25/11/2015 Scotland 2015

Tonight: Police Scotland's embroiled in yet another scandal.

This time illegally targetting a journalist.

A watchdog has ruled that detectives did not have

proper grounds to intercept emails and phone calls,

as they sought to find out a journalist's sources.

We'll hear from the reporter who they targetted.

And a screeching U-turn from the Chancellor, George Osbourne,

as he scraps his controversial reform of the tax credit system.

We'll guage the impact of his spending review here in Scotland.

And we'll hear from the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

A watchdog has ruled that Police Scotland

to obtain the details of a journalist's sources.

The investigation found that detectives

didn't have proper grounds to intercept emails and phone calls,

and it said their actions had been "reckless."

The journalist went on to highlight failings

in the police inquiry into the murder of Emma Caldwell,

who'd been working as a prostitute in Glasgow.

Here's our Home Affairs Correspondent Reevel Alderson.

This story centres on the cold case the investigation of the murdered

ten years ago of Glasgow prostitute Emma Caldwell. Detectives believed

information was being leaked to a BBC documentary maker, and

intercepted communications from the people they thought were doing it.

But how far can police call in listening in listening into

communications? The law is quite clear, they can intercept e-mails or

phone calls, but only when it is reasonable to do so and appropriate.

There must also be approval by a senior lease officer and a judge or

Sheriff. But Police Scotland breached the regulations, something

the journalist describes as reprehensible. It has been confirmed

that source of that I relied on had their own personal Communications

put under surveillance. I can only conclude this was done to try to

protect the repetition and image either of Police Scotland or

certainly some of the officers concerned. The bridges of the

legislation were only discovered when Police Scotland was inspected

by an independent body, which says the proper approval had not been

sought for the surveillance. It adds...

Police Scotland say the bridges were not intentional. What we were

looking at if individuals are released information from our

databases. That is what investigation was about. So we were

looking at what we believed to be a serious breach of that and we

carried out investigations into that and subsequently, we found that we

were in breach of the codes of practice. The Liberal Democrats are

consistent critics of Police Scotland. They say it is outrageous

officers thought they were above the law. This has been an atrocious

cover-up. Lisa Scotland and the Scottish Government have known about

this for months and they have said and done nothing about it. They must

be held to account that. The government says Police Scotland has

been working an action plan to ensure that can be no repeat. This

evening, it is understood that at least one of the individuals whose

communications were intercepted is considering legal action.

Eamon O'Connor is the investigative journalist

at the heart of these illegal intercepts by Police Scotland.

He revealed mistakes made by detectives in their investigation

into the murder ten years ago of Emma Caldwell from Glasgow.

Thank you for joining us. What do you make of this ruling? I think it

is a very important day for the police and for the public in

Scotland, because I have known for a very long time that something had

gone badly wrong in the way that the police asked about investigated the

Emma Caldwell murder and then the way that they have tried to cover up

some of the things that were done. So I was relieved that we got this

confirmation but I am appalled that my sources have been targeted in

this way. These are the actions of a police state and I thought Scotland

and Police Scotland was better than that. Why would they tried to

identify the sources you were speaking to? Was there a public

interest? Did they have a public interest and tried to do that? I am

sure they're going to try to suggest that was. I have heard the police

spokesman suggest that information from a database had been leaked. To

my knowledge, all of the information that I received was not leak from a

database. There was no reference to that. I have spoken to retired

police officers and indirectly to serving police officers, through

intermediaries, and all the information that I gathered to make

the programme, which highlighted mistakes, was done legitimately.

There is no public interest in targeting resources. The public

interest would be served in police officers who were involved in the

way in which the Emma Caldwell inquiry went wrong were investigated

themselves. The sources that you had been speaking to, what do they make

of the fact that they had been targeted in this way? At the

beginning of the work that I did on this, a lot of people I spoke to

were very frightened, very worried that they would be targeted. They

knew that there was a culture inside Police Scotland of officers being

snooped upon and spied upon by the superiors, the counter corruption in

it. I have spoken one of them today, the source of that I relied

on, a retired police officer. He played a leading role in the Emma

Caldwell investigation and today he received a letter confirming that

has communications had been intercepted. He is angry and he is

justified in his anger and now plans to bring a legal action. I would be

surprised if there was only one. Lisa Scotland say they have taken

steps to make sure this does not happen again. -- Police Scotland. Is

that enough would you like to see further action, the Scottish

Government for example stepping in? From the beginning, I was concerned

that Police Scotland were investigating themselves. I me to

various -- I met with various police officers at a meeting and two's

mother and was told that this would be investigated. This needed to be

done by an outside police force, not Police Scotland looking at their own

affairs. I do not have any confidence in their ability to

properly investigate this. Senior police officers seem to have broken

the law I am properly looking at people's private communications.

This is a breach of their human rights. The officers who did that

should be identified and held to account. We have seen repeated

problems with Police Scotland since it was set up. Armed officers on the

beat, stop and search, the fiasco on the M9 more people died and were not

discovered. Where does this get into that? I do not know if you can make

a connection between all the things that have gone wrong. I know that it

is a catalogue of errors. But in this case, I am concerned that it is

more than simply a mistake. Police Scotland have said today that this

slipping on spying that went on was not intentional. They did not

realise that they should have got a judge's approval. That is simply not

true. I note that the officers concerned were made aware that they

had to have judicial approval and they disregarded that requirement.

Something very serious has happened here and it needs to be properly

investigated. Police Scotland cannot investigate themselves. Thank you

very much indeed for joining us. we were asking ourselves

how George Osborne could possibly get out of

the political problems by announcing swinging cuts

to tax credits. By lunchtime, we learned the answer

was quite simple - The spending review

for the next five years, which takes the Chancellor past

the next Westminster election, was rather less austere than he had

signalled in his summer budget. Spending will rise

on infrastructure and health, but some other budgets

are being tightly squeezed. Here's our business

and economy editor, Douglas Fraser. The third big budget event of the

year at Westminster. Chancellors like to produce

rabbits out of hats. But the magic behind today's

figures was steady economic growth, higher tax receipts than

expected, and lower interest payments

on Government debt. It gave George Osborne

more room for manoeuvre. So, instead of producing a rabbit,

he shot his critics' fox. He still wants to take ?12 billion

out of the welfare budget, included more Whitehall cash

for health, with some protection

for police and school budgets. the tighter he has to squeeze

the smaller, unprotected budgets, such as local government,

and energy. That brought the end of

Peterhead's dream of winning a ?1 billion prize to develop

carbon capture technology. As the Whitehall changes

feed through to the block grant

heading to Holyrood, it means a cut of more than 5%

in real terms day-to-day spending Capital spending on housing

and infrastructure is up by 14%. when John Swinney publishes

his draft budget for next year. There's a challenge of applying that

squeeze on day-to-day spending, when public sector workers

want a pay rise, when there are promises of

more childcare, plus free university tuition and

support to care for the elderly. And if he doesn't like

the shape of this budget, what's different about John

Swinney's next budget is that he has to set an

income tax rate, But will he want to do so

just ahead of an election? We learned today about shortfalls in

revenue in property and offshore oil and gas. Neither of which are good

news for the Scottish Government. What are the key points? With powers

coming to Holyrood, this is a mind of how volatile tax revenues can

be. In total, they look quite good but if you look at the land and

buildings transaction tax, which has replaced stamp duty, the Office for

Budget Responsibility is calculating that is coming in well short of

expectations, at least ?140 million per year. He might be interested in

the Chancellor's idea of raising tax for those buying homes to let, and

also second homes. The other thing, although oil and gas is not a

Holyrood tax, as is well known, nevertheless there is a big cut

forecast for what that will deliver to the Treasury. Last year, over 2

billion. This year, maybe about ?100 million. Look at it another way, in

the past five years, about ?30 billion. In the next five years,

less than 1 billion. Many thanks for that.

So what impact will the Chancellor's spending review have in Scotland?

To date, as we present this Spending Review, our job is to rebuild

Britain. It is universally accepted that the biggest surprise of the day

is George Osborne's U-turn on tax credits for working people. I have

listened to the concerns. I hear and understand them and because I have

been able to announce today an improvement in the public finances,

the simplest thing to do is not to seize these in but to avoid them

altogether. For some on a very low income, the news has come as a great

relief. I was kind of scared about what would happen, I would I called?

