25/05/2016 Scotland 2016

We heard numerous times today that Scotland used to have the best

The First Minister has been setting out her priorities for government

She insisted improving education was a mission

And the second priority is growing Scotland's economy.

Consensus is sought around the chamber on the way

to achieve both but is that a realistic prospect?

"Excellence for all" - that's what Scotland's education

system should deliver, according to the First Minister.

But the Conservatives seem to be left out in the cold

as Nicola Sturgeon seeks to build a "progressive majority".

As Andrew Black reports, she's looking for others

We can make lasting progress towards true equality of opportunity for

all. I do suggest respectfully to the SNP

bench is that there is more than enough to be getting on with.

I look forward to working with the government when we agree and

encourage them in the right direction when we do not.

In politics, keeping everybody happy all the time is a near impossible

task. But that is exactly the kind of sentiment that Nicola Sturgeon

went for today when she outlined her plan for government. She pledged

equal opportunities for all in Scotland were pledging to boost

education, grow the economy and support public services.

With the SNP now a minority government, the First Minister is

good to have to get her opponents on board to pass laws. But keeping all

the political parties happy all of the time, that is also nearly

impossible. So Nicola Sturgeon arrive at Parliament in the mood for

consensus. Our job is to govern at all times

for all of the people of this country. That is what we will always

strive to do. As part of that, we will seek to form alliances. I

believe there is a clear progressive majority. Where there are regressive

Westminster policies such as austerity, the renewal of Trident or

degrading human rights, we will seek to join with others to maximise our

influence and make our voice heard. So what are the priorities of the

government? Top of the list is education. Closing the attainment

gap between children from the most and least achieving backgrounds. On

the environment, any target to halve greenhouse emissions by 2020. To get

the plans passed Parliament, Mrs Sturgeon once the progressive

majority she calls to squeeze out the Conservative Party. She said the

SNP would have to prove their policies worked.

The Conservative group was elected on the promised to provide strong

opposition. That does not mean shouting louder, demoting harder or

a more frenzied gnashing of teeth. Instead we want to challenge the

policies of this government. The government wants support, we will

see the evidence that back their plans.

Labour said it could have an impact despite being demoted to the third

party. The people of Scotland have backed

the government with a Parliament that contains an opposition

majority. The First Minister can either look to the party of the rate

or Progressive parties of the left for support.

The message from the smaller parties was largely the same. They also want

to urge the SNP to be bold. The Scottish National Party may come

to feel entitled to propose its programme but without a majority it

will need to convince, compromise and be willing to give ground.

We can seek to be aspirational, ambitious, looking to bold solutions

for the future, or we can hunt for security in timidity. I think what

we have today from the First Minister was the latter.

When it comes to the Scottish Government's priorities,

independence remains the ultimate goal. It may not have been front and

centre of the statement today but watch this space. The campaign to

win a majority yes voters restarts this summer.

Our political editor, Brian Taylor, caught up

He began by asking her if she thought her government should

Absolutely. All governments have to have a strong focus on the economy

and I have been clear I want my government to do more to support the

economy and businesses. That is the reason that when I appointed the new

government last week I appointed dedicated cabinet secretary for the

economy. Keith Brown's job will be to work with businesses. And the

economy more generally to make ... We brought in the small-business

owners to left small businesses out of rates. I also signalled a review

of economic development organisations and skills agencies to

make sure public agencies that are tasked with supporting the economy

are providing the right support in the right way and he joined up with.

We played an important stress on supporting innovation because there

is a lot of evidence that will help us increase productivity. Many of

the challenges we are seeing that are specific to the Scottish economy

to come from challenges in the oil and gas sector. That is why I still

have the task force working intensively with the sector to

deliver support. We have also announced funding in training to

help companies innovate to deal with those challenges and we continue to

actively try to persuade the UK Government to do more in a tax-free

sheen. The economy will be a very strong focus.

You described education as you're defining mission. You are talking

about empowering parents and teachers. Money going direct to the

schools. Why not go the whole way and let schools run their own

affairs and decide on budgets? I think it is important we don't

have postcode lotteries in education. That we have strong

national arrangements in things like teacher and pupil ratio. So that we

can guarantee the country gets a good education. But I am passionate

about giving headteachers and great teachers more autonomy and

empowering them to influence the lives of their schools.

So more power? More autonomy in their schools. I

don't want there to be a disagreement tween schools and local

authorities. The best schools I see are the ones with strong

headteachers, great teachers and great parental and community

involvement so that is why I have signalled, and it will start next

year, that more money will go directly to schools and

headteachers. Is the concern that it gets sucked

into the mole? The concern is that the money does

not get to where it is needed them most. One of the things we are

starting discussions on as a new formula for distributing money to

schools to make sure money is getting to schools with the greatest

need so we are actively supporting people from disadvantaged

backgrounds or areas of poverty or rural and promote areas.

Is that determined centrally by government?

We will do that in the formula but do it with local authorities.

It is important to say that we have a good education system.

Many things going the right direction but began between the

poorest kids and the most well-off is not acceptable and that is what I

have targeted as a priority. Talking about the European Union,

you refer to that in your statement, advocating continued membership for

Scotland. It is being debated in Parliament tomorrow. You and David

Cameron are on the same side on this one so why did you attack him

earlier this week? That is hardly helpful, is it?

I am not attacking him, I am simply passionate about seeing Scotland in

the UK. I think it would send a grateful message to turn our back on

an organisation that has helped maintain peace across the continent

for 60 years. That opens up a market for 500 million people.

But you did attack him because he said his argument for overblown and

his case was overstated. It is hardly friendly.

I remember in the independence debate people being scared. There

are positive reasons to stay in the European Union. I would prefer

Scotland to be an independent nation in there. It is aimed at people

across Scotland who want to see the positive reasons.

Some doubt that. Willie Rennie said you were trashing the case.

Tom Harris welcomes you as a convert to the Vote Leave team. The serious

point is that some people suggest you refer a vote to quit because it

allows you to settle and independence in Scotland referendum.

I know you are putting it to me from other people and it is not using

that but that is illogical. If you went along this Machiavellian route

to try and bring something about by another purpose, that would argument

would fall apart of Scotland democratically voted to come out of

the European Union. But that is not my motivation. I want Scotland to

stay in and the rest of the UK to stay in and I will do what I can to

bring about that vote and one of the things I can do is to accentuate the

positive and say to people in Scotland who are deeply sceptical

about the Treasury and the UK Government, even if you do not trust

them, there are many reasons to stay in.

Do you believe the Prime Minister's arguments stating the loss of jobs,

the Treasury case, do you believe, if you call it overblown and

overstated, is that making it more likely or probable or possible that

people in Britain will vote to leave? Is there that danger?

I'm going to accentuate the positive in this interview and for the

remainder of the campaign. I think there would be a bad economic impact

if we were taken out of the single market. If Scotland came out of the

UK and came out of the single market that would have a negative impact.

But there are many positive reasons and I will accentuate those. I

believe it is better to enthuse people so I will play my part in

making people feel good about going to the polling station on the 23rd

of June tooth stay in the European Union because that is the outcome I

want. Well, picking over that interview

in our Dundee studio is Murdo Fraser -

the Scottish Conservatives And in Edinburgh, Iain Gray,

Scottish Labours' newly confirmed Education,

Skills and Science spokesperson. The First Minister seems to want to

see the Tories out in the cold with a nod to the other parties'

manifestos. How do you feel about that?

I think Nicola Sturgeon has to remember that even though she

reached the largest party in the Scottish Parliament she did not get

a majority in the recent election and in that respect the SNP are a

party in decline. They have fewer seats than last time and no longer

have a majority. They want to get the programme to a Scottish

parliament, they are going to have to reach out to parties on all sides

of the chamber. We are going to contribute on any constructive way

on issues such as education. I was interested to see in that interview,

Nicola Sturgeon open to this idea of giving schools more autonomy.

I want to get onto that in a second but you have been elected to the a

strong opposition but you actually makes be frustrated with the other

parties running rings around you to keep the conservative side in the

cold. If we are going to have a soggy

centre-left consensus in Scotland then this will continue the dismal

failures of the last nine years. We will rigorously oppose that. I think

the SNP will be more open to the ideas from across the chamber

wherever they come from. We have lots of ideas on education which I'm

sure will get onto. It would be foolish for the SNP when they have

lost their majority and are party in decline not to listen to a party

that more than doubled its representation. And that is neither

major party of opposition, the Scottish Conservatives.

A whole host of ideas being put forward by the Conservatives. What

was the Labour Party's contribution today? All I remember was Kezia

Dugdale talking about cuts which didn't work before the election.

It is not a well worn record. It is part of the reality in which the

First Minister made her statement today. Reality she ignored. She

talked in the interview there about how we distribute resources to

schools and more of them being distributed directly to schools and

we agree with that. But the fundamental issue is that

year-on-year those resources are shrinking so rather more important

than how we distribute resources to schools is making sure that actually

we invest enough in our education system so that it can move towards

the excellence which indeed everybody across the chamber today

was calling for. Over the past five years, education budgets of fallen

by 10%. That is the real problem that is causing a crisis in our

education system. Unless that is resolved, then none of these then

things will make the difference we Perhaps making that difference, as

the First Minister pointed out, was maybe more money going directly to

schools and head teachers. It almost sounds like the Conservatives will

no doubt support that, it almost sounds like the Academy 's plan, it

sounds like a good Labour idea and you're the ones left out in the cold

in this idea, aren't you? Not at all. Really, the SNP and this is the

point Kezia Dugdale was making, has a choice here when it comes to

education. They can create a progressive alliance to invest in

our education system, to make sure that those children from poor

families, wherever they live or go to school, get the support they

need, or they can turn to the Conservatives with this idea of

freeing schools from the hand of local authorities. That's not how

it's being betrayed by the First Minister. Do you support to schools

having more money, head teachers having more money, to do with they

want to do with the? It was part of our manifesto that our fair start

fund would be directed to schools, but the reason for that was that

most to schools in Scotland have not benefited at all from the additional

resources which the First Minister was talking about there. When she

talked about the problems of making sure that money gets to the right

place in our education system, what she didn't make clear was what's

been going wrong with that is, for the last two years, additional

resources to close the attainment gap have almost entirely been spent

in six local authorities in the west of Scotland. Children have not

benefited across Scotland. The First Minister's Government was the one

making that mistake. How far would you go to seek the First Minister

with Al-Qaeda policy, more money going directly to schools, directly

to head teachers? -- that policy. We are not quick to disagree with the

SNP for the sake of it, where they are adopting ideas that we ourselves

have previously suggested. If the direction of travel is towards more

school autonomy, empowering head teachers, giving schools more

freedom over the just, proper Alec occasion of the money that is to be

focused on deprived students rather than an arbitrary user postcodes,

then absolutely we would support that. I think the idea of a more

diverse education system, try to learn from some of the good examples

of what's happening elsewhere in the United Kingdom or elsewhere in

Europe, where we know that having for example specialist schools in

science or technology, it is a great way of engaging youngsters who are

perhaps not so engaged in a broader academic curriculum, but deliver far

better results and actually helps them in their terms of opportunities

to get into the workplace. These are all things we can do. At a lower

level, a primary level, it's a much better focus on the basic skills of

numeracy and literacy, where our record in recent years is that we've

actually been going backwards of the country in terms of the standards.

That means perhaps a greater focus on the basic skills and to be filled

with this talk of national testing, something the SNP you are ready to

get onboard, we will be a constructive opposition, will oppose

things we don't like, but where they doing things we have previously

suggested, the pitiful hearted support. This is a question to all

parties and politicians in Holyrood, have the polish politicians just

woken up to education being an issue that needs to be addressed? Know, if

we go way back to the days of Jack McConnell and we have the national

Guard position on education which concerted the curriculum for

excellence, when Labour was part of the Scottish Government, education

was always the top priority, the question we have to ask is why is it

taken nine years, nine years, for the SNP to wake up to the fact that

this is the biggest investment we can make in our future, both the

fairness of our future society but also our economic prosperity. Thank

you both very much for joining us. Today during Prime

Minister's Questions - or rather Chancellor's Questions -

Labour's Angela Eagle was standing in for Jeremy Corbyn,

while George Osborne replaced The two argued over whose

party was more divided, with Angela Eagle criticising

the referendum and George Osborne admitting the Tories

are split over Brexit. Mr Speaker, while Labour is

campaigning to ensure the UK remains in the European Union, because it is

the best way to defend rights at work, as well as jobs and

prosperity, the party opposite is split right down the middle, ... I

don't think it's any great revelation that different

Conservative MPs have different views on the European Union. That is

why we are having a referendum, because this issue does divide

parties and families and friends, and we made a commitment in our

manifesto that the British people would decide this question. And I

might just observed that if she wants to talk about divisions in

parties, whilst she is sitting here, the leader of the Labour Party is

sitting at home wondering whether to impeach the former leader of the

Labour Party for war crimes. The states could not be higher, and yet

this is a Government adrift at the mercy of its own rebel back benches,

unable to get their agenda through Parliament, instead of providing the

leadership that the country needs, they are fighting a bitter proxy war

of the leadership of their own party and I noticed that no outer, all the

Brexit supporters have been banished from the front bench.

So let's pick up on that exchange now with some more guests -

we've got Tom Gordon, the political editor

of the Sunday Herald, and Andrea Mullaney,

Good evening to both of you. First of all, quite a refreshing change in

the House of Commons. Good lines from the two protagonist today, but

probably sitting in front, quite split party over different issues.

It's refreshing because it's become their reformulated in Prime Minister

Questions. Jeremy Corbyn has is in box correspondence, raising

complaints over enough, David Cameron tends to dismiss Jeremy

Corbyn is hopeless. It's interesting to see Chancellor George Osborne

addition into for the role of PM and Angela Eagle, a very welcome female

voice, but it ended in a draw because they both had to recognise

that their parties were split. She tried to exploit the Tory splits

over Europe and Osborne started off, said we are split over Europe but

everyone is split over Europe. He pointed out that Labour is lit over

Corbyn's leadership. And when you look at it, people watching at home,

people often say, we don't like to see parties split, but boy are those

two parties having their difficulties at the moment! I wonder

if we sometimes give too much way to Prime Minister's Question Time. It

is something, I wonder how much people at home really engage with, I

am for anything that shakes it up. It can be dreadfully repetitive,

these playground childish insults thrown backwards and forwards, this

is an open goal, both parties at the moment have an open goal for the

other two shooter. But do we ever really get a proper debate out of

it? Does it ever really connect with people in the country rather than

political journalist and media people and people are ready

interested in politics? I'm not sure it ever cuts through. You could

argue about who scored more points today, but does it take us anywhere

forward? Doesn't really give people any information that they didn't

have before? Isn't just of interest to a very small clique in backing up

both sides? It could feel a little bit like an in joke, but one of the

big joke that Jeremy Corbyn was probably sitting watching it at

home, waiting to see how Angela Eagle was getting on. Exactly, I

think that George Osborne recognised that and sort of played on it.

Reminded the Labour back benches rather crudely that Jeremy Corbyn

will be back next week and the mystery and baggage he brings with

it will be back next week, he made the point that Jeremy Corbyn is

possibly the "Contemplating whether Tony Blair, one of his predecessors,

ought to be indicted over Iraq. Let's move onto our second story

today, alcohol consumption in Appleton 's Colin has increased for

the second year, according to a new report by NHS health Scotland. --

has increased. Its affordability, a combination of alcohol price, which

we've seen flattened through supermarkets and off licenses in the

past couple of years, we've also seen increases in household

disposable income, so in competition we suspect that it is these factors

which are driving the latest trends. So sales in Scotland when the

percent higher than that in England, suppose it goes to show that

Scotland's relationship in the way back without hope continues to be

problematic, and hearing those that even more problematic. We know that

is high, there's cultural history, many reasons to do with deprivation,

industrialization, deindustrialization, all that, but

that seems even higher than we account for. A lot of questions need

to be asked, one is why the minimum pricing has not been able to be

brought in, it was supposed to be delete come including the Scottish

whisky industry arguing it would affect her cells, but interestingly

this research shows today that it's not whisky or anything like that,

not the high-end stuff, vodka and cheap spirits are fuelling this huge

rise. There are questions to be asked as to why it is quite as high,

even higher than the north of England. On that point, the Scottish

Government reiterating the necessity they believe for minimum unit

pricing to be brought in. But of course European judges have handed

that decision back to Scottish courts. It seems a very

straightforward correlation between price and consumption, after the

crash in 2008 in 2013, alcohol prices were relatively buoyant, they

were going up. Convention went down. The last two years, prices have been

flat and consumption has started to rise again. There was a direct

correlation. I think were it to be brought in, minimum pricing, I think

it would be a fairly consensual measure how medieval recognise that

there was a problem with alcohol in Scotland. I don't think it is the

Scottish whisky Association any credit that they've stymied this by

taking it to Europe to protect what is in effect got brought boos at the

cheap end of the market. Reflect, do you sense a real frustration from

the Scottish Government that is tied up? Absolutely, for years in the

legislation was passed. It's been to the court session, the European

Court of Justice, kick back to the Scottish Court, could go to the

European Supreme Court and for a measure which I think probably has

public support. It must be very frustrating. With pick-up on what we

began at the top of the programme, education the main priority for the

Scottish Government. He saw the discussion we had with the

politicians. Obviously the SNP, the independence referendum is over,

it's in the past, it feels like it's still going on, but is in the past.

The stopping to be another one this year, next year, in the near future.

They've got to have a new focus, to fire up their base, get people

excited. They are focused on education, something that everyone

agrees is important, there are serious problems. As was pointed

out, it is always at the top of parties' agenda setting ways. I

would like to see radical ideas, really push forward with this, but

it does sound very managerial position, the way that Nicola

Sturgeon was arguing it. How to you make it -- what you make of it? Is

what we expected on the back of the manifesto, the push on education and

economy. There are interesting undercurrents out there in the SNP

plans, these were two things in the foreground, as promised. There was

talk in the manifesto and also in today's speech on reform, some of

the big institutions that deliver public services like the enterprise

agencies, councils, health boards, I think there's good to be an

interesting period of reform coming up in this Parliament. They give

very much for joining me. -- thank you very much for joining me.

Shelley's back again tomorrow night, usual time.

So do please join her then - bye-bye.

We haven't really wakened up to the implications of Brexit for Scotland.

both in Scotland and abroad to find out.

We've built our business models around EU membership,

Brussels seemed to have more and more control.