:00:39. > :00:42.Afternoon, folks. Welcome to the Sunday Politics.
:00:42. > :00:47.An epic spat in the Commons - with Tories queueing up to strangle Nick
:00:47. > :00:49.Clegg's plans to reform the Lords. This morning, the Prime Minister
:00:49. > :00:56.has appealed to backbenchers and coalition partners alike NOT to
:00:56. > :01:00.descend into "division and navel gazing". That's our top story.
:01:00. > :01:03.And an Olympic-size fiasco over security for the Games. So who's
:01:03. > :01:12.for the high jump? The Shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, is this
:01:12. > :01:19.week's Sunday Interview. In Scotland:
:01:19. > :01:22.The battle for control of the Crown Estate in Scotland continues.
:01:22. > :01:32.was the opportunity to do the right thing and devolve something that
:01:32. > :01:39.
:01:39. > :01:49.should have been devolved in 1999. The bottled it. It is outrageous.
:01:49. > :01:49.
:01:49. > :27:17.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1528 seconds
:27:17. > :27:23.All that coming up. Here is the Some of the things... Ken Clarke
:27:24. > :27:28.wanted to end up what substantial weight reduced rate sentences. I do
:27:28. > :27:32.not think that is the right thing to do. I think that is getting the
:27:32. > :27:36.balance wrong. There are other areas where you want to prevent
:27:36. > :27:40.reoffending but I think the Home Secretary is taking a huge risk by
:27:40. > :27:48.cutting police officers. I think it is too simplistic to talk the way
:27:48. > :27:55.that you want to. I'm interested in what works. G 4 s, it is one of
:27:55. > :28:00.those periodic nightmares for the Home Office. Would the Home
:28:00. > :28:03.Secretary ever-higher G four S again? They do look a complete a
:28:03. > :28:08.share were at the moment. I think it is shocking what they have done.
:28:08. > :28:12.I think you need to have a lot of scepticism about their ability to
:28:12. > :28:18.deliver the contract. It is not just about them though, everybody
:28:18. > :28:24.is working towards the Olympics. It is not just about them letting the
:28:24. > :28:30.country down, why did the Home Office not know what was happening?
:28:30. > :28:35.And wait for the last minute. Exactly. It is utter incompetence.
:28:35. > :28:41.But it was the Labour Government that make you porous retch. Gabble
:28:41. > :28:48.whole list of contacts that you gave them. You give them over a
:28:48. > :28:55.million pounds a year. You make them rich. Would you ever employ
:28:55. > :29:01.them again? Public and private partnerships can be effective. He
:29:01. > :29:09.would not expect me to set them for every individual contact. --
:29:09. > :29:14.contract. The Government had been pushing the police forces into the
:29:14. > :29:20.contracts. I did not want anyone to do that. You should not be
:29:20. > :29:24.contracting out policing. I'm sorry to rush you. I want to move on to
:29:24. > :29:27.Lords reform. Just briefly though, at the Home Secretary does have a
:29:27. > :29:32.serious questions to answer. She has not yet explained whether she
:29:32. > :29:37.is on top of what is happening. That is in terms of the number of
:29:37. > :29:41.staff and volunteers. How could they not know? It looks like they
:29:41. > :29:46.were advised and not autumn. If the Home Secretary was here for what
:29:46. > :29:50.you asked them now. Is she in control of it now? Derek now know
:29:50. > :29:55.that there will not be any additional police needed? And then
:29:55. > :30:00.secondly, how could she not have known as late as Monday of last
:30:00. > :30:06.week she said that she was confident. Final question on Lords
:30:06. > :30:11.reform. Labour says that it is in favour of an elected chamber. Every
:30:11. > :30:21.constitutional change put forward by their at last Government needed
:30:21. > :30:24.
:30:24. > :30:26.a programmed timetable. By do not It would have allowed the
:30:26. > :30:36.Government to force bits of the Bill through that would have been
:30:36. > :30:37.
:30:37. > :30:47.amended. UK two days to the London mayor, the Human Rights Act, you
:30:47. > :30:48.
:30:48. > :30:51.get that in 4.5 days. Before these timetables were brought in, we
:30:51. > :30:56.managed to get legislation through, it requires the government to speak
:30:56. > :31:01.to us about each stage of the bill. We will work through them to do
:31:01. > :31:11.that. We will make sure this gets through Parliament. It needs to be
:31:11. > :31:29.
:31:29. > :31:39.amended. That's why we had to say The afternoon. Welcome to Sunday
:31:39. > :31:43.Politics. Coming up, a welcome to the programme. The quango, and fear
:31:44. > :31:46.and loathing in the Scottish arts community. I'm here at the Lyceum
:31:46. > :31:51.theatre where there are concerns about whether the curtain will rise
:31:51. > :32:01.to a brighter future. As the Scottish Parliament takes some
:32:01. > :32:02.
:32:02. > :32:06.holidays, we take a look at the Who should control Scotland's
:32:06. > :32:10.seabed? There has been growing pressure for rights to be done all
:32:10. > :32:15.to Scotland and local communities. Instead, the UK Government has
:32:15. > :32:23.decided they should remain with the Crown Estate. The news was greeted
:32:23. > :32:26.with dismay by many in the coastal communities of Scotland. The
:32:26. > :32:30.community or land in this estate on the island of Lewis, but they do
:32:30. > :32:35.not control the sea. As the potential for harnessing marine
:32:35. > :32:40.energy becomes a reality, people on the coast what to reap the benefits.
:32:40. > :32:44.Having previously bought the estate, we believe these revenues ought to
:32:44. > :32:51.be used for the benefit of the people living on the estate. We
:32:51. > :32:58.could put them to good use for things that are important to us,
:32:58. > :33:03.such as social housing or fuel poverty. Control rests with the
:33:03. > :33:07.Crown Estate, with revenue going direct to the UK Treasury. It was
:33:07. > :33:11.fouled things were changed that about to change after a strongly
:33:11. > :33:14.critical report said power should be devolved to local communities.
:33:14. > :33:21.The UK Government was not this -- not persuaded and gave away strips
:33:21. > :33:25.of land below Edinburgh Castle. There was every reason to expect
:33:25. > :33:29.the Government would respond more positively, given that the Liberal
:33:29. > :33:35.Democrats in the Highlands have been arguing for this for years.
:33:35. > :33:38.There was the opportunity to do the right thing. They could evolve
:33:38. > :33:45.something that should have been devolved in 1999 and they have
:33:45. > :33:51.bottled it. It is quite outrageous. Why didn't they go further? I think
:33:51. > :33:57.there are two aspects, the Treasury does not want to give up control,
:33:57. > :34:00.the potential for renewables is big, it is power. The second is
:34:00. > :34:08.political, I suspect the government did not want to give the SNP
:34:08. > :34:11.something they wanted. It is bad timing. The Scottish Government had
:34:11. > :34:13.described the decision as a missed opportunity but the Crown Estate
:34:14. > :34:18.says it plays an important strategic role when it comes to
:34:18. > :34:22.offshore renewables in Scotland. The British Government has looked
:34:22. > :34:25.at the entirety of renewable energy around the United Kingdom and
:34:25. > :34:31.considered that the Crown Estate, with its very collaborative role
:34:31. > :34:40.through industry, the supply chain, and both governments in Westminster
:34:40. > :34:44.and here, we are best placed to collaborate that activity. At the
:34:44. > :34:48.moment, revenue from the Crown Estate accounts for about �13
:34:48. > :34:53.million, but here in Orkney, seen as the front line in tidal energy
:34:53. > :34:57.research, they are convinced it could be much greater. That is why
:34:57. > :35:03.despite assurances of more local involvement they are deeply
:35:03. > :35:10.disappointed. They were hoping for an 80% share of all revenue.
:35:10. > :35:15.remains to be seen whether it will go far enough. We are trying to
:35:15. > :35:20.drive economic development. We feel if the Revenue had been devolved
:35:20. > :35:24.here, we could have managed the development locally, make sure it
:35:25. > :35:30.was unsustainably and ensure that there was going to be a thriving
:35:30. > :35:36.economy or young people to grow into. Does the story end here?
:35:36. > :35:41.Campaigners hope not. They plan to meet with the Scottish Affairs
:35:41. > :35:44.Committee soon. With me in the studio, Labour MP Ian Davidson, who
:35:44. > :35:49.chairs the Scottish Affairs Committee, and also from that
:35:49. > :35:53.committee, Alan Reid. In our Inverness studio, Dr Michael Foxley,
:35:53. > :35:57.until recently, the leader of Highland Council and a long-time
:35:57. > :36:00.campaigner on this issue. We did ask for a Scottish government
:36:00. > :36:04.minister to be part of this discussion but none was available.
:36:04. > :36:08.Ian Davidson, if we look at the findings from your committee, you
:36:08. > :36:11.have said that the Crown Estate has a fundamental misunderstanding of
:36:11. > :36:15.the needs and interests of the local communities, little regards
:36:15. > :36:19.for those needs and interests, other than where it serves business
:36:19. > :36:25.interest. At worst, it behaves as an absentee landlord or tax
:36:25. > :36:28.collector. What effect does that have? It effectively means that the
:36:28. > :36:33.local communities are completely alienated from what is going on
:36:33. > :36:39.immediately adjacent to them. It means the Crown Estate act like any
:36:39. > :36:45.other private sector landlord, takes no account of what is going
:36:45. > :36:54.on, the needs and aspirations of local people. We produced a radical
:36:54. > :36:59.report. The vast majority of support from people we met in the
:36:59. > :37:02.Highlands and Islands, we are very disappointed that the government
:37:02. > :37:05.has swept aside. The difficulty is that the Treasury doesn't want to
:37:05. > :37:11.let go of anything that generates money and I think that is
:37:11. > :37:15.regrettable and we will come to think again. Alan Reid, if the
:37:15. > :37:23.coalition government were to sit down together and say, let's come
:37:23. > :37:26.up with a plan, one that will discredit and infuriate what is
:37:26. > :37:30.left of the Liberal Democrat based in the Highlands, they couldn't
:37:30. > :37:35.have come up with anything better. How can a Liberal Democrats'
:37:35. > :37:39.Scottish Secretary justify this? Let's look at the positive things,
:37:39. > :37:43.they set up the coastal communities fund, which means the revenues
:37:43. > :37:49.generated by the marine park of the Crown Estate is spent in Scotland,
:37:49. > :37:55.and it is ring-fenced so that race in the Highlands and Islands goes
:37:55. > :38:00.back to the communities in the Highlands and Islands, so have the
:38:00. > :38:07.Revenue -- 50% of the revenue comes back in Ireland and Islands. I wish
:38:07. > :38:11.it was 100%, but that is a start. Why isn't it? Don't you have any
:38:11. > :38:18.concern that what has been handed over here, including very minimal
:38:18. > :38:23.amounts, talking estate amounts, coming in from shellfish farming,
:38:23. > :38:28.that is almost more work insulting? I am disappointed the Government
:38:28. > :38:32.has not gone the whole 100%. But in addition to the 50% of the revenue
:38:32. > :38:38.coming back, the Government is also telling the Crown Estate to set up
:38:38. > :38:43.local management agreements. These have already been set up in Portree.
