Debate Review Scotland Decides

Thank you very much. Now it's time to cross live to

Glasgow and independence debate.

Hello from Glasgow on a rather blustery day, the morning after the

debate the night before and the newspapers and the commentators

appear to be unanimous. Alex Salmond won the debate over Alistair

Darling. It was, at times, a pretty tetchy affair, turning, as did the

first debate, very often a one big question, that was the question of

money. What currency could or would or should an independent Scotland

use? Here is a clip. Fnchts we don't have a currency union, what's Plan

B? I kept asking what Plan B is, I asked three weeks ago, he can't say

or he doesn't think he won't like the answer. It's not a matter for

Alex Salmond what the alternative is. I would like to know. As for a

separate currency, we saw what happened.

I want to know what Plan B is, so do you. Go and tell us.

Well, you don't have to point, Alastair. I set out the options very

clearly. Three Plan Bs for the price of one. Three Plan Bs. Come on. You

expect one then three turn up in a row. Three Plan Bs tonight. Hang on,

isn't it the case... . If people back the plan of the Scottish

people, to keepstering in a sensible currency union, he you, as a

democrat accept that as the will of the Scottish people? If you win this

referendum, I'll accept it's a no`vote. If the we side wins the

referendum do, you accept the sovereign will of the Scottish

people and back that currency union? The currency is the best option for

Scotland. The pound sterling only works if you

have an economic and political union.

There was a moment when Alistair Darling, former Chancellor of the

Exchequer of the United Kingdom said that Scotland, of course, could use

the pound, although, with plenty of caveats.

You said a few moments ago, you had a row of Plan Bs like bus who is

were all going to turn up at the same time. Not a collection of bus

s, it's the money use, the interest rates pay, the amount of money for

Public Services. Stop playing. You must have a Plan B, can't you say it

If win the referendum, will you be a democrat and back that? Nobody can

hear. , can we use the pound anyway Of course we can. We can use...

APPLAUSE We can use anything. The is... We

are still using somebody else's currency, if you Dow, you don't have

a Central Bank so our financial services can't in Scotland.

The second problem you have is that countries that use other people's

currencies like Panama, Ecuador, Hong Kong, they have to run a

surplus, they can't borrow. In other words you would have a huge deficit.

That'd come out of high Scotlands... Money too affected one of the other

big issues in the debate. One of the big issues in this sgier campaign up

and down Scotland which is the future of the NHS.

We have an ageing population in Scotland. We have a rising health

need and I don't want to put that at risk. When I look at independent

experts, not anything I'm saying, we look at Scotland's budgetary

position in the years after independence and they have

identified a ?6 billion black hole over and above anything that

austerity might bring, I don't want to put the Health Service at risk. I

am against going down a route which I think will end up with us finding

that Public Services are more squeezed, more pressured and cut in

a way that I don't think any of us want to see. I'm not prepared to

take the risk. The risk to National Health Service comes from the

cutbacks we've already had from Westminster, already pertaining in

Wales. The threat of ?25 billion more. The Labour Party in England

are warning loud and clear of the risk of privatisation throughout the

National Health Service, the risk of charge. The Labour this Wales say

that they've been forced to cut health expenditure because of the

budgetary pressure from Westminster. Are you the only person who doesn't

realise what's going on in England and Wales and the threat to Scotland

unless they establish financial control to protect our own Health

Service? APPLAUSE

In a sense tense, I recognise budgetary constraints everywhere.

I'm saying that you are exposing us to... Your own people are saying in

England. That's... Scaremongering. In terms of who won the televised

debate, the pundits and newspapers were unanimous. The Forwardian

conducted a snap poll of about 500 people who were asked who did win

and they put Salmond at 71%, Darling at 29%. So a clear winner, at least

according to that one poll. For some more details about the polling, I'm

joined by the research director of IpsosMORI in Glasgow. What do you

make of the snap poll? Very interesting. Entirely the reverse of

what we saw in the first debate, so the first minister coming out on

top, whereas Mr Darling perceived to have clearly won the first debate.

It's a bit more interesting than the ebb and flow debates, the effect it

will have on public opinion. The most interesting element of the poll

last night was that the gap between the yes and no is exactly the same

before the debate and it was after. After the debate, it doesn't appear

to have had a huge impact on the balance of opinion in terms of

voting tension. We have to wait and see how this sinks in, Mark, but I

did think when watching it, at the end of this, are the yes voters

still yes and the no still no and the undecided still wondering what

to do? That is the risk. As with the first debate, I don't think many yes

voters will be voting no or many will be voting yes as a result of

the debates themselves. They do help the campaigns, they do help the feel

and the tone of the campaigns but I'm not sure they'll have a huge

impact. As for the undecided voter, I think what a lot will say is that

it was tetchy, shouty. It possibly wasn't that healthy.

Certainly people up and down the country are undecided. Is there

anything? We have got three weeks to go before people go to the polls,

although the postal votes go out this week. Is there any one issue

that's likely to move this or is it still going to be mostly about the

currency and economy? The story of the polls, although, depending on

the historical look that you take of it, say over the last six months,

they've been relatively static, maybe going up a bit. But possibly

not enough on the current trend to win in September. The key thing that

people tell us, how are you going to decide which way to vote? Crucially,

how well off do you think you will feel if you vote no or if we vote

yes. Not sure the debate nailed that on

either side. That's what I mean about the undecided voter. Possibly

not really the key issues being explained in terms of debates. A

final thought on that. Who are these people, the undeciders? Is it not

people who're disengaged in the process? Because they haven't met

anybody like that? Eight in ten, in fact more than that tell us they are

certain to vote. It may not end up being that much but these are high

levels of turnout in the context of political elections and so on in the

UK. So turnout will be high. I don't knows, about one in ten clinically

don't know. There is about a further 10% leaning one way or the other but

still open to persuasion. That is a lot of people. They are not a

homogeneous group. More women than men are undecided, young people are

undecided but they are not a single group which makes it hard for either

campaign to do one single thing that will win them over. Of course, it is

not just people in Scotland to are affected by this, but the young

United Kingdom has an interest because it could mean the end of the

United Kingdom as we know it. Let's go over to Belfast now. Yes, a

heated discussion last night. People are watching this debate closely.

The degree unionists, they are concerned that if Scotland was to

become independent, it could erode the union in some way. It could

break links that they see as important. The Nationalists are

watching closely because they believe if there was a yes vote for

independence, it could maybe help their appeal for a border poll to

see whether or not Northern Ireland should join up with the Republic of

Ireland. As a result, they are watching this very closely. All

additions are trying to stay out of it in some cases. I recently spoke

to the jeopardy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, he said this is a

matter for Scotland. `` NPT. But there are knock`on implications.

Currently Northern Ireland gets more than anywhere else in the UK through

the Barnett formula. There is a concern that if that was to change,

they might get slightly less. Currently Northern Ireland gets more

money per head for public spending than anywhere else in the UK and the

other big issue for people here is corporation tax. At the moment,

Northern Ireland already competes against the Republic of Ireland, in

much lower rate, and that makes it difficult to compete. At this

building behind me, they try to attract companies in, bring in

investment, if Scotland was to lower corporation tax if they got

independence, that could mean Northern Ireland being stuck in

between Scotland and the Republic of Ireland. They would find it

difficult to compete. The politicians are watching this debate

extremely closely. We will have further updates throughout the day

every hour and also tonight at 7:30pm we will have a special new

programme presented by Sarah Smith. Thank you very much.

In a moment, a summary of the business news this hour but

Supporters of Scottish independence are claiming that the First Minister

Alex Salmond won