:00:00. > :00:00.On the eve of D-day for councils to agree their budgets,
:00:00. > :00:07.the deal from the Scottish Government is described
:00:08. > :00:32.The relationship between central and local government in Scotland
:00:33. > :00:35.is "almost completely dysfunctional."
:00:36. > :00:38.We'll hear why from the outgoing head of Cosla.
:00:39. > :00:41.And we'll hear why it's not from the Minister for Local
:00:42. > :00:45.Tonight, more negotiations over the funding framework
:00:46. > :01:01.The RA the business end of discussion but I think we can do it.
:01:02. > :01:03.We're working very hard to secure an agreement but I don't think we
:01:04. > :01:05.should underestimate the scale of the issues we need to overcome to
:01:06. > :01:08.try and secure that agreement. And a boost for Scotland's energy
:01:09. > :01:10.industry as the Shetland gas But should we be looking
:01:11. > :01:19.beyond fossil fuels? Talks in Edinburgh aimed at ending
:01:20. > :01:22.a dispute over Scottish public spending have ended once again
:01:23. > :01:27.tonight without agreement. The row concerns how much should be
:01:28. > :01:31.cut from the block grant once Both the Scottish government
:01:32. > :01:35.and the Treasury say they will So could this put a deal before
:01:36. > :01:42.the Holyrood election in doubt? Here's our Political
:01:43. > :01:53.Editor, Brian Taylor. He talks here tonight at St Andrews
:01:54. > :01:56.house in Edinburgh started late. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury was
:01:57. > :02:01.delayed in London because his plane was held up by storm image on. The
:02:02. > :02:06.climate surrounding the negotiations was none too helpful either. Both
:02:07. > :02:10.sides admit they are still far apart. The Treasury say the offer
:02:11. > :02:14.would have advantage Scotland over the past 15 years. They say that
:02:15. > :02:17.doing the sums it shows their offer potentially over that period was
:02:18. > :02:23.better than the money that would have been delivered by the Barnett
:02:24. > :02:27.formula. The Scottish Government say looking forward, looking ahead, they
:02:28. > :02:30.say the Treasury proposals with potentially over a period of ten
:02:31. > :02:37.years cut billions from the Scottish budget. What size are adamant they
:02:38. > :02:40.are willing to continue negotiations to continue the talks. The Scottish
:02:41. > :02:44.Parliament has said to us, the Parliamentary committee that they
:02:45. > :02:46.want an agreement by debris the 12th to enable them to properly
:02:47. > :02:51.scrutinise it in the Democratic interest of the people of Scotland.
:02:52. > :02:55.Think that is completely reasonable. We will obviously work very hard to
:02:56. > :02:59.try to deliver that. The UK Government remains committed to a
:03:00. > :03:02.deal on fiscal framework. I am confident we can get that. We are at
:03:03. > :03:08.the business end of the discussion but I think we can do it. The next
:03:09. > :03:13.stage is likely to be a New Yorker to be tabled by -- offer. They say
:03:14. > :03:20.they can address the concerns that remain. As things stand tonight here
:03:21. > :03:23.in Edinburgh it does not look like the deal is immediately on the
:03:24. > :03:27.cards. It looks as if the deadline set by the Scottish Parliament which
:03:28. > :03:33.was to get this negotiations concluded by Friday, that looks like
:03:34. > :03:38.slipping. It does not look as though they will be a deal by then, if at
:03:39. > :03:47.all, before the Scottish elections. Both governments insist they are
:03:48. > :03:48.willing to continue creating. -- to continue negotiating.
:03:49. > :03:51.Tomorrow is the day of reckoning for Scotland's local authorities.
:03:52. > :03:53.Then they must tell the Finance Secretary John Swinney
:03:54. > :03:55.whether or not they will accept the deal put forward
:03:56. > :03:58.Cosla - which represents most of Scotland's councils -
:03:59. > :04:01.says it amounts to "unacceptable" cuts of ?350 million.
:04:02. > :04:03.Mr Swinney says its around a ?100 million, less than 1%
:04:04. > :04:11.Relations between the two sides are at rock bottom.
