:00:00. > :00:00.A financial deal to underpin the new powers coming to Scotland
:00:07. > :00:31.UK-Scottish Government deal on the new powers
:00:32. > :00:33.although the First Minister says she's not seeking special
:00:34. > :00:43.experts say Scotland should get involved in the fight for the riches
:00:44. > :00:47.And Holyrood politicians agree to sort out
:00:48. > :00:49.the council tax but what alternatives
:00:50. > :01:03.In the season of peace and goodwill, the First Minister met
:01:04. > :01:06.the Prime Minister at Downing Street and agreed a deal would be done
:01:07. > :01:08.by February on the financial arrangements that will underpin
:01:09. > :01:12.Our Westminster correspondent David Porter has been keeping an eye
:01:13. > :01:25.This was the first time that Nicola Sturgeon and David Cameron hand-held
:01:26. > :01:29.a face-to-face meeting for more than six months. The last one was in May
:01:30. > :01:36.this year after the general election when David Cameron came up to
:01:37. > :01:40.Edinburgh. This one, as that one, was dominated by the subject of
:01:41. > :01:43.further devolution and the financial publications of bats. At the moment
:01:44. > :01:48.going to Westminster as the Scotland Bill. That is the legislation that
:01:49. > :01:52.will give the Scottish Parliament more power and could in the ability
:01:53. > :01:58.to set income tax rate and also borrow more, and welfare powers. But
:01:59. > :02:02.allied to that I detailed and painstaking negotiations which are
:02:03. > :02:05.going on between the Scottish Government and the UK Government as
:02:06. > :02:10.to how those financial plans will work in practice, not just for the
:02:11. > :02:13.first year, but for ongoing years. When she came out of the talks in
:02:14. > :02:18.Downing Street Nicola Sturgeon said she believed that progress had been
:02:19. > :02:23.made, that the two sides were negotiating in good faith, and she
:02:24. > :02:28.said she believed there was now in effect a deadline of mid-February to
:02:29. > :02:31.get this sorted out. The Prime Minister and I have agreed
:02:32. > :02:34.that he wants to get the deal on the fiscal framework and we want to
:02:35. > :02:37.reach a deal in time for the Scotland Bill to pass and be
:02:38. > :02:41.consented to by the Scottish Parliament before the Scottish
:02:42. > :02:46.Parliament elections. That is what we are aiming for. I have made clear
:02:47. > :02:49.that that deal has to be a fair one for Scotland. I am not looking for
:02:50. > :02:54.special treatment or special favours. It is that has to be a deal
:02:55. > :02:59.that is fair, that does not pause disadvantages to the Scottish
:03:00. > :03:04.budget, and a deal that lives up to the principles of the Smith
:03:05. > :03:11.Commission, particularly. The UK Government seemed pleased also. They
:03:12. > :03:15.were discussions between David Cameron and senior officials. The UK
:03:16. > :03:20.Government believe that progress has been made on a number of fronts.
:03:21. > :03:26.Shortly after the beating Lord Dunlop had this assessment for the
:03:27. > :03:35.way the talks had gone. -- shortly after meeting. When people go to the
:03:36. > :03:38.polls next spring they know what the powers of the Scottish Parliament
:03:39. > :03:42.are sold as a beach can be about how powers are used. We would not
:03:43. > :03:46.disagree with the overall timetable that the Scottish Government are
:03:47. > :03:52.suggesting. But on one issue there was little Agreement. UK governments
:03:53. > :03:55.plans for a new trade union legislation. Nicola Sturgeon and the
:03:56. > :03:58.Scottish Government says it is wrong, it is tilting the balance of
:03:59. > :04:03.power away from trade unions. She says that is not a good thing. David
:04:04. > :04:06.Cameron listens to her and said he believed that the legislation was
:04:07. > :04:13.needed and it would go ahead. On that specific issue no meeting of
:04:14. > :04:18.minds. We didn't have more progress and did see more eye to eye was on
:04:19. > :04:22.the issue of counterterrorism. The two governments have decided that
:04:23. > :04:25.they will share more information between London and Edinburgh to try
:04:26. > :04:28.and prevent any terrorist outrages in the future.