:38:43. > :38:47.These will give local communities the power to take the initiative in
:38:47. > :38:51.managing the coastline. Why is Michael Moore as saying this has to
:38:51. > :38:54.remain in UK control? I'm convinced that this was a Liberal Democrat
:38:54. > :38:57.government we would have implemented the committee report.
:38:57. > :39:01.It's a coalition government, there needs to be agreement between us
:39:01. > :39:06.and the Conservatives. As Liberal Democrats, we can achieve
:39:06. > :39:13.everything we want, but we need to compromise. -- we cannot achieve. I
:39:13. > :39:15.think 50% is a good start. Michael Foxley, you are respected
:39:15. > :39:23.Liberal Democrat councillor, you have been at forefront, campaigning
:39:23. > :39:28.on this issue for many years. Are you satisfied with this response?
:39:28. > :39:33.Good afternoon, I am relying on people like Alan Reid and Alistair
:39:33. > :39:37.Carmichael to continue the campaign, because it will certainly continue,
:39:37. > :39:41.the present situation is completely unacceptable, the response from the
:39:41. > :39:44.UK Government is unacceptable, and this is not just about the benefits
:39:44. > :39:49.that need to fall from things like marine renewables, the key issue is
:39:49. > :39:52.the management and local communities and local authorities,
:39:52. > :39:59.agencies in the Highlands and Islands, need to be in charge of
:39:59. > :40:07.that management, the benefits. strongly do you think local
:40:07. > :40:12.communities feel about this? -- how strongly? If you are living on an
:40:12. > :40:18.island and tried to develop a hard work, if someone tries to takeover
:40:18. > :40:23.the Marines from the least, it originally, 3040 years ago -- 30
:40:23. > :40:30.years ago, firemen arrived with no consultation, then you are very
:40:30. > :40:34.angry. What we are aware of is the potential of offshore renewables. I
:40:34. > :40:44.am delighted with the report led by Ian Davidson, with the support of
:40:44. > :40:45.
:40:45. > :40:49.people like Alan Reid, they took the argument and accepted it, that
:40:49. > :40:52.is about local management. A few months ago I was in Orkney and it
:40:52. > :40:56.was clear from the companies in Orkney that they wanted to work
:40:56. > :41:02.with the local authorities, local communities, this report does not
:41:02. > :41:09.put that in place. Local management agreements referred to are at the
:41:09. > :41:15.very lowest level of tokenism, if it was all the partners, in the
:41:15. > :41:19.Highlands and Islands, that would be a serious step. The need to
:41:19. > :41:26.develop without the bureaucracy, the legal issues, the financial
:41:26. > :41:30.cost. It is a Scottish asset and the management needs to be devolved.
:41:30. > :41:33.The let me ask you something, but Dr Michael Foxley says he is
:41:33. > :41:39.delighted that the committee has taken this on and heard the voices,
:41:39. > :41:44.but it has not done them much good. Do you have a concern at this
:41:44. > :41:50.critical time, when the campaign are saying stick with the evolution,
:41:50. > :41:57.trust us, something like this come a long, you do not get more powers,
:41:57. > :42:00.how can people have confidence in that sort of undertaking? Of course
:42:00. > :42:04.I am disappointed that the government didn't implement the
:42:04. > :42:09.committee report in full, but we have made steps in the right
:42:09. > :42:11.direction. 50% of the revenue coming back to the Highlands, and I
:42:12. > :42:20.will continue to campaign for the committee report to be implemented
:42:20. > :42:24.in full. Let's become something that the Crown Estate have mention,
:42:24. > :42:28.that there is a strategic benefit if you are trying to get investors
:42:28. > :42:32.to keeping this in one level, one coherent package, so the argument
:42:32. > :42:36.would be too transparent to the Scottish Government in Holyrood so
:42:36. > :42:43.they could have an overview. That is not want the committee -- that
:42:43. > :42:48.is not what the committee wants. Is that true? Not entirely. This is
:42:48. > :42:52.quite complex. There are some issues where we had said we believe
:42:52. > :42:55.the Scottish Government should have a strategic overview, and that the
:42:55. > :42:59.expertise that the Crown Estate has built up should be retained, rather
:42:59. > :43:03.than being broken up, and the resources, but not all the
:43:03. > :43:07.resources. Let me be clear, we believe initially there is the
:43:07. > :43:15.benefit of the developments and they should go to the people at a
:43:15. > :43:21.decent, local authorities. -- the people next door. We had system
:43:21. > :43:29.where we would have localised decisions, in the hands of the
:43:29. > :43:33.people in the area, once it got wider. Once it got wider still, it
:43:33. > :43:36.was something that needed to be dealt with at a Scottish level.
:43:36. > :43:41.There are some issues that still need to be dealt with at the UK
:43:41. > :43:44.level, because they have UK-wide strategic responsibilities. We
:43:44. > :43:49.wanted to put them together in a way that localised as much as
:43:49. > :43:53.possible. This is not just about the Crown Estate, it is about the
:43:53. > :43:57.politics of the situation. For people like me, devolution was a
:43:57. > :43:59.way towards giving people more power where they lead.