:04:12. > :04:14.Joining me now from Inverness is Rory Mair, the outgoing
:04:15. > :04:17.chief executive of Cosla, who has been at the helm
:04:18. > :04:30.Good evening. Good evening. Just how bad relations between councils and
:04:31. > :04:38.the Scottish Government? Really pretty bad. Relationships require
:04:39. > :04:42.commitment, energy and an idea of mutual respect and that doesn't
:04:43. > :04:47.exist in the relationship. Instead we have got a rather heavy-handed
:04:48. > :04:50.bullying, trying to force councils to do things they don't want to do
:04:51. > :04:56.just so the Government can do things they do want to do. That seems to be
:04:57. > :05:00.a recipe for a pretty poor relationship and that is the kind of
:05:01. > :05:04.relationship we have got. In the 13 or 14 years I have been at Cosla,
:05:05. > :05:10.this is as poor as a relationship as we have had at any point. Why do you
:05:11. > :05:16.think that is? What has gone wrong? Two things. There is something that
:05:17. > :05:21.all governments have wrestled with in Scotland, if you are the tip of
:05:22. > :05:25.Parliament we have and you don't do things like foreign policy and full
:05:26. > :05:30.fiscal autonomy, and defence. Then you wonder what it is you do, you
:05:31. > :05:35.become involved in things that function locally that make you think
:05:36. > :05:37.you will be attractive to local people and that puts you on a
:05:38. > :05:43.collision course with local government. But it also is that some
:05:44. > :05:50.governments Weise have seen have been more to ensure that they get
:05:51. > :05:53.all the kudos for something that happens and that again means that
:05:54. > :05:58.governments have got to take the good also something that is actually
:05:59. > :06:01.the job of local government and the achievement of local government. If
:06:02. > :06:06.you have those things it is very difficult to form a relationship
:06:07. > :06:10.that works. What is wrong, for example, for the Scottish Government
:06:11. > :06:14.asking local councils to maintain pupil teacher ratios if that is a
:06:15. > :06:18.national priority of the Government, surely that is fair enough? Well, I
:06:19. > :06:25.think there are a number of things wrong with it. It is awed that when
:06:26. > :06:31.we are talking about the education and the difficulties we experience,
:06:32. > :06:34.that he managed to reduce this to a single performance indicator, the
:06:35. > :06:39.number of teachers we have. How is it that the Government in Edinburgh
:06:40. > :06:43.and a few of their advisors know that that is going to be the thing
:06:44. > :06:48.that drives inequalities out of education, but the thing we all want
:06:49. > :06:51.to see happening when all the education directors, all the
:06:52. > :06:55.councils that are actually running the service, so that it isn't? So
:06:56. > :06:59.you think that part of the deal is wrong because basically councils
:07:00. > :07:04.would get some of the money unless they commit to that? That is right.
:07:05. > :07:07.There are two issues, one is about the actual thing and the other is
:07:08. > :07:13.the way it is being enforced. If we don't maintain something that we
:07:14. > :07:16.think is not good for learning in Scotland, and overall number of
:07:17. > :07:20.teachers, what will have to do is reduce other parts of the education
:07:21. > :07:24.system that supports the most needy in our schools. If we don't do that,
:07:25. > :07:28.we deceive a Draconian penalties that doesn't just cover the amount
:07:29. > :07:32.of money relating to teacher numbers, it also covers the amount
:07:33. > :07:37.of money relating to council tax freeze and a share of the ?250
:07:38. > :07:41.million that Mr Swinney makes so much play on. No council can
:07:42. > :07:47.possibly go against that government wants when that level of penalty is
:07:48. > :07:50.forced on them if they do so. Briefly, what do you think about the
:07:51. > :07:58.way in which these negotiations have been humbled? They have been --
:07:59. > :08:03.handled. They have been characterised by misinformation and
:08:04. > :08:09.a lack of trust between government and local government. There is a
:08:10. > :08:12.view that this is a budget were the problems are caused by Westminster,
:08:13. > :08:18.I don't think they are. It is caused by decisions made by the Government
:08:19. > :08:20.in Edinburgh. It is a huge amount of misinformation, even the point you