And I just feel relieved by it. -- how would I cope? I will be able to

be financially independent and help my children and get the clothes and

food that they need. So it is a relief for some just now but the

Chancellor reaffirmed that he would find ?12 billion worth of savings

from the welfare budget. For some vulnerable groups, there are still

some major questions to be answered, like who housing benefit cap will

affect and how. The decision today to cap elements of housing benefit

could have real invocations for a particularly young people, young

single people in Scotland who are overrepresented in Scotland's

statistics. We need to understand how that will work and what that

will mean for Scotland. Out of the reform of the most

vulnerable people in Scotland stand, but the whole country is going to

feel the effects of this review. The amount of money that comes north of

the border from the UK Government will fall over the next five years.

If the Scottish Government wants to make up the shortfall, that could

mean a hike in the rate of income tax. You are going to have to make

up around ?1.3 billion, if there has been a 5% real cut. We think that

would roughly be about 3p on the pound, to keep spending at its

current level. So far as businesses are concerned,

there is a mix of good and bad news. The Canon keep the 10% tax rates and

the corporation tax will remain at 18%. The only downside is that two

papers of the tax credits, there will be a new apprenticeship levy of

0.5% and wage bills for slightly larger businesses and that will

impact in Scotland. The Scottish Government has

dismissed today's announcement is doing little to turn around the

austerity plan. The Chancellor has made a welcome U-turn on tax

credits. His original announcement was a terrible attack on some very

possible families within our society, so he has done the right

thing and I am glad that the SMB have and maintained our total

opposition in a for him to entirely abandoned as proposition. We have

been vindicated by the decision he has now made but the budget also

brought with it a 6% reduction in the day-to-day spending of the

Scottish Government. That will of course prolong the austerity agenda

which we have been so determined to bring to an end.

Some say George Osborne has laid down a challenge for the Scottish

Government. Others suggest that he has taken the window of the

opposition's sales the run-up to next year's Scottish election. If

MSPs do not argue about what to do to counter tax credits cuts, what

will they fight about? Now, our political correspondent

Andrew Kerr is just outside

the House of Commons. on how the spending review

has gone down with MPs. You heard the cheering in the

report, you could probably hear the cheering from the Tory backbenchers

out here when George Osborne announced his reversal to the tax

credit cuts. They were delighted, ironically, they cheered it in the

summer when he first announced it but they were concerned that

hard-working families were being hard pressed by this tax credit

cuts. They are delighted. This is the area the Tories are trying to

move into, the central ground. These people supported the party, in

England at least, in the May general election. Some of the right-wing of

the party is being concerned about the splurge on welfare, breaking the

welfare cup. Labour MPs are perhaps doubting whether George Osborne will

ever meet any of his targets. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell pool

rather bizarre stunt with Chairman Mao's Little red book. Lots of

Labour MPs were wondering what he was doing with that, some have

called him a clone for doing that. The SNP say they were successful in

pressing the Chancellor and making him reverse those cuts, they were

privately a little relieved that the Scottish Government will not have

too picked up the bill for the tax credit cuts. What sort of newspaper

headlines can the Chancellor expect tomorrow? They are being tweeted

already, whatever happened to austerity? The end of austerity.

That is coming from the right-wing press. George Osborne, sipping

something chilled and number 11, probably is not too worried. He

wants to move into number ten, today he has got over a little political

difficulty. Now, just before we came on air,

I spoke to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury - Greg Hands -

