:00:00. > :00:08.Stand by for 100 days of campaigning until the Holyrood election -
:00:09. > :00:31.But is the winner a foregone conclusion?
:00:32. > :00:36.And how will the parties play the expectation game?
:00:37. > :00:40.As the Syrian crisis worsens, with no end in sight,
:00:41. > :00:42.the first peace talks in two years have been delayed
:00:43. > :00:44.because of tensions over who would be invited.
:00:45. > :00:46.We'll hear from our correspondent in Switzerland.
:00:47. > :00:54.And on the bard's birthday, the Makar has her say.
:00:55. > :01:03.I definitely would not like to have been married to Robert Burns, I will
:01:04. > :01:07.tell you that. Does a poet look for inconsistencies? No, we look for
:01:08. > :01:14.someone who can express so many facets of mankind and womankind.
:01:15. > :01:16.Good evening and welcome to the programme.
:01:17. > :01:19.You may be anxiously awaiting the lighter nights and drier days
:01:20. > :01:21.so you can pound the pavements for your favourite party.
:01:22. > :01:24.Or you might be slumped on your couch, complaining that
:01:25. > :01:29.Whatever your view, there are 100 days of campaigning to go
:01:30. > :01:44.Huw Williams takes a canter through Scotland's parties.
:01:45. > :01:51.Riding high in the polls after the general election, the SNP the
:01:52. > :01:55.concourse to repeat or even better than their unprecedented performance
:01:56. > :01:59.at the last Holyrood ballot. The SNP have to worry about
:02:00. > :02:03.complacency and the expectations that have been built up that they
:02:04. > :02:08.will win even better than they did in 2011, and of course, that they
:02:09. > :02:12.will go on to govern and deliver a great deal for Scotland. So there
:02:13. > :02:14.are some real challenges ahead for the SNP, especially given the
:02:15. > :02:22.expectations that are building up that they will have a very easy ride
:02:23. > :02:28.in these elections. Today Labour were talking education,
:02:29. > :02:32.they also seem to be managing down expectations, so that however bad
:02:33. > :02:37.the results are, they can be presented as some kind of recovery.
:02:38. > :02:41.The danger is that after this election is over the viewership will
:02:42. > :02:45.be challenged and the party will be seen to be dead in the water and so
:02:46. > :02:50.on, and that can only be in the short to medium term or long term
:02:51. > :02:53.very bad news for the Labour Party. They have to lower expectations and
:02:54. > :02:59.see that they know this is coming and expect to do badly. That can
:03:00. > :03:06.create a mood within the party in terms of affecting campaigning which
:03:07. > :03:09.would hurt the Labour Party. Today the Tories presented the
:03:10. > :03:13.findings of their tax commission. They have taken a high-risk strategy
:03:14. > :03:18.of talking up their chances. Could the Rooney takes second place?
:03:19. > :03:23.Parties that talk up their position are usually doing so because they
:03:24. > :03:26.want to get attention and that they are not marginalised. In the
:03:27. > :03:32.election the constitution will be on the SNP and Labour parties of the
:03:33. > :03:35.Tories have to get noticed. Talking up their support is one way of doing
:03:36. > :03:41.that. There are fierce danger is that you talk yourselves up and feel
:03:42. > :03:49.to deliver, that can be damaging. -- feel.
:03:50. > :03:55.The Greens are talking big as well. They claimed they could do well. The
:03:56. > :03:58.Greens tend to get overexcited. In past elections even after they were
:03:59. > :04:01.over and the counting had begun, the Greens had gone onto the television
:04:02. > :04:07.telling everyone they would come out with more seats and that has not
:04:08. > :04:11.always happen. I am not sure it quite got there and I am not sure
:04:12. > :04:15.they have the resources to do that. But you cannot fault them for trying
:04:16. > :04:19.to talk up the support, it is inevitable for a party that is very
:04:20. > :04:26.much a small part on the margins of politics.
:04:27. > :04:29.The Lib Dems meanwhile, don't seem to know how to talk about what they
:04:30. > :04:33.are hoping for after the election in the month of May.