:08:21. > :08:26.raised at the beginning of the programme, we are clearly getting a
:08:27. > :08:30.3.5% cut, to call it a 1% cut is a piece of nonsense and it seems to us
:08:31. > :08:33.that this is an austerity budget that the Government don't want to
:08:34. > :08:38.face up to and we want to make sure that the cuts that are made by us so
:08:39. > :08:41.that they can wash their hands and say we are clean, we didn't do this
:08:42. > :08:44.to local people, it is the Government that are going to force
:08:45. > :08:46.these cops on local people and it will be people and it will be the
:08:47. > :08:49.fullest people in Horace society that suffer those cuts. Thank you
:08:50. > :08:51.very much for coming in. Well, listening to that
:08:52. > :08:53.in our Edinburgh studio is Marco Biagi, the Minister
:08:54. > :09:03.for Local Government Community That is pretty strong stuff from
:09:04. > :09:08.Rory Mair. Heavy-handed, bullying, you have to take that seriously,
:09:09. > :09:12.don't you, a Chief Executive of Cosla who has been booked for 13
:09:13. > :09:17.years? Certainly his job has been to argue the corner of local government
:09:18. > :09:20.to the Scottish Government. I do think some of the tongue of his
:09:21. > :09:24.comments have been a bit disappointing. I was going to say
:09:25. > :09:28.that there was any misinformation and exaggeration, some of it has
:09:29. > :09:32.been seen in some of the exaggerated claims that are coming from local
:09:33. > :09:37.government representatives. That is understandable. But he has been in
:09:38. > :09:43.position for 13 years and he is saying things have ever been this
:09:44. > :09:46.bad. Well, you often hear rhetoric like that around this annual
:09:47. > :09:50.negotiation progress -- process. Some of the things just said there
:09:51. > :09:54.are quite far from what actually happened. When you look at the
:09:55. > :09:58.teacher numbers issue, a few years ago the Scottish Government came to
:09:59. > :10:03.local government and said we considered teacher numbers to be
:10:04. > :10:05.important, to keep teacher numbers, certainly, we will be impressed in
:10:06. > :10:08.the Scottish Parliament legitimately to do that and asked local
:10:09. > :10:14.government how much it would cost, we were taught 41 million and we
:10:15. > :10:18.offered that. We were told it became 51 million, we offered 51 million.
:10:19. > :10:22.We are heading into a negotiation here where we put some priorities on
:10:23. > :10:29.the table but then put cash down with it. If. Yes, with strings
:10:30. > :10:33.attached. What is the point of local government if local councils aren't
:10:34. > :10:39.allowed to set different priorities? If you look at the education system,
:10:40. > :10:42.I don't think anybody is going to fault Scotland was like national
:10:43. > :10:45.parliament wanting to be involved in the national education system. The
:10:46. > :10:49.entire history of schooling in Scotland, you can go back 400 years
:10:50. > :10:53.to Wendy was the degree that any parish should have a school, there
:10:54. > :10:56.has clearly been a national dimension to it. Education is always
:10:57. > :11:00.going to be delivered in partnership and that will mean both local and
:11:01. > :11:04.national government coming together with priorities. The problem here is
:11:05. > :11:07.its doesn't sound like a partnership, it sounds like a lot of
:11:08. > :11:11.diktats coming from the centre. The tongue of the letter sent out a
:11:12. > :11:15.couple of weeks ago to councils was pretty threatening, wasn't it as I
:11:16. > :11:19.wouldn't agree with that characterisation at all. If you look
:11:20. > :11:23.at what we are doing, we have said there are a few priorities here. We
:11:24. > :11:29.have put up cash to match that. When you look at what they previous
:11:30. > :11:33.admission by with the SNP did, they took ?2.7 billion and micromanaged
:11:34. > :11:36.from the centre. They give it to local government that dictated on a
:11:37. > :11:41.very minute faces what could be sent on. But they also look at our
:11:42. > :11:45.nearest neighbours south of the border they are slowly dismantling
:11:46. > :11:48.local authority role in education entirely with free schools that are
:11:49. > :11:52.directly funded from the centre so I think some of this rhetoric needs to
:11:53. > :11:57.be calmed down a little bit. I know conflict makes for better telly than
:11:58. > :12:04.agreement but it can be quite off-putting and generate cynicism.