:43:59. > :44:03.Decentralising and breaking up elements of the Crown Estate is
:44:03. > :44:08.about decentralising further, making sure that local people have
:44:08. > :44:16.local control, control over things that immediately affect them. It is
:44:16. > :44:20.part of that process. Is it your opinion that if there were Lib Dems
:44:20. > :44:26.with any sense of the political nuances in Scotland, they would
:44:26. > :44:31.have not made this choice? suppose you've got to be fair, it
:44:31. > :44:38.is always regrettable, but this is not the top of their agenda. They
:44:38. > :44:42.have taken at Treasury decision, driven by finance. We will now go
:44:43. > :44:49.and meet people in the Highlands and Islands and forced it up the
:44:49. > :44:53.political agenda. Dr Michael Foxley, presumably it is not about the
:44:53. > :44:57.amounts of revenue, although they will increase dramatically if there
:44:57. > :45:03.are renewables, it is the principle of what happens. What should happen
:45:03. > :45:07.next? Well, I think we all have to consider the report and the
:45:07. > :45:11.response of the UK Government, we have to meet with the Scottish
:45:11. > :45:16.Affairs Committee in September, and we have to redouble our efforts. It
:45:16. > :45:23.is in the company's interest that we develop renewable energy,
:45:23. > :45:27.working with the community. We need to ensure that the planning is
:45:27. > :45:37.right, the training is right, apprenticeships, at the jobs
:45:37. > :45:45.
:45:45. > :45:49.As communities are about to be hit by funding cuts. Scores of
:45:49. > :45:53.organisations are left worried about their future. Mainly theatre
:45:53. > :45:57.companies have been moved from regular funding to project funding
:45:57. > :46:02.which means they have to apply for individual grants. We have been
:46:02. > :46:07.hearing about the concerns of artists who are concerned that the
:46:07. > :46:12.curtains are coming down on their future.
:46:12. > :46:18.These large scale wall-hangings had been funded through a greater
:46:18. > :46:22.Scotland grant. But Scotland's arts agency is changing the way it funds
:46:22. > :46:26.small and medium scale arts organisations. They will see their
:46:26. > :46:32.regular funding come to an end next year when they have to apply for
:46:32. > :46:38.funding and an individual project basis. This woman, Fiona, is unsure
:46:38. > :46:43.of how it will affect her. There is less and less money out there so it
:46:43. > :46:47.will have an effect on the ability to be experimental. To be able to
:46:47. > :46:52.explore things that you do not know where they're going to teach you.
:46:52. > :46:56.We do not know what the outcome will be. Creative Scotland say the
:46:56. > :47:00.changes are due to at �2 million drop in their funding. Although
:47:00. > :47:04.they do have access to new lottery money it is governed by strict
:47:04. > :47:12.rules which means it is only available for projects and not long
:47:12. > :47:17.term funding. Nearly 50 theatres -- theatre company's will lose their
:47:17. > :47:21.funding and will have to apply in a project by project basis. Many
:47:21. > :47:26.organisations are worried and feel that the changes will make them
:47:26. > :47:30.financially unstable and compromise their work. As artistic director of
:47:30. > :47:37.the Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, Mark Thomson speaks for many of the
:47:37. > :47:41.theatre companies. That's a duty, and we're only talking about two
:47:41. > :47:47.years security, can be critical to allowing artists to continue to
:47:47. > :47:52.work and create in Scotland. If it becomes impoverished, if that
:47:52. > :47:57.landscape becomes more unsteady and less secure or with less of that
:47:57. > :48:03.ability then there is a danger that some of her guests artists might
:48:03. > :48:08.leave. This is there culture freesheet newspaper created by
:48:08. > :48:15.artists. Its co-editor fears that its funding could be in jeopardy
:48:15. > :48:17.because of its non commercial business model and critical work.
:48:17. > :48:22.If you are seeing some uncritical about cultural policy you become
:48:22. > :48:27.more and more or unpopular in this sort of environment. It is
:48:27. > :48:31.censorship by the back door, I think. You have a culture as an
:48:31. > :48:38.employment of policy and then it changes and sets the tone for what
:48:38. > :48:42.people write about us and what people think is worthy to produce.
:48:42. > :48:45.Creative Scotland has delayed its plans for six months and has
:48:45. > :48:52.apologised to arts are organisations for or causing
:48:52. > :48:58.anxiety. But its criticism and the media remains for many of our top
:48:58. > :49:02.artists. A perception is that this body is only two years old Bailey
:49:02. > :49:07.and yet it is on a par or with the organisation, the old Scottish Arts
:49:07. > :49:11.Council, that more than a decade ago was called in front of
:49:11. > :49:14.Westminster to at be asked why it was not communicating properly.
:49:14. > :49:18.There's a feeling that we have not progressed as far as we can and
:49:18. > :49:22.that is something that we have to address. Critics fear that the
:49:22. > :49:30.funding shake-up could result in the death of many other theatre
:49:30. > :49:36.companies. They say the need funding stability to survive.
:49:36. > :49:40.Joining me is the chief executive of Creative Scotland, Andrew Dixon
:49:40. > :49:42.and the Adam a columnist to Joyce McMillan. Andrew, do you accept
:49:42. > :49:45.this has caused a great deal of anxiety? There are worthwhile
:49:45. > :49:50.companies saying that they have no idea what their future is going to
:49:50. > :49:53.be. The first thing to say is that Creative Scotland is a new agency,
:49:54. > :49:56.it has inherited a number of commitments and we want see on are
:49:56. > :50:01.those commitments that we have done and there is not a single
:50:01. > :50:06.organisation that has been cut. Scotland is an incredibly creative
:50:06. > :50:10.place and we have some fantastic music organisations and the tears
:50:10. > :50:15.and the to companies and festivals. Our role is to make sure that the
:50:15. > :50:18.entire population of Scotland gets the benefit of that. These changes
:50:18. > :50:23.are to try to support our organisations and a time what we do
:50:23. > :50:27.have a slight reduction in Arab for money from Government but we do
:50:27. > :50:32.also have additional money from the Government for at Edinburgh
:50:32. > :50:36.festivals and for capital funding and innovation funding from the
:50:36. > :50:40.Government. Where the growth in a lottery fund also. It is about
:50:40. > :50:44.trying to sustain those cultural organisations by moving them across
:50:44. > :50:48.into the lottery area where they can bet for programmes of work.