:04:34. > :04:37.They have got to get a hold into that parliament. They know they are
:04:38. > :04:46.heading for a bad election. They are not even talking up or down their
:04:47. > :04:49.support, the, I think, are focusing on the constituencies that they hold
:04:50. > :04:51.and hoping they can win through and have some representation in
:04:52. > :04:53.parliament, which they are always certain to have but it will not be a
:04:54. > :04:56.good election for them. Opinion polls suggest this is a
:04:57. > :05:00.foregone conclusion but last week all stars had to concede they called
:05:01. > :05:07.the general election wrong, so is it really that simple?
:05:08. > :05:10.I am joined now in the studio by Margaret Curran, a former Labour
:05:11. > :05:13.MP and Shadow Scottish Secretary, who was defeated in the general
:05:14. > :05:17.And in our Edinburgh studio we have Alex Bell, a former adviser
:05:18. > :05:19.to Alex Salmond, and Andy McIver, a former Scottish
:05:20. > :05:31.Good evening to the view and thank you for joining us. You might help
:05:32. > :05:36.to make people's' mind up. Alex Bell, first, how does the SNP manage
:05:37. > :05:42.expectations? Jim Mitchell in that report said that in some ways a
:05:43. > :05:47.majority is unexceptional given the poor ratings but in some ways it
:05:48. > :05:49.could be exceptional, another huge majority?
:05:50. > :05:53.It is exceptional when you take into account the electoral system that we
:05:54. > :05:57.have and the way that parliament was structured. The big problem for the
:05:58. > :06:00.SNP is giving people interested. If it appears to be a foregone
:06:01. > :06:04.conclusion they have to worry about people not coming out to vote.
:06:05. > :06:08.Usually they can rely upon their supporters to come out because there
:06:09. > :06:13.is that passionate side to them, that sense that there is a cause
:06:14. > :06:16.which has to be one. But if the party makes it very clear it has
:06:17. > :06:23.conned down the taps on independence and that makes it clear that it is
:06:24. > :06:27.good to win this election with a landslide, its main problem is just
:06:28. > :06:31.getting people out to cast the votes that they need.
:06:32. > :06:34.It must be very difficult for strategists to look at these poor
:06:35. > :06:38.ratings coming in. That is an enviable position to be in but in
:06:39. > :06:42.some ways perhaps it makes strategy a little tricky.
:06:43. > :06:48.Let us not talk up the problem too far. Any party would like to think
:06:49. > :06:51.it is going to go into an election possibly winning 73 seats. I do not
:06:52. > :06:57.think the SNP is in anyway panicked or alarmed by this and as we are
:06:58. > :07:02.probably about to get onto, the SNP is by far the best party on offer to
:07:03. > :07:06.the politicians and the voters at this particular election, it just
:07:07. > :07:10.looks better, it is more efficient, it is more confident and what is on
:07:11. > :07:13.offer. The issue of this election is what the other parties will do to
:07:14. > :07:18.try and start their mark. Scotland needs much more of the political
:07:19. > :07:21.debate, much more of a marketplace of ideas. It is not good for
:07:22. > :07:41.Scotland that the SNP will walk this election.
:07:42. > :07:43.Equally, it is not for the SNP to get too worried late at night.
:07:44. > :07:45.Margaret Curran, Alex Bell says the SNP would more efficient and
:07:46. > :07:48.confident, the better party all around. What can the Labour Party
:07:49. > :07:51.do? I agree with Alex that it is not good for Scotland for one party to
:07:52. > :07:53.dominate as such, even though I would end the debate that they have.
:07:54. > :07:56.We have to have better ideas about the future of the country.
:07:57. > :08:00.But we are used to sing the Labour Party being dominant.
