Browse content similar to 24/06/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Welcome to the Sunday Politics. He's one of the four men who make | :00:37. | :00:40. | |
all the big decisions in the coalition. The others you know well. | :00:40. | :00:44. | |
David Cameron, Nick Clegg, George Osborne. Today, as the British | :00:44. | :00:46. | |
economy struggles to escape the recession, and the eurozone stares | :00:46. | :00:49. | |
into the abyss, we talk to the fourth man, Chief Secretary to the | :00:49. | :00:58. | |
Treasury Danny Alexander, about the economy, tax and the coalition. | :00:58. | :01:01. | |
David Cameron and his Argentine counterpart went head to head over | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
the Falklands this week. Respect MP George Galloway and Defence | :01:04. | :01:07. | |
Committee Tory MP Colonel Bob Stewart go to battle over the same | :01:07. | :01:17. | |
:01:17. | :01:20. | ||
issue. And on Sunday politics Scotland, | :01:20. | :01:24. | |
the original Act of Union might be a fragile document, but tomorrow | :01:24. | :01:28. | |
the campaign begins to keep the political union strong. The slogan | :01:28. | :01:33. | |
is better to get and they promise the best of both worlds. We hear | :01:33. | :01:43. | |
:01:43. | :01:43. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1782 seconds | :01:43. | :31:26. | |
from the backers, the tractors and The Tories were ready to share | :31:26. | :31:31. | |
sovereignty. Look back, I might not have been in Parliament that long | :31:31. | :31:35. | |
but the Government were ready to share sovereignty at that time, the | :31:35. | :31:43. | |
Tory and Labour governments. Falkland Islands have cost Britain | :31:43. | :31:51. | |
a lot of money. It has cost the lives. Why would you give it up now | :31:51. | :31:56. | |
when it seems there would be all to be had? Because he would have to | :31:56. | :32:04. | |
give it up in total later. Latin America, it is 100% behind us. | :32:04. | :32:09. | |
are not. Even the Spanish have turned against Argentina. | :32:09. | :32:16. | |
Spanish are a long way away. The Brazilians, the Argentinians, the | :32:16. | :32:21. | |
growing power of Venezuela, these countries that are rich. We should | :32:21. | :32:25. | |
have good relations with them. We should have good relations, share | :32:25. | :32:28. | |
the oil and gas in the Falkland Islands and save money and not have | :32:28. | :32:33. | |
to send an aircraft carrier and is more men. We do not have one to | :32:33. | :32:43. | |
:32:43. | :32:45. | ||
send. He is saying Latin America is so full of emerging economies and | :32:45. | :32:49. | |
we have good relations with Latin America and we just don't talk to | :32:49. | :32:53. | |
Argentina. We have got good relations with Latin America. They | :32:53. | :32:59. | |
exist. Argentina is not all that popular in Latin America. I | :32:59. | :33:05. | |
slightly disagree with you, George. I totally disagree. I quite like | :33:05. | :33:11. | |
disagreeing with you. Get to the point. The South Americans are not | :33:11. | :33:18. | |
just as George has presented. Some of them are on side on this matter. | :33:18. | :33:27. | |
Name names. Brazil is not as bad as you say. Brazil is 100% behind the | :33:27. | :33:30. | |
claim of Argentina. If you look at the speech of the Brazilian | :33:30. | :33:34. | |
ambassador at the United Nations. Brazil is somebody we should be | :33:34. | :33:43. | |
friends with. This is politics. We are not having a battle. We want | :33:43. | :33:50. | |
Argentina to back off. That is what we require. Argentina is in real | :33:50. | :33:54. | |
economic trouble. This is sabre- rattling, they do not have the | :33:54. | :33:59. | |
military means. I do not think you are in trouble because you take | :33:59. | :34:03. | |
your oil resources back from the Spanish. The Argentines are within | :34:03. | :34:11. | |
their right to take that the oil company. Argentina, its flag is | :34:11. | :34:20. | |
flying ever higher because of this issue. They cannot resist the call | :34:20. | :34:29. | |
for the Liberation, as they put it, from European colonial rule. | :34:29. | :34:32. | |
the Argentinians to take over islands when everybody wants to | :34:32. | :34:38. | |
stay away from Argentina, that is can only ionisation. We have to end | :34:38. | :34:48. | |
:34:48. | :34:50. | ||
it there. It was a spirited debate Good afternoon. Welcome to Sunday | :34:50. | :34:54. | |
Politics Scotland. Coming up on the programme: | :34:54. | :34:57. | |
The old Articles of Union might be showing their age, but unionists | :34:57. | :35:00. | |
say they are still relevant. Tomorrow sees the launch of their | :35:00. | :35:03. | |
campaign to keep Scotland in the UK. Scottish Secretary Michael Moore is | :35:03. | :35:07. | |
here to predict how the Better Together campaign will go. And the | :35:07. | :35:13. | |
SNP's Stewart Hosie will be giving us his assessment. | :35:13. | :35:16. | |
We have a special investigation into the cash-for-gold business. | :35:16. | :35:24. | |
There are calls for a new code of conduct in Scotland. | :35:24. | :35:27. | |
And at the end of the school year, does the latest craze for American | :35:27. | :35:36. | |
style-proms put more pressure on kids, or is it just harmless fun? | :35:36. | :35:39. | |
In the debate over the referendum on Scottish independence, the yes | :35:39. | :35:41. | |
campaign has already begun. Tomorrow the other campaign is | :35:41. | :35:44. | |
launched, the one that says yes to stay in the union offering, | :35:44. | :35:48. | |
supporters say, the best of both worlds. The slogan is Better | :35:48. | :35:54. | |
Together. Can the campaign cast itself as more than just a no to | :35:54. | :36:00. | |
independence? And how united is this pro-Union alliance of Labour, | :36:00. | :36:06. | |
Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats? | :36:06. | :36:11. | |
This is what we are talking about, the treaty of Union between | :36:11. | :36:16. | |
Scotland and England. You can see the articles of union. The first at | :36:16. | :36:22. | |
the bottom of the page say the two kingdoms of Scotland and England | :36:22. | :36:27. | |
shall be united into one Kingdom by the name of Great Britain. Rarities | :36:27. | :36:32. | |
in black and white. If we turn the pages that are over 300 years old, | :36:32. | :36:38. | |
we have to be careful, you can see the signatories to the treaty. On | :36:38. | :36:44. | |
the Scottish side on the left we have names such as Queensberry and | :36:44. | :36:48. | |
the Joint Secretaries of State. On the right, we have Lord Godolphin, | :36:48. | :36:56. | |
the Lord High Treasurer. More than 300 years later the debate on | :36:56. | :37:01. | |
whether to maintain that Union is well under way. Tomorrow, the | :37:01. | :37:05. | |
campaign supporting the union will be officially launched. The Future | :37:05. | :37:13. | |
of Scotland will be challenging to make a positive case. Within the | :37:13. | :37:17. | |
United Kingdom, Scotland enjoys benefits. We have the arenas of | :37:18. | :37:24. | |
international inference, international affairs, and we have | :37:24. | :37:29. | |
in domestic parliament here are good control up over our own | :37:29. | :37:34. | |
domestic to vault issues. That seems to me the best of both worlds. | :37:34. | :37:39. | |
How United what the pro-union campaign the? When the parties seem | :37:40. | :37:44. | |
to agree on hardly anything else. You would be may be surprised about | :37:45. | :37:49. | |
how United this campaign is. We put aside differences, we do not forget | :37:49. | :37:54. | |
them, we put them aside to ensure we get the benefits of the United | :37:54. | :38:01. | |
Kingdom put forward in the campaign. If the Scots vote no, what then? At | :38:01. | :38:07. | |
Stirling Castle on Friday, the Welsh First Minister told us that | :38:07. | :38:11. | |
the UK Government had to come up with an offer on further devolution | :38:11. | :38:15. | |
sooner rather than later. It needs to be made before the referendum. | :38:15. | :38:21. | |
It is not good enough to say there would be discussions after. The | :38:21. | :38:26. | |
people of Scotland need to see what alternatives there might be on the | :38:26. | :38:30. | |
table before the referendum takes place. Labour's deputy leader in | :38:30. | :38:34. | |
Scotland said that is a question for after the referendum. We are | :38:34. | :38:38. | |
open to that debate but it is a separate argument. We ask is | :38:39. | :38:45. | |
Scottish people to make the biggest decision in 300 years. It is | :38:45. | :38:51. | |
devolution again separation. opinion polls seem to be on the | :38:51. | :38:56. | |
pro-union side. The campaign knows it has a long way to go to persuade | :38:56. | :39:02. | |
Scottish people not tear up the Union. The Scottish Secretary joins | :39:02. | :39:10. | |
us from the Edinburgh studio. How do you launch this? Do you imagine | :39:11. | :39:16. | |
you can set a positive vision, given that there are such disparate | :39:16. | :39:20. | |
views of what the constitutional settlement should be, even within | :39:20. | :39:25. | |
the individual parties taking part? The central issue we are being | :39:25. | :39:30. | |
asked to resolve is the future of Scotland's place in the UK. We are | :39:30. | :39:35. | |
fundamentally stronger together and would be weaker apart. Your | :39:35. | :39:39. | |
commentators in the last piece made some of the arguments about | :39:39. | :39:43. | |
opportunities we have as we are part of a bigger United Kingdom | :39:43. | :39:48. | |
economy. The strength of being part of that to avoid some of the risks | :39:48. | :39:53. | |
we see for smaller countries elsewhere in Europe. We have a huge | :39:53. | :40:00. | |
amount of clout for Scotland being part of the UK's internationally. | :40:00. | :40:06. | |
Whether it is NATO, the United Nations, that is important, also is | :40:06. | :40:12. | |
important, we have devolution already to the Scottish Parliament | :40:12. | :40:17. | |
and in the past few weeks we have delivered the latest date of that | :40:17. | :40:21. | |
with new tax and borrowing powers. I think there is a positive case | :40:21. | :40:25. | |
for Scotland to be part of the UK and I look forward to a strong | :40:25. | :40:33. | |
debate about it. Opinion polls show us that the majority in Scotland | :40:33. | :40:37. | |
would like a second question that addresses the powers that may be | :40:37. | :40:40. | |
appropriate within a devolved settlement still within the United | :40:40. | :40:46. | |
Kingdom. You are denying them back. As a federalist, that is a | :40:46. | :40:51. | |
ludicrous position to take. The Liberal Democrats could have owned | :40:51. | :40:58. | |
D Lomax. You could have moved into ground that is positive. -- | :40:58. | :41:04. | |
devolution max. The poll does not share a demand for a second | :41:04. | :41:09. | |
question, it shows an appetite for a wider debate. The debate is under | :41:09. | :41:16. | |
way. As a Liberal Democrat I am committed for home rule for | :41:16. | :41:20. | |
Scotland and a loosening of ties within the United Kingdom while | :41:20. | :41:24. | |
preserving the United Kingdom. In Scotland, we can have that debate | :41:24. | :41:29. | |
and has a party we are under way with that. Looking at tax, welfare | :41:29. | :41:34. | |
and other issues. Others need to be part of that. It is not for me to | :41:34. | :41:38. | |
tell Scotland what they should think, it is for everybody, the | :41:38. | :41:43. | |
voluntary sector and others, to be part of the debate. In order to | :41:43. | :41:47. | |
have the debate and reach an assessment of what they think is an | :41:47. | :41:52. | |
appropriate way forward, people need the facts. At what point will | :41:52. | :41:57. | |
they know what extra powers for example the Liberal Democrats are | :41:57. | :42:04. | |
proposing? Is it in time for the general election? At what point | :42:04. | :42:11. | |
does clarity coming to the debate? Can I make an important distinction. | :42:11. | :42:19. | |
We have yes N P who have campaigned to have a vote on Scotland's place | :42:19. | :42:25. | |
in the UK -- SNP. They have won a majority and we as a UK government | :42:25. | :42:29. | |
do not agree with their view for Scotland but we want to work with | :42:29. | :42:35. | |
the Scottish government to deliver a vote on that issue, which SNP | :42:35. | :42:39. | |
activists have campaigned for. Let's have the referendum. | :42:39. | :42:43. | |
Independence is separate to devolution. We do not need to muddy | :42:43. | :42:47. | |
the waters by having two questions on the same ballot paper. We | :42:47. | :42:53. | |
continue to have the debate and we as a party was set out our ideas | :42:53. | :42:57. | |
for the future of devolution in the months ahead. A are you concerned | :42:57. | :43:03. | |
that if it is a no to independence in 2014, the political leverage is | :43:03. | :43:08. | |
does have painted when you go into subsequent talks with Westminster - | :43:08. | :43:15. | |
- is dissipated. There is no political leverage left at | :43:15. | :43:21. | |
Westminster for the argument. fundamentally disagree. We look at | :43:21. | :43:25. | |
these stages of devolution we have had. We created the Scottish | :43:25. | :43:28. | |
Parliament in the Nineties because we had a huge debate over many | :43:28. | :43:32. | |
years among the parties and crucially involving people who are | :43:32. | :43:38. | |
not politicians, the voluntary sector, business, and we'd got | :43:38. | :43:45. | |
consensus. The political parties delivered the Parliament after 1997. | :43:45. | :43:50. | |
Just recently we have delivered the Scotland Act with more financial | :43:50. | :43:54. | |
powers, based on parties coming together, agreeing a proposition | :43:54. | :44:02. | |
and delivering it. I believe that is sensible. There is a threat, | :44:02. | :44:12. | |
:44:12. | :44:12. | ||
when you remove that why would they give anything? We have had a lively | :44:12. | :44:16. | |
debate about independence or devolution. All the other parties | :44:16. | :44:21. | |
apart from the SNP have been happy to be part of the debate about more | :44:21. | :44:26. | |
powers for Scotland. We are saying they have raised the issue of | :44:26. | :44:29. | |
independence and won majority in the Scottish Parliament, let's | :44:29. | :44:35. | |
resolve the issue. We will set out our stall and we want to see what | :44:36. | :44:43. | |
other folk think and then we will deliver it. Let me ask you about a | :44:43. | :44:47. | |
quote from the Liberal Democrat leader today. He said Scotland | :44:47. | :44:52. | |
would be thrown into legal limbo without a straight referendum | :44:52. | :44:55. | |
choice on independence or the status quo. He said it would end up | :44:55. | :45:00. | |
in the courts. He said he does not want the future of the country to | :45:00. | :45:04. | |
be decided by the courts rather than voters at the ballot box. The | :45:04. | :45:08. | |
answer to that is simple, this is not a legal question, this is a | :45:08. | :45:12. | |
political question. You can give them the legal coverage, they can | :45:12. | :45:15. | |
have any number of questions, in not allowing that you have made a | :45:15. | :45:22. | |
political choice, not a legal choice. I reject that. We need to | :45:22. | :45:27. | |
have a clear question about what Scotland's future is. Is it staying | :45:27. | :45:31. | |
as part of the UK or becoming a separate country, will it be | :45:31. | :45:36. | |
independent in the world? That is a central and simple proposition. I | :45:36. | :45:42. | |
passionately want Scotland to stay part of the UK. We can sort out the | :45:42. | :45:46. | |
legality of the Scottish Parliament's ability to hold a | :45:46. | :45:49. | |
referendum by working with the Scottish government. We are well | :45:49. | :45:54. | |
under way with that. The separate issue is that if you put two | :45:54. | :45:58. | |
questions on the paper and get a majority in favour of independence, | :45:58. | :46:03. | |
and a bigger majority in favour of more powers, we will have a | :46:03. | :46:05. | |
democratic out raged that the bigger result has been ignored | :46:05. | :46:12. | |
because the SNP says that will make as independent. I can see arguments | :46:12. | :46:15. | |
about that and people going to court to interpret the outcome. He | :46:15. | :46:19. | |
is right to say that would be a farce. It is a simple and | :46:19. | :46:23. | |
straightforward proposition to resolve that. Then we can work | :46:24. | :46:33. | |
:46:34. | :46:34. | ||
through the remaining issues. Joining me now is a Stewart Hosie | :46:34. | :46:37. | |
from our Dundee studio. What did you make of that final point? Why | :46:37. | :46:43. | |
have you got to with the talks in terms of the legalities? | :46:43. | :46:47. | |
Scottish Government will have a mandate to hold this referendum and | :46:47. | :46:51. | |
if the UK Government wanted to clarify any legal concerns they | :46:51. | :46:55. | |
have, they could make a section 30 transfer. That is in their hands | :46:55. | :46:59. | |
and we hope they do that. We have no doubt that holding a referendum | :46:59. | :47:05. | |
in Scotland will be legal. If we look at the direction of travel | :47:05. | :47:09. | |
that the SNP seem to be on, you keep modifying what the concept of | :47:09. | :47:13. | |
independent means, you will keep the monarchy, you say you may stay | :47:13. | :47:18. | |
in NATO. Are you confident you are taking the party with you on this? | :47:18. | :47:22. | |
Yes, absolutely. We are talking about us having the best of both | :47:22. | :47:26. | |
worlds. A normal independent Scotland and a union with our | :47:26. | :47:33. | |
neighbours, using those things would makes sense to use it. The | :47:33. | :47:37. | |
head of state, the Stirling currency, it makes sense for | :47:37. | :47:41. | |
everybody but we take all the other political decisions which matter | :47:41. | :47:46. | |
and that really chimes with the social attitudes and with the | :47:46. | :47:49. | |
recent opinion poll which shows the majority of people wanted the | :47:49. | :47:52. | |
Scottish Parliament to take the majority of decisions over most | :47:52. | :47:57. | |
things. Let me clarify something here. You make these assertions and | :47:58. | :48:03. | |
say that we will keep Stirling, that we will get rid of Trident and | :48:03. | :48:07. | |
that you may firmly believe that that is a strong possibility. The | :48:07. | :48:12. | |
fact of the matter is that you cannot guarantee that. These are | :48:12. | :48:18. | |
negotiating positions. In a sense, no government ever or party can | :48:18. | :48:23. | |
hold a future government to lock them down, of course that is right. | :48:23. | :48:27. | |
When you come to the referendum and 2014, the Scottish people on the | :48:27. | :48:34. | |
basis of a public prospectus -- published prospectus will determine | :48:34. | :48:44. | |
the situation of this could -- the Scottish state. I am giving you my | :48:44. | :48:49. | |
position. Every look at the second question and yet again in opinion | :48:49. | :48:53. | |
polls, this has come up again, the majority of people would like the | :48:53. | :48:56. | |
option of a second question, more devolved powers within the Union. | :48:56. | :49:01. | |
Given the direction of travel and how some of the stand-alone SNP | :49:01. | :49:07. | |
policies have been diluted in the past which we have spoken about, if | :49:07. | :49:11. | |
you do put a second question on this referendum ballot paper, the | :49:11. | :49:16. | |
SNP will lose, that is what the opinion polls are telling us. | :49:16. | :49:20. | |
will be an independent question and we are campaigning to win that. We | :49:20. | :49:24. | |
and many others outside the SNP what Scotland to be a normal, | :49:24. | :49:27. | |
independent country and I am confident we will win that | :49:27. | :49:30. | |
referendum and what we have said is it is right and proper to recognise | :49:31. | :49:37. | |
a body of opinion which wants to go further with devolution than we | :49:37. | :49:41. | |
currently have but not as far as independence and if that can | :49:41. | :49:43. | |
coalesce around a detailed prospectus, then we are open to | :49:43. | :49:50. | |
having VAT on the ballot paper. I think that shows a huge weakness in | :49:50. | :49:54. | |
the no campaign as your interview with Michael Moore said. They need | :49:55. | :49:59. | |
to determine what that is in advance of the opinion poll and we | :49:59. | :50:04. | |
can test that against independence and the status quo. We have been | :50:04. | :50:09. | |
open to this for some time, I am at a loss as to understand what the no | :50:09. | :50:13. | |
campaign political parties who say they want further devolution are | :50:13. | :50:18. | |
unable to agree on what that means. Also a body of opinion within the | :50:18. | :50:21. | |
SNP who says it you put a second question on the referendum ballot | :50:21. | :50:25. | |
he will have squandered the party's best chances in generations of | :50:25. | :50:29. | |
getting a clear majority for independence. Are you willing to | :50:29. | :50:33. | |
risk that? I don't think it is a risk and I don't agree with that | :50:33. | :50:39. | |
assessment at all. I think the case for independence is unanswerable. | :50:39. | :50:43. | |
An incredibly strong case that Scotland can stand on its own two | :50:43. | :50:47. | |
feet, work with its neighbours, have the clout within the | :50:47. | :50:51. | |
international community. And we are having a seat on the United Nations | :50:51. | :50:55. | |
which we currently do not have. I think the case for independence | :50:55. | :50:59. | |
trumps the case for further devolution that there are those who | :50:59. | :51:03. | |
believe that there should be further devolution. Thank you for | :51:03. | :51:08. | |
that. More specifics now on the poll | :51:09. | :51:13. | |
which we mentioned earlier and this MORI poll commissioned by the | :51:14. | :51:18. | |
Future of Scotland Campaign, 1,000 people were asked to name the | :51:18. | :51:21. | |
issues and more than one if they wanted of most concern to them. The | :51:21. | :51:28. | |
economy was named as a key concern for 51%, followed by unemployment | :51:28. | :51:34. | |
which mattered most for 21%. Education was most important for | :51:34. | :51:40. | |
21% and public spending cuts by 20%. Scottish independence was a key | :51:40. | :51:42. | |
concern for 16%. The Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations | :51:42. | :51:48. | |
has a leading role in this Future of Scotland Campaign, and it's | :51:48. | :51:56. | |
chief executive Martin Sime is here now. The shows the people of | :51:56. | :51:59. | |
Scotland represented in this poll are quite a way ahead of the | :51:59. | :52:05. | |
politicians in terms of understand it the issues and wanted to see an | :52:05. | :52:09. | |
open discussion and debate about all the options for Scotland's | :52:09. | :52:14. | |
governance rather than turning this into yes/ no Punch and Judy | :52:14. | :52:19. | |
campaign. What do you think should be asked in the 2014 referendum? | :52:19. | :52:23. | |
What more should be discussed. The Future of Scotland Campaign were | :52:23. | :52:26. | |
taking the temperature of the public to see their views on a | :52:26. | :52:32. | |
range of subjects. I think for example, a large majority of the | :52:32. | :52:36. | |
people who responded wanted to see welfare powers transferred to the | :52:36. | :52:40. | |
Scottish Parliament. I think that is an interesting and important | :52:40. | :52:47. | |
agenda. We should be debating that now. Those of the real issues that | :52:47. | :52:51. | |
people are concerned about rather than the campaigns that a week will | :52:51. | :52:56. | |
see. It strikes me that spending lot of money on staff and public | :52:56. | :53:00. | |
relations to argue yes/ no is not actually the kind of debate that | :53:00. | :53:10. | |
people want. The politicians ought Do you think there should be a | :53:10. | :53:18. | |
second question? What we are interested in at this stage is | :53:18. | :53:21. | |
keeping all the options on the table and opening out the debate so | :53:21. | :53:25. | |
that real people get a chance to contribute. How does that work in | :53:25. | :53:30. | |
practice? What are the mechanisms? There's lot of initiatives going on | :53:30. | :53:34. | |
to encourage people, not from the politicians interestingly. They | :53:34. | :53:38. | |
will appear in the endless political shows doing this phoney | :53:38. | :53:44. | |
war and we all know what happens when that happens. The casualty of | :53:44. | :53:49. | |
that approach, we know that. Rather than turn this into a binary issue, | :53:49. | :53:53. | |
we should discuss the issues that affect people and reflect the | :53:53. | :53:58. | |
aspirations they have and in their lives and the kind of Parliament | :53:58. | :54:01. | |
they would like to see and powers they would like to see if. We have | :54:01. | :54:06. | |
to leave it there, thank you. With high gold prices and tough | :54:06. | :54:11. | |
economic times, more people are cashing in on their jewellery. But | :54:11. | :54:13. | |
a BBC Scotland investigation has found some people are getting a | :54:13. | :54:18. | |
very raw deal. Scottish consumer groups are calling for a code of | :54:18. | :54:22. | |
conduct like the oneself of the border. Good Morning Scotland's | :54:22. | :54:25. | |
business presenter Waseem Zakir has been looking into the booming cash- | :54:25. | :54:32. | |
for-gold industry. Gold, a safe haven during turbulent | :54:32. | :54:38. | |
times and the commodity. It is in demand as never before. Its price | :54:38. | :54:43. | |
has soared recently. More and more people are cashing in on their old | :54:43. | :54:47. | |
gold. The number of poor because has doubled in the past few years | :54:47. | :54:51. | |
and gold buying outlets have mushroomed. But there are real | :54:51. | :54:58. | |
horror stories about and -- unscrupulous buyers. We are worried | :54:59. | :55:04. | |
that people are offered evaluation and than they are offered much less. | :55:04. | :55:08. | |
People accepting a much lower valuation or paying to get their | :55:08. | :55:13. | |
gold back. To have managed to get hold of some gold for myself and | :55:13. | :55:16. | |
there was to do some mystery shopping to see what sort of prices | :55:16. | :55:21. | |
I will get. But first, I want to see how much it is actually worth. | :55:21. | :55:26. | |
My little 18 carat charm ways to put 69 grams and according to | :55:26. | :55:34. | |
today's prices, it is worth �59.60. When nine earrings way 3.76 grams | :55:34. | :55:44. | |
:55:44. | :55:46. | ||
# She's a gold digger. And son it I sampled a dozen gold buyers around | :55:46. | :55:51. | |
Glasgow and the prices I got ranged from 50 to �90. | :55:52. | :55:56. | |
This man's shop give me one of the better prices, �48 when it was | :55:56. | :56:01. | |
valued at nearly 60. He agreed to explain what accounts for this | :56:01. | :56:05. | |
difference. We stand to make a margin but it is to cover costs and | :56:05. | :56:09. | |
we have to make a bit of profit, yes. But I think we are paying much | :56:09. | :56:14. | |
more than most and our training scheme has to be paid for, our | :56:14. | :56:21. | |
staff training, it is all time. The systems we set up in place and the | :56:21. | :56:24. | |
advice we give to customers, we have to be rewarded and am afraid | :56:24. | :56:29. | |
this is part of the way of doing it. It is all well and good taking your | :56:29. | :56:32. | |
gold to a shop where you can't walk out if you're not happy with the | :56:32. | :56:36. | |
price but what about the company's way you have to send your cold off? | :56:36. | :56:41. | |
The poorest prices are received were from online and postal cash | :56:41. | :56:47. | |
companies. One of them offered me a staggering �17 for my gold so just | :56:47. | :56:50. | |
what regulation is there to prevent people getting ripped off? As far | :56:50. | :56:58. | |
as am aware, there aren't. People can pick a price on the day or pick | :56:58. | :57:02. | |
a price depending on that customer which is very unfair. There should | :57:02. | :57:06. | |
be a published price on the day and the customers will understand they | :57:06. | :57:09. | |
have got a margin and that is why you why in business but there | :57:09. | :57:13. | |
should be a publish price so the guidelines are more clear to the | :57:13. | :57:17. | |
customers. In England and Wales, a code of conduct was launched last | :57:17. | :57:21. | |
week to try to self regulates the industry. It is something consumer | :57:21. | :57:25. | |
bodies would like to see adopted in Scotland. We would welcome any | :57:25. | :57:29. | |
regulation that makes sure that customers are protected in any | :57:29. | :57:34. | |
dealings they are having for the cash-for-gold industry. The | :57:34. | :57:43. | |
Scottish consumers may be worse off than English counterparts. But a | :57:43. | :57:48. | |
voluntary code may not work. We are aware that what we need to do is | :57:48. | :57:53. | |
give the voluntary code some time to be tested. That will see if it | :57:53. | :57:57. | |
makes that improvement. There will be concerns that because it is a | :57:57. | :58:01. | |
voluntary code, people who at the West End of practice are unlikely | :58:01. | :58:05. | |
to abide by it and then we would have to look at whether or not the | :58:05. | :58:07. | |
Government would introduced legislation to protect the public | :58:07. | :58:13. | |
more carefully. As the bill winds of the global economy and | :58:13. | :58:17. | |
increasing prosperity in India and China drive up demand for gold, one | :58:17. | :58:23. | |
thing is for sure - the scrap gold buying business is here to stay for | :58:24. | :58:27. | |
a while you it. And you can hear the documentary | :58:27. | :58:34. | |
about selling old gold on BBC Radio Scotland this afternoon at 4:30 | :58:34. | :58:39. | |
four and also more on the BBC Scotland news website. Time for the | :58:39. | :58:45. | |
news with Gillian Smart. Good afternoon. 143 will back of | :58:45. | :58:48. | |
Scotland and NatWest bank branches have opened on a Sunday for the | :58:48. | :58:52. | |
first time -- well because, after a computer glitch. The technical | :58:52. | :58:59. | |
fault which has now been fixed let many people unable to use their | :58:59. | :59:04. | |
accounts. A backlog was cleared. Well Bank of Scotland said updating | :59:04. | :59:07. | |
customer accounts had taken longer than expected -- a Royal Bank of | :59:08. | :59:14. | |
Scotland. But the services may not resume properly until tomorrow. | :59:14. | :59:18. | |
Scottish shoppers may have to pay 5p for plastic bags and a so-called | :59:18. | :59:21. | |
bag tax which could raise �5 million for charity. The Scottish | :59:21. | :59:25. | |
Government is starting a three- month consultation on a range of | :59:25. | :59:28. | |
proposals looking to cut waste and protect the environment. Proceeds | :59:28. | :59:31. | |
of the bag tax would go to good causes after retailers have covered | :59:31. | :59:39. | |
their costs. We are finally seeing things settle | :59:39. | :59:44. | |
down after the wet and windy weather. Lot of Wendy weather but | :59:44. | :59:51. | |
