Browse content similar to 01/04/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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George Galloway conjured up a Sten -- an astonishing by-election | :00:53. | :01:03. | |
:01:03. | :01:04. | ||
victory. Has he knocked the stuffing out of Labour? | :01:04. | :01:06. | |
The Health and Social dead -- Care Bill gets through Parliament at | :01:07. | :01:11. | |
last. But what does it mean for Andrew Lansley? And here: | :01:11. | :01:12. | |
Sccusations that the Scottish Government's referendum | :01:12. | :01:15. | |
consultation is rigged as the Westminster one shows support for | :01:15. | :01:18. | |
an early vote. The gas leak that keeps leaking in | :01:18. | :01:28. | |
:01:28. | :01:28. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1799 seconds | :01:28. | :31:27. | |
the North Sea. Are the risks of Deal care if the private sector | :31:27. | :31:37. | |
:31:37. | :31:37. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1799 seconds | :31:37. | :34:10. | |
We are seeing productivity increase in the NHS where it did not | :34:10. | :34:15. | |
increase under Labour. So NHS hospitals will be in a strong a | :34:15. | :34:21. | |
place to provide the services patients need. If you are re- | :34:21. | :34:26. | |
elected in 2015, can you give a guarantee that there will be no | :34:26. | :34:32. | |
further reorganisation? legislation is very clear... | :34:32. | :34:39. | |
can't? Can you give a pledge that there will be no a major | :34:39. | :34:44. | |
reorganisation from 2015? For my point of view and I am sure it will | :34:44. | :34:49. | |
be the same for David, the legislation was to deal with all of | :34:49. | :34:54. | |
the issues required and the reforms, in order to sustain the NHS in the | :34:54. | :34:58. | |
21st century, so to that extent, absolutely, it should give | :34:59. | :35:05. | |
sustainability for a long period of time. And you won't enforce some of | :35:05. | :35:13. | |
the changes asked by the Lib Dems and the Lords? No. You talked about | :35:13. | :35:16. | |
amendments but in the Lords, we made amendments through a process | :35:16. | :35:21. | |
of constructive debate and agreement. There were 32 votes in | :35:21. | :35:27. | |
the Lords and we actually only lost two, one of which we accepted, and | :35:27. | :35:35. | |
another where Lord Patel of Bradford put forward another | :35:35. | :35:43. | |
suggestion which we are unhappy with. It has a great degree of | :35:43. | :35:50. | |
sustainability. Do you have any regrets? Yes. A year ago, we had to | :35:50. | :35:55. | |
stop the legislation to have a full engagement with NHS staff. Although | :35:56. | :36:00. | |
we consulted on the white paper more than 18 months ago, many of | :36:00. | :36:03. | |
the organisations that responded did not get to grips with what was | :36:03. | :36:08. | |
in the legislation, said to have had that kind of engagement with | :36:08. | :36:13. | |
the NHS Future Forum would have been better earlier. Given your | :36:13. | :36:16. | |
unpopularity among swathes of health professionals, would it not | :36:16. | :36:20. | |
be better to let somebody else come in and implement these reforms? | :36:20. | :36:25. | |
Your damaged goods in the eyes of health professionals? That is very | :36:25. | :36:30. | |
kind of you to say so! Others say different things. That comes from | :36:30. | :36:35. | |
the trade unions. What they are all now is that for eight-and-a-half | :36:35. | :36:41. | |
years as my party spokesman, I have been an advocate and supporter of | :36:41. | :36:45. | |
the NHS. We have increased resources for the NHS in real terms | :36:45. | :36:53. | |
each year. Has it destroyed your political career? No, it hasn't. | :36:53. | :36:59. | |
you still have one? I have a passion for ensuring the NHS is in | :36:59. | :37:03. | |
a stronger place in the future to give greater service and benefits | :37:03. | :37:10. | |
to patients. All right. We have run out of time. Delivering quality for | :37:10. | :37:17. | |
patients in the future will absolutely be my aim. Thank you. We | :37:17. | :37:21. | |
will talk to you in the future if you are still Secretary of State | :37:21. | :37:26. | |
for Health. You are watching Sunday Politics. Still coming up... | :37:26. | :37:29. | |
Good afternoon and welcome to Sunday Politics Scotland. Coming up | :37:29. | :37:32. | |
on the programme, a new war of words on the independence | :37:32. | :37:35. | |
referendum. It could take six months to resolve | :37:35. | :37:40. | |
the gas leak at the Total platform near Elgin. Is the price of deep | :37:40. | :37:44. | |
sea drilling too great? Should the drink-drive limit be | :37:44. | :37:48. | |
lowered in Scotland? We hear from a campaigner who says a lower limit | :37:48. | :37:57. | |
would save lives. I feel like an episode of Casualty. When I stood | :37:57. | :38:01. | |
up, I thought they should shout, cut, and then I realised it was | :38:02. | :38:05. | |
real. I was lying down. But first, Westminster and Holyrood | :38:06. | :38:09. | |
are at loggerheads once more over the independence referendum. This | :38:09. | :38:12. | |
time it's over whose consultation process is more valid. The UK | :38:12. | :38:15. | |
Government says its consultation shows that there is a clear | :38:15. | :38:17. | |
majority in favour of an early ballot. Meanwhile, opposition | :38:17. | :38:19. | |
parties are challenging the validity of the Scottish | :38:20. | :38:21. | |
Government's referendum consultation after it emerged | :38:21. | :38:23. | |
people could respond anonymously and multiple times. Our reporter | :38:23. | :38:33. | |
:38:33. | :38:34. | ||
Laura Bicker has more. So, there were two consultations on | :38:34. | :38:39. | |
both side of the border. 3,000 people replied to Westminster. They | :38:39. | :38:44. | |
included individuals and business representatives. 70% of people said | :38:44. | :38:49. | |
they would like a referendum earlier than in the autumn of 2014. | :38:49. | :38:53. | |
22% supported the Scottish government timescale. The UK | :38:53. | :38:56. | |
Government said none of the replies were anonymous and they did not | :38:56. | :39:00. | |
accept multiple replies in the same name. But it has emerged north of | :39:00. | :39:06. | |
the border, that was allowed. The Scottish government's consultation | :39:06. | :39:11. | |
does accept anonymous contributions and multiple submissions. We have | :39:11. | :39:16. | |
got a First Minister voting about how many responses -- boasting | :39:16. | :39:20. | |
about how many responses he has received but people are sitting at | :39:20. | :39:24. | |
home sending in the same answers. We need confidence in this | :39:24. | :39:34. | |
:39:34. | :39:35. | ||
consultation because we are talking about the future of our country. | :39:35. | :39:43. | |
need to be able to rely on having no leaks. They have to publish | :39:43. | :39:47. | |
every submission they receive. We can then get some idea as to how | :39:47. | :39:51. | |
many responses were anonymous and therefore how much suspicion we | :39:51. | :39:55. | |
might have. The Scottish government said they had more than 10,000 | :39:55. | :40:02. | |
replies. The consultation will run until 11th May. | :40:02. | :40:10. | |
Joining me now art Stewart Hosie and Anas Sarwar. Stewart Hosie, | :40:10. | :40:14. | |
let's start with the SNP government consultation of. What kind of | :40:14. | :40:18. | |
confidence can the public have had a consultation process that allows | :40:18. | :40:21. | |
a anonymous responses and modelled for responses from the same | :40:21. | :40:27. | |
address? They can have a great deal of confidence because it will be | :40:27. | :40:33. | |
independently verified. Let's get to the fact. The Scottish | :40:33. | :40:38. | |
government's consultation uses exactly the same rules used in 2004 | :40:38. | :40:44. | |
by Labour on the smoking ban consultation. And the same that we | :40:44. | :40:47. | |
used in 2006 in the tourism bill consultation in the name of | :40:47. | :40:52. | |
Patricia Ferguson. And even the Calman Commission and utterly | :40:52. | :40:58. | |
accepted but published anonymous entries. The information into the | :40:58. | :41:04. | |
Scottish government's consultation was far larger than the UK one. It | :41:04. | :41:09. | |
will be independently verified and published, I am sure, as was said. | :41:09. | :41:13. | |
Do you accept people can make multiple anonymous comments and | :41:13. | :41:18. | |
submissions to this consultation? Are you saying there is some way in | :41:18. | :41:26. | |
which this can be just rolled out later on in the process? -- called | :41:26. | :41:34. | |
out. Well, during the process, it is made clear when there is a | :41:34. | :41:39. | |
number of the duplicates. The rules being used are exactly the same as | :41:39. | :41:43. | |
being used in every single other consultation. Given the importance | :41:44. | :41:50. | |
of this referendum and given that, for example, even pro-independence | :41:50. | :41:54. | |
supporters might question the credibility of this consultation, | :41:54. | :41:59. | |
why did you not put in roles like Westminster did, saying, no | :41:59. | :42:09. | |
multiple submissions and no multiple ones? Because there was | :42:09. | :42:13. | |
used are exactly the same as used in a Labour bill and the Calman | :42:13. | :42:17. | |
Commission. I understand you are saying there is a degree of | :42:17. | :42:21. | |
hypocrisy, but as somebody now who is commenting on the Scottish | :42:21. | :42:24. | |
government and its proposals, do you think the public, the wider | :42:24. | :42:33. | |
public, can have confidence in this? I think they can. We | :42:33. | :42:38. | |
understand from the rumours that half the consultation responses to | :42:38. | :42:42. | |
the UK Government's very small consultation came through a website | :42:42. | :42:50. | |
poor tour run by the Labour body. I think if there is any question over | :42:50. | :42:57. | |
the efficacy, it should be over the UK one. It was so self-selecting | :42:57. | :43:01. | |
that half the submissions came from members of one political party. | :43:01. | :43:06. | |
What are you saying when this consultation closes in May? Who | :43:06. | :43:11. | |
will verify what was a legitimate vote and what was not? These are | :43:11. | :43:19. | |
not votes, these are submissions. Yes, I understand. Who will verify | :43:19. | :43:24. | |
they are from one single person and who they are from? It will probably | :43:24. | :43:31. | |
be verified and the findings will be published as normal in house. | :43:31. | :43:39. | |
if that is the case, there will be no problem. Surely it is the same | :43:39. | :43:44. | |
process as consultations in the past? Firstly, it is not, because | :43:44. | :43:48. | |
you don't even have to submit any form of identity to put in an | :43:48. | :43:55. | |
anonymous response. And you can put in an -- multiple responses. They | :43:55. | :43:59. | |
also go on about how many responses they have received and putting that | :43:59. | :44:03. | |
to the figure to the UK response, where Bobby did have to put in an | :44:03. | :44:09. | |
email address and proof of identity. On the Labour party's own website, | :44:09. | :44:18. | |
you have to put in your name. It is not anonymous. But you could put in | :44:18. | :44:27. | |
multiple response is? -- Malta poor responses? You can see who has put | :44:27. | :44:31. | |
in a response would their name and email address. And then the | :44:31. | :44:37. | |