:08:01. > :08:03.Indeed. One important thing is that we get the electorate how serious
:08:04. > :08:07.our problem is and that we need short-term change and long-term
:08:08. > :08:12.change. I have been thinking long and hard about this over the past
:08:13. > :08:16.few months. This is accumulative and has come over many months and years
:08:17. > :08:19.and we have not addressed fundamental problems in the past and
:08:20. > :08:24.I think now we have to start to do that. We have a terribly bad habit
:08:25. > :08:27.of defining politics in relation to ourselves rather than in relation to
:08:28. > :08:32.the issues that the country faces and I think at the last election as
:08:33. > :08:36.some of the research, and there is not enough of it in Scotland, but
:08:37. > :08:40.some of it shows we did not have a coherent narrative to speak for a
:08:41. > :08:44.strong, assertive and inspiring Scotland and we have to do some of
:08:45. > :08:47.the serious thinking that will get us there, because I still think it
:08:48. > :08:51.is only a centre left perspective that is connected to Britain and the
:08:52. > :08:55.rest of the world that will begin to get us that kind of analysis and
:08:56. > :08:59.answers for people's lives. There's Kezia Dugdale the right
:09:00. > :09:04.woman to do that strategic thinking? I would not put it all up on her
:09:05. > :09:07.shoulders, she has to work with other people and it is a deeper
:09:08. > :09:11.movement issue, the movement must think long and hard and stop the
:09:12. > :09:16.internal conflict and think more strategically than we have currently
:09:17. > :09:21.clearly been doing. I think Kezia Dugdale is a subtitle character, or
:09:22. > :09:26.emphasis on the positive, or emphasis on new, competent and
:09:27. > :09:30.committed candidates, new readership will begin to make the difference.
:09:31. > :09:35.We need to make the difference before the month of May but it is a
:09:36. > :09:39.longer term challenge than that. Andy McIver, emphasise the positive,
:09:40. > :09:42.that is what the Scottish Conservatives are doing this time, a
:09:43. > :09:47.different tactic from the steady as she goes approach of the past,
:09:48. > :09:50.looking to overtake the Labour Party this time around.
:09:51. > :09:54.That is not as different as we might be led to believe. It is not the
:09:55. > :09:58.first time that the Conservatives at the election have talked up their
:09:59. > :10:01.prospects. I remember the 2010 general election we talked up the
:10:02. > :10:09.prospect of getting 11 seats and ended up with one. It is not the
:10:10. > :10:12.first time it has happened. That said, it is fair to say that the
:10:13. > :10:14.stars are aligned for the Tory Party more than they have been for quite
:10:15. > :10:18.some time. That is partly because of what you have asked Margaret Curran
:10:19. > :10:21.Abbott, the reality is from a mainstream classical perspective,
:10:22. > :10:25.the Labour Party have left the field because of Jeremy Corbyn's election
:10:26. > :10:29.and that has made it difficult for Kezia Dugdale to put any individual
:10:30. > :10:33.stamp on it because she has been obliged to form -- to follow Jeremy
:10:34. > :10:37.Corbyn into some areas, many of which are not vote winning policies
:10:38. > :10:48.in England or Scotland. What that has done is create a bit of a gap
:10:49. > :10:50.for the Conservatives in the New Labour centrist week to take some
:10:51. > :10:53.votes. That said, the big test remains for the Tories as to whether
:10:54. > :10:57.the brand can advance in that way, you know, Ruth Davidson is
:10:58. > :11:00.connecting with people in a way that other readers have not been able to
:11:01. > :11:03.do. Our personal ratings are relatively high and she has
:11:04. > :11:09.performed well. Andy McIver, looking at the general
:11:10. > :11:13.election result, the Conservatives got 15% or less than that of the
:11:14. > :11:18.share of the vote. That is what I am seeing, the
:11:19. > :11:23.problem for the Tories is that... We have seen this movie many times
:11:24. > :11:25.before whereby the party will speak up their prospects and things might
:11:26. > :11:31.look like they are going well but the opinion polls also looked good,
:11:32. > :11:35.but everything suggest that a party advocating policies for example low
:11:36. > :11:39.tax, very popular policies of choice, schooling, things like that,
:11:40. > :11:43.should do well, but they do not do well because of the party label that
:11:44. > :11:51.is attached to them and the big question for the party as, Abbey
:11:52. > :11:53.over that now as a nation? Are we overheating the Conservative Party
:11:54. > :11:56.will be never get over that? That is a different question to and and will
:11:57. > :12:03.only be absurd in the of May. Alex Bell, if the opposition are
:12:04. > :12:06.trying to land tips on the SNP, where are the weak points for the
:12:07. > :12:12.SNP? I am sorry, I have spent years in a
:12:13. > :12:18.position of a minority party that it is just so good to be the main
:12:19. > :12:21.party. I am not sure that is the question, to keep engaged in this
:12:22. > :12:25.election campaign, we must ask ourselves with the new ideas are.
:12:26. > :12:29.We're looking for the Labour Party and the Tories to bring those ideas,
:12:30. > :12:34.they have not mentioned them yet, and frankly, that is too great. I
:12:35. > :12:37.agree that in the next 100 days perhaps Kezia Dugdale and Ruth
:12:38. > :12:39.Davidson can make a super new and packed and come out as stars, more
:12:40. > :12:59.than they are, but so far I just do not know what the position of the
:13:00. > :13:03.Labour Party is on the constitution. I do not know what it is on some of
:13:04. > :13:05.the key social issues and for that matter I am not sure what the
:13:06. > :13:07.position of the Tories is either. How can the Labour Party
:13:08. > :13:10.successfully attacked the SNP? It sounds like you can't at the moment.
:13:11. > :13:13.It is to do with life circumstances and we need to share the political
:13:14. > :13:16.narrative that way. One of the big things that will happen in Scotland
:13:17. > :13:18.in the next humans is the impact of cuts to local government. That is
:13:19. > :13:23.where despite, you know, the words that begin from the SNP, their deeds
:13:24. > :13:26.are key task different and if Kezia Dugdale can expose that she could
:13:27. > :13:30.get into some fertile territory, because if you look at what is
:13:31. > :13:44.happening in the UK and England predominantly, and look at what is
:13:45. > :13:47.happening in Scotland, there is a strange par like developing with the
:13:48. > :13:50.analysis is that the people that will bear the brunt for the cuts
:13:51. > :13:53.being introduced are by far and away local government. Those are services
:13:54. > :13:55.really matter to people. It is about the quality of life and when Kezia
:13:56. > :13:58.Dugdale begins to look at this reality in Scotland, I have to give
:13:59. > :14:01.the SNP aplomb for their rhetoric, but we have to look at how people
:14:02. > :14:03.live their lives and change that narrative.
:14:04. > :14:11.Finally, Andy McIver, we are hearing this debate about cuts, but actually
:14:12. > :14:13.the Tories are going in a different strategy with talks to -- cuts to
:14:14. > :14:17.taxes. Tax cuts are popular, this is no
:14:18. > :14:20.secret, people have this concept that Scotland is radically different
:14:21. > :14:25.to every country in Europe and that we don't vote for parties that
:14:26. > :14:30.advocate low taxes, this is not true. Most of the time you will have
:14:31. > :14:34.a social Democrat party which used to be labour and is now the SNP and
:14:35. > :14:37.incidentally that is the big problem for Labour, the territory has been
:14:38. > :14:44.taken by other parties so they are not the obvious replacement any more
:14:45. > :14:48.and usually countries have a party of the Centre or centre-right that
:14:49. > :14:51.advocate things like low taxes. Therefore the normal thing in
:14:52. > :14:54.politics or a country to have a party like the Scottish Conservative
:14:55. > :15:01.Party but in other countries this party is generally much more popular
:15:02. > :15:04.and breaks 30 or 35% of the vote. The big test... The question at
:15:05. > :15:07.issue is not the policies of the Tory Party, they are popular
:15:08. > :15:10.policies, we test is probably will be voted for by the people because
:15:11. > :15:16.it is the Tory Party. Alex, you are shaking your head.
:15:17. > :15:20.Huge amount of respect to my colleagues, should The Big Issue is
:15:21. > :15:24.actually this is what life is like in a neoliberal state. Rather,
:15:25. > :15:29.voters want low taxes and things to be managed well and that is what the
:15:30. > :15:32.SNP are doing. Broadly, the reason why the Labour Party and the
:15:33. > :15:35.Conservatives cannot get into the argument is because the SNP is doing
:15:36. > :15:42.all the things that the Labour Party and the Tories want to do.
:15:43. > :15:47.We have run out of. Thank you all for joining us.
:15:48. > :15:50.Peace talks between the warring parties in Syria, which were
:15:51. > :15:52.scheduled to open today, have been put back until Friday.
:15:53. > :15:54.The UN's Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura, said the meeting
:15:55. > :15:57.had been delayed over disputes over who should attend.
:15:58. > :15:58.He told reporters discussions on this are continuing,
:15:59. > :16:04.but he believed invitations would be sent out tomorrow.
:16:05. > :16:14.The first priority will be the focus of what most Syrians, if not all,
:16:15. > :16:19.want to see here. The possibility of a broad ceasefire and the
:16:20. > :16:28.possibility of stopping the threat of Isil. And there for attempts to
:16:29. > :16:30.seek a broader ceasefire in humanity in aid.
:16:31. > :16:33.Earlier I spoke to BBC correspondent Imogen Foulkes from her home
:16:34. > :16:36.in Geneva and asked her why there has been such difficulty
:16:37. > :16:40.agreeing on who should be involved in these talks?
:16:41. > :16:48.I think the key difficulty which was highlighted today at the UN was the
:16:49. > :16:53.difficulty in the opposition deciding who would represent it. I
:16:54. > :17:01.think one of the things that people are perhaps not quite so aware of is
:17:02. > :17:05.just how the war in Syria has fragmented so much that there are
:17:06. > :17:11.dozens of different groups, phone who don't disagree with each other.
:17:12. > :17:14.As an example, I was speaking to the director of operations for the
:17:15. > :17:19.International Red Cross. The aid agency with probably the furthest
:17:20. > :17:25.and most prominent reach in Syria. It said going from the mask is to
:17:26. > :17:31.let go to deliver aid, his staff had to go through 60 checkpoints of
:17:32. > :17:36.different groups seeing, who are you, where are you going? I think
:17:37. > :17:43.that highlight just how complex this conflict has become. So one group
:17:44. > :17:47.gets up and says, we are the one legitimate party to negotiate with
:17:48. > :17:52.the Syrian regime for peace. Another group will get up and say, no you're
:17:53. > :17:56.not, it we are and we will not go to the table if you are. This is the
:17:57. > :18:00.problem facing UN departments as they try to get talks off the
:18:01. > :18:06.ground. A difficult situation, what hopes
:18:07. > :18:12.for these talks, Imogen? Invitations go out on Tuesday, we
:18:13. > :18:21.will see how this Joel excepts. The United nations are hoping to appeal
:18:22. > :18:26.to people's pride and honour. No-one once did reject an invitation to
:18:27. > :18:33.peace talks. It looks like quite a broad 's spectrum groups will be
:18:34. > :18:39.invited. These are proximity talks, UN diplomats scuttling back and
:18:40. > :18:45.forth, trying to find some sort of common ground. Sadly, not even a as
:18:46. > :18:52.we were originally told as these talks begin, just people arriving in
:18:53. > :18:56.Geneva and we will see what happens. Good things can start slowly, and I
:18:57. > :18:56.think that is what a lot of people here are hoping.
:18:57. > :19:00.Thank you. Across Scotland tonight toasts
:19:01. > :19:02.are being made and vast quantities of haggis
:19:03. > :19:04.are being consumed to honour Not everyone is fan of course -
:19:05. > :19:09.but it's recognised around the world that a sheer talent that
:19:10. > :19:11.burned bright produced his Liz Lochhead - our makar,
:19:12. > :19:17.or national poet - paid her tribute today
:19:18. > :19:37.with her reading of To A Mouse Weasley kit colouring timorous
:19:38. > :19:48.beastie, what a panic is in their breast.
:19:49. > :21:08.All good poems are relevant forever, none more so than To A Mouse. When I
:21:09. > :21:14.was ten years old I learned it off by heart to read out at the miners'
:21:15. > :21:20.welfare competition. I didn't do very well, I was not placed. But I
:21:21. > :21:30.learned the poem off by heart. When I was in my 20s and liked more Bob
:21:31. > :21:36.Dylan Heng Anna tiger bones -- Bob Dylan type Burns. Later, when my
:21:37. > :21:40.life fell apart when my husband died, I could not read the poem
:21:41. > :21:49.without bursting into tears and thinking how relevant it is about
:21:50. > :21:55.how your life can be cut into, not literally by applying, like it is by
:21:56. > :22:00.the males. But I'm thinking how relevant it is for these people who
:22:01. > :22:06.have come from Syria. Ordinary people who have come over and left
:22:07. > :22:12.their homes. Their homes have been literally cut through. Of course, it
:22:13. > :22:17.is only good because it is about a real malls, that real malice that
:22:18. > :22:26.Burns met in 1785. He was not writing to a metaphor, he was
:22:27. > :22:29.writing to a real malls will stop. Everything has relative value, and
:22:30. > :22:34.that is the value of poetry. Poetry relates to different people in
:22:35. > :22:39.different ways, and it relates to the same people and different points
:22:40. > :22:44.of their life. This poem, I think, was expressing real feelings he had
:22:45. > :22:48.at the time. He had a feeling as a farmer, for the third time at that
:22:49. > :22:51.point, he was wondering how he was going to feed his children. He had a
:22:52. > :22:57.really hard life, there is no doubt about it. And that hard life happens
:22:58. > :23:04.to belong to a great and deeply gifted poet. Edwin Nero, this
:23:05. > :23:16.cottage:, not Edwin Morgan, that Edwin Muir, said that he was a
:23:17. > :23:23.puritan and a unionist. To the socialist he was a revolutionary. To
:23:24. > :23:33.the sensualist he was a love poet and a poet Poyet -- body poet. He is
:23:34. > :23:43.a very funny body poet. He was just a man for all seasons.
:23:44. > :24:07.SHE READS TO A MOUSE. I'm joined now in the studio
:24:08. > :24:10.by the former editor of both The Scotsman and The Times
:24:11. > :24:12.in Scotland, Magnus Linklater, and by Anna Burnside,
:24:13. > :24:24.the Daily Record's feature writer. Thank you for joining me. It was a
:24:25. > :24:29.pleasure for me to meet Liz Lochhead and hear her speak there. Magnus,
:24:30. > :24:34.what do you make of Burns? A man for all seasons you think?
:24:35. > :24:41.Everyone has tried to claim him. They have, haven't they? He is quite
:24:42. > :24:45.hard to pin down. He had quite strong and radical views himself. He
:24:46. > :24:51.supported the French Revolution, for instance. He was very daring in
:24:52. > :24:55.private. Actually, in public, he took great care not to put a foot
:24:56. > :24:59.wrong. He had a job working for the government as an excise man, and he
:25:00. > :25:08.can afford to fall out with the Government. So although privately
:25:09. > :25:12.had very strong views about freedom and liberty, in those days it was
:25:13. > :25:18.dangerous to speak out, so he kept his head below the parapet.
:25:19. > :25:24.Anna, he has been described as being a little inconsistent in his views,
:25:25. > :25:27.bit it was said the other day that we can expect people to be
:25:28. > :25:33.consistent nowadays and Twitter would not have coped with the same
:25:34. > :25:37.consistency? He had various different
:25:38. > :25:41.constituencies who he had to and wanted to please. He knew what he
:25:42. > :25:46.was doing. He was immensely smart. He knew very well what he was doing
:25:47. > :25:52.and what played well in the drawing rooms and salons of Edinburgh were
:25:53. > :25:56.not what played so well in a bachelors club. And he moderated his
:25:57. > :25:59.message depends on his audience. When you think about him, he was
:26:00. > :26:05.really an incredible talent. He died at the age of 37 - all that was
:26:06. > :26:10.accomplished by the age of 37! He really was incredibly young and
:26:11. > :26:17.stop his poetry is of course not only brilliant poetry, it is so
:26:18. > :26:22.diverse. It was intensely moving as well. Perhaps we should put the
:26:23. > :26:25.politics to one side and just focus on the poetry.