:50:49. > :50:56.Does this sound acceptable to you got as Mark I think the real issues
:50:56. > :50:59.with that. I think both the Creative Scotland and the Minister
:50:59. > :51:03.have been a great job of sustaining their overall level of arts funding
:51:03. > :51:07.in Scotland. That contrasts very positively to the situation in
:51:07. > :51:12.England. But in a way they have snatched defeat from the jaws of
:51:12. > :51:18.victory by it increasingly pursuing a model for the week Creative
:51:18. > :51:21.Scotland works that is in fact not very creative. The idea of a
:51:21. > :51:24.functional arts funding agency is that it allows artists to meet the
:51:24. > :51:32.change. The need to be inspirational and thinking about
:51:32. > :51:38.new ways of looking at Scotland and the world in which we love. The
:51:38. > :51:42.Arts agency's job is to respond to the agendas of artists. What is
:51:42. > :51:45.happening here is that by the way it is being managed it looks as
:51:45. > :51:50.though Creative Scotland is putting itself at the centre of things as a
:51:50. > :51:55.sort of strategic Agency which judges from project to project what
:51:55. > :52:00.artists should be doing. It tries to manoeuvre their agenda is
:52:00. > :52:04.towards policy goals and that is not the way to get good art. But as
:52:05. > :52:08.back-up account. You could become more interventionist than arts
:52:08. > :52:12.funding has been able to be in the past and that is not necessarily a
:52:12. > :52:18.good thing. Greater Scotland is going in different direction. We
:52:18. > :52:23.have doubled their funding took artists. Where artist residencies
:52:23. > :52:27.growing. Their residency hosts taking the decisions necessary.
:52:27. > :52:31.We're trying to get them to generate their own ideas and work
:52:31. > :52:35.but we are the national strategic body and we do about duty to
:52:35. > :52:42.deliver to people all over Scotland. Places that might not have
:52:42. > :52:46.professional theatre companies and other facilities. Short-term
:52:46. > :52:51.funding presumably brings its own problems in terms of their talent
:52:51. > :52:55.you retain and that unsure track down. Is there a concern that this
:52:55. > :52:59.might become rooted in something very secure like Edinburgh Festival
:52:59. > :53:06.and all the thing we can predict funding will go to and does not
:53:06. > :53:09.going to more imaginative projects? And Sharada would agree that it is
:53:09. > :53:13.the role of Creative Scotland to fund things that are unpredictable
:53:13. > :53:16.but the problem is how do you achieve that? I do not think you do
:53:16. > :53:21.that by imposing and business investments model on a function
:53:22. > :53:25.which is basically about supporting things that need Government support.
:53:25. > :53:30.The new Government support to see it them three not so that they have
:53:30. > :53:34.to follow certain agendas and appear certain geographical areas
:53:34. > :53:39.or whatever back agenda is. Imposing VAT on the arts will not
:53:39. > :53:44.get good work. I think the main goal of greater Scotland should be
:53:44. > :53:47.to listen to artists, assess which artists are making good work and
:53:47. > :53:50.dabbing Open and well understood ways of doing that and then giving
:53:50. > :53:55.the money to those that really have the creative energy and brilliance
:53:55. > :53:58.to do the job. And the Creative Scotland should focus its energy on
:53:58. > :54:01.that and less on inventing strategies and ideas and
:54:01. > :54:05.commissioning projects of its own and in trying to make artists
:54:05. > :54:09.follow them by the way it distributes the money. Do you
:54:09. > :54:13.accept that? We have learnt that we need to listen more or two artists
:54:13. > :54:16.in the cultural sector. But we do have a duty to the entire
:54:16. > :54:20.population of Scotland and we also have a duty to invest an artist and
:54:20. > :54:24.talent. Doing things like the Europe Creative Scotland and the
:54:24. > :54:29.programme for the Commonwealth Games provides an unprecedented
:54:29. > :54:33.opportunity for Scotland in terms of celebrating its cultural success.
:54:33. > :54:39.Readers will and is different, it is not just a cheque book. It is a
:54:39. > :54:43.body that is going to celebrate Scotland here and internationally.
:54:43. > :54:48.At what point does that become too politicised and your budget being
:54:48. > :54:55.too dependent on that. We have been criticised for doing
:54:55. > :54:57.international work, but it is important that our theatres or
:54:57. > :55:01.internationally. We have been criticised for not being critical
:55:01. > :55:05.of the Government, but the Government has given as good
:55:05. > :55:08.supporting a up initial two years. We've been criticised perhaps
:55:09. > :55:13.justifiably or not celebrating the role of artists and I think artists
:55:13. > :55:20.are central to our work and deliver amazing things in Scotland. We have
:55:20. > :55:28.many great agencies like the Transmission Gallery who are doing
:55:28. > :55:32.fantastic work. There are going to be here. A we have 30 seconds. Many
:55:32. > :55:36.of those organisations feel threatened and destabilised and
:55:36. > :55:39.insulted by the business language being used to them as if they do
:55:39. > :55:41.not understand creative entrepreneurship and is that they
:55:41. > :55:46.do not understand how to keep an organisation together with many
:55:46. > :55:49.sources of income. There's been a real failure of cultural or
:55:49. > :55:53.assonance between the sector and the council and it really has to
:55:53. > :55:57.change the language it's used and more than that, it changed its
:55:57. > :56:01.model of operation so that it really allows artists to lead and
:56:01. > :56:05.does not put itself at the centre of things. We're out of time that
:56:05. > :56:10.Thank you very much. In a moment we will be discussing
:56:10. > :56:20.the Week in Scottish politics but first it let's take hour week --
:56:20. > :56:22.
