Browse content similar to 21/04/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Sunday Politics. The government is going to court to prevent a new EU | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
tax hitting the centre of London as more pressure is piled on the Prime | :00:48. | :00:53. | |
Minister to deliver his pledge to bring back powers from Brussels. | :00:53. | :00:57. | |
He wants to be in the centre ground of British politics but claims the | :00:57. | :01:01. | |
centre is moving left, so how will Ed Miliband's strategy go down in | :01:01. | :01:06. | |
next month was, local elections? The shadow communities secretary joins | :01:06. | :01:12. | |
us for the Sunday interview. It's claimed a estimated 70,000 | :01:12. | :01:17. | |
lives so two years into the Civil War, is it time to arm the rebels? | :01:17. | :01:20. | |
And in Scotland, with less than a year and a half to go to the | :01:20. | :01:25. | |
referendum, a critical conference for Labour as it chews over its | :01:25. | :01:35. | |
:01:35. | :01:35. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1702 seconds | :01:35. | :29:57. | |
tragedy going on right now in Syria. More people have been killed | :29:57. | :30:02. | |
in recent months than in the first year of the conflict. We want to see | :30:02. | :30:07. | |
a managed transition in Syria, but there is no sign of that happening. | :30:07. | :30:17. | |
:30:17. | :30:22. | ||
We have to change the terms of trade We have to change the terms of trade | :30:22. | :30:25. | |
on the ground. It started with a peaceful demonstration in the street | :30:25. | :30:34. | |
peaceful demonstration in the street It moved on and now we are involved | :30:34. | :30:44. | |
:30:44. | :30:51. | ||
in more Islamists. They have given support. This creates a division. | :30:51. | :30:59. | |
Are you worried about giving them guns? Of course, they have been | :30:59. | :31:03. | |
planning to gain sympathy and support from the Syrian people, | :31:04. | :31:10. | |
because they appeared a few months ago and they are giving up to al- | :31:10. | :31:15. | |
Qaeda. You will end up giving guns to the bad guys. Not necessarily. | :31:15. | :31:25. | |
:31:25. | :31:34. | ||
fighting on the ground, the people with more arms are the Islamists. | :31:34. | :31:39. | |
They are going to win if we do nothing. What we need to do is to | :31:39. | :31:43. | |
get the moderate, secular side to have forced to actually | :31:43. | :31:50. | |
counterbalance that. You think, in sending arms to the opposition, you | :31:50. | :31:53. | |
could actually distinguish as to who is going to get the guns? | :31:53. | :32:01. | |
Absolutