06/06/2017 Reporting Scotland

shown there on Saturday night. Lucy Manning talking to some of the

people there. Good evening on Election

Reporting Scotland tonight. Scotland's politicians go head

to head in one of the last debates before Thursday's vote

And where is the love June 6 was D-Day, but

on the campaign trail, there is still one day left before

you make the big decision. It's been an election like no other,

and, at this stage, it's all about the final push

for the finishing line. Tonight, that focussed on the last

big Scottish leaders' debate, which finished half an hour

ago in Glasgow. Our political correspondent,

Nick Eardley, watched it What were the main issues

discussed tonight Nick? These big TV set piece events often

reflect the debate we've been hearing throughout the campaign. But

they also quite often provide those wow moments, the things that really

stick in your mind. Unsurprisingly, Nicola Sturgeon faced the most

pressure on that issue of independence. It was the thing that

her three Unionist rivals all wanted to go at her on, because quite

frankly, they think she's vulnerable on it at the moment. But it was also

comments from Miss Sturgeon about what she claims Kezia Dugdale told

her about potentially dropping opposition to another referendum

that provided one of those big moments.

we spoke after the referendum and you said the change occasioned the

independence referendum. I said I would support anything you do to

support our position in Europe. You know that's not quite true. People

across the country know you back independence. But heaven's sake why

not put it to one side for a bit and give us a bit of peace. That's all

we want. If you think Brexit is going to be bad, just wait for

independence on top of it. It will be austerity on steroids.

A furious reaction from Scottish Labour to that Nicola Sturgeon claim

tonight. Kezia Dugdale has said the idea that she offered to change

Labour's position was a lie. Her spokesman said Nicola Sturgeon has

demeaned the office of First Minister. For a party that has

struggled to communicate a co-heernts message on its opposition

to independence less than 48 hours before polls close this won't be

welcome. Rouge Davidson faced -- Ruth Davidson faced real pressure on

the so-called rape clause. Other parties think that the Conservative

leader here is more vulnerable on UK Government policies than she is when

she's talking about her favourite issue, which is opposition to

another independence referendum. In particular, they wanted to talk

about changes to the benefits system which means if you have, if you're a

woman with a third child conceived through rape, you have to fill out a

form or get a professional to fill out a form which says that child was

conceived by rape so you can still receive benefits for it. Here's a

flavour of the exchanges on that. The money you are saving, money

taken from the poorest in our society is then being spent by your

party on a tax cut for the richest. How do Tories sleep at night? Your

Tory Party is just callous and heartless as it has always been, is

it not? We're making sure - Are you saying that every Conservative MP

that is sent from Scotland to Westminster will actually defend the

rape clause? Will that be their job? We want to make sure there's extra

help available. That's why we're making sure there's an exemption. I

can't imagine what it's been like for her, none of us can. We have

people who walk through our doors and surgeries all the time with

this. Those four will be back out on the campaign trail tomorrow, then in

48' hours time we will be discussing the results. Live from the newsroom

thanks. Nick. Let's discuss the winners and losers

with our nightly panel From Edinburgh, former Scotsman

editor and now a Conservative councillor in the city,

John McLellan, also with us, political commentators

Rebecca McQuillan and journalist, Peter, you followed tonight's

debate. Standout moments for you? I guess as Nick pointed out there,

we're going to be talking a lot about Kezia Dugdale's schaeng with

Nicola Sturgeon -- exchange with Nicola Sturgeon where Nicola

Sturgeon says hours after the Brexit vote that she said she was willing

to soften her line on a second referendum because of the vote to

leave the European Union. That will really resonate. There will be talk

and we'll be hearing blow back from Labour about this. Aside from that I

think it was the main thrust of the campaign. We saw Nicola Sturgeon

being the centre after tension. The three Unionist parties at times, we

saw really Ruth Davidson was the next big person attacked. At times,

you had the Liberal Democrats and Labour together, Willie Rennie and

Kezia Dugdale. That signifies that Labour are the third force in

Scottish politics. They're no longer the people, roll back two years ago,

it was Jim Murphy in the attack seat. Now it's Labour who are the

third force. Really this is how the campaign has played out. The Tories

have raised doubts about how committed Labour's opposition to

independence really is. This is an incendiary charge from Nicola

Sturgeon at this stage? Oh, yeah, it was a hell of a grenade to lob at

this stage. I think Peter's right, it will be the only story of the

night they'll play out tomorrow and already, if you have a moment's

glance at Twitter, you'll see the furious spin machine at work trying

to close this story down. Everything else tonight was really old

arguments played out. I mean, I didn't think that any of the other

issues really enlightened the audience. But when journalists are

looking for something new to report, the First Minister gave them

something that was gold. A private conversation, so it's one person's

word against another. Absolutely. Which is why it's brilliant. Because

it's going to be very, very difficult to close down. You'll get

one side of an argument and another. There are no notes of the

conversation, so it's going to be a difficult one. The thing about those

kind of stories is that does it have the ring of truth about it? Yeah,

probably on balance it does. Therefore it will play out. As Peter

said there, some real difficulty for Ruth Davidson tonight on the subject

of the so-called rape clause. Absolutely. All three of the other

party leaders rounded on her over that. This is about trying to brand

the Conservatives as still being the same old nasty party. She did look

uncomfortable, I think answering questions on that. As she has done

indeed in Holyrood over the past few weeks. Kezia Dugdale brought a bit

of theatre to it by brandishing the form itself in her face. So yes, she

was on the ropes on that one. Three party leaders would wanted to talk

about independence tonight, just not the leader of the party in favour of

independence. It was very striking. Again, it echoes the themes of this

campaign. If you go onto the streets, you look at election

material produced by the parties, the Liberal Democrats are the only

people who can stop the SNP. Insert Labour, Conservatives here. You will

see election manifesto material from the SNP that doesn't talk much about

independence. What was interesting is where you saw the parties, where

the different parties saw they had tactical votes, at times, to gain

from each other, but also they are actually trying to win seats off

each other, say like Edinburgh south, the only seat that Labour

holds, where the Tories at one stage were looking to gain. You could see

where Willie Rennie and Kezia Dugdale had a strange response for a

moment, where they had an opportunity to ask questions on each

other and ended up rounding on Ruth Davidson. For the Unionist parties

there's more of a tactical vote than 2014. It's clear that the Tories are

the opposition. So the parties are pivoting around it. They are on the

doorsteps and have done their focus groups. They feel it's not a vote

winner for the SNP and it is for them. Still floating voters with one

day of campaigning to go. Anything in there tonight you see that could

change things for people? Probably not. I think certainly for anyone

who hadn't been following the campaign, and they just watched this

debate, it certainly does encollapse late all the issues that we've been

seeing over the last few weeks. I think what is important about these

debates is how much, you know, how much the personality of the leaders

comes across. I think Nicola Sturgeon stands out in this debate

and in the other debates that she's done as being very practised at

them. She's actually had more practice than both Theresa May and

indeed Jeremy Corbyn at doing these sorts of things. But on the other

side, you've got a lot of passion coming through from Kezia Dugdale

and indeed from Willie Rennie and a lot of firmness of purpose coming

through from Ruth Davidson. If you're deciding on the basis of this

debate, these factors too will come into play.

Thank you all for your time this evening.

More from the campaign trail coming up, but first

After a seven-week trial, Craig Whyte, the former owner

of Rangers, has been cleared of taking over the

His defence lawyer said he had been cast as the pantomime villain

Andrew Black reports from the High Court in Glasgow.

Craig Whyte left the High Court today a free and very happy man.

Following a lengthy police investigation, and a seven-week

trial, a jury took two hours to clear him. He gave his reaction

after the verdict. Today, I'm just delighted with the outcome. Mr Whyte

bought Rangers from previous owner Sir David Murray, seen here leaving

court, for ?1, at a time when the club faced an uncertain financial

future. As part of the takeover, he also agreed to take on the club's

multimillion pound bank debt and put money into the playing squad. But

the club went into administration and he eventually went on trial

accused of not having the money to ache for his takeover. Rangers

legend alley McKoist was among the high profile witnesses who gave

evidence, as did former manager, Walter Smith, and so David himself

also gave evidence from the witness box. Donald Finley who represented

Mr Whit argued his client met the conditions of the sale and said

there was no loss to Sir David in the buyout. The jury acquitted Mr

Whit of one charge of fraud and a second charge under the companies

act. After the ver dict was read out. The judge turned to Craig Whyte

and asked him to stand, she said, "You have been acquitted and are

free to leave the dock." In response Mr Whyte said, "Thank you." If he

thinks it's all over, he might be wrong. The Scottish Football

Association says it's now considering pursuing him for a fine

of ?200,000, levied in 2012, for bringing the game into disrepute.

Less than a year after Mr Whyte took over, the club

The outcome of this trial leaves many still

Our correspondent David Henderson's report contains some

Walking free from court, Craig Whyte now cleared from a massive fraud.

I'm delighted with the outcome. And a charge of buying Rangers using its

own assets. Six years ago, Craig white took charge of Rangers. When

he arrived at Ibrox, he talked of plans to build the club and make it

stronger than ever. We want to take the club forward. I think we've got

some very exciting times ahead. For fans, the years that followed were

exciting for all the wrong reasons. It's a difficult day for Rangers. We

will emerge a stronger club. Thank you. In less than a year, Rangers

football club plc had gone bust. Forced into liquidation, leaving

debts of tens of millions of pounds and almost 300 creditors left out of

pocket. The end result, humiliation for club and fans alike, with

Rangers forced to play in the bottom tier of Scottish football a giant

amongst sporting minnows. Before he bought Rangers Craig Whyte seemed to

have it all, a castle in the Highlands and a home in Monaco. But

the BBC learned he'd once been banned from acting as a company

director, a serious penalty, which raised questions about whether he

was fit to buy the club. Let's go. Let's' go. Let's move back please.

After Rangers' collapse, Craig Whyte faced legal action. He left the

country and was tracked down to Mexico. Held by police there, he

chose to return to the UK to answer a warrant for his arrest. Throughout

this trial, the jury heard claims about how the takeover was funded.

The prosecution claimed the cash was raised through a deal to sell

Rangers season tickets with the company Tictetus. With Craig Whyte

mortgaging the club's assets before he owned them. As the deadline for

the deal approached, Craig Whyte's lawyer told him he would be mad to

buy the club and he should walk away. Whyte apparently laughed and

pushed on regardless. Craig Whyte persuaded the Rangers' owner Sir

David Murray to sell him the club and throughout this trial, his

defence team have highlighted the Murray group's apparent lack of

interest in how Whyte was funding the deal. Whyte's defence lawyers

argued how could the Murray group not have phone ticketus was

supplying the money. How could this be fraud if Sir David was

benefitting from selling ranger. -- Rangers? At the time Sir David's

business empire was struggling and was being propped up by Lloyds Bank.

The jury heard it was keen on this deal and offered to release its hold

on one of his companies Murray Metals, once Rangers was sold to

Craig Whyte. Was this an incentive to sell, as the defence team

claimed? A senior bank manager admitted in court that this was. Six

years on, and Rangers are still recovering from Craig Whyte's spell

at Ibrox. In that time, he's been bankrupted and banned again from

being a company director. This court case ends a sorry chapter in

Rangers' story. But leaves many fans wondering where it all went wrong.

Craig Whyte wasn't the only person close to the takeover

Others, including former Rangers owner Sir David Murray,

played a part in that doomed deal six years ago.

We spoke to former Rangers chairman, Alistair Johnston, at his home

in Ohio about how he feels about Mr Whyte's acquisition

of the club and Rangers' subsequent downfall.

If indeed it Craig Whyte is found not guilty of being in contravention

of the companies act, it doesn't exonerate him from his villainy.

Towards Rangers football club. He should have been charged with murder

of an institution, destruction of people's passion, destruction of the

spirit of hundreds of thousands of Rangers fans.

And you can see our investigations correspondent Mark Daly's full

That's all from me, now back to Stephen.

So just 24 hours to go on the campaign trail,

and it's been a frantic few weeks for politicians travelling up

and down the country. But some places have received

more love than others from our politicians.

Ken McDonald has been looking at just who's been where.

Time is tight so the party leaders are going where they think they can

make the biggest difference. We analysed those campaigning visits to

try to make out a pattern. This is just a bit of fun, we only looked at

the Scottish party leaders, not counting national events because we

wanted to look at the ground war. We started counting after the Council

elections and stopped last thing Friday night. These interactive maps

you can access online. These are the travels of Nicola Sturgeon. The SNP

have dozens of seats to defend and these visits may show where they

feel most vulnerable. Most of Ruth Davidson's appearance could signal

possible gains but as with all the parties, the decisions where to go

could be based on imperfect information. Most of Kezia Dugdale's

travels have taken across the central belt. She's going there in

the hope they can be Labour's lands again. The Lib Dems were once a

power in the land and where the remains enough of a key vote to give

them hope this time. Too much detail? Let's narrow it down. Which

constituencies felt the love the most? Four stand out because they

have had no fewer than five leader visits. East Lothian was one.

Edinburgh East, two appearances by Willie Rennie and another three by

Kezia Dugdale. Labour surely think these seats are the hottest

prospects. North East Fife, Nicola Sturgeon has been there twice and

Willie Rennie three times, although he is the local MSP. Perth and

Perthshire north another hotspots. Three other constituencies are just

bubbling under on four visits apiece. The map suggests these seven

seeds are key battle grounds in the parties' eyes at least.

Let's catch up with some politicians now for the final

In Aberdeen tonight, Kirsty Blackman from the SNP.