:04:29. > :04:31.Well, security was an issue on the agenda at the Scottish
:04:32. > :04:34.The Royal United Services Institute, or RUSI, held their first
:04:35. > :04:36.briefing at Holyrood on the "High North" -
:04:37. > :04:42.that's the area around the Arctic Circle.
:04:43. > :04:44.Scotland can face strategic threats or can exploit opportunities.
:04:45. > :04:48.Dr Igor Sutyagin is an expert in Russian studies at RUSI,
:04:49. > :04:50.and Holger Nehring is Professor of European History at Stirling
:04:51. > :05:06.Thank you for joining me. Tell us about the high north. It is
:05:07. > :05:10.a concept that policymakers and the public do not understand
:05:11. > :05:18.particularly well. It basically is an invention by the Norwegian
:05:19. > :05:26.Government from the 1970s, 1980s, to alert other European countries to
:05:27. > :05:31.the importance of the far north. It is northern European borders for the
:05:32. > :05:36.defence of Europe as a whole. You were actually imprisoned by the
:05:37. > :05:40.Russian authorities for 11 years. The accusation was you were an
:05:41. > :05:44.American spy. You are now living in the UK. What is the perceived
:05:45. > :05:56.Russian threat to the UK in the high north? The perceived threat is if
:05:57. > :06:02.the UK would be willing to leave the Arctic empty the Russian Government
:06:03. > :06:07.would inevitably felt it. The UK would be just cut off the Arctic and
:06:08. > :06:12.high north is not that far from Scotland so that means that if you
:06:13. > :06:20.are willing to surrender the interest around Scotland, to the
:06:21. > :06:24.north from Scotland,. When we think of security we are thinking of
:06:25. > :06:29.submarine roots in the north Atlantic. What do you think about
:06:30. > :06:37.the UK Government's approach to that? Is that alias safeguarded
:06:38. > :06:44.enough? To my experience it is not. The gap between Iceland and
:06:45. > :06:51.Scotland, the UK, that is a gap that is important for Russian maritime
:06:52. > :06:58.doctrine. It is an officially stated that political strategic goal of
:06:59. > :07:05.Russian defence is to keep trans-seaplanes under threat, keep
:07:06. > :07:09.Americans and Canadians away from Europe, to let Moscow deal with you
:07:10. > :07:20.that alone, and to take the control of this area. That this why the gap
:07:21. > :07:25.which currently exists is very much welcomed by the Russian military. It
:07:26. > :07:31.is the gate to cutting Americans off Europe.
:07:32. > :07:35.The SNP criticised the UK Government for cancelling the Nimrod
:07:36. > :07:39.replacement programme. Tours are maritime control in a trap. We have
:07:40. > :07:47.to rely on Americans for support. That is right. On the other hand I
:07:48. > :07:53.would slightly disagree on the importance of the threat. To a
:07:54. > :07:59.certain extent it is a symbolic threat. Russia wants to have
:08:00. > :08:03.leverage over the number of issues in the Arctic as well as elsewhere
:08:04. > :08:12.and tries to project is power. I am not sure that any kind of invasion
:08:13. > :08:15.of Scotland is on the agenda. We have been pointing out who the
:08:16. > :08:21.Nimrod replacement has been cancelled. In your review you think
:08:22. > :08:26.the Russians are keen to see an independent Scotland.
