:00:00. > :00:00.We heard numerous times today that Scotland used to have the best
:00:07. > :00:31.The First Minister has been setting out her priorities for government
:00:32. > :00:36.She insisted improving education was a mission
:00:37. > :00:42.And the second priority is growing Scotland's economy.
:00:43. > :00:46.Consensus is sought around the chamber on the way
:00:47. > :00:56.to achieve both but is that a realistic prospect?
:00:57. > :01:00."Excellence for all" - that's what Scotland's education
:01:01. > :01:02.system should deliver, according to the First Minister.
:01:03. > :01:05.But the Conservatives seem to be left out in the cold
:01:06. > :01:09.as Nicola Sturgeon seeks to build a "progressive majority".
:01:10. > :01:11.As Andrew Black reports, she's looking for others
:01:12. > :01:27.We can make lasting progress towards true equality of opportunity for
:01:28. > :01:30.all. I do suggest respectfully to the SNP
:01:31. > :01:37.bench is that there is more than enough to be getting on with.
:01:38. > :01:39.I look forward to working with the government when we agree and
:01:40. > :01:43.encourage them in the right direction when we do not.
:01:44. > :01:47.In politics, keeping everybody happy all the time is a near impossible
:01:48. > :01:51.task. But that is exactly the kind of sentiment that Nicola Sturgeon
:01:52. > :01:56.went for today when she outlined her plan for government. She pledged
:01:57. > :02:00.equal opportunities for all in Scotland were pledging to boost
:02:01. > :02:09.education, grow the economy and support public services.
:02:10. > :02:12.With the SNP now a minority government, the First Minister is
:02:13. > :02:17.good to have to get her opponents on board to pass laws. But keeping all
:02:18. > :02:23.the political parties happy all of the time, that is also nearly
:02:24. > :02:27.impossible. So Nicola Sturgeon arrive at Parliament in the mood for
:02:28. > :02:30.consensus. Our job is to govern at all times
:02:31. > :02:34.for all of the people of this country. That is what we will always
:02:35. > :02:41.strive to do. As part of that, we will seek to form alliances. I
:02:42. > :02:50.believe there is a clear progressive majority. Where there are regressive
:02:51. > :02:56.Westminster policies such as austerity, the renewal of Trident or
:02:57. > :03:00.degrading human rights, we will seek to join with others to maximise our
:03:01. > :03:04.influence and make our voice heard. So what are the priorities of the
:03:05. > :03:10.government? Top of the list is education. Closing the attainment
:03:11. > :03:18.gap between children from the most and least achieving backgrounds. On
:03:19. > :03:25.the environment, any target to halve greenhouse emissions by 2020. To get
:03:26. > :03:33.the plans passed Parliament, Mrs Sturgeon once the progressive
:03:34. > :03:37.majority she calls to squeeze out the Conservative Party. She said the
:03:38. > :03:43.SNP would have to prove their policies worked.
:03:44. > :03:47.The Conservative group was elected on the promised to provide strong
:03:48. > :03:54.opposition. That does not mean shouting louder, demoting harder or
:03:55. > :03:57.a more frenzied gnashing of teeth. Instead we want to challenge the
:03:58. > :04:02.policies of this government. The government wants support, we will
:04:03. > :04:08.see the evidence that back their plans.
:04:09. > :04:12.Labour said it could have an impact despite being demoted to the third
:04:13. > :04:17.party. The people of Scotland have backed
:04:18. > :04:21.the government with a Parliament that contains an opposition
:04:22. > :04:25.majority. The First Minister can either look to the party of the rate
:04:26. > :04:28.or Progressive parties of the left for support.
:04:29. > :04:35.The message from the smaller parties was largely the same. They also want
:04:36. > :04:40.to urge the SNP to be bold. The Scottish National Party may come
:04:41. > :04:45.to feel entitled to propose its programme but without a majority it
:04:46. > :04:52.will need to convince, compromise and be willing to give ground.
:04:53. > :04:58.We can seek to be aspirational, ambitious, looking to bold solutions
:04:59. > :05:01.for the future, or we can hunt for security in timidity. I think what
:05:02. > :05:07.we have today from the First Minister was the latter.
