11/05/2016 Scotland 2016

A new session of parliament, fairly new parliament,

but the traditional oath-swearing to the Queen continues.

Tonight, it was all smiles as the party leaders met the Prince.

But, as for what's happening tomorrow, republicans are angry

MSPs will have to swear the oath of allegiance.

Their opponents say the monarchy "embodies the people".

After the oath ceremony, the new Presiding Officer

We'll run the rule over the candidates.

And the secret insights into the life

The Kirking of the Parliament took place tonight ahead of the first

Holyrood's a modern institution but it's an ancient tradition.

The ceremony even took place in the pre-union Scots Parliament.

Prince Charles was there, representing the Queen.

In a moment, we'll debate if it's right that MSPs should swear

the oath of allegiance, but first, our political editor

This is St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, otherwise known as the

high Kirk of Saint Giles. The setting this evening for an

ecumenical interfaith service known as the cracking of the Parliament.

-- the Kirking. Prince Charles arrived, representing a magisterial

Queen. This ceremony dates back centuries, to the pre-union Scots

Parliament. The contemporary version was joined by party leaders and MSPs

from all parties will stop it is a way of a blessing on elected

tribunals. And also a reading by Patricia Marwick, the Presiding

Officer, retiring Presiding Officer, on the subject of tax. A reading

that refers to taxation, I'm sure at all a bit bleak reference by the

Presiding Officer, retiring, to the new powers coming Holyrood's way.

From that, the MSPs set off to a meeting and reception with Prince

Charles and the Duke of Rothesay. I am sure they discuss various issues.

He met the party leaders as well. Tomorrow, they move from this

service, the ceremonial service, to move on to the work of Parliament.

The MSPs will be sworn in tomorrow. They will take a bow of allegiance

to Her Majesty The Queen either as a North or an affirmation, according

to choice. But the author is obligatory. Then their job as

parliamentarians begins. They have to later Presiding Officer fast. It

is all was a tough job but in this new parliament, it is articulately

tough because we have they minority Government. -- particularly tough.

So we have ancient tradition and modern politics intertwined.

Now, the Green Party co-convener Patrick Harvie didn't attend

the Kirking and didn't meet Prince Charles.

The Green Party said he had not gone because he wasn't religious.

Of course, as Brian said, MSPs will have to swear or affirm

tomorrow that they bear true allegiance to the Queen.

If they don't, they lose their seats.

I'm now joined from Dunstable by Graham Smith from the campaign

group Republic, and in Edinburgh is the author and commentator,

Good evening to both of you. Firstly, if MSPs do not swear or

affirm and all of allegiance to the Queen, who do you think they should

swear it to? Every politician's allegiance should be to the people

who have elected them and the country as a whole. There are many

things wrong with the monarchy but on this, it is symbolic and a matter

of principle. I think the symbolism is important. Last Thursday, we had

a hugely democratic exercise. People across Scotland electing their own

parliament. This first day, tomorrow, those same MSPs going into

that parliament, not swearing allegiance to the people that chose

them but swearing allegiance to the Queen. I just do not buy this idea

that the Queen is somehow an embodiment of the people. Let's cut

out the middleman. If it is an allegiance to the people, let's hear

it. Let's hear MSPs say that the allegiances to be both Scotland and

to Scotland as a whole. The argument is that the monarchy embodies the

people, but Mr Smith is saying, cut out the middleman. The monarchy does

not embody the people without politics. The Queen is the

embodiment of the monarchy. There are no politics involved. What you

do if you do not have a monarchy... You have a presidency or detect a

ship -- dictatorship. We have reckon that back 1500 years. -- we have a

monarchy. You laughed at that point. But it would represent the people? A

president or some other character? You may have to look at the Republic

of Ireland. You have elected heads of state that are nonpartisan, even

though they have had a political past. The Queen is political, the

monarchy is leading the -- is very political. It is shrouded in

secrecy. We have seen this with Prince Charles, in Edinburgh today,

who routinely lobbied ministers both in Edinburgh and in London. This is

a highly political institution. And now one embodies the people better

than the people themselves. This is supposed to be democratic. Let the

people be represented freely and fairly and let the MSPs make quite

clear that there allegiances to the people, not the monarch. Roddy

Martine, perhaps it is not the institution new poetry. Graeme Smith

says it is not impartial, in some ways. We have the Queen's comments

on the Chinese. We had the referendum, where she asked people

to think very carefully. The Royal Family have no power. They are

basically a symbol. A nation needs a head of state that is completely

remote from the political bearpit, as far as I can see. If you don't

have that, you have a president trump, and they know which I prefer.