:08:27. > :08:31.Tell us more about that. It would be great from the standpoint of the
:08:32. > :08:40.claimant. It is easier to break straws that are separated, van
:08:41. > :08:47.breakdown the broomstick. The nation which is 5 million people, armed
:08:48. > :08:54.with tiny forces, against the huge country which has 142 million people
:08:55. > :09:00.and a huge arsenal. It is not that difficult to tell who will win. It
:09:01. > :09:09.is important to understand that while Nato is not a guarantee, Nato
:09:10. > :09:16.Article five tales as that every country promises to contribute to
:09:17. > :09:22.joint efforts to defence, unlike the West European Union, it does not
:09:23. > :09:25.promise to fight. It is not just military security, there are
:09:26. > :09:30.resources there that can be exploited and in some way it may be
:09:31. > :09:36.perceived as a bit of a race to the Arctic Circle to exploit gas and
:09:37. > :09:39.other natural resources. That is right and this is where potentially
:09:40. > :09:48.the Scottish contribution can come in in terms of knowledge with
:09:49. > :09:53.resource extraction, dealing with extreme climates. This is where the
:09:54. > :09:58.Scottish contribution, in terms of diffusing conflict and moving
:09:59. > :10:04.towards cooperation, because that is in a sense something that the
:10:05. > :10:09.Scottish Government would stress in this context, that they actually
:10:10. > :10:12.want to reach some kind of regional cooperation agreements with other
:10:13. > :10:23.countries around the Arctic such as Norway, Denmark, including Russia.
:10:24. > :10:28.Could we be doing more of that, the Scottish Government cooperating more
:10:29. > :10:33.than that Arctic Circle area? It is not for the Scottish Government to
:10:34. > :10:37.decide that because this concerns the reserved powers that are still
:10:38. > :10:44.arrested in Westminster regarding foreign defence policy. But there is
:10:45. > :10:50.a conversation to be hard for a more integrated approach where we be
:10:51. > :10:54.economic, social issues can be provided by the Scottish Government
:10:55. > :11:03.within the larger Westminster framework. I would not be surprised
:11:04. > :11:07.if David Cameron and Nicola Sturgeon had discussed some of the
:11:08. > :11:12.defence-related aspects today in the meeting. I heard in the reports
:11:13. > :11:19.before they were discussing exchange of information regarding terrorism
:11:20. > :11:21.and domestic security so I would not be surprised if international
:11:22. > :11:29.security aspects were not on the agenda as well. There could be some
:11:30. > :11:33.kind of cooperation there. Thank you both very much.
:11:34. > :11:37.It's a tax that gives you a holiday in January and February,
:11:38. > :11:40.it's also a very visible tax, not a stealth tax or something that
:11:41. > :11:44.Council tax emerged from the furore surrounding the poll tax,
:11:45. > :11:46.but there's a political consensus that it's a levy that
:11:47. > :11:53.A cross-party group set up to report on the issue says the chance
:11:54. > :12:06.It has been called the heated council tax. Even if you do not heed
:12:07. > :12:10.to it you probably do not love it. For most of us it is unavoidable.
:12:11. > :12:14.The amount we pay has been frozen for eight years. When she became
:12:15. > :12:18.First Minister last year Nicola Sturgeon said it was time to look at
:12:19. > :12:24.replacing or reforming it. The current system is broken. It does
:12:25. > :12:30.not work any more. There has not been a revaluation since 25 years
:12:31. > :12:35.ago. It is unfair. We need to design systems, it tells you in the report
:12:36. > :12:41.how you can sign systems that are much fear. Today the cross-party
:12:42. > :12:42.Commission on local tax reform suggested the alternatives.
:12:43. > :12:47.A replacement property tax which would take into account the value of
:12:48. > :12:50.land and buildings. A land value tax based on the value
:12:51. > :12:55.of land only. And a local income tax which would
:12:56. > :12:59.raise revenue according to a House or the's taxable income.
:13:00. > :13:04.What would these proposals mean? A local income tax had been suggested
:13:05. > :13:08.before. That is just an increased income tax that everybody would pay.
:13:09. > :13:13.Then you have got a property tax which would mean value when all the
:13:14. > :13:20.houses and flats in Scotland and taking a fixed proportion of the
:13:21. > :13:24.property value and paying that to the local council each year. Or
:13:25. > :13:30.there is a land value tax, the third option, which is to value the land
:13:31. > :13:35.on which the property sets and then pay a proportion of that land value
:13:36. > :13:38.each year. As a general rule of thumb the people at benefit at the
:13:39. > :13:43.moment are those in the most valuable homes. They also gain from
:13:44. > :13:46.another freeze on the valuation on which the council taxes cartilages.