:12:05. > :12:08.Cosla represents 20-32 local authorities. That 20 of the 32. The
:12:09. > :12:11.local authorities got the letter, the deal is that they don't agree to
:12:12. > :12:16.the council tax freeze and it will show Kerr spent and the freezers,
:12:17. > :12:20.there will be big financial penalties, that doesn't sound like a
:12:21. > :12:24.partnership, that sounds at one site and the other what to do. It would
:12:25. > :12:28.be one side telling the other what to do if we were saying this is what
:12:29. > :12:32.you must do. But we are doing is saying, here are some priorities,
:12:33. > :12:36.some important ones I think the people of Scotland will back,
:12:37. > :12:42.maintaining people teacher ratios, keeping the number constant,
:12:43. > :12:46.providing the living wage and we are putting forward the cash to do it.
:12:47. > :12:50.What would be heavy-handed would be saying you have got to do this by
:12:51. > :12:54.putting up the cash. To characterise this in the way that has happened is
:12:55. > :12:58.quite damaging. When you look at the broad spectrum of the relationship
:12:59. > :13:03.between local government and the Scottish Government, there is a lot
:13:04. > :13:05.there that has been very successful. We are integrating Health and Social
:13:06. > :13:08.Care Board is giving local government more say in the delivery
:13:09. > :13:13.and help locally than they have had decades. I worked personally with
:13:14. > :13:16.the president of Cosla on a commission to examine the future of
:13:17. > :13:22.local tax, it was very productive and it was done in partnership. You
:13:23. > :13:25.can look at all kinds of other areas, community Justice, recycling,
:13:26. > :13:28.you name it, there is still a positive relationship. There is
:13:29. > :13:32.money on the table here are some tensions are running high. Marco
:13:33. > :13:39.Banerjee, thank you for your time this evening. -- Marco Biaggi.
:13:40. > :13:41.Some much-needed good news for the beleaguered oil and gas
:13:42. > :14:35.industry today as the first gas has begun coming ashore
:14:36. > :14:37.industry today as the first gas Shetland to the mainland. This is
:14:38. > :14:39.the first of its kind in the UK. We've taken a concept which has been
:14:40. > :15:50.seen before, but we have made We've taken a concept which has been
:15:51. > :15:54.Unions representing a range of offshore trades joint forces today
:15:55. > :15:58.in Aberdeen to respond to the crisis. We want to maintain the
:15:59. > :16:06.investment that has taken place over many years. It takes 2.5 years to
:16:07. > :16:10.train a pilot. If people leave the industry, as many are doing, they
:16:11. > :16:16.won't come back. And that skill is a loss to the industry. Amid all this
:16:17. > :16:20.talk of the future of Scotland's fossil fuel based industry comes the
:16:21. > :16:25.question, what about renewables? This giant wind farm near Glasgow is
:16:26. > :16:29.the perfect example of Scotland's commitment to green energy and some
:16:30. > :16:33.argue that is where the future of the industry lies. There are people
:16:34. > :16:37.being laid off at the moment in Aberdeen. Everyone has sympathy for
:16:38. > :16:41.those people. But we don't have a plan that says, instead of waiting
:16:42. > :16:45.for oil and gas to pick up again and go back to the same jobs having
:16:46. > :16:49.driven a taxi, we should have a better plan, which is how we give
:16:50. > :16:55.them good permanent jobs in green energy. But for now at least, it
:16:56. > :16:59.places like Shetland's new gas plant and the wider North Sea industry
:17:00. > :17:00.which plays a key role in keeping the lights on.
:17:01. > :17:03.A short while ago I spoke to Patrick Harvie, Co-Convenor
:17:04. > :17:05.of the Scottish Greens, and Paul Younger, Professor
:17:06. > :17:13.of Energy Engineering at the University of Glasgow.