If MSPs do not swear or affirm the oath within two months, they lose

their seat. What would your advice be to MSPs who are republicans? What

would you say if they are forming golf under pressure? Part of the

problem with the oath, in London as well as Cardiff, is that people are

elected and want to serve the people and do their job and they have do

then say something in Parliament under oath which is dishonest. Now

it is very hard for me to say to republicans in Holyrood, don't take

Euros, because that is a very serious thing to do. But I think

people should not be placed in that position. -- do not take your oath.

Whether or not you swear an oath to God or you remove that reference, in

the same way, you should have an option, Queen or no Queen. Would

that be fair, to have an option, perhaps? And what is your response

when some MSPs have sworn it with their fingers crossed? That is their

own problem. I can see this is going to happen. The problem is, to my

mind, it is all about tradition and what you stand for. I look at the

Scotland I live in is a great country that goes back through the

generations. Long before being pushed harder monarchy. I would be

visible it if we were shedding new traditions. We have been fighting

for democracy and discarded will fight for the establishment of the

new establishment and that is where allegiances should lie. We will have

to leave it there. Thank you for joining me, both.

As Brian mentioned, the new Presiding Officer

So who are the candidates to sit in the big chair at Holyrood?

Various MSPs have put their names forward to replace Tricia Marwick,

some expected and some perhaps a little unexpected.

Let's take a look at the runners and riders

If you keep interrupting... Mr Kelly, please sit down. Sit down. I

will not sit down. Politicians are lightly lot. A stern voice and firm

hand are sometimes needed. Just ask Tricia Marwick. Please escort Mr

Kelly from the chamber. As you keep up rowdy lot under control, some

gentle humour is also required. Here is the House of Commons speaker

earlier today as MPs groan when he called the Liberal Democrat leader.

He has a right to be heard and he will be at! And I insist on a velvet

glove is needed. That might be a good line in the job advert for the

Holyrood Presiding Officer's post. Who is now running? Former Labour

leader Johann Lamont has made her intentions known. Ken Macintosh, who

fought Johann Lamont for the Labour leadership, also wants the job.

Completing the Labour trio of applicants, Elaine Smith, was a

Deputy Presiding Officer in the last Parliament. From the Conservatives,

another former Deputy, John Scott, hopes to move into the hot seat. And

Murdo Fraser, who try to be Tory leader in 2011, is also looking for

support from fellow MSPs. But Prescott and of the SNP, who had

been widely tipped before the election as a next Presiding

Officer, will not be going for it, with his party needing to hang on to

every one of their 63 votes. Indeed, in Westminster today, the

reverberations from election were still being felt. The Prime

Minister's Government was elected with 37% of the vote. I am sure he

would acknowledge these excess of Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP in being

returned victorious for the third time with 46%. We have something in

common because of course the SNP have gone from majority to minority,

whilst the Conservatives have gone from coalition to majority.

Chairing a session of Parliament whether in Westminster Hall and it

can be a tough job, although the Presiding Officer is rewarded,

receiving an annual salary of ?106,000.

Her West Minister candidates lightly interrupted what was going on there.