:13:47. > :13:51.At the moment that valuation is based on prices from 24 years ago.
:13:52. > :13:54.This report is about trying to make the council taxpayer. With these
:13:55. > :14:00.three recommendations who would be the winners and losers there would
:14:01. > :14:04.be winners who are probably good to be those with more valued
:14:05. > :14:09.properties. There are going to be losers who are those on high value
:14:10. > :14:13.properties. The question of exactly where the changeover would come
:14:14. > :14:20.depends on what proportion and how they set the tax.
:14:21. > :14:28.How would these proposals plea that the electorate? I don't think we
:14:29. > :14:39.should I assume that we will get a lot of detail. We will get some
:14:40. > :14:44.clear dot-mac whether it will be wholly property, or income tax.
:14:45. > :14:48.Those big choices will probably be made, but will be no how much
:14:49. > :14:54.somebody in a nice house an Edinburgh will have 2p as a result?
:14:55. > :14:59.I would not be surprised if we do not get sufficient detail. It has
:15:00. > :15:06.always been an unpopular tax. Cast your mind back to the poll tax
:15:07. > :15:11.riots. The report has not recommended any particular option,
:15:12. > :15:12.but urges all parties to put forward their couples also before next
:15:13. > :15:14.year's will delude elections. So, in Edinburgh, is the SNP MSP
:15:15. > :15:17.Kevin Stewart who is Convenor of the Local Government
:15:18. > :15:19.Regeneration Committee. And the Scottish Greens candidate
:15:20. > :15:21.and their local government And in Aberdeen is Christine Jardine
:15:22. > :15:41.who is also standing as a candidate Good evening. You have been in
:15:42. > :15:45.favour of local income tax in the past, but the S NP government has
:15:46. > :15:55.been in power for eight years, why has nothing been done so far? First
:15:56. > :15:58.of all, we have got to look at the recommendations that were made by
:15:59. > :16:05.the local government committee in its flexibility and torn a of local
:16:06. > :16:09.government report. It calls for an independent commission to look at
:16:10. > :16:16.local taxation. That has been done. The commission has taken expert
:16:17. > :16:24.advice. We need to have a look at all of their findings and then
:16:25. > :16:32.parties are too big about what they want in the forthcoming election.
:16:33. > :16:37.You have hired a majority since 2011, why have you not done anything
:16:38. > :16:44.about it? There are difficulties about moving towards an local
:16:45. > :16:49.government or income tax. We have got to take a broader view. We have
:16:50. > :16:57.to look at this report in depth, Seaport the experts have been saying
:16:58. > :17:04.and then take it from there. All of the parties need to delete a hard
:17:05. > :17:09.look and take this seriously. I hope that others will recognise this
:17:10. > :17:15.commission has done a good job of work. Andy Wightman, you are seeing
:17:16. > :17:19.you will look at the proposals, but you have also pointed out that the
:17:20. > :17:22.fees we have out from the SNP government which has benefited
:17:23. > :17:32.hundreds of homes across the country has cost councils a lot of money. It
:17:33. > :17:36.has crossed the Scottish Government dash it has cost the Scottish cup
:17:37. > :17:41.meant ?2.5 billion at that money could have been used for other
:17:42. > :17:45.things. The council tax-free is as a symptom of the failure to tackle
:17:46. > :17:53.reform of local government taxation. That is what this report is helping
:17:54. > :17:59.parties to do. It is an unprecedented agreement between
:18:00. > :18:09.4-mac parties. Dash between four parties.