:05:08. > :05:09.When it comes to the Scottish Government's priorities,
:05:10. > :05:13.independence remains the ultimate goal. It may not have been front and
:05:14. > :05:17.centre of the statement today but watch this space. The campaign to
:05:18. > :05:19.win a majority yes voters restarts this summer.
:05:20. > :05:21.Our political editor, Brian Taylor, caught up
:05:22. > :05:25.He began by asking her if she thought her government should
:05:26. > :05:38.Absolutely. All governments have to have a strong focus on the economy
:05:39. > :05:43.and I have been clear I want my government to do more to support the
:05:44. > :05:47.economy and businesses. That is the reason that when I appointed the new
:05:48. > :05:51.government last week I appointed dedicated cabinet secretary for the
:05:52. > :06:00.economy. Keith Brown's job will be to work with businesses. And the
:06:01. > :06:06.economy more generally to make ... We brought in the small-business
:06:07. > :06:12.owners to left small businesses out of rates. I also signalled a review
:06:13. > :06:16.of economic development organisations and skills agencies to
:06:17. > :06:19.make sure public agencies that are tasked with supporting the economy
:06:20. > :06:25.are providing the right support in the right way and he joined up with.
:06:26. > :06:28.We played an important stress on supporting innovation because there
:06:29. > :06:32.is a lot of evidence that will help us increase productivity. Many of
:06:33. > :06:37.the challenges we are seeing that are specific to the Scottish economy
:06:38. > :06:40.to come from challenges in the oil and gas sector. That is why I still
:06:41. > :06:43.have the task force working intensively with the sector to
:06:44. > :06:50.deliver support. We have also announced funding in training to
:06:51. > :06:53.help companies innovate to deal with those challenges and we continue to
:06:54. > :06:59.actively try to persuade the UK Government to do more in a tax-free
:07:00. > :07:03.sheen. The economy will be a very strong focus.
:07:04. > :07:07.You described education as you're defining mission. You are talking
:07:08. > :07:12.about empowering parents and teachers. Money going direct to the
:07:13. > :07:17.schools. Why not go the whole way and let schools run their own
:07:18. > :07:21.affairs and decide on budgets? I think it is important we don't
:07:22. > :07:25.have postcode lotteries in education. That we have strong
:07:26. > :07:31.national arrangements in things like teacher and pupil ratio. So that we
:07:32. > :07:36.can guarantee the country gets a good education. But I am passionate
:07:37. > :07:41.about giving headteachers and great teachers more autonomy and
:07:42. > :07:48.empowering them to influence the lives of their schools.
:07:49. > :07:52.So more power? More autonomy in their schools. I
:07:53. > :07:57.don't want there to be a disagreement tween schools and local
:07:58. > :08:02.authorities. The best schools I see are the ones with strong
:08:03. > :08:05.headteachers, great teachers and great parental and community
:08:06. > :08:10.involvement so that is why I have signalled, and it will start next
:08:11. > :08:11.year, that more money will go directly to schools and
:08:12. > :08:23.headteachers. Is the concern that it gets sucked
:08:24. > :08:28.into the mole? The concern is that the money does
:08:29. > :08:32.not get to where it is needed them most. One of the things we are
:08:33. > :08:35.starting discussions on as a new formula for distributing money to
:08:36. > :08:40.schools to make sure money is getting to schools with the greatest
:08:41. > :08:43.need so we are actively supporting people from disadvantaged
:08:44. > :08:45.backgrounds or areas of poverty or rural and promote areas.
:08:46. > :08:50.Is that determined centrally by government?
:08:51. > :08:59.We will do that in the formula but do it with local authorities.
:09:00. > :09:02.It is important to say that we have a good education system.
:09:03. > :09:05.Many things going the right direction but began between the
:09:06. > :09:11.poorest kids and the most well-off is not acceptable and that is what I
:09:12. > :09:15.have targeted as a priority. Talking about the European Union,
:09:16. > :09:19.you refer to that in your statement, advocating continued membership for
:09:20. > :09:24.Scotland. It is being debated in Parliament tomorrow. You and David
:09:25. > :09:28.Cameron are on the same side on this one so why did you attack him
:09:29. > :09:34.earlier this week? That is hardly helpful, is it?
