmly against a referendum.

85% voted in the last referendum and voted decisively to

That is the will of the people and it should

My message to the First Minister remains unchanged.

We are divided enough, do not

The Liberal Democrats say you don't fix Brexit by breaking the UK.

The decision to withdraw from Europe broke my heart.

As an internationalist, my response could

never be to up sticks from the one union of nations I have left.

The greens backed the SNP and insisted

Brexited changed everything for Scotland.

We face being dragged out of the single market with no mandate

from the people of the UK or Scotland.

The SNP plus Green equals a majority demand for

Applause, cheers, but a solemn looking First Minister,

Chief among them, convincing the Prime

Minister to grant Holyrood the

Despite a majority, that will require

persuasion, pressure and that will be complex.

The vote went as expected and the First Minister has a mandate

now to seek permission for a second

But Westminster is emphatic that now is not the time.

The First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Scottish Secretary David Mundell

People need to know what the choices on offer are. And until Brexit is

complete, people could not possibly know what they are alternatives

were. -- what the alternatives were. That is why we are saying no one now

and will not be entering into negotiations until the Brexit

process is complete. Now is the time for the Scottish Government to come

together with the UK Government, work together to get the best

possible deal for the UK and that will mean a full Scotland also, as

we leave the EU. So following this evening's vote,

the Scottish Government will write to the UK Government to formally

request the power to hold an independence referendum

between Autumn next year But the Prime Minister, Theresa May,

has already made pretty clear So what now for the to

sides in this debate? Our political correspondent,

Glenn Campbell reports. Near Falkirk, voters have

conflicting advice for the Prime Minister on how to deal

with a formal request from the First Minister for the power to hold

another independence vote. I think we have to wait

and see what happens It just seems ludicrous to jump

into a decision before we know I don't think she can

say no, because, knowing the Scottish psyche,

if she says no, people up here are just going to be up in arms

and say, OK, what right has she got

to tell us what to do? But it doesn't look like Theresa May

will feel obliged to bow If the Prime Minister

will not budge, the Scottish Government could call

a referendum anyway. But that would be open

to legal challenge, and the chairman of the yes campaign in 2014

thinks it could go wrong. The problem there is,

I think, that a lot of the unionist people,

a lot of the people that voted no last time, will say stuff this

referendum, we are not going to take

part, and if there is a massive boycott,

the result would be lacking

in credibility. What about having an early Holyrood

election and making is the I am not going to propose

that at this stage. But it is maybe

a possibility that the The 2014 referendum

took place after the UK and Scottish governments

agreed the terms. SNP ministers want

to replicate that. But this former Conservative

adviser thinks Theresa We think that people do not want

a referendum right now, If they can take this to the general

election in 2020, and the Scottish election in 2021,

they think they could What they have to watch

is the narrative of a London, Tory Government saying no to something

the Scottish Parliament It could have severe

long-term consequences. Might it be in the Prime

Minister's entrusts She may not need to get

Nicola Sturgeon onside, but it would help her to not have this constant

issue in the background as she is trying to conduct

those negotiations. One way to avoid that being a major

distraction is to have some sort of agreement

for a referendum at some point in future, after

the negotiations are complete. But, right now, the two

sides seem as far Today's vote at Holyrood

was held back from last week following the terrorist attack

on Westminster, which included the murder of police

constable Keith Palmer. Today, Police Scotland deployed

officers armed with tasers Senior officers say it's NOT

in response to any specific threat. Our Home Affairs Correspondent,

Reevel Alderson reports. Firearms officers are to be on duty

24 hours a day at Holyrood but Armed response officers

with are already on routine patrol around the area and on other

iconic locations throughout Scotland to follow a review of security in

the wake of the Westminster attack. I'm not suggesting

for a minute that we jump straight into

arming the police. But rank and file police,

meeting in annual conference, heard They asked a series

of questions of the Government. ready access to specialist firearms

officers and firearms? What impact is the

financial cuts having on these specialist officers

and their equipment? And when the Government said

they expected more for less, What more can an officer

give than his life? The conference heard

unarmed police were Members called for the equipment

they need to protect themselves and the public even if it

meant being armed. We know that society in Scotland

is maybe not ready for that particular step, but there has to be

an education programme taking place, there has to be an understanding

that police officers put their lives at risk every day and if we ask

the police to protect the politic we have to ask the question -

how do we protect the police? Police Scotland now has 600

officers, trained to The number of armed

response vehicles available almost trebled

in the past six months. Senior officers said the security

threat was under constant review, based on intelligence

here and the wider UK. What you see in Holyrood today

is a were you dented measure, operational contingency not

in relation to any threat. I can reassure people

that we constantly practice our test

and response in times of crisis or extreme need

and what you have seen over

the last few days, is those plans kicking

into place, at speed and without any

hesitation, right across Scotland. Armed officers in

Aberdeen this afternoon. It wasn't a firearms incident,

but this may become a more The targeted waiting times

for cancer treatments in Scotland have been missed for the fourth year

in a row. The Government target is 95%

of patients starting Figures published today show that

only 87 per cent of patients Only five out of 14 health

boards met the target. Average speed cameras

are to be installed The Scottish Government says

there have been 60 fatal and serious collisions on the route in the last

five years, and action is needed. The new system will start

operating this Autumn, replacing the existing

fixed and mobile cameras. More than 400,000 people

in Scotland are now saving into a workplace

pension through auto-enrolment. The scheme was introduced five years

ago by the UK Government, to encourage more people

to save towards their retirement. But some businesses have warned

of the rising cost they'll have Well, It's over to Christopher now

for tonight and tomorrow's weather. Was cloudy for many of us today and

still cloudy now. The rain is fizzling and fading away, so most of

us will get dryness tonight, but cloudiness. Reasonably mild, too.

The wet weather is fading away and leaving most of us dry and it is a

dry store tomorrow, too. But cloudy quite misty and misty and murky and

places, particularly across the south-west through Dumfries and

Galloway and parts of South Ayrshire and Lanarkshire. It is a dry, and

loudest, temperatures 7-9 C: mild, that is cool in the north-east and

perhaps the final. Generally though, cloudy, grey and dry. It doesn't

stay like that though, because through the course of the morning,

in the South west of the rain starts to arrive and move northwards

through the course of the day. Bands of rain pushing central belt by

lunchtime. Through -- across the UK as a whole it is connected to an

area of low pressure and rain is coming up to the north of England

through Wales on the south-west. The Midlands and down to the Saudis,

dry, cloudy, temperatures in the mid teens and it will be cold tomorrow,

but it will do well. -- but it will teens and it will be cold tomorrow,

be wet. Into Wednesday night, the wet weather holds on and slowly

eases off to leave things reasonably dry for a time. Was that rain

clears, there is more on its way from the south. Thursday, cloudy and

damp to start, but it should clear away. At some point during the

afternoon, drying out with sunshine coming through at times and in the

sunshine, pleasantly warm temperatures 15-16 C.

Our next update is during Breakfast at 6.25am tomorrow morning.

But, from everyone on the late team here in Glasgow

One man had the vision to take inspiration from the ancient