:18:10. > :18:15.You have been in favour of local income tax as well, you signed up to
:18:16. > :18:22.the commission, what will the Lib Dems do about this? We feel to date
:18:23. > :18:33.this as an opportunity missed. We had been looking for the SNP to take
:18:34. > :18:41.some leadership on this issue. It is eight years they have been promising
:18:42. > :18:48.us. We wanted some leadership. It is so important, if you do not have
:18:49. > :18:53.consensus, there can be a bitter and acrimonious transformation. Willie
:18:54. > :18:59.Rennie is talking about that if the SNP are not going to take this
:19:00. > :19:07.leadership, we enter the talks went to... What do you want now? We want
:19:08. > :19:11.to go forward and find this consensus. We are prepared to
:19:12. > :19:23.compromise on our ideals. We have already said about giving local
:19:24. > :19:29.authorities giving, getting far more autonomy, reasoning more than half
:19:30. > :19:36.the money they spent, a compilation of local and income tax. There is
:19:37. > :19:43.that possibility. But what we really want is a consensus to move forward.
:19:44. > :19:47.This change has two last generation. Everyone has to find it acceptable,
:19:48. > :19:57.it has two beefier. After nine years to have just three recommendations,
:19:58. > :20:00.that's not good enough. We have got the budget on Wednesday, what will
:20:01. > :20:08.John Sweeney be seeing two councils then? I think we will face out of
:20:09. > :20:17.budget following on from further posterity from George Osborne. We
:20:18. > :20:21.have had an eight year freeze on the council tax and that has shown
:20:22. > :20:24.leadership because it has ensured that families across the country
:20:25. > :20:29.have not been hurt financially at the worst possible time. I think
:20:30. > :20:35.that there is hardly anyone out there who has not welcomed the
:20:36. > :20:40.council tax freeze over that period. As has been pointed out, that
:20:41. > :20:49.council tax freeze has been funded by central government. The whole
:20:50. > :20:55.issue is fraught with problems, I think you are in favour of more
:20:56. > :21:03.land-based tax? Christine says she wants a consensus, but there is a
:21:04. > :21:12.consensus in this report. There are not three recommendations, there are
:21:13. > :21:16.19 recommendations. There is talk about land value tax. All the
:21:17. > :21:19.ingredients are here for the political parties to agree a
:21:20. > :21:24.substantial and significant reform of the Wii local government raises
:21:25. > :21:26.its money and create an enduring and stable settlement for our
:21:27. > :21:36.generation. Do you think there will be any agreement in time for the
:21:37. > :21:39.election? I think the Scottish people are entitled to expect more
:21:40. > :21:50.than ingredients. They are entitled to expect formal proposals. This was
:21:51. > :21:55.promised in 2007. We do not have it yet. This was a missed opportunity
:21:56. > :21:58.to say to the people of Scotland this is how we want to move forward.
:21:59. > :22:00.Thank you. And with me in the studio to discuss
:22:01. > :22:05.some of the main stories from today is Andy MacIver, the former
:22:06. > :22:08.director of communications for the Scottish Conservatives,
:22:09. > :22:11.and PR executive with the firm And the blogger and Law
:22:12. > :22:29.Lecturer Andrew Tickell. Good evening. Let's back to council
:22:30. > :22:37.tax. The Conservatives are having their own commission. What is your
:22:38. > :22:43.opinion on the council tax and the reform published today? I think it
:22:44. > :22:48.is good news that we are having a discussion. Council tax is a pretty
:22:49. > :22:54.blunt instrument. I think the danger is that the parties revert to timid
:22:55. > :23:00.approaches to this and look at a centralised vision of local tax. I
:23:01. > :23:09.would rather see councils their own taxes. One is that the leaked to
:23:10. > :23:13.that local area. You may have a predominately seals tax and Glasgow
:23:14. > :23:24.dash it is such a difficult issue.
:23:25. > :23:30.Haunted by the poll tax. The SNP government has had a council tax
:23:31. > :23:35.freeze. If it does change, the middle classes might have 2p more?