:26:26. > :26:30.I have to turn to politics, unfortunately, because it was the
:26:31. > :26:37.Conservative tax commission who revealed a number of announcements
:26:38. > :26:40.today. Looking for perhaps a 30% tax rate for the aspirational
:26:41. > :26:43.middle-class. The commission is clear, they want
:26:44. > :26:52.Scotland to be competitive, they want to grow the Scottish comedy.
:26:53. > :26:56.Economy. We should be endeavouring to try and lower the tax burden on
:26:57. > :27:00.people there for. I grew with that 100%.
:27:01. > :27:08.So this commission, what do you make of this lower rate, this 30% rate?
:27:09. > :27:11.Strangely, I found myself in agreement with the Conservatives,
:27:12. > :27:16.which is not something that happens very often. There is a huge gap
:27:17. > :27:25.between the cut-off point, the point at which it gone from the 20% tax
:27:26. > :27:29.rate to the higher tax rate. The 40% tax rate comes in at ?130,000 per
:27:30. > :27:32.year, a massive difference. The press are living at the lower end of
:27:33. > :27:36.that as a person living a very different light to the person at the
:27:37. > :27:40.top end. I would say there is definitely room for another tax band
:27:41. > :27:44.in there. However, there provides the should be another tax band in
:27:45. > :27:48.the middle but not one of the top, I am not so happy with that. I can't
:27:49. > :27:51.see why we can't have both and have a more graduated system will stop
:27:52. > :27:56.that doesn't seem terribly radical or controversial to me.
:27:57. > :28:01.Magnus, new powers coming to Holyrood make this a very different
:28:02. > :28:06.debate doesn't it? It is a real debate, isn't it? We
:28:07. > :28:10.are talking about real changes in tax. Your other Tories now
:28:11. > :28:16.positioning themselves for what they call the aspirational middle
:28:17. > :28:22.classes. And that will be very attractive. They will be the only
:28:23. > :28:26.tax cutting party. I think both Labour and the SNP, and probably the
:28:27. > :28:31.Liberal Democrats, I tax raising parties. So it offers a genuine
:28:32. > :28:35.choice. But also opens the Tories to some attack - where are you going to
:28:36. > :28:44.find the cuts which will inevitably follow when you reduce the tax on
:28:45. > :28:46.one section of the population? So, Anna comedy think this will
:28:47. > :28:52.prove difficult for the other parties? But the voters think there
:28:53. > :28:56.is another option here? I think the Conservatives are
:28:57. > :29:00.looking like an attractive option to quite a lot of Scottish voters. The
:29:01. > :29:05.polls would suggest that. Ruth Davidson presents herself very well.
:29:06. > :29:11.I think this is just one of the issues on which voters might well be
:29:12. > :29:19.thinking, yeah, rightly something in for us.
:29:20. > :29:23.We are still waiting to hear from the SNP. I suppose voters like to
:29:24. > :29:29.hear that, don't they? The thing about the 50p rate, in
:29:30. > :29:35.Scotland, there are not all that many higher rate burners, so the
:29:36. > :29:40.take is not all that great. -- higher rate burners. I think this is
:29:41. > :29:46.the reason why the SNP is holding back stop because if you do tax
:29:47. > :29:50.them, the opportunity is for people to shift the tax base away, and you
:29:51. > :29:56.lose that source of income. It is a difficult decision to take.
:29:57. > :29:59.Anna, we were talking about the election and the beginning of the
:30:00. > :30:04.programme, it will be an exciting campaign when you think about it?
:30:05. > :30:08.I think it will be a really exciting collection. 100 days to go, I'm
:30:09. > :30:10.looking forward to it, personally. Thank you both very much for joining
:30:11. > :30:10.me. Shelley will be back at the same
:30:11. > :30:15.time tomorrow night. From all of us here though, do have
:30:16. > :30:29.a very good night. Bye-bye. I have never experienced
:30:30. > :30:46.anything like it before.