:17:14. > :17:21.It's estimated that 17% of the UK's gas reserves could lie in this new
:17:22. > :17:25.area. Patrick, are you happy it is now on stream? I don't think anybody
:17:26. > :17:31.should be really happy that we are still using far too much fossil
:17:32. > :17:35.fuel. We know that even if it wasn't for the Paris agreement, the climate
:17:36. > :17:40.change agenda, even before that, led to a global budget that was many
:17:41. > :17:53.times less than the total reserves of fossil fuels that we have got
:17:54. > :17:57.available to us. The upshot being that most of it needs to stay on the
:17:58. > :17:59.ground and not be burnt. It is not something that is going to be solved
:18:00. > :18:02.overnight. Nobody can snap their fingers and say, we don't need gas
:18:03. > :18:05.any more. And there is enough to keep 2 million homes heated. While
:18:06. > :18:07.we have the remaining years of using fossil fuels, we need to be thinking
:18:08. > :18:11.about two things. Firstly, how do we use it as efficiently as we can? The
:18:12. > :18:14.idea that we are still installing individual gas boilers in homes
:18:15. > :18:19.rather than things like district heating systems and combined heating
:18:20. > :18:23.power, which get much more efficient use of gas while we are still using
:18:24. > :18:26.it. The second thing is a transition. Building those new
:18:27. > :18:31.economies, new industries, and new energy systems and high-value jobs
:18:32. > :18:35.we need for the future that will be lusting after the age of fossil fuel
:18:36. > :18:42.has passed. That will not be far away now. Today's announcement isn't
:18:43. > :18:46.really about jobs. Only 80 people are employed to run the subsea
:18:47. > :18:51.operations for this new facility. How important would be for securing
:18:52. > :18:54.the energy supply in Scotland? Gas production in this country has been
:18:55. > :19:02.in steep decline for more than decade now. The longer that
:19:03. > :19:06.continues, if we continue to use gas at the level we are using, 82% of
:19:07. > :19:10.households are reliant on it for their heating and hot water as well
:19:11. > :19:15.as Peterhead power station, which is there to help balance the grid in
:19:16. > :19:24.between the availability of renewables in particular, as long as
:19:25. > :19:28.our indigenous production is in steep decline, that means as long as
:19:29. > :19:35.we don't stop using it quickly, which sadly we don't seem to be, it
:19:36. > :19:40.is either produce more or imported. If you import it, there are two
:19:41. > :19:45.consequences. One is for funds for the cost of it and the second is the
:19:46. > :19:52.carbon footprint goes back up. If you bring gas all the way from the
:19:53. > :19:55.east of Russia, by the time it gets here, the carbon footprint of
:19:56. > :19:59.bringing it here is bigger than the carbon footprint of burning it once
:20:00. > :20:03.it gets here. Just to say, we will not bother producing our our own
:20:04. > :20:08.gas, but bring it from elsewhere, which is more or less the assumption
:20:09. > :20:12.in a lot of the policy that falls out by accident, it is a false
:20:13. > :20:18.economy in carbon terms as well as money terms. Patrick, you are saying
:20:19. > :20:21.Scotland could create as many as 200,000 highly skilled long-term
:20:22. > :20:27.jobs in other sectors like renewables. Is that actually really
:20:28. > :20:31.possible? We have talked about renewables in our jobs for the new
:20:32. > :20:35.economy report. We've also talked about the decommissioning of oil and
:20:36. > :20:40.gas infrastructure. We just heard over this weekend warnings that
:20:41. > :20:45.Scotland is at risk of losing out on the jobs that will come from oil gas
:20:46. > :20:50.recommissioning. Infrastructure that needs to be removed, as dealt with
:20:51. > :20:53.safely. If companies based in other countries are in a prime position to
:20:54. > :20:58.bid for those jobs, then Scotland will lose out on the economic
:20:59. > :21:02.opportunities. We have also talked about the demand reduction and that
:21:03. > :21:06.is coming back to how we use the energy we are generating. Whatever
:21:07. > :21:09.source it is, and I would like to decommission a lot of the fossil
:21:10. > :21:13.fuels faster and build the renewables, but whatever energy
:21:14. > :21:18.sources we use, we need to use it efficiently and waste less, so that
:21:19. > :21:21.fewer people living in fuel poverty and spending money that is going out
:21:22. > :21:26.of their windows and doors and roofs and walls. Do you think that is
:21:27. > :21:29.feasible, to stop using fossil fuel much faster than is currently on
:21:30. > :21:36.schedule? That is the fundamental problem. If we had an easy place to
:21:37. > :21:41.go for domestic heating in particular, then... We saw today
:21:42. > :21:47.research showing that wind power provided almost half of Scotland's
:21:48. > :21:50.energy News last month. That is wrong, electricity, but electricity
:21:51. > :21:57.is less than 20% of the energy Scotland. 55% is heat,
:21:58. > :22:01.non-electrical heat. That is why we mention things like district heating
:22:02. > :22:05.and power. I would agree with that. The University of Glasgow is
:22:06. > :22:10.commissioning a gas fire district heating system which is replacing
:22:11. > :22:14.all the individual gas boilers in separate buildings. It is far more
:22:15. > :22:19.efficient, not only saving energy, but also reducing our carbon
:22:20. > :22:22.footprint markedly. It is still gas. We looked at the options. It would
:22:23. > :22:26.have suited the University of Glasgow very well if we could have
:22:27. > :22:31.gone to biomass, for instance. The trouble is, we are in a city centre
:22:32. > :22:36.area where we have strict limits on what we can put in the atmosphere
:22:37. > :22:41.and biomass puts out a lot less than the worse things than gas combustion
:22:42. > :22:48.does. On the margins of the urban area, biomass is more viable. On the
:22:49. > :22:52.city centre, not so much. Very briefly, do you think, as the VWF
:22:53. > :23:00.suggested today, Scotland could become the EU's first fully
:23:01. > :23:03.renewable nation by 2030? It is possible. From the history of
:23:04. > :23:07.renewable energy in Scotland in recent years we have seen every time
:23:08. > :23:14.the target is set, the naysayers say, that will never be achievable,
:23:15. > :23:18.and the target is surpassed. We are clearly able to... Scotland has
:23:19. > :23:24.missed its renewable energy targets at every single milestone so find
:23:25. > :23:28.you are the government when that happens. We have missed the climate
:23:29. > :23:35.change targets. The renewable electricity generation... But that
:23:36. > :23:38.is behind schedule. It's maybe because of the changes to UK
:23:39. > :23:41.Government policy. That needs to be challenged, but there is a huge
:23:42. > :23:45.opportunity for the public sector to play a bigger role here. Local
:23:46. > :23:49.energy companies could be using the public sector borrowing power to
:23:50. > :23:53.invest in the upfront kit that housing associations and
:23:54. > :23:57.house-builders are not going to be able to afford to put in. That would
:23:58. > :24:00.mean we have got a greater public and community ownership of the
:24:01. > :24:07.energy generating capacity for the future. It's not just benefiting
:24:08. > :24:10.multinational corporations. Will not get 200% renewable because we will
:24:11. > :24:11.have to have gas for back-up and nobody has an alternative.
:24:12. > :24:13.Patrick Harvie and Paul Younger speaking to me earlier.
:24:14. > :24:16.Joining me now to discuss some of the day's other news
:24:17. > :24:18.is Ann Landels, Director of the homeless charity
:24:19. > :24:19.Crisis Skylight Edinburgh and Investigations Editor
:24:20. > :24:33.Good evening. The Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson
:24:34. > :24:38.has delivered the Joseph and to's annual lecture on poverty. It was a
:24:39. > :24:39.much more cuddly sort of conservatism that we might be used
:24:40. > :24:44.to. I think you can see all of these
:24:45. > :24:49.things and not have to be contradictory. One that there is a
:24:50. > :24:54.rule five to government. Two that the market is not king, three that I
:24:55. > :24:57.still believe in individual liberty and the ability and ambition and
:24:58. > :25:01.opportunity of people to go out and make it, but that there is a role to
:25:02. > :25:05.give people a hand up to. I don't think these things have to be
:25:06. > :25:10.mutually exclusive. She was talking about combating inequality for child
:25:11. > :25:15.care for children. A review of senior bosses, the way they are
:25:16. > :25:20.paired. This is an attempt to grab votes from Labour? Clearly an
:25:21. > :25:23.attempt to win over voters who might have their heads turned by the
:25:24. > :25:27.Scottish Conservatives at this moment in time. The problem she
:25:28. > :25:32.faces is the distinction between her words on poverty and her actual
:25:33. > :25:38.policies. Last year, she said a commission to look at taxation,
:25:39. > :25:45.which issued its report recently and they backed reducing the 40% income
:25:46. > :25:49.tax rate to 30% and also backed the abolition of the successor tax to