:23:36. > :23:41.Yes, indeed, I think the whole system has two B changed. It makes
:23:42. > :23:48.us think about the poll tax which was envisaged as a theatre thing at
:23:49. > :23:59.the time. They thought it would be popular. But you can see in the
:24:00. > :24:08.cross-party consensus here but everyone is moving towards. The
:24:09. > :24:13.critical question is does it like and a fear plays in terms of
:24:14. > :24:22.people's income? For many people, it does not. Let's move on to a clip
:24:23. > :24:27.from one of Labour's new MPs. Jessica Phillips talking about
:24:28. > :24:32.Jeremy Corbyn. I would do anything that I felt was going to make the
:24:33. > :24:37.Labour Party when the next election because if I do not have that
:24:38. > :24:41.attitude, all I'm doing is colluding with the Tories. Making Jeremy
:24:42. > :24:45.better, I will thought my sleeves up. If that is not going to happen,
:24:46. > :24:55.and I have said that to his face, the day that it comes that you are
:24:56. > :25:00.helping us hurting us more than helping us, I will start you in the
:25:01. > :25:07.front, not in the back. Quite powerful words. I think people have
:25:08. > :25:14.focused on that knife in the front thing. The interesting thing is that
:25:15. > :25:18.she is left wing MP who is seeing these things. It underlines that the
:25:19. > :25:25.election Jeremy Corbyn is probably the biggest political thing in this
:25:26. > :25:30.country of the century. We cannot underestimate that someone in his
:25:31. > :25:35.position holding some of the views he has is quite an political event
:25:36. > :25:40.and it is something that the Labour Party might struggle to recover
:25:41. > :25:46.from. What she has said is actually very sensible about his inability to
:25:47. > :25:53.communicate, to have any form of political 's or media strategy
:25:54. > :26:05.because it is reminiscent of the Blairite era. She is spot-on on
:26:06. > :26:10.that. I suppose the proof will be in the pudding of the elections next
:26:11. > :26:15.year. Yes, it does not look great. One cannot help but be struck by
:26:16. > :26:20.Jeremy Corbyn who is not an advocate, and you do have to be an
:26:21. > :26:25.advocate and politics. Even if you sure this point of view and his
:26:26. > :26:34.convictions, who is the persuasion, the advocacy? It just is not bigger.
:26:35. > :26:41.In the vote about Syria, Jeremy Corbyn was making points that were
:26:42. > :26:44.completely reasonable, but he could not get them across. I guess
:26:45. > :26:51.Robertson made a far more effective speech. Anybody who is on public
:26:52. > :26:56.speaking those that everybody is terrified of it, I'd ever ready
:26:57. > :27:15.judges are people doing it. You mentioned the vote on Syria, the
:27:16. > :27:21.problem for the party is if the public look at this interview signed
:27:22. > :27:25.warfare, that does not look good. If you are going to be a government,
:27:26. > :27:30.you have to have a message, policies, and he has effectively
:27:31. > :27:34.said on many issues that people can do what they want. Let's look at a
:27:35. > :27:52.tweet from Isabel Oakeshott. She is still on the Christmas card
:27:53. > :28:01.list despite those numerous allegations about the pig. Christmas
:28:02. > :28:07.cards are very important. One of the most boring and mind-numbing things
:28:08. > :28:16.for political leaders to do is what they are going to put on the
:28:17. > :28:19.Christmas card. I suppose David Cameron was emphasising his victory
:28:20. > :28:36.beer? It was not very festival there. We have Jeremy Corbyn's as
:28:37. > :28:39.well. Picture from 2009. It is festive, but it is a bike that is
:28:40. > :28:40.not going anywhere. Shelley will be back at the same
:28:41. > :28:45.time tomorrow night. brings you some inspiring
:28:46. > :29:06.cultural treats. Let Darcey introduce us
:29:07. > :29:11.to her ballet heroes. Then we have more ballet, this time
:29:12. > :29:19.with love, espionage and betrayal Want more?
:29:20. > :29:23.Then we have the Great History Quiz. I can always drink a drink,
:29:24. > :29:47.I'm a Scotswoman after all. Make or break on migration: EU
:29:48. > :29:50.nations are saying no to the Prime Minister's plan to cut
:29:51. > :29:53.the numbers coming to Britain. How does he get out of that one?
:29:54. > :30:01.This evening an ICM poll puts It's immigration that the public
:30:02. > :30:03.wants to see movement