:56:22. > :56:32.look back at a week in 60 seconds. UK government's plan to take their
:56:32. > :56:34.house of words into her up elected chamber had a backbench rebellion.
:56:34. > :56:37.Scottish dairy farmers demanded their power to fix the price of
:56:37. > :56:42.they're not saying that it is being driven down by retailers and
:56:42. > :56:46.processors. Average cost of production is in excess of 30 pence
:56:47. > :56:53.a litre of which is now talking about five per sit -- we are now at
:56:53. > :56:58.5p less than that. The average business is really struggling.
:56:58. > :57:03.Electoral commission said it would not look out independence
:57:03. > :57:08.referendum things that were bought by it those parties.
:57:08. > :57:13.The council brought an emergency meeting to discuss the Halls
:57:13. > :57:21.factory. Jobs could be lost. And the American billionaire Donald
:57:21. > :57:26.Trump opened his controversial new golf course in Aberdeenshire.
:57:26. > :57:35.So despite Holyrood being in recess this week of the question of the
:57:35. > :57:38.referendum still dominated the headlines.
:57:38. > :57:42.My guests this afternoon at the political commentator Hamish
:57:42. > :57:48.MacDonell and here in the studio madness God and the political
:57:48. > :57:54.editor of the Daily Record. If you to cast your eye back over the last
:57:54. > :57:58.year of political activity what we do think was the top story, Magnus?
:57:58. > :58:04.It has to be the referendum. From the start of the Year we had the
:58:04. > :58:09.Prime Minister at intervening right at the beginning of January. That
:58:09. > :58:14.it started at all. Alex Salmond responded very quickly with his
:58:14. > :58:20.timetable and then we had the wording of the question. Then we at
:58:20. > :58:23.the launch of their it Vs Scotland. Then we had better together. It has
:58:23. > :58:31.been a referendum roller-coaster and has sucked the life out of
:58:31. > :58:38.every other story. And on it goes. Hamish, what you think? I think
:58:38. > :58:42.that madness is exactly right. But we're going sec get another two-
:58:42. > :58:46.and- a-half years of that. There is a danger that the public will get a
:58:46. > :58:52.bit tired. We are only six months into a very long campaign that will
:58:52. > :58:57.last at least until October at 2014 and may go on for them on that. The
:58:57. > :59:01.big parties have to be careful that we do not go and get referendum
:59:01. > :59:07.city. What you think are the most important news stories other than
:59:07. > :59:12.that? Sitting in Holyrood it is easy to forget that we're in the
:59:12. > :59:16.middle of an economic crisis. Growth is painfully slow and the
:59:16. > :59:19.employment situation is poor. I know every quarter we argue about
:59:19. > :59:26.whether Scotland is doing well compared with the rest of the UK
:59:26. > :59:29.but actually we are just squabbling over fractions of 1%. There are
:59:29. > :59:34.nearly 100,000 young Scots out of work. There has been an alarming
:59:34. > :59:39.drift towards part-time employment as opposed to full-time employment
:59:39. > :59:43.the STUC say that there are something like half a million Scots
:59:43. > :59:49.under employed or unemployed. There is a huge problem there. It would
:59:49. > :59:54.be grossly unfair it to me that all at the door at a of the SNP, the
:59:54. > :00:00.SNP and Labour up both agree that it is George Osborne is the real
:00:00. > :00:03.cost of this with the austerity drive. But there are questions
:00:03. > :00:09.about how it these bosses from the SNP are in passing and whether they
:00:09. > :00:15.are helping especially in terms of colleges. As cuts demands we see
:00:15. > :00:25.that their only a quarter of the way through those go cuts. These
:00:25. > :00:30.
:00:30. > :00:33.What about the renewables question? I think there is one issue that has
:00:33. > :00:39.been bubbling around in the background and it will continue to
:00:39. > :00:43.affect politics across the country. The SNP have said they won 100% of
:00:43. > :00:48.Scotland's electricity produced by renewables by 2020. That is a very
:00:48. > :00:52.ambitious target, most of which will come from wind power. As we
:00:52. > :00:59.have got closer to that timetable, people ask questions as to whether
:00:59. > :01:03.we are on the right lines, whether should week -- whether we should be
:01:03. > :01:11.waiting longer to see how tidal power develops, not putting all
:01:11. > :01:15.legs towards wind farms. As the SNP pushes towards this target of
:01:15. > :01:23.Twenty20, people will look at places like Denmark and say, is
:01:23. > :01:30.this really the right way to go? I think the SNP will need to answer
:01:30. > :01:36.some questions about this. Shortly we will be looking at what creeps
:01:36. > :01:45.up on the political horizon, but now the lunchtime news. Good
:01:45. > :01:50.afternoon, a Spanish fugitive linked to be Basque terrorists, has
:01:50. > :01:54.been arrested in Edinburgh. Benat Atorrasagasti Ordonez was arrested
:01:54. > :01:58.in Leith on Friday night. Spanish authorities requested his arrest
:01:58. > :02:04.and said he had been living in the capital for some time. He is
:02:04. > :02:07.expected to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff court tomorrow. The
:02:07. > :02:11.Scottish Government has revealed more than 26,000 responses were
:02:11. > :02:16.received during its consultation on the independence referendum. The
:02:16. > :02:23.total is 5,000 more than previously thought. Nicola Sturgeon said it
:02:23. > :02:28.showed that people wanted the terms and timing decided in Scotland. The
:02:28. > :02:31.UK Government said there was strong support for a single question. The
:02:31. > :02:36.leaders at the Scottish Open are beginning their final round.
:02:36. > :02:41.Francesco Molinari take a one-shot lead into the final round. Mark
:02:42. > :02:47.Warren, Martin Laird and Peter White furred are also in contention.
:02:47. > :02:50.White furred are also in contention. -- Whiteford. Bright spells and
:02:50. > :02:55.scattered showers this afternoon. The best spells are in the East,
:02:55. > :02:59.but that is also where we will see the heavy showers. Cloudier in the
:02:59. > :03:05.northern isles, and in the West mainland. There will be bits and
:03:05. > :03:13.pieces of showery rain. There will be a breeze in the central belt.
:03:13. > :03:16.be a breeze in the central belt. Next bulletin is at 7:50pm. Goodbye.
:03:16. > :03:26.It is the end of the political term, but if you cannot remember what has
:03:26. > :03:26.
:03:26. > :03:34.been going on for the last six From the start of the year, one
:03:34. > :03:41.issue has been on the present, independence. Nobody escaped the
:03:41. > :03:47.question and many lined up to take the flak. The world is ready for us,
:03:47. > :03:50.and I know Scotland is ready. Thank you. Following the end of the
:03:50. > :03:53.consultation on same-sex marriage in September, the Scottish
:03:53. > :03:57.Government response was eagerly awaited but has not arrived.
:03:57. > :04:04.Meanwhile, campaigners lined up outside the parliament to gather
:04:04. > :04:13.support. The new party leaders have had time to settle into their roles,
:04:13. > :04:17.especially during first minister's questions. Big men, one not quite
:04:17. > :04:22.so big man. Some say the First Minister has been devious,
:04:22. > :04:32.conniving, double-dealing. Isn't he just covering up fact that are rich
:04:32. > :04:37.man has played him for a full again? -- fool. Tackling
:04:37. > :04:40.unemployment remains the priority whatever party you belong to, but
:04:40. > :04:47.despite apprenticeship schemes and free rail travel, redundancies
:04:47. > :04:51.continue. In the local elections, Labour held their nerve in Glasgow
:04:51. > :04:57.and the SNP claimed significant victories elsewhere. And the
:04:57. > :04:59.Liberal Democrats were beaten by Penguin in Edinburgh. After the
:04:59. > :05:05.celebrations, the Scottish Government confirmed that wants to
:05:05. > :05:09.set a minimum price of 50 pence per unit of alcohol. The Lockerbie bomb
:05:09. > :05:19.work died in Tripoli, but whether his conviction is sound remains
:05:19. > :05:24.contentious. The First Minister's appearance at the Leveson enquiry
:05:24. > :05:26.revealed the startling claim that his bank account was packed. I was
:05:26. > :05:30.informed by a former Observer journalist who gave me a fairly
:05:30. > :05:35.exact account of what was in my bank account. He was allowed to
:05:35. > :05:40.wrong-foot the Lord Justice. Thank you, and the same is so for the
:05:40. > :05:48.English Parliament, they can adopted. I like the term English
:05:48. > :05:51.Parliament, I approve of that. But it one of the things that
:05:51. > :06:01.politicians cannot control, the Scottish summer threatens
:06:01. > :06:14.
:06:14. > :06:23.For Westminster perspective, we are joined by James Cusack of the
:06:23. > :06:31.Independent's newspaper. Thank you for joining in. What are the waves
:06:31. > :06:36.of Scottish politics that wash up at Westminster? This is bad news,
:06:36. > :06:40.Scotland's obsession with the referendum has not hit the UK media.
:06:40. > :06:48.That is not because there is no room left because of the Olympics,
:06:48. > :06:53.it just hasn't had resonance. There are maybe two reasons, one is a
:06:53. > :06:57.matter of Westminster are not being embarrassed, however much they try
:06:57. > :07:01.to order Westminster -- order Holyrood, that has not worked. A
:07:01. > :07:05.rather than get involved at this early stage, they are keeping their
:07:05. > :07:09.powder dry and will deal with it later. It is certainly not the
:07:09. > :07:12.obsession it is in the Scottish media. If we were to look forward
:07:12. > :07:16.to what will be waiting in the long grass for the various political
:07:16. > :07:22.parties in Holyrood when they come back, what do you think will be the
:07:22. > :07:26.key areas? What is most interesting is the narrative of Scottish
:07:26. > :07:30.politics has changed. We came into this year with the SNP being more
:07:30. > :07:34.powerful, they had one of huge majority in the last elections,
:07:34. > :07:39.Labour was on its knees, and then we have the local elections, where
:07:39. > :07:42.Labour changed the tone of Scottish politics, started fighting back,
:07:42. > :07:46.getting Councillors back, it didn't necessarily when the greatest
:07:46. > :07:50.number of councillors, but we saw them replied. A lot of that is down
:07:51. > :07:55.to the leader, she has done a good job, but since then opinion polls
:07:55. > :07:59.have suggested independence is not enjoying the support the SNP would
:07:59. > :08:05.like, and that is the tone and context we will see going into the
:08:05. > :08:08.next political year. We will see the SNP for the first time since
:08:08. > :08:14.that the election victory on the defensive, and the Unionist parties
:08:14. > :08:18.with a bit of a spring in their step. This next year will be more
:08:18. > :08:23.difficult for Alex Salmond and the 18 months have been. In relative
:08:23. > :08:31.terms, but in actual terms, Alex Salmond still has the nominally
:08:31. > :08:35.high approval ratings, and in terms of public recognition, so you may
:08:35. > :08:40.be saying they are coming back relatively, but realistically, how
:08:40. > :08:44.significant is that? I think it is very significant. Yes, he has very
:08:44. > :08:54.good approval ratings, but the focus for the next 2.5 years is
:08:54. > :08:54.