also more cloud over northern areas we outbreaks of rain but that will | :59:51. | :59:55. | |
become more patchy through the day. Decent bulls of sunshine through | :59:55. | :00:02. | |
central and southern Scotland. We could see sharp showers to what | :00:02. | :00:06. | |
five and the east corner but it will feel pleasant in the sunshine. | :00:06. | :00:16. | |
:00:16. | :00:20. | ||
-- to what five. Our next bulletin Think back to your last year at | :00:20. | :00:24. | |
school and perhaps you had an end of term disco or a ceilidh? Well | :00:24. | :00:27. | |
nowadays it's more likely to marked by an American-style prom - | :00:27. | :00:30. | |
complete with limousines, fancy clothes and tiaras. And it's not | :00:31. | :00:33. | |
just secondary schools who are glamming it up, primary schools are | :00:33. | :00:39. | |
doing it too. So as prom season is upon us our reporter Hayley Jarvis | :00:39. | :00:45. | |
asks if it's all just a bit of harmless fun? | :00:45. | :00:51. | |
Nicole is preparing for her big night, the high-school prom. I have | :00:51. | :01:00. | |
done my hair and make-up by has a new dress and shoes. Looking good | :01:00. | :01:04. | |
does not come cheap. The willingness to splash out on prom | :01:04. | :01:09. | |
night is proving to be big business. We first opened three years ago. | :01:09. | :01:15. | |
got one or two. Last year, there was an increase. This year, we had | :01:15. | :01:22. | |
about five in today and more at the weekend, it seems to be coming more | :01:22. | :01:32. | |
:01:32. | :01:33. | ||
popular. Are you looking forward to it? It should be good. A glamorous | :01:33. | :01:38. | |
look for a glitzy occasion. No disco in the school hall for these | :01:38. | :01:42. | |
pupils, they have hired a hotel where they will have a three-course | :01:42. | :01:48. | |
meal before dancing the night away. A high-school people look forward | :01:48. | :01:56. | |
to it. It is the highlight of the year. A Until recently, the Prom | :01:56. | :02:06. | |
:02:06. | :02:09. | ||
was an American event. It is as over-the-top as pupils would wanted | :02:09. | :02:13. | |
to be. We would find out if anybody was not coming because of the cost | :02:13. | :02:18. | |
and the school would help out in that case, without people knowing | :02:18. | :02:26. | |
about it. It is nice to see the picture, because then you can | :02:26. | :02:30. | |
visualise the kind of evening they had. Julie is researching the | :02:30. | :02:36. | |
impact of the growing number of Proms in Scotland and found 92% of | :02:36. | :02:42. | |
secondary schools had one last year. The inspectorate are into the pram | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
because they think it gives leadership skills to the children | :02:46. | :02:52. | |
and motivates them -- prom. In itself, I think it is a good thing. | :02:52. | :03:00. | |
The ritual of moving from one state to another state, the biggest | :03:00. | :03:04. | |
downside would be, I suppose, is where there is an excess in terms | :03:04. | :03:14. | |
of consumption. It appears that those attending are getting younger, | :03:14. | :03:21. | |
like these primary seven pupils. are using ceilidh music, but we are | :03:22. | :03:31. | |
:03:32. | :03:34. | ||
dressing up. Lucky prom. It gives you a good feeling. -- like a prom. | :03:34. | :03:39. | |
The fact that the children refer to it as a prom, it is the | :03:39. | :03:43. | |
Americanisation of the dance and gradually that has become more of | :03:43. | :03:49. | |
an important thing for the children and families. For the school, it is | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
something we monitor carefully. If the balance was tipped, we would | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
have to address it. What is wrong with primary school pupils getting | :03:58. | :04:05. | |
some of the glamour of the prom? you do that at primary school, by | :04:05. | :04:15. | |
:04:15. | :04:16. | ||
secondary school, Euro-X -- your expectations are increasing. Maybe | :04:16. | :04:26. | |
:04:26. | :04:28. | ||
this then is increasing. This pupil and his friends wanted a limousine | :04:28. | :04:32. | |
for their high school prom, it was the only one left. If they become | :04:32. | :04:35. | |
increasingly lavish, how will pupils travel in a few years? | :04:35. | :04:45. | |
:04:45. | :04:46. | ||
Perhaps a helicopter. One school has turned down a request for that. | :04:46. | :04:52. | |
Just before we go, BBC Scotland is looking for audience members for | :04:52. | :04:54. |