:09:35. > :09:38.I am not attacking him, I am simply passionate about seeing Scotland in
:09:39. > :09:41.the UK. I think it would send a grateful message to turn our back on
:09:42. > :09:49.an organisation that has helped maintain peace across the continent
:09:50. > :09:54.for 60 years. That opens up a market for 500 million people.
:09:55. > :09:58.But you did attack him because he said his argument for overblown and
:09:59. > :10:03.his case was overstated. It is hardly friendly.
:10:04. > :10:10.I remember in the independence debate people being scared. There
:10:11. > :10:13.are positive reasons to stay in the European Union. I would prefer
:10:14. > :10:18.Scotland to be an independent nation in there. It is aimed at people
:10:19. > :10:22.across Scotland who want to see the positive reasons.
:10:23. > :10:33.Some doubt that. Willie Rennie said you were trashing the case.
:10:34. > :10:37.Tom Harris welcomes you as a convert to the Vote Leave team. The serious
:10:38. > :10:42.point is that some people suggest you refer a vote to quit because it
:10:43. > :10:47.allows you to settle and independence in Scotland referendum.
:10:48. > :10:52.I know you are putting it to me from other people and it is not using
:10:53. > :10:56.that but that is illogical. If you went along this Machiavellian route
:10:57. > :11:05.to try and bring something about by another purpose, that would argument
:11:06. > :11:09.would fall apart of Scotland democratically voted to come out of
:11:10. > :11:14.the European Union. But that is not my motivation. I want Scotland to
:11:15. > :11:18.stay in and the rest of the UK to stay in and I will do what I can to
:11:19. > :11:22.bring about that vote and one of the things I can do is to accentuate the
:11:23. > :11:25.positive and say to people in Scotland who are deeply sceptical
:11:26. > :11:28.about the Treasury and the UK Government, even if you do not trust
:11:29. > :11:32.them, there are many reasons to stay in.
:11:33. > :11:39.Do you believe the Prime Minister's arguments stating the loss of jobs,
:11:40. > :11:43.the Treasury case, do you believe, if you call it overblown and
:11:44. > :11:46.overstated, is that making it more likely or probable or possible that
:11:47. > :11:54.people in Britain will vote to leave? Is there that danger?
:11:55. > :11:56.I'm going to accentuate the positive in this interview and for the
:11:57. > :12:02.remainder of the campaign. I think there would be a bad economic impact
:12:03. > :12:15.if we were taken out of the single market. If Scotland came out of the
:12:16. > :12:21.UK and came out of the single market that would have a negative impact.
:12:22. > :12:24.But there are many positive reasons and I will accentuate those. I
:12:25. > :12:27.believe it is better to enthuse people so I will play my part in
:12:28. > :12:30.making people feel good about going to the polling station on the 23rd
:12:31. > :12:32.of June tooth stay in the European Union because that is the outcome I
:12:33. > :12:33.want. Well, picking over that interview
:12:34. > :12:35.in our Dundee studio is Murdo Fraser -
:12:36. > :12:37.the Scottish Conservatives And in Edinburgh, Iain Gray,
:12:38. > :12:42.Scottish Labours' newly confirmed Education,
:12:43. > :12:56.Skills and Science spokesperson. The First Minister seems to want to
:12:57. > :13:00.see the Tories out in the cold with a nod to the other parties'
:13:01. > :13:04.manifestos. How do you feel about that?
:13:05. > :13:07.I think Nicola Sturgeon has to remember that even though she
:13:08. > :13:10.reached the largest party in the Scottish Parliament she did not get
:13:11. > :13:15.a majority in the recent election and in that respect the SNP are a
:13:16. > :13:21.party in decline. They have fewer seats than last time and no longer
:13:22. > :13:23.have a majority. They want to get the programme to a Scottish
:13:24. > :13:27.parliament, they are going to have to reach out to parties on all sides
:13:28. > :13:36.of the chamber. We are going to contribute on any constructive way
:13:37. > :13:41.on issues such as education. I was interested to see in that interview,
:13:42. > :13:46.Nicola Sturgeon open to this idea of giving schools more autonomy.
:13:47. > :13:50.I want to get onto that in a second but you have been elected to the a
:13:51. > :13:54.strong opposition but you actually makes be frustrated with the other
:13:55. > :13:56.parties running rings around you to keep the conservative side in the
:13:57. > :14:02.cold. If we are going to have a soggy
:14:03. > :14:07.centre-left consensus in Scotland then this will continue the dismal
:14:08. > :14:12.failures of the last nine years. We will rigorously oppose that. I think
:14:13. > :14:16.the SNP will be more open to the ideas from across the chamber
:14:17. > :14:21.wherever they come from. We have lots of ideas on education which I'm
:14:22. > :14:28.sure will get onto. It would be foolish for the SNP when they have
:14:29. > :14:31.lost their majority and are party in decline not to listen to a party
:14:32. > :14:36.that more than doubled its representation. And that is neither
:14:37. > :14:41.major party of opposition, the Scottish Conservatives.
:14:42. > :14:47.A whole host of ideas being put forward by the Conservatives. What
:14:48. > :14:54.was the Labour Party's contribution today? All I remember was Kezia
:14:55. > :14:58.Dugdale talking about cuts which didn't work before the election.
:14:59. > :15:01.It is not a well worn record. It is part of the reality in which the
:15:02. > :15:06.First Minister made her statement today. Reality she ignored. She
:15:07. > :15:10.talked in the interview there about how we distribute resources to
:15:11. > :15:17.schools and more of them being distributed directly to schools and
:15:18. > :15:19.we agree with that. But the fundamental issue is that
:15:20. > :15:24.year-on-year those resources are shrinking so rather more important
:15:25. > :15:29.than how we distribute resources to schools is making sure that actually
:15:30. > :15:33.we invest enough in our education system so that it can move towards
:15:34. > :15:40.the excellence which indeed everybody across the chamber today
:15:41. > :15:43.was calling for. Over the past five years, education budgets of fallen
:15:44. > :15:48.by 10%. That is the real problem that is causing a crisis in our
:15:49. > :15:50.education system. Unless that is resolved, then none of these then
:15:51. > :16:00.things will make the difference we Perhaps making that difference, as
:16:01. > :16:05.the First Minister pointed out, was maybe more money going directly to
:16:06. > :16:09.schools and head teachers. It almost sounds like the Conservatives will
:16:10. > :16:14.no doubt support that, it almost sounds like the Academy 's plan, it
:16:15. > :16:17.sounds like a good Labour idea and you're the ones left out in the cold
:16:18. > :16:24.in this idea, aren't you? Not at all. Really, the SNP and this is the
:16:25. > :16:29.point Kezia Dugdale was making, has a choice here when it comes to
:16:30. > :16:33.education. They can create a progressive alliance to invest in
:16:34. > :16:36.our education system, to make sure that those children from poor
:16:37. > :16:40.families, wherever they live or go to school, get the support they
:16:41. > :16:47.need, or they can turn to the Conservatives with this idea of
:16:48. > :16:50.freeing schools from the hand of local authorities. That's not how
:16:51. > :16:54.it's being betrayed by the First Minister. Do you support to schools
:16:55. > :16:58.having more money, head teachers having more money, to do with they
:16:59. > :17:02.want to do with the? It was part of our manifesto that our fair start
:17:03. > :17:08.fund would be directed to schools, but the reason for that was that
:17:09. > :17:12.most to schools in Scotland have not benefited at all from the additional
:17:13. > :17:16.resources which the First Minister was talking about there. When she
:17:17. > :17:20.talked about the problems of making sure that money gets to the right
:17:21. > :17:25.place in our education system, what she didn't make clear was what's
:17:26. > :17:28.been going wrong with that is, for the last two years, additional
:17:29. > :17:32.resources to close the attainment gap have almost entirely been spent
:17:33. > :17:37.in six local authorities in the west of Scotland. Children have not
:17:38. > :17:41.benefited across Scotland. The First Minister's Government was the one
:17:42. > :17:44.making that mistake. How far would you go to seek the First Minister
:17:45. > :17:53.with Al-Qaeda policy, more money going directly to schools, directly
:17:54. > :17:58.to head teachers? -- that policy. We are not quick to disagree with the
:17:59. > :18:03.SNP for the sake of it, where they are adopting ideas that we ourselves
:18:04. > :18:06.have previously suggested. If the direction of travel is towards more
:18:07. > :18:11.school autonomy, empowering head teachers, giving schools more
:18:12. > :18:16.freedom over the just, proper Alec occasion of the money that is to be
:18:17. > :18:18.focused on deprived students rather than an arbitrary user postcodes,
:18:19. > :18:23.then absolutely we would support that. I think the idea of a more
:18:24. > :18:27.diverse education system, try to learn from some of the good examples
:18:28. > :18:30.of what's happening elsewhere in the United Kingdom or elsewhere in
:18:31. > :18:36.Europe, where we know that having for example specialist schools in
:18:37. > :18:40.science or technology, it is a great way of engaging youngsters who are
:18:41. > :18:46.perhaps not so engaged in a broader academic curriculum, but deliver far
:18:47. > :18:49.better results and actually helps them in their terms of opportunities
:18:50. > :18:54.to get into the workplace. These are all things we can do. At a lower
:18:55. > :18:58.level, a primary level, it's a much better focus on the basic skills of
:18:59. > :19:01.numeracy and literacy, where our record in recent years is that we've
:19:02. > :19:07.actually been going backwards of the country in terms of the standards.
:19:08. > :19:11.That means perhaps a greater focus on the basic skills and to be filled
:19:12. > :19:15.with this talk of national testing, something the SNP you are ready to
:19:16. > :19:17.get onboard, we will be a constructive opposition, will oppose
:19:18. > :19:22.things we don't like, but where they doing things we have previously
:19:23. > :19:25.suggested, the pitiful hearted support. This is a question to all
:19:26. > :19:29.parties and politicians in Holyrood, have the polish politicians just
:19:30. > :19:37.woken up to education being an issue that needs to be addressed? Know, if
:19:38. > :19:40.we go way back to the days of Jack McConnell and we have the national
:19:41. > :19:44.Guard position on education which concerted the curriculum for
:19:45. > :19:46.excellence, when Labour was part of the Scottish Government, education
:19:47. > :19:52.was always the top priority, the question we have to ask is why is it
:19:53. > :19:55.taken nine years, nine years, for the SNP to wake up to the fact that
:19:56. > :20:00.this is the biggest investment we can make in our future, both the
:20:01. > :20:04.fairness of our future society but also our economic prosperity. Thank
:20:05. > :20:06.you both very much for joining us. Today during Prime
:20:07. > :20:07.Minister's Questions - or rather Chancellor's Questions -
:20:08. > :20:10.Labour's Angela Eagle was standing in for Jeremy Corbyn,
:20:11. > :20:15.while George Osborne replaced The two argued over whose
:20:16. > :20:18.party was more divided, with Angela Eagle criticising
:20:19. > :20:20.the referendum and George Osborne admitting the Tories
:20:21. > :20:34.are split over Brexit. Mr Speaker, while Labour is
:20:35. > :20:38.campaigning to ensure the UK remains in the European Union, because it is
:20:39. > :20:42.the best way to defend rights at work, as well as jobs and
:20:43. > :20:49.prosperity, the party opposite is split right down the middle, ... I
:20:50. > :20:52.don't think it's any great revelation that different
:20:53. > :20:57.Conservative MPs have different views on the European Union. That is
:20:58. > :21:01.why we are having a referendum, because this issue does divide
:21:02. > :21:07.parties and families and friends, and we made a commitment in our
:21:08. > :21:14.manifesto that the British people would decide this question. And I
:21:15. > :21:18.might just observed that if she wants to talk about divisions in
:21:19. > :21:21.parties, whilst she is sitting here, the leader of the Labour Party is
:21:22. > :21:25.sitting at home wondering whether to impeach the former leader of the
:21:26. > :21:30.Labour Party for war crimes. The states could not be higher, and yet
:21:31. > :21:36.this is a Government adrift at the mercy of its own rebel back benches,
:21:37. > :21:40.unable to get their agenda through Parliament, instead of providing the
:21:41. > :21:43.leadership that the country needs, they are fighting a bitter proxy war
:21:44. > :21:49.of the leadership of their own party and I noticed that no outer, all the
:21:50. > :21:50.Brexit supporters have been banished from the front bench.
:21:51. > :21:53.So let's pick up on that exchange now with some more guests -
:21:54. > :21:55.we've got Tom Gordon, the political editor
:21:56. > :21:56.of the Sunday Herald, and Andrea Mullaney,
:21:57. > :22:06.Good evening to both of you. First of all, quite a refreshing change in
:22:07. > :22:13.the House of Commons. Good lines from the two protagonist today, but
:22:14. > :22:17.probably sitting in front, quite split party over different issues.
:22:18. > :22:21.It's refreshing because it's become their reformulated in Prime Minister
:22:22. > :22:25.Questions. Jeremy Corbyn has is in box correspondence, raising
:22:26. > :22:28.complaints over enough, David Cameron tends to dismiss Jeremy
:22:29. > :22:35.Corbyn is hopeless. It's interesting to see Chancellor George Osborne
:22:36. > :22:41.addition into for the role of PM and Angela Eagle, a very welcome female
:22:42. > :22:44.voice, but it ended in a draw because they both had to recognise
:22:45. > :22:50.that their parties were split. She tried to exploit the Tory splits
:22:51. > :22:54.over Europe and Osborne started off, said we are split over Europe but
:22:55. > :22:58.everyone is split over Europe. He pointed out that Labour is lit over
:22:59. > :23:02.Corbyn's leadership. And when you look at it, people watching at home,
:23:03. > :23:05.people often say, we don't like to see parties split, but boy are those
:23:06. > :23:11.two parties having their difficulties at the moment! I wonder
:23:12. > :23:14.if we sometimes give too much way to Prime Minister's Question Time. It
:23:15. > :23:18.is something, I wonder how much people at home really engage with, I
:23:19. > :23:23.am for anything that shakes it up. It can be dreadfully repetitive,
:23:24. > :23:28.these playground childish insults thrown backwards and forwards, this
:23:29. > :23:32.is an open goal, both parties at the moment have an open goal for the
:23:33. > :23:38.other two shooter. But do we ever really get a proper debate out of
:23:39. > :23:41.it? Does it ever really connect with people in the country rather than
:23:42. > :23:47.political journalist and media people and people are ready
:23:48. > :23:50.interested in politics? I'm not sure it ever cuts through. You could
:23:51. > :23:55.argue about who scored more points today, but does it take us anywhere
:23:56. > :23:59.forward? Doesn't really give people any information that they didn't
:24:00. > :24:05.have before? Isn't just of interest to a very small clique in backing up
:24:06. > :24:08.both sides? It could feel a little bit like an in joke, but one of the
:24:09. > :24:13.big joke that Jeremy Corbyn was probably sitting watching it at
:24:14. > :24:18.home, waiting to see how Angela Eagle was getting on. Exactly, I
:24:19. > :24:22.think that George Osborne recognised that and sort of played on it.
:24:23. > :24:26.Reminded the Labour back benches rather crudely that Jeremy Corbyn
:24:27. > :24:28.will be back next week and the mystery and baggage he brings with
:24:29. > :24:32.it will be back next week, he made the point that Jeremy Corbyn is
:24:33. > :24:37.possibly the "Contemplating whether Tony Blair, one of his predecessors,
:24:38. > :24:40.ought to be indicted over Iraq. Let's move onto our second story
:24:41. > :24:46.today, alcohol consumption in Appleton 's Colin has increased for
:24:47. > :24:55.the second year, according to a new report by NHS health Scotland. --
:24:56. > :24:58.has increased. Its affordability, a combination of alcohol price, which
:24:59. > :25:01.we've seen flattened through supermarkets and off licenses in the
:25:02. > :25:05.past couple of years, we've also seen increases in household
:25:06. > :25:09.disposable income, so in competition we suspect that it is these factors
:25:10. > :25:15.which are driving the latest trends. So sales in Scotland when the
:25:16. > :25:18.percent higher than that in England, suppose it goes to show that
:25:19. > :25:22.Scotland's relationship in the way back without hope continues to be
:25:23. > :25:29.problematic, and hearing those that even more problematic. We know that
:25:30. > :25:33.is high, there's cultural history, many reasons to do with deprivation,
:25:34. > :25:36.industrialization, deindustrialization, all that, but
:25:37. > :25:41.that seems even higher than we account for. A lot of questions need
:25:42. > :25:47.to be asked, one is why the minimum pricing has not been able to be
:25:48. > :25:52.brought in, it was supposed to be delete come including the Scottish
:25:53. > :25:55.whisky industry arguing it would affect her cells, but interestingly
:25:56. > :25:59.this research shows today that it's not whisky or anything like that,
:26:00. > :26:05.not the high-end stuff, vodka and cheap spirits are fuelling this huge
:26:06. > :26:09.rise. There are questions to be asked as to why it is quite as high,
:26:10. > :26:13.even higher than the north of England. On that point, the Scottish
:26:14. > :26:17.Government reiterating the necessity they believe for minimum unit
:26:18. > :26:21.pricing to be brought in. But of course European judges have handed
:26:22. > :26:24.that decision back to Scottish courts. It seems a very
:26:25. > :26:28.straightforward correlation between price and consumption, after the
:26:29. > :26:33.crash in 2008 in 2013, alcohol prices were relatively buoyant, they
:26:34. > :26:36.were going up. Convention went down. The last two years, prices have been
:26:37. > :26:41.flat and consumption has started to rise again. There was a direct
:26:42. > :26:47.correlation. I think were it to be brought in, minimum pricing, I think
:26:48. > :26:50.it would be a fairly consensual measure how medieval recognise that
:26:51. > :26:54.there was a problem with alcohol in Scotland. I don't think it is the
:26:55. > :26:57.Scottish whisky Association any credit that they've stymied this by
:26:58. > :27:02.taking it to Europe to protect what is in effect got brought boos at the
:27:03. > :27:05.cheap end of the market. Reflect, do you sense a real frustration from
:27:06. > :27:10.the Scottish Government that is tied up? Absolutely, for years in the
:27:11. > :27:16.legislation was passed. It's been to the court session, the European
:27:17. > :27:18.Court of Justice, kick back to the Scottish Court, could go to the
:27:19. > :27:22.European Supreme Court and for a measure which I think probably has
:27:23. > :27:26.public support. It must be very frustrating. With pick-up on what we
:27:27. > :27:30.began at the top of the programme, education the main priority for the
:27:31. > :27:35.Scottish Government. He saw the discussion we had with the
:27:36. > :27:39.politicians. Obviously the SNP, the independence referendum is over,
:27:40. > :27:42.it's in the past, it feels like it's still going on, but is in the past.
:27:43. > :27:46.The stopping to be another one this year, next year, in the near future.
:27:47. > :27:50.They've got to have a new focus, to fire up their base, get people
:27:51. > :27:53.excited. They are focused on education, something that everyone
:27:54. > :27:57.agrees is important, there are serious problems. As was pointed
:27:58. > :28:02.out, it is always at the top of parties' agenda setting ways. I
:28:03. > :28:07.would like to see radical ideas, really push forward with this, but
:28:08. > :28:12.it does sound very managerial position, the way that Nicola
:28:13. > :28:17.Sturgeon was arguing it. How to you make it -- what you make of it? Is
:28:18. > :28:21.what we expected on the back of the manifesto, the push on education and
:28:22. > :28:25.economy. There are interesting undercurrents out there in the SNP
:28:26. > :28:28.plans, these were two things in the foreground, as promised. There was
:28:29. > :28:31.talk in the manifesto and also in today's speech on reform, some of
:28:32. > :28:37.the big institutions that deliver public services like the enterprise
:28:38. > :28:40.agencies, councils, health boards, I think there's good to be an
:28:41. > :28:46.interesting period of reform coming up in this Parliament. They give
:28:47. > :28:47.very much for joining me. -- thank you very much for joining me.
:28:48. > :28:51.Shelley's back again tomorrow night, usual time.
:28:52. > :28:59.So do please join her then - bye-bye.
:29:00. > :29:05.We haven't really wakened up to the implications of Brexit for Scotland.
:29:06. > :29:12.both in Scotland and abroad to find out.
:29:13. > :29:17.We've built our business models around EU membership,
:29:18. > :29:21.Brussels seemed to have more and more control.