validity of the process itself, it is clear having a consultation | :44:37. | :44:40. | |
process where you can put in multiple responses and anonymous | :44:40. | :44:45. | |
without any email address or name is not only open to abuse, it is | :44:45. | :44:51. | |
designed for abuse. That is a very significant accusation here, | :44:51. | :44:55. | |
Stewart Hosie, that you have to sign this for abuse. You are | :44:55. | :45:00. | |
actually saying that the SNP are trying to rig this? Is that how you | :45:00. | :45:07. | |
read it? The responses through the Labour Party website are being | :45:07. | :45:11. | |
monitored but that is worrying if Labour are able to monitor | :45:11. | :45:15. | |
responses through the website to a public consultation. That is | :45:15. | :45:21. | |
extremely concerning. If what I said was that individual email | :45:21. | :45:28. | |
addresses and names that will go in our inner responses. I am making | :45:28. | :45:37. | |
that accusation... This is more about Alex Salmond's legacy for | :45:37. | :45:42. | |
Scotland. What we need is a robust process that the people of Scotland | :45:42. | :45:52. | |
:45:52. | :45:53. | ||
We have had exactly the same at roles in any other consultation. We | :45:53. | :45:57. | |
did not just take the enormous admissions. I find it disgusting | :45:57. | :46:01. | |
that the good people of Scotland entering this consultation honestly | :46:01. | :46:06. | |
and openly are being talked down and having entries minimised | :46:06. | :46:14. | |
crassly by the Labour Party. What about the idea that we have got a | :46:14. | :46:19. | |
predetermined intention to break this referendum? Clearly, that is | :46:19. | :46:25. | |
absolutely false. This is a public consultation. People can submit any | :46:25. | :46:29. | |
response they want and quite rightly. It will be considered by | :46:29. | :46:35. | |
the Scottish government as part of the process of the referendum in | :46:35. | :46:38. | |
2014 and the idea it has been at rate is an appalling accusation by | :46:38. | :46:43. | |
the Labour Party. What will be processed be to ensure that we have | :46:43. | :46:51. | |
not got multiple responses by SNP members? He said it would be buried | :46:51. | :47:01. | |
:47:01. | :47:04. | ||
for -- unverified. By whom? -- and verified. We have to move on to the | :47:04. | :47:09. | |
consultation that is talking about an early timescale as opposed to be | :47:09. | :47:16. | |
preferred 2014 timescale. What do you think? They clearly fear the | :47:16. | :47:20. | |
verdict of the Scottish people. What do you think would be | :47:20. | :47:28. | |
appropriate? It should be as quick and clear as possible. What about | :47:28. | :47:33. | |
the legal process. I think we should be open to having a | :47:33. | :47:37. | |
referendum earlier rather than later because it is undermining | :47:38. | :47:45. | |
confidence. You support 2013? soon as possible. What is your | :47:45. | :47:51. | |
response to be 70 % in favour of an earlier time scale? We might well | :47:51. | :47:55. | |
have people keen to see Scotland Independent and they want the | :47:55. | :48:00. | |
referendum sooner rather than later but I think 2014 makes sense. The | :48:01. | :48:04. | |
consultation will tell us what people think about that. It is a | :48:04. | :48:08. | |
big decision and it is important we get it right and consider issues | :48:08. | :48:13. | |
properly be. We should not rush this port narrow party advantage. | :48:13. | :48:20. | |
This is what the public say they want. You are not convinced? | :48:20. | :48:23. | |
winners are half of the people wanting this are Labour Party | :48:24. | :48:29. | |
members. It is not really a public vote, is it? Thank you for coming | :48:30. | :48:37. | |
in today. As gas leaks from the Elgin Platform, Total is | :48:37. | :48:42. | |
considering pumping marred to plug it. It has got rigs available to | :48:43. | :48:48. | |
draw off the gas and allow be well to be sealed. It is an expensive | :48:48. | :48:52. | |
option and could take six months. Total have asked companies involved | :48:53. | :48:57. | |
in the Deep Water Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico to help. | :48:57. | :49:03. | |
Professor Martin Preston is a pollution expert from the | :49:03. | :49:13. | |
:49:13. | :49:13. | ||
University of Liverpool. How dangerous do you think this | :49:13. | :49:18. | |
situation remains, even though the flair has gone out? Now declare has | :49:18. | :49:24. | |
gone out, that has taken out one significant risk. But we have got a | :49:24. | :49:29. | |
big gas leak at risk because it is coming out on the platform and it | :49:29. | :49:35. | |
will be difficult to seal it off. It will take a long time to fix. | :49:35. | :49:40. | |
Can people be put back on that timetable in the foreseeable | :49:40. | :49:48. | |
future? The decision will not be easy. You are putting people into | :49:48. | :49:53. | |
dangerous situations and it will be a hazardous environment with Gas | :49:53. | :49:58. | |
meeting. You need to get to a stage where the area of greatest risk has | :49:58. | :50:03. | |
been sorted out. A small event like a static discharge from a piece of | :50:03. | :50:08. | |
clothing or a dropped to all causing a spark, that could cause a | :50:08. | :50:14. | |
calamity and that is what everybody wants to avoid. A great deal of | :50:14. | :50:18. | |
thought will have to go into putting people back on the platform | :50:18. | :50:21. | |
and I am sure Total will be exploring the options without | :50:21. | :50:28. | |
having to put people at risk. what happens has to be digging out | :50:28. | :50:35. | |
double Wells, that could take six months. Possibly, yes. If they have | :50:35. | :50:44. | |