:08:54. > :08:58.going to be on independence, and that is where there is a difference.
:08:58. > :09:02.There are people who do not like the idea of independence, and with
:09:02. > :09:10.the Pope has been shifted, almost to the exclusion of everything else,
:09:10. > :09:14.that difference will tell. -- with the attention shifting. If we don't
:09:14. > :09:20.do the referendum or anything obvious, will something under the
:09:20. > :09:24.radar emerge? The police merger is extremely controversial and has not
:09:24. > :09:31.been discussed. There are some real-world issues it would be
:09:31. > :09:35.unwise not to keep an eye on. It police forces will be merged into a
:09:35. > :09:42.single national police force, as we know of. It is a big undertaking
:09:42. > :09:45.and a tight timescale. There are issues of political control. We
:09:45. > :09:50.know from bitter experience that big undertakings like this don't
:09:50. > :09:54.always go smoothly according to plan, it throws up the issue of
:09:54. > :09:58.jobs, the unions are warning there could be 3,000 civilian workers
:09:58. > :10:05.laid off. The police authorities say the figure will be about a
:10:05. > :10:09.quarter of that. If there is the merest hint that the very powerful
:10:09. > :10:13.Chief Constable of Scotland is basing his policing priorities on
:10:13. > :10:17.political targets, that will be seized upon by critics who have
:10:17. > :10:23.said this merger, although money- saving, will bring politics and
:10:23. > :10:28.police to close together. We need to keep a close eye on how that
:10:28. > :10:32.happens. Same-sex marriage is another one. Again, Alex Salmond is
:10:32. > :10:39.facing a difficult decision there, because he knows there will be a
:10:39. > :10:44.big backlash from the Catholic Church, the church groups, and some
:10:44. > :10:49.within his own side. However, I think he will take a progressive
:10:49. > :10:55.view. We also at the curriculum for excellence. Children going back to
:10:55. > :10:58.school next month, learning for new national exams that are replacing
:10:58. > :11:08.standard grades our midst great worries in the teaching profession
:11:08. > :11:09.
:11:09. > :11:13.that they are not adequately prepared. Mike Russell, it is fair
:11:13. > :11:22.to say, has averted the threat of strike action, but if this goes
:11:22. > :11:28.wrong, it will be a very big problem for the SNP. Have you heard
:11:28. > :11:33.of Donald Trump? I have heard of Donald Trump and his enterprises in
:11:33. > :11:38.Aberdeen. Tell me what you're going to say. We've had a lot of coverage
:11:38. > :11:42.of Donald Trump, he has been a controversial figure. I know you
:11:42. > :11:52.like Gulf, have edited a Gulf magazine, what do you think about
:11:52. > :11:55.some of the claims that have been made? -- golf. I would be very wary
:11:56. > :12:03.of his claim that his project has come to a halt because of the wind
:12:03. > :12:12.farm. That is on a massive scale, the market is no longer there.
:12:12. > :12:20.Crucially, he was recently told even if his Gulf course was going
:12:20. > :12:28.to be the greatest in the world, it would take 20 years to come onto
:12:28. > :12:31.competition were tough. -- rota. Many we have heard him limiting his
:12:31. > :12:37.marketing strategy, but I would distrust almost everything he says
:12:37. > :12:41.and I hope Alex Salmond does not get played again. Let's look at the
:12:41. > :12:46.Olympic security, that is developing today. People are
:12:46. > :12:55.talking about a Home Secretary, but if you look at the sequence of
:12:55. > :12:59.events, in December, Sebastian Coe, organising committee, goes to the
:12:59. > :13:09.security company and says we need 10,000 not 2000, why is none of the
:13:09. > :13:10.
:13:10. > :13:15.state coming his way? -- stick. Frankly I find it astonishing we
:13:15. > :13:19.are at his position two weeks before the Games start. I find it
:13:19. > :13:24.astonishing that a Home Office would not have at least acted on a
:13:24. > :13:29.potential contract. If security was at the top of that agenda, they
:13:29. > :13:35.must have known how many security were there, where they trained, are
:13:35. > :13:40.all part of that contract, was it in place? I don't think we should
:13:40. > :13:44.be shifting the blame towards LOCOG too much, although I think a lesser
:13:44. > :13:48.question can be asked of Sebastian Coe. What frightens me is that if
:13:48. > :13:58.this is the level of preparation just on security, this is the stuff
:13:58. > :14:02.
:14:02. > :14:08.we know at the top, underneath, there is a vast amount we do not
:14:08. > :14:12.know about. These games need to be run successfully and we cannot
:14:12. > :14:16.afford them to be derailed by plans that have been put in a drama. I