In Edinburgh, we've got Christine Jardine

from the Scottish Lib Dems and Brian Whittle from

And James Kelly from Scottish Labour is with me in the studio.

Mr Kelly, surprised to learn the night from Nicola Sturgeon that your

leader Kezia Dugdale had a private conversation with her where she said

after Brexit, that changed everything including opposition to a

second independence referendum? This is absolute fantasy from the First

Minister and desperate stuff. A cynical ploy to try to drive out the

Tory vote because the SNP now they are under pressure from Labour in

seats all across Scotland. Every speech and every debate in the

Scottish Parliament, Kezia Dugdale made her own position to another

referendum clear, she has been consistent throughout. You are

saying that conversation never happened? It's an absolute fantasy

and desperate stuff from the First Minister. Look at all the speeches

Kezia Dugdale has made. She has been consistent. She has opposed a second

referendum throughout. The First Minister should be ashamed of

herself all this tactic. Kirsty Blackman from the SNP in Aberdeen,

that conversation never happened? I was not present for it but the First

Minister says it happened then I would imagine it did. In terms of

who was sitting in the polls at the moment, what would be a good and bad

result for you? We are looking to win all 59 seats and that is what

we're trying to do. The way the polls are going, it looks like we

will win the election in Scotland but we're taking nothing for granted

and it is important people in Scotland understand that it's a

clear choice between the SNP the Tories. Brian Whittle, the same

question for you, Ruth Davidson said her party would redraw the political

map of Scotland and presumably that means you are hoping to get more

than your current single seat? We are looking to make significant

gains throughout Scotland. The polls suggesting that is the case. It is a

straight fight between a single issue party or the SNP or the

Scottish Conservatives and we would hope to make significant gains in

Scotland. The latest YouGov poll taken between June the 1st and June

the Fest puts you down 3%, did you peek too soon? It is fairly obvious

we are making quite a lot of headway in the last couple of years. You are

not sounding hugely confident. I am quite confident and I think we will

take a significant number of seats in Scotland. We have made

significant progress in the last couple of years and I would expect

that to be represented the election on Thursday. Christine Jardine, one

party has remained rock steady in the polls, at rock bottom, the Lib

Dems, why have you not shown any signs of progress? You just

mentioned the YouGov poll and I think you will find tomorrow in the

latest polls, we do have momentum in our target seats. But not across the

country. The country doesn't show the individual target seats and you

know that. We have momentum in our target seats and we are confident

that on Friday, there will be more Liberal Democrat MPs in Scotland

than at the moment. We're getting a great response on the ground in this

target seats and we're moving forward and that is what is

important. The national polls gives you a snapshot of the national

feeling but they don't tell you what is going on in different areas. So

on Friday we will still be talking about the great Lib Dem comeback? We

will be talking about the fact that momentum has increased our number of

seats at Westminster from Scotland. James Kelly, the same polls put you

up at 6% but that is too little, too late for you, given how low things

had gone? Labour have got the momentum in this campaign because we

are told the issues important to people, like supporting public

services and asking top rate taxpayers to pay more. We are coming

up with the ideas and that is why the public are responding. We have

got the momentum as we close in towards the end of this campaign.

Jeremy Corbyn coming to Glasgow tomorrow. You lost in the local

elections. There is a risk the party will recover nationally thanks to

him but you will stay in the doldrums in Scotland? I am confident

we are competing in seats all over Scotland. Speaking to people on the

doorsteps, it is clear they are responding to our message because

Labour are talking about things that mattered to people like investment

in public services, supporting kids getting well educated. These things

people care about and that is why people are responding to the Labour

campaign and getting behind Labour as we get towards the end. Only one

date to go, what will be a good result for you on Friday? I will not

put any number of seats on it but at the start of this campaign, some

commentators said we wouldn't win any seats and they were writing us

off altogether. What is clear is that we move towards the end,

Labour's files has been heard loud and clear and the public have

responded and we will do well. You are confident you will do better

than you are doing at the moment? We will do well on Thursday because the

public are responding and we are going up in the polls. We will race

the Tories all the way to the line. How will it go for you, Brian? I

think this is fantasy coming from Labour, they are the party in chaos.

I expect us to make significant advantages in Scotland on top of the

other advantages we have made over the last couple of years. Thank you

for your time. And that's it for tonight but not

before one final funny moment She's spent the past two

months being photographed, so it was Nicola Sturgeon's turn

to take the picture when Channel Four's Jon Snow bumped

into a fan in Aberdeen. It was taken in a grilled cheese

sandwich shop, so let's hope And that's Election

Reporting Scotland. Tomorrow on the campaign

trail, the final push from all the politicians.

Join us for our last show at 10.45pm.

Until then, goodnight.