to do that, this particular area is not in deep water but be well | :50:44. | :50:53. | |
itself is buried deep. -- buried deep. The League has come from an | :50:53. | :51:02. | |
unexpected pocket of gas. -- extremely deep. It is leaking gas | :51:02. | :51:09. | |
coming from a subsidiary. Technically, it is going to be a | :51:09. | :51:12. | |
difficult fix and when that you are drilling you have got to be sure | :51:13. | :51:19. | |
where to drill before you get started. We understand it is deep- | :51:19. | :51:24. | |
water drilling. Is that more dangerous? Is what happening in | :51:24. | :51:31. | |
Elgin telling us about technology and safety? As easy reserves are | :51:31. | :51:36. | |
getting used up, obviously people are looking more and more at remote | :51:36. | :51:42. | |
options. These are inherently more dangerous. Deep water and remote | :51:42. | :51:48. | |
locations and hostile environments or increase risk. I think | :51:48. | :51:54. | |
everybody's concern is that the technology allowing drilling is not | :51:54. | :51:59. | |
being matched by the technology for dealing with accidents when they | :51:59. | :52:04. | |
happen. We saw that in the Gulf of Mexico at. The technology for | :52:04. | :52:08. | |
drilling was obviously dead but people seemed to be making it up as | :52:08. | :52:12. | |
they went along when they tried to fix the problem and that is the | :52:12. | :52:19. | |
main concern. Technology is not keeping up. Our commercial | :52:19. | :52:29. | |
considerations driving all this? -- is it that. That would appear to be | :52:29. | :52:34. | |
the case. You get money by taking gas and oil out of the ground and | :52:34. | :52:37. | |
you do what you can to make reasonable preparations to deal | :52:37. | :52:42. | |
with problems when they happened. But when something major and | :52:42. | :52:47. | |
unexpected happens like in the Gulf of Mexico and like what has | :52:47. | :52:52. | |
happened here with a secondary gas supply, these are things which can | :52:52. | :52:55. | |
catch people out and you might not have the technology and expertise | :52:55. | :53:02. | |
and even the basic procedures to get going quickly. Thank you very | :53:02. | :53:07. | |
much indeed. The Scottish Environment Secretary is in | :53:07. | :53:15. | |
Inverness. If we just pick up that final point, do you have concerns | :53:15. | :53:19. | |
about this problem between what technology can deliver and the | :53:19. | :53:25. | |
safety procedures that we have got in place? If that were the case I | :53:25. | :53:31. | |
would certainly be concerned. The problem we have discussed today, we | :53:31. | :53:36. | |
will have to have a full inquiry to discover what happened. The problem | :53:36. | :53:40. | |
last summer as well. It is important to find out what has | :53:40. | :53:44. | |
caused the problem and make sure appropriate action is taken. We | :53:44. | :53:48. | |
have got a safety procedure in place at the moment and this time | :53:48. | :53:53. | |
last week, the platform was evacuated and that is why we have | :53:53. | :53:58. | |
not had risk to life since then. We are looking at the potential | :53:58. | :54:05. | |
environmental risk. What sort of independent advice do you get on | :54:05. | :54:10. | |
the sort of solutions that Total have come up with? They are looking | :54:10. | :54:17. | |
at putting in a massive amount of mud. Do you have advised that said | :54:17. | :54:24. | |
that it might not be best for the Environment? We have got a | :54:24. | :54:29. | |
procedure in place at the moment. We have got people attached to the | :54:29. | :54:33. | |
UK Government for climate change and energy and they are giving | :54:34. | :54:38. | |
advice at the moment to baize in Aberdeen. If they thought they had | :54:38. | :54:45. | |
a threat to the environment, a response team would be called and | :54:45. | :54:53. | |
that would be a side from Total. We have got a mechanism. What would | :54:53. | :54:58. | |
you think was an appropriate regime? Do you think you have to | :54:58. | :55:02. | |
take the company's were freed on their assessment or should we have | :55:02. | :55:08. | |
a rigorous assessment of what is happening independently? We have | :55:08. | :55:15. | |
got lessons to learn from this episode. Particularly at the end of | :55:15. | :55:20. | |
last summer. Transparency is very important. We have perhaps got off | :55:20. | :55:25. | |
to a slow start in terms of putting information in the public domain. | :55:25. | :55:29. | |
That was the view of the company last summer as well. They have got | :55:29. | :55:35. | |
to have a contingency plan in place. They have to focus on the job in | :55:35. | :55:39. | |
hand, to make people safe and prevent more damage to the | :55:39. | :55:44. | |
environment. That is the focus for the next couple of days. They have | :55:44. | :55:47. | |
to rely on information coming from the company offshore because we | :55:47. | :55:54. | |
cannot get it ourselves. It has to be as transparent as possible. | :55:54. | :55:59. | |
think it is all right, in fact that is not a fair way of putting it, | :56:00. | :56:05. | |
but you have to accept what the company tells you? I am saying | :56:05. | :56:10. | |
perhaps we do have to look at this independently. I want to discuss | :56:10. | :56:13. | |
this and make sure we have got transparency from the first few | :56:13. | :56:18. | |
seconds onwards. Because he would be uncomfortable with how this has | :56:18. | :56:24. | |
developed? We have always got lessons to learn and transparency | :56:24. | :56:31. | |
is very important. The obvious question is that if we have a post | :56:31. | :56:34. | |
independent Scotland, what confidence can the public had that | :56:35. | :56:41. | |