Sorry about that! Let's discuss this a bit further

with two political commentators. From the Guardian, we have

Severin Carrell, and we're also joined by the Herald columnist David

Torrance. Good evening to you both. Severin,

who is your money on? I genuinely do not know. That is a lot of

discussion in the press gallery at Holyrood about who are the real

favourites. It seems to be a race between Ken Macintosh and Johann

Lamont. Part of the uncertainty is working in which we SNP MSPs will

go. Obviously, they have 63 votes. They have the biggest bloc. It

depends, really, on how much they think they are going to gain from

having either Johann Lamont or Ken Macintosh in the post. They properly

have good reason to dislike both of them. David Torrance, that is the

key point. You might SNP MSPs back? If Murdo Fraser becomes Presiding

Officer, that is quite an important Conservative frontbencher

neutralised at a time when the Conservatives are looking a bit more

powerful in Holyrood. No disrespect to Murdo Fraser, but am not sure

that is how the SNP view that scenario. I think the SNP's concern

would be more giving the Conservatives another boost when

they have had a boost, as has been widely covered in the election last

week will stop it is fascinating how political tribalism works, but I

suspect that Labour, now that it is no longer a threat in the eyes of

the SNP, would be considered a preferable choice. So it comes down

to the Labour candidates. That is a crowded field. I think Ken Macintosh

is probably in with a good shout. Again, now disrespected Ken, but he

is very mild mannered and perhaps there is the perception he would

give the SNP are slightly easier ride. Johann Lamont is a former

leader, obviously skilled in the cut and thrust of political debate and

might be more assertive. Severin, who would you like to see in the

role? Someone who could be ambassador for the parliament and

make take on a form of reform for the parliament? Someone who has

Johann Lamont's skill set because she has had more senior roles in her

recent political past. There is a lot of talk in Holyrood about

whether or not actually, since she stopped being the Scottish Labour

leader, she has developed a better relationship with more SNP MSPs,

more collegiate behind-the-scenes. Ken Macintosh is seen as... Very

particular in his politics and perhaps more tribal. One of the

things we have to look for is someone who has the ability to be

able to manage different groups and different interests and also

competing egos. With him Johann Lamont would have more experience

doing that as a former party leader. David, we are hearing about

reforming Parliament, from Nicola Sturgeon. We heard from the

Conservatives wanting a parliament with teeth, and Labour as well. What

do you think the priorities are for the new residing officer --

presiding Officer? It will be looking at restoring more

of a balance within Scottish Parliament after five years of a

majority government and I think there is a broad consensus that the

Holyrood parliament work as well as it could when it had the overall

majority, like the 2007 Parliament. Something to consolidate that and

keep it on track. The outgoing presiding officer, Tricia Marwick,

tried that, inspired by the select committee system in the House of

Commons. That is a good model and is one that allows SNPs from all

parties to carve out an alternative career path but it does mean they

have to focus on being ministers. Away from Parliament to Bute House

and government, Nicola Sturgeon was talking about splitting up John

Swinney's roll, having two separate finance and economy briefs.

It is an important decision and it is pretty inevitable, even though

fact Scotland has its own tax and welfare powers coming on and also

the finance secretary in future is going to have more work to do trying

to build consensus around the Budget, giving they have the tiny

shortfall of two seats of a majority. She is candid in

explaining that actually, the Scottish economy is having a rough

patch at the moment so there is a lot of serious headwind to push

through. Implement figures are not looking good and also the GDP

numbers for Scotland are not as healthy as the UK level, despite the

billions borrowed to invest in Scottish services.

Thank you both very much for joining me from Edinburgh.

Highlands: Scotland's Wild Heart is a new BBC TV series that tracks

the seasons and tells the story of the people who live in and shape

some of the country's most spectacular landscapes.

A surprising, shocking element of the series is footage showing

a bull seal eating a seal pup - the first time that kind

The cameraman who filmed that has been telling our reporter

Huw Williams about the making of the series, and you may find

Spring is the busiest time for the animals in the valley. Brown hares,

curlews and stoats are all getting ready for the reading season.

People sometimes forget what is on their own doorstep and through this

series you will reason is he/she is I think you would describe as iconic

as people would like to see when they go to the Highlands. Fantastic

birds like the golden Eagle, ospreys, otters, dolphins and seals

and there is that pressure as well because when it is on your doorstep

you need to do it justice and show it off at its best. I think we have

managed to do that. For me, it is always about the wildlife- watching

birds and animals when I was young and I got into photography. I

actually begin a press photographer after that and then kind of went

full circle when I discovered my passion for wildlife again and I

wanted to do camera work rather than photography. Already pregnant with

kittens, this female is looking for a comfortable nest site, away from

predators. She will either build a dre from twigs and leaves or use an

uninhabited tree. You have got to have that tenacity

and drive to see it out, when you are in a situation when the wildlife

isn't behaving in the way you would hope and you have to sit with it. It

becomes a very much team effort with researchers and producers are aiming

for the same thing. Leaving her offspring alone like

this seems like a high risk G. But the mother needs to feed. --

strategy. The youngster is to young to run away from danger though

hiding is the only option. We see some lovely footage of roe

deer in the spring film and that is a very sensitive girl who have got

her fawn in the grass. The cameramen wouldn't have got that footage if

you didn't know what he was doing and he was sensitive and moved

slowly so he built up those kind of skills.

Cannibalism. The other netball is feasting on the -- the dominant bull

is feasting on the carcass of a pup. This strange behaviour is a recent

discovery. It probably is quite shocking for us

because we associate seals with being quite... Certainly perhaps,

cute with the big black eyes, seeing them behave like this is quite

jarring but it is unique and unusual footage and it is treated very much

like that in the film, where the footage speaks for itself and we

don't embellish or sensationalise it. We kind of alludes to why that

behaviour might be happening but it is such rarely seen behaviour that

it is best guessing at the moment. 50 miles beyond the forest, a pair

of special highland birds have already built a nest.

They are dippers. Birds that are marvellously adapted for life in

this fast changing environment. Britain's only aquatic songbird,

dippers have waterproof plumage to keep them dry and long, flexible

feet for gripping rocks. A lot of the species in the

programme are quite rare and there is a responsibility not to encroach

but I think I would rather people went out and see them for

themselves. It is great for me to film it but there is nothing like

coming and watching wildlife yourself and I would hope that

people would still have a sense of awe and wonder when they go and see

Let's have a look at some of the issues making the news tonight.