who was in our London studio. Greg Hands, the Chancellor today

announced a U-turn on tax credits. Opposition parties have said it is a

humiliating climb-down by George Osborne. They have a point, haven't

they? I don't agree. What happened today is that the independent Office

for Budget Responsibility showed that the public finances are

improving by a figure of ?27 billion over the next five years, therefore

it was no longer necessary for us to make the tax credit changes in this

coming year. We will still be delivering on our pledge to deliver

?12 billion of welfare savings, by the end of the Parliament, but true

to the improving public finance figures, overall, the Autumn

Statement has been very, very good for the economy and for public

finances, we have been able to deliver a lot more in terms of a lot

of the UK wide budget somethings like event and overseas develop and,

as well as being able to protect some of the budget is not devolved

-- UK wide budget, things like defence and overseas development. On

tax credits, for many of the people who receive them, the relief will be

temporary because tax rate will be phased out by 2018. If it becomes

clear that these people will be worse off under the new system, will

you step in and change it? Tax credits were always being phased

out. The other thing one has to remember is the increases in the

national living wage, which really kick off from April 2016, and the

big increases in the personal allowance, will really started to

kick in so they will be much better phased so that we get the welfare

savings, but people will need earning more and keeping more of

their own money Judah the rise in personal allowance before people pay

tax. These are hard-working people, the strivers that you say you back.

If their income is cut as a result of these changes, would you help? We

are helping them through the national living wage and through

raising the personal allowance. Universal credit, overall, will be a

fantastic reform. I was a Jobcentre plus in Edinburgh this autumn and

the staff were incredibly enthusiastic about the introduction

of universal credit. -- I was at a Jobcentre Plus. I think it will be

more to work always paying. -- I think it will lead more. I want to

talk about the impact on the Scottish Government budget, it is

set to shrink by about 3% over the next five years. Critics say the

scale of the cuts and the timetable for achieving them are ideological,

that you don't need to cut so deep and fast. Are they wrong? They are

wrong, Scotland has a very good deal today. The reduction in the resort

's grant, a very -- if you like, the money going to the Scottish

Government, but compared to a lot of UK Government department it is a

much better picture for the Scottish Government. The capital grant, it is

being increased significantly by an extra ?1.9 billion over the course

of this Parliament, a 14% increase in real terms, meaning lots more

money to be invested in Scotland, in capital and infrastructure projects,

to really get the Scottish economy motoring and moving. Overall, it is

a very good settlement for Scotland. The net effect is a reduction in the

overall amount of money to be spent in Scotland. The thread that runs

through what you have done is a focus on shrinking the size of the

state. If that is what you believe them, why don't you make the case

explicitly, why don't you say that we believe in a smaller state, that

is what we are doing and why? We believe in living within our means

and making sure that we deliver more for less. If we have to reduce

public spending, which I think is a necessary consequence of having

quite a high budget deficit, we need to make sure the money is deployed

in the places where it will have the most good and the most long-term

benefit, which is particularly why we are making sure that the capital

budget in Scotland is protected for the long-term, making sure our

long-term economic time in Scotland is delivered as well. Greg Hands,

thank you. Well,

let's get some reaction to that. Our correspondent Andrew Kerr is

still on College Green for us, joined by a trio

of opposition politicians. Andrew?

Yes, three parliamentarians, Ian Murray from Labour, the Shadow

Secretary of State, Stewart Hosie, the deputy SNP leader, and Lord Jim

Wallace, former Deputy First Minister of Scotland and a member of

the Coalition Government. The Chancellor has taken the wind

out of yourselves? I think we are pleased he has reversed these

dreadful tax credit cuts. We still don't know the detail of how he is

playing, he still made his ?12 billion in welfare cuts, he is doing

changes around universal credit. We always said we would make political

gain out of this if he came up with a sensible proposal. He has

cancelled them, we are pleased. He has a reputation for his Budgets

unravelling quickly and we need to make sure the same people are not

losing out through universal credit. There was concern from Labour that

he will not meet its targets, but he looks set to balance the books by

2020. He was supposed to balance the books by 2015, his projections have

been wrong every time. He has fundamentally failed and it looks

like we're in for ten years of austerity and we do not know if he

will balance the books. His Budget will unravel and we need to get into

the detail. Stewart Hosie from the SNP, you must think that some of

your pressure has paid off, that you must be breathing a sigh of relief

that the Scottish Government does not add to pick up that bill? I am

glad that the tax credit cuts have been overturned, but he still

intends to make welfare cuts targets, so we need to see who will

pick up the tab. He confirmed today that he intends to continue to cut

farm or than is required to run a balanced budget, ?42 billion more in

cuts than he needs to buy 2019/20, to run a balanced economy. This is a

decor -- decade of austerity. Scotland has seen another real terms

cut to the Scottish budget for the next five years. And 40% rise in

capital spending? It is good, I welcome that, it is essential.