:25:50. > :25:52.stamp duty, which, if Lynn fermented, would be a massive
:25:53. > :25:56.transfer of wealth to people at the top. Of course you have George
:25:57. > :26:02.Osborne's policies on inheritance tax. They have not adopted these
:26:03. > :26:06.policies yet. They will, come the report. Ruth is probable currently
:26:07. > :26:11.looking at tax cuts and spending increases. She may have trouble
:26:12. > :26:16.explaining that combination of policies if she wants to reduce
:26:17. > :26:20.poverty. Ann, do you think with this softer approach, she stands a good
:26:21. > :26:25.chance of pushing Labour into third place in the Holyrood elections? I
:26:26. > :26:31.think she's clearly bidding for that vote, but at the end of the day, it
:26:32. > :26:35.is words, and it is actions that make the difference. The chances of
:26:36. > :26:39.the Conservatives being able to drive through the changes she's
:26:40. > :26:43.talking about are very limited, I think. I think the other thing she
:26:44. > :26:48.didn't talk about another speech was the other effects that are making
:26:49. > :26:52.poverty worse was of our citizens at the moment and that is the welfare
:26:53. > :26:58.benefit changes which act against some of the things she was talking
:26:59. > :27:01.about earlier. She also accused the SNP of quitting college places to
:27:02. > :27:06.fund a middle-class freebie. Do you think that sort of language... Who
:27:07. > :27:10.do you think she's targeting? I think the Conservatives have always
:27:11. > :27:14.been sceptical of universal benefits, but no party is more
:27:15. > :27:17.ruthless at rewarding the middle class than the Conservatives. Look
:27:18. > :27:22.at their budgets in recent years, they know who their voters are and
:27:23. > :27:26.they reward them. If you look at the policies, so far, perhaps with the
:27:27. > :27:30.exception of colleges, it is a pretty naked picture to Middle
:27:31. > :27:33.Scotland. I haven't seen anything that would redistribute money from
:27:34. > :27:39.the top to the bottom. I think it is a clever speech, clever political
:27:40. > :27:43.marketing, but will it actually reduce poverty? I think the jury is
:27:44. > :27:48.out. Let's move onto another story. Alistair Carmichael, whose election
:27:49. > :27:58.was challenged in court last year, has been told. It was claimed he
:27:59. > :28:06.misled voters claiming Nicola Sturgeon had said she wanted to seek
:28:07. > :28:10.David Cameron remain in power do macro. It is a mess, a state of
:28:11. > :28:16.affairs when. Do you think he will think it is worth it? I doubt it. It
:28:17. > :28:20.is good that there will now be a line drawn under this and the whole
:28:21. > :28:26.affair can move on from it. It has dragged on. It has not brought
:28:27. > :28:30.politicians into anything great. It has brought some to distribute.
:28:31. > :28:35.People always suspect that politicians lie anyway, and this
:28:36. > :28:42.proves that a politician did lie. What do you think the impact will be
:28:43. > :28:46.on him, financially, and also the political reputation? Will it have a
:28:47. > :28:52.broader effect on the Lib Dems? I don't know about finances, but I
:28:53. > :28:58.think his political career is over. He won't stand again. I was always
:28:59. > :29:01.call curious about the political backdrop. Orkney and Shetland have
:29:02. > :29:05.always been solidly Liberal Democrat, but I think the Lib Dem
:29:06. > :29:10.brand in that part of the country is now pretty much tarnished. I would
:29:11. > :29:13.expect the SNP to pick up those constituencies in May. A cynic might
:29:14. > :29:19.say this is what it has always been about, this case. I am not sure
:29:20. > :29:22.about that, but it looks good. Do you think they'll pay the price
:29:23. > :29:31.electorally? Yes, they definitely will. I don't know why he did what
:29:32. > :29:36.he did in the first place, but it is clearly backfired and it is going to
:29:37. > :29:41.backfire on the whole party. A low point on the referendum? Yes, and it
:29:42. > :29:44.didn't do anything it in terms of encouraging people who had come to
:29:45. > :29:46.politics merely to maintain that interest. Thank you for coming in.
:29:47. > :30:02.Ten years ago in a ground-breaking series,
:30:03. > :30:05.Stephen Fry shed light on what it is to be bipolar.
:30:06. > :30:07.Now we hear from those living with it today...
:30:08. > :30:10.I'm still dealing with my mental disorder every day of my life,
:30:11. > :30:12.as is everyone else I know who has one.
:30:13. > :30:15...and explore our changing perceptions.
:30:16. > :30:19.I decided to write a blog about it to raise awareness, really.