I'm joined by the playwright Alan Bissett and by the political

Good evening and thank you for joining. Let's pick up on the

discussion we were having about the oath taking in Parliament tomorrow.

What is your view on that? I think it makes sense and in a modern

democracy the idea that elected representatives have to swear an

oath of allegiance to the Queen or they don't get to take up the seat

doesn't make sense to me and no matter what political party you are

in the idea that you are representing the Scottish people and

you take your mandate from the Scottish people it is difficult to

challenge that. It is something that would modernise the Parliament. Do

you think there should be a choice for MSP two with Mac should they be

allowed to swear the oath or take it from other people? -- for MSPs? Yes,

I do. I would imagine for some people it would feel quite nice to

pledge allegiance but for others it is a betrayal of the political

principles and it is unfair to ask them to do that. 15 or 20 years ago,

when the Scottish Socialist party had six MSPs and everyone of them a

Republican, they were in an extreme situation where they had to pledge

allegiance to the Queen while raising a fist to show that they

didn't back what they were doing so the they could take the option away.

What do you think, Katie? I think lots of good things don't make much

sense and when we modernise sometimes we miss what we have lost.

Sometimes people should maybe have the option but I actually think it

is much better if everybody does the same thing. This is the argument we

will have every time there is a new Scottish parliament and nothing will

be done. I think it is a perfectly nice thing to do and the Queen is a

nonpolitical unifier and she is a symbol of something that is old and

traditional and I think most people... From the opinion polls,

most people still approve of her assertion we should keep going. I

suppose if it wasn't the Queen it would be a president, you have to

have a representative of the people? There has to be a representative in

place but I wouldn't necessarily agree with Katie that the Queen is a

unifying figure. I think she is a political figure and we see various

examples of that. It isn't necessarily the case that there are

numerous people in Scotland who are comfortable with the idea of the

representatives swearing allegiance to the Queen so I didn't see it as

unifying. I think the Queen is the least

physical figure and the notion they should wear to the Scottish people,

the phrasing has become degraded. That is what we are.

That doesn't fit, to be also. Whatever we do people will be

unhappy and the status quo is the best we will get.

We will see what happens tomorrow. In Westminster, reverberations from

the election were being felt and MPs were turning their attention to the

European Union referendum. A rerun of reject fear from the

Prime Minister will not win the European referendum. Stories of war,

genocide and economic crashes are not in keeping with making a

positive case for the EU. Can the Secretary of State tell the house

when we will hear a positive case for remaining in the EU?

When will we hear it, Katie? I think we would be went. The EU

debate has become so polarised and such nonsensical stuff is set on

both sides it is impossible for anybody to make up their minds.

Project fear worked well in the Indian referendum so -- independence

referendum so I think people will carry on doing it.

You were a prominent campaigner in the independence referendum so a

sense of deja vu? Yes. It is often how it works. Use

fear as a tactic to avoid encouraging people to take a chance

or ushering in a new type of politics. You spray the idea of risk

all over the place and that was the tactic during the referendum. It

worked to the extent that it won the referendum but it also exposed the

structure and I think it will be very difficult in future for a

campaign to operate on that basis without people going, here we go

again. It gets people's backs up. It does. I think there are a lot of

people who feel they are told to feel afraid because of an agenda and

that was 100% the case. Katie, do you think that means they

get voters backs up? I don't think it does. I think it

makes people think. It would be better to have a positive case for

coming out and staying in. I don't think it gets people's backs up. I

think it gets people thinking and occasionally people will say, like

the world War three thing, maybe it does annoy them but it does work.

It did work and it is something that politicians are always going to use

bullet I think people often want to feel inspired -- but I think people

will want to feel inspired. They don't want to be told that if you do

this, civilisation is going to collapse.

The SNP is on the side of project fear in this referendum and David

Mandel in the House of Commons said today that, isn't it ironic they are

using the same tactics we used against them when we wanted people

to vote the other way in the referendum?

I was just going to say, that is what David Mandel three back.

Similar arguments are going to be used. -- the real back.

Fair enough. I am undecided. It is an unusual position for me because I

felt fairly certain during the independence referendum. What is not

going to sway me is people telling me that the whole of Britain is

going to collapse. I want to hear a positive case for being part of this

union and if that can't be made, I will have to re-evaluate my

decision. Katie, the electorate now very

sophisticated? Yes. Often they don't listen to the

politicians and try to find out for themselves. It has never been easier

to do that. We will be up to the wire, deciding where to go.

I'll be back here at the same time tomorrow.

Facing destruction, or business as usual?

Where will the BBC be this time tomorrow?

The government is to set out its plans to change the way it's run.

If it didn't already exist you wouldn't invent it,