Coated in winter, increased it in the spring, cut it in autumn,

increased it again today. This is no way to plan important capital

investment. Even with the capital increase, it is a real terms cut

across the piece for Scotland. This is perhaps no way to plan for

independence, when you saw the Chancellor read out the OBR forecast

for oil revenues, forecast to be down 94%. Shooting the case for

independence, he said. A Tory would say that. He rather conveniently

forgot the pre-existing forecast of the massive increase in onshore

revenue, he ignored the increase in part -- productivity in Scotland and

that our economy is larger now than precrisis. It was deflection from

George Osborne, nobody will be conned. Lord Wallace of the Lib

Dems, your party has said you played a blinder in the House of Lords by

getting by change in tax credits, that reversal, but you want to see

that chamber reformed so it is a bit rich? We want to see that and be

tried in the last parliament, but we were blocked by Tory and Labour

backbenchers coming together. Lib Dem peers led the charge against tax

credits, I am pleased we succeeded. I share what my colleagues say, I

have been watching Budgets and Autumn Statements for the best part

of 30 years, and the ones that get the biggest cheers on the day, as

things look that they sometimes have the least cheers. The tax credit

abolition is good, but we need to see what happens in the weeks ahead.

Picking up on Stewart 's point, the Scottish Government is predicting up

to ?7.5 billion in revenue for this coming year in the White Paper on

independence. If John Swinney was the Chancellor for an independent

Scotland next March, he would be ?7.3 billion short, which would

affect Scottish schools, hospitals, local government. Stewart Hosie, the

Prime Minister pick that up, picking up Alex Bell's point that he does

not believe that the SNP makes a valid case for independence any

more? It is extraordinary to hear people like Jim Wallace fighting

last year's battles. The public need to remember this, the Duke K

Government used a future higher barrel price than the yes campaign.

Yes, we got it wrong. If a short-term downward trend in oil

price is a problem, the 1.6 trillion UK national debt, every penny built

by UK chancellors, is a massive problem. We cannot have deflection

about that. Let's turn to you, talking about some of the debate in

the chamber. Your Shadow Chancellor from Chairman Mao's Little Red Book

across the chamber. What a spectacle was that. It was a Labour motion

that was carried, let's get that right. John McDonnell was trying to

make a serious point in a jokey way, he was saying to the Chancellor, you

are saying that any other government in the world is able to invest in

owned UK is that like nuclear power and railways, but you won't allow

the British people to own those assets. He was making a serious

point, he tried to do it in a jokey way. I think people at home will

realise it is serious. If you look at ScotRail, the National train

company, it is owned by the Dutch government, not the Scottish people.

That is not sustainable. The Prime Minister said that

Labour's front bench provides comedy. At the real opposition is

coming from the SNP, with Labour in disarray, Labour MPs arguing about

whether Mr McDonnell was right? We have a major victory today with

Baroness Hollis' amendment from the Labour lords which has meant we have

seen an abolition of tax credit cuts. That seems to me to be a great

result. We are happy with that. As we all agree, these tend to unravel

very, very quickly. Iain Murray from Labour, Stewart Hosie from the SNP

and Lord Wallace from the Lib Dems, thank you for joining me. David, Big

Ben is striking, time is up for us at College Green. Attention will be

diverted away from the Autumn Statement tomorrow when the Prime

Minister makes his case for taking action against Isis in Syria and

Iraq. Back to you. The focus remains on Westminster, it

will tomorrow. That will inevitably be at the top of our programme

perhaps tomorrow evening. Shelley will be back

at the same time tomorrow night. Being a British guy

in 2015 is not easy. Aagh! The way we live, the way we love,

even the way we look. Reggie Yates uncovers a generation

facing the extremes. "If you murdered someone

I'd still accept you. "But you being gay,

I can't accept you for that." The knives are sharpened,

and the heat is on... the Chancellor enjoys a bounty

of better financial forecasts, and