a UK government with economic strategy is looking at drilling | :56:41. | :56:44. | |
revenues in the teacher? What confidence can they have that he | :56:44. | :56:47. | |
would prioritise safety in the environment before that economic | :56:48. | :56:56. | |
interest? -- future? We will look at the environment and grow the | :56:56. | :57:02. | |
economy at the same time. We are looking at Natural Resources and | :57:02. | :57:07. | |
oil and gas has got a long way to go. We have not looked at all of | :57:07. | :57:11. | |
that so far. We do want to see development but of course we have | :57:11. | :57:17. | |
to have a robust safety system in place to protect life, given the | :57:17. | :57:21. | |
hundreds of thousands of people working in the North Sea and | :57:21. | :57:25. | |
protect the environment. We want the best and safest regime anywhere | :57:25. | :57:30. | |
in the world. What is your understanding of when this problem | :57:30. | :57:37. | |
might be contained and switched off, as it were? Now the flame has | :57:38. | :57:43. | |
extinguished, one of the bigger risk factors has been removed. We | :57:43. | :57:47. | |
have got decisions which will be taken by the company. First, | :57:47. | :57:53. | |
personnel will have to be put on the platform with a view to | :57:53. | :57:59. | |
blocking the leakage. Then the relief well which could take up to | :57:59. | :58:09. | |
:58:09. | :58:12. | ||
six months. It has got to be done MSPs have endorsed the Scotland | :58:13. | :58:16. | |
Bill, giving Holyrood the power to set the drinking and driving | :58:16. | :58:21. | |
regulations. Northern Ireland are already reducing it and the | :58:21. | :58:24. | |
Scottish government are keen to go the same way but it was rejected by | :58:24. | :58:31. | |
Westminster last year. How low should it go? It happen very | :58:31. | :58:35. | |
quickly. One minute I am standing on the pavement and then I am lying | :58:35. | :58:40. | |
on the ground and I heard my daughter screaming. Her five-year | :58:40. | :58:45. | |
old son was knocked down and killed along with two others by a driver | :58:45. | :58:50. | |
high on drink and drugs eight years ago. It was like an episode of | :58:50. | :58:56. | |
Casualty. I thought, who is going to shout cut? I realised it was | :58:56. | :59:04. | |
real. My son was dying. Figures indicate that in 2009, more than | :59:04. | :59:11. | |
900 casualties on the roads, 7% reported were down to drink drivers. | :59:11. | :59:17. | |
14 % of deaths that year were fatalities. -- these types of this | :59:17. | :59:25. | |
fallacies. -- fatalities. A review commissioned by the UK Government | :59:25. | :59:31. | |
last year recommended reducing the test to 50 milligrams but this was | :59:31. | :59:34. | |
rejected by ministers say no more money should be spent on | :59:34. | :59:39. | |
enforcement. But the Scottish government wants to lower the limit. | :59:39. | :59:44. | |
This bill could give them the opportunity to do just that. | :59:44. | :59:48. | |
want to bring it down to 50. That sends out a clear message that | :59:48. | :59:52. | |
drinking and driving is not acceptable and it will reduce the | :59:52. | :59:56. | |
number of people seriously injured every year because of the problems. | :59:56. | :00:02. | |
What does it mean in practice? It is difficult to say. With a 50 | :00:02. | :00:05. | |
milligram limit you might be able to drink a small glass of wine and | :00:06. | :00:09. | |
a male could drink a larger glass but it depends on the individual | :00:09. | :00:13. | |
and some campaigners say it should be 20 milligrams, almost a total | :00:13. | :00:23. | |
:00:23. | :00:23. | ||
One problem is that people don't know where they stand. It is | :00:24. | :00:28. | |
impossible to know, without being tested, how much alcohol is in your | :00:28. | :00:35. | |
blood. It depends on your sex, your weight and the rate of metabolism. | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
Police agree it is better not to drink and drive atoll but this | :00:38. | :00:42. | |
would be difficult to enforce. They support the 50 milligram limit but | :00:42. | :00:47. | |
also want more powers to stop and test motorists. There are other | :00:47. | :00:52. | |
measures we would support. There are measures in other countries and | :00:52. | :00:56. | |
it is a piece of armoury that puts the fear into people being caught, | :00:57. | :01:00. | |
and at the end of the day, that is what will deter people. There | :01:00. | :01:07. | |
appears to be growing support for a 50 milligram limit in Scotland. The | :01:07. | :01:13. | |
SNP party, the Lib Dems and Labour are in favour. But there is also | :01:13. | :01:18. | |
concern that different laws across the UK could be confusing. If you | :01:18. | :01:21. | |
have different limits across borders, people will have mixed | :01:21. | :01:25. | |
messages about how much they can drink. There is already confusion | :01:25. | :01:31. | |
about how much you can drink and this will only add to it. | :01:31. | :01:36. | |
Michelle believes it could make a difference. I hope it would work | :01:36. | :01:42. | |
and get further towards people being safer on the roads. And | :01:42. | :01:52. | |
hopefully not drink-driving. little earlier, I spoke to Alex | :01:52. | :01:59. | |
Johnstone. I asked why the Tories would not support a lower limit. | :01:59. | :02:05. | |
could put in a lower limit and get prosecutions and have it enforced. | :02:05. | :02:09. | |
But I believe people who are already two, three, four times | :02:10. | :02:16. | |
above the limit are not being caught. The difference between the | :02:16. | :02:19. | |
current limit and the proposed new limit is not where we will make the | :02:19. | :02:26. | |
most to gain. Why cannot do both? We could do, but additional | :02:26. | :02:30. | |
resources would be necessary for that. Would you support random | :02:30. | :02:33. | |
breath testing? That issue is something we have not yet discussed | :02:33. | :02:37. | |
at great length, but it is something we have to be aware of in | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
the future and it is something which would be developed as a civil | :02:41. | :02:48. | |
liberties argument by some political people. Would you be in | :02:48. | :02:53. | |
favour or not? It is fair to say that random breath-testing is | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
something which could only be exploited if it was acceptable to | :02:57. | :03:03. | |
the broader community. Let's just clarify what your position is. You | :03:03. | :03:08. | |
would prefer another approach to this but were the Scottish | :03:08. | :03:14. | |
Government to come forward with an idea to get it to 50 comedy would | :03:14. | :03:19. | |
support it? We would take the argument very seriously. What about | :03:19. | :03:24. | |
reducing it to 20? And think the priority when you set a limit is to | :03:24. | :03:27. | |
make sure you have a limit that can be properly policed and convictions | :03:27. | :03:33. | |
can be obtained. If we set very low limits, we set the priority in a | :03:33. | :03:36. | |
different area. For example, you might find the most productive use | :03:36. | :03:42. | |
of the play's's time enforcing that limit would be to spend time in a | :03:42. | :03:52. | |
:03:52. | :03:54. | ||
supermarket car-park on a Sunday morning. -- the police's time. The | :03:55. | :04:02. | |
significant reduction in drink- driving could mean we take our eye | :04:02. | :04:07. | |
of the ball. And you wouldn't see some difficulty in differences | :04:07. | :04:12. | |
between the borders? It is not impossible that under the new | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
devolved powers, we might see a different limit in Scotland, though | :04:15. | :04:24. | |
I agree it could be tricky. Just on to the comments by Peter Cruddas, | :04:24. | :04:29. | |
extremely embarrassing for the Tory government, when he makes it clear | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
many are not in favour of the union and would be delighted if Scotland | :04:33. | :04:39. | |
were independent? I think the SNP's hysteria is driving his home and we | :04:39. | :04:43. | |
need to see Alex Salmond spend less of his time in London arguing with | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
London politicians. What other possible message could you take | :04:47. | :04:51. | |
from what he said? I think he was making comments that were of his | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
own mind and they don't reflect the arguments taking place in Scotland | :04:55. | :05:01. | |
today. But you have to concede it is very embarrassing for you? | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
we have to see in future is the SNP bringing their arguments to | :05:05. | :05:09. | |
Scotland and arguing against the majority of Scottish people who | :05:09. | :05:14. | |
favour the continuation of the Union. So, on drink-driving, the | :05:14. | :05:19. | |
Scottish Conservatives say may be. What about Labour. Their | :05:19. | :05:24. | |
spokesperson joins me now. Thank you for coming in. Labour had been | :05:24. | :05:31. | |
reluctant to reduce the limit of 50. Where did you stand on that? There | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
is an opportunity here for us to take this forward in Scotland and | :05:35. | :05:41. | |
there is no need for this to be seen, in some way, as undermining | :05:41. | :05:44. | |
the relationship across the United Kingdom or the enforcement of | :05:44. | :05:49. | |
different limits on different sides of the border. Remember, it is | :05:49. | :05:54. | |
nearly seven years since Labour put through the legislation on smoking | :05:54. | :05:58. | |
in public places which did for legislation in place from the rest | :05:58. | :06:06. | |
of the United Kingdom, but not for long. It then went to the rest of | :06:06. | :06:11. | |
the UK, and I think if we took the lead in this area, the rest of the | :06:11. | :06:17. | |
country would follow. But was that not Labour's position in a Holyrood | :06:18. | :06:27. | |
:06:28. | :06:30. | ||
and that is why you opposed it? position is... You have changed | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
opposition and you're being very positive about 50? Positive about | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
50 but also our position has not changed in that an opposition has | :06:38. | :06:43. | |
always been that we want to see progress towards 50 in Scotland and | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
across the UK. So it is not about being out of step or chain in | :06:47. | :06:53. | |
position. It is about saying, here is another opportunity for Scotland | :06:53. | :06:58. | |
to take the lead. But given that people metabolise alcohol at | :06:58. | :07:04. | |
different rates, why not by the bullet and take it down to 20? | :07:04. | :07:08. | |
think this would be hard for road safety in Scotland. The limit has | :07:09. | :07:13. | |
to be enforceable, realistic and remove the risk that people get | :07:14. | :07:18. | |
charged with drink-driving when, in fact, the amount of dual they have | :07:18. | :07:26. | |
consumed is a mute -- minute. -- the amount of alcohol. I think 50, | :07:26. | :07:35. | |
as we have seen from the example, 50 means people know they should | :07:35. | :07:39. | |
not drink before they drive but it also means people will not | :07:39. | :07:42. | |
intentionally find themselves breaking the law when they have | :07:42. | :07:47. | |
drunk alcohol on the previous day in a moderate quantity. In a word, | :07:47. | :07:53. | |
if this comes before Holyrood, at 50, due well supported? Correct. | :07:53. | :07:59. | |
Thank you. Now, what do Ian Rankin and JK Rowling have in common | :07:59. | :08:04. | |
besides being best selling Scottish all this. Well, it seems they have | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
access to a new source of creativity and enlightenment. We | :08:08. | :08:14. | |
have been arrested Reading. This has long had the reputation of | :08:14. | :08:20. | |
the Left Bank of the capital. The play's where writers rub shoulders | :08:20. | :08:25. | |
together. Ian Rankin used to write here. JK Rowling used to stay down | :08:25. | :08:29. | |
the road. It could be something in the water. According to this man, | :08:29. | :08:39. | |
there is. A connection has been discovered between the water being | :08:39. | :08:47. | |
P.H. 10 and this ancient Scottish spring. Looking at a map, I noticed | :08:47. | :08:57. | |
:08:57. | :08:58. | ||
this tiny village have the spring of passes, the legendary Springbok. | :08:58. | :09:04. | |
If you follow the spring into the city, it goes all the way in and to | :09:04. | :09:11. | |
a specific part of the city's water supply. To put the theory to the | :09:11. | :09:18. | |
test, we went to Edinburgh's University. Sam Kelly teaches the | :09:18. | :09:23. | |
Masters in creative writing. She set her students a test. One group | :09:23. | :09:29. | |
would have a drink of PH10 tap water and the others, a well-known | :09:29. | :09:33. | |
French water. It is pretty extraordinary. These groups are | :09:33. | :09:39. | |
pretty mixed. On the one side there has been a massive leap in | :09:39. | :09:45. | |
technical sophistication and also the ideas seem to be better, more | :09:45. | :09:49. | |
complex, just better! Better writing. Overall, it is | :09:49. | :09:54. | |
inexplicable. Would it surprise you to know that that came purely from | :09:54. | :10:01. | |
drinking PH10 tap water? Yes! It would. We can now make it | :10:01. | :10:05. | |
compulsory in all classes. And if you can tell the difference in the | :10:05. | :10:10. | |
work of these novice riders, what about the professionals who have | :10:10. | :10:15. | |
been Downing PH10 for decades? makes perfect sense to me. I have | :10:15. | :10:19. | |
suspected it was some years and I am delighted the research has been | :10:19. | :10:24. | |
done to prove this. There is a certain taste in this water, the | :10:24. | :10:29. | |
P.H. 10 water, and it is difficult to describe. It is slightly papery, | :10:29. | :10:37. | |
a slight taste of paper. And perhaps sometimes you get a whiff | :10:37. | :10:41. | |
of something else as well. Rather different from the taste of water | :10:41. | :10:45. | |
in the West of Scotland, which is very much more towards the whisky | :10:45. | :10:50. | |
end of the spectrum. So there you are. If you want to be a best | :10:50. | :11:00. | |
:11:00. | :11:01. | ||
seller here, your best get stuck into this. | :11:01. | :11:03. | |
And now here's the lunchtime news, with Graham Stewart. | :11:03. | :11:05. | |
Good afternoon. The Scottish Government's consultation on the | :11:05. | :11:08. | |
independence referendum has been called into question after it | :11:08. | :11:10. | |
emerged that the public could submit multiple responses and keep | :11:10. | :11:14. | |
them anonymous. The SNP has had more than 10,000 replies to the | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
process, which ends in May. But opposition parties say it may now | :11:17. | :11:27. | |
:11:27. | :11:29. | ||
not be valid. It is clear that having a consultation process where | :11:29. | :11:34. | |
you can put in Malta poor responses without any name or email address | :11:34. | :11:42. | |
is not only open to abuse, it is designed for abuse. -- put in | :11:42. | :11:49. | |
multi-sport response is. These have been considered by the Scottish | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
Government as a process to the referendum in 2014 and the idea | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
this has been rigged in any way it is an appalling accusation by the | :11:57. | :11:59. | |
Labour Party. Meanwhile, the UK Government says | :11:59. | :12:02. | |
the vast majority of responses to its consultation on how a | :12:02. | :12:04. | |
referendum could work favour holding the ballot sooner rather | :12:04. | :12:07. | |
than later. The Scottish Secretary, Michael Moore, is urging SNP | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
ministers to speed up their proposed timetable of staging the | :12:10. | :12:14. | |
ballot in the autumn of 2014. Every young person aged 16 to 19 in | :12:14. | :12:17. | |
Scotland is guaranteed an offer of a place in education or training | :12:17. | :12:20. | |
from today. The Scottish Government say they want young people | :12:20. | :12:24. | |
struggling to find work to get the message that help is available. �30 | :12:24. | :12:34. | |
:12:34. | :12:35. | ||
million has been invested in the Most places will have a dry | :12:35. | :12:40. | |
afternoon but it turns increasingly cloudy, and by the middle of the | :12:40. | :12:44. | |
area -- of the afternoon, it is just dumb freeze getting some | :12:44. | :12:52. | |
brightness. The cloud will produce bits and pieces of rain. Tonbridge | :12:52. | :12:57. | |
us this afternoon ranging from a cool six degrees in the Shetlands | :12:57. | :13:01. | |
to 13 in the best of the sunshine in the East, with winds main | :13:01. | :13:06. | |
delight. That is it for now. Now back to | :13:06. | :13:15. | |
In a moment, we will be discussing big events in politics. First, the | :13:16. | :13:25. | |
:13:26. | :13:26. | ||
Week in 60 seconds. A typical week for French and oil | :13:26. | :13:31. | |
company Total as Gas continued to leak from its Elgin platform in the | :13:31. | :13:34. | |
North Sea. Alex Salmond said the seriousness of the incident must | :13:34. | :13:38. | |
not be underestimated. We will continue to resist and everywhere | :13:38. | :13:44. | |
we can and they are also resisting in total -- on total transparency. | :13:44. | :13:49. | |
A second inquiry into the death of Alex you found that fire commanders | :13:49. | :13:54. | |
did not act quickly enough to savour. | :13:54. | :14:01. | |
The council election ballot is open. Elections are on 3rd May. | :14:01. | :14:06. | |
Two men have been accused of sending parcel bombs to the Celtic | :14:06. | :14:13. | |
manager Neil Lennon. They were also accused of sending them to a Labour | :14:13. | :14:18. | |
NS -- MSP. Experts at a number as soon tell | :14:18. | :14:23. | |
the world that next week is the 36 our window for the panders to mate | :14:23. | :14:31. | |
successfully. So, this coming week, Al Government | :14:31. | :14:40. | |
takes a recess and council elections begin. -- our government. | :14:40. | :14:45. | |
My guests now on Lorraine Davidson and a professor from Glasgow | :14:45. | :14:50. | |
University. What did you make of the referendum interaction? Did you | :14:50. | :14:56. | |
think the votes were rigged? The consultation? That is a big word | :14:56. | :15:02. | |
and I think one of the issues is, is this in keeping with previous | :15:02. | :15:08. | |
consultations? But beyond that is the case that these are constructed | :15:08. | :15:12. | |
leaks by UK and Scottish Governments. We are in the process | :15:12. | :15:16. | |
of the debate about Wendy referendum should be held and what | :15:16. | :15:23. | |
the consultation might say. -- when the referendum. It is playing | :15:23. | :15:26. | |
politics with the consultation process, which is drawing on people | :15:26. | :15:30. | |
who are not politicians to respond to it, so it is best to wait and | :15:30. | :15:34. | |
see what the consultation throws up. What do you think it would say | :15:34. | :15:37. | |
about public confidence in the prisons, whoever holds the | :15:38. | :15:47. | |
:15:48. | :15:51. | ||
The consultations are held in different ways. Where does this | :15:51. | :15:57. | |
leave us, do you think? It does not help if people think Alex Salmond | :15:57. | :16:02. | |
can send in 3000 responses from his party and nobody will realise. That | :16:02. | :16:08. | |
cannot happen because it would be independently verified. We need to | :16:08. | :16:13. | |
look at that before the vote itself when the opposition is saying, is | :16:13. | :16:19. | |
the question fetch? Also, I have never met shy and retiring | :16:19. | :16:26. | |
nationalists. -- is the question reasonable? I am sure people would | :16:26. | :16:32. | |
be happy to response to the consultation. In my experience, the | :16:32. | :16:36. | |
Unionists are perhaps scared, that business people do not want to put | :16:36. | :16:41. | |
their name to things and put their head above the parapet. If the | :16:41. | :16:44. | |
Government said they would not take on board any anonymous admissions, | :16:44. | :16:50. | |
I think it would help politically as well. They are not anonymous | :16:50. | :16:56. | |
admissions. Would that tidy up things a bit? We have to look at | :16:56. | :17:01. | |
what the Government has done before. We can look at what Peter Cruddas | :17:01. | :17:05. | |
has said. What do we think the impact will be in terms of | :17:05. | :17:10. | |
discussions, if they win the referendum? If we have discussions | :17:10. | :17:14. | |
with the other team saying that we do not really want it anyway, what | :17:14. | :17:23. | |
have we got? That is quite a big question. I think the issue is is | :17:23. | :17:30. | |
Peter Cruddas right? To some extent, he is right. There are some people | :17:31. | :17:36. | |
in Westminster that would really like to be shot of Scotland. That | :17:36. | :17:42. | |
opinion certainly exists. But as to if it will impact on the process, | :17:42. | :17:46. | |
we will find out because if we get to that stage, we will have an | :17:46. | :17:53. | |
awful lot of noise in the London based media about how be | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
discussions should be going and we will probably have a split in the | :17:57. | :18:03. | |
coalition if it is still here at that time. This is one of the ways | :18:03. | :18:07. | |
in which the landscape is shifting ahead of the vote, like the | :18:07. | :18:14. | |
discussion about consultations. we'd look at it a little bit, it is | :18:14. | :18:19. | |
embarrassing for the Tories, isn't it? It undermines David Cameron | :18:19. | :18:23. | |
spending time in Scotland and saying that he really cares about | :18:23. | :18:29. | |
Scotland. But Peter Cruddas is a man that if we are honest, nobody | :18:29. | :18:34. | |
knew who he was. What we know about him now is that he is a bit of an | :18:34. | :18:40. | |
idiot. He is articulating a strand of opinion which does exist in the | :18:40. | :18:44. | |
Tory party in England but it is not an opinion reflected in any way by | :18:44. | :18:51. | |
David Cameron and mainstream Tories. It is embarrassing and he will | :18:51. | :18:55. | |
think it was the last thing he needed. But it is a two day wander | :18:55. | :19:03. | |
and nothing else. We are almost out of time. Which councils will you be | :19:03. | :19:09. | |
watching in the council elections with the greatest interest? Last | :19:09. | :19:15. | |
Tape. Can beat Labour Party hang on? And Edinburgh, where it the SNP | :19:15. | :19:18. | |
holds up it will still be damaged by the drop in the Liberal | :19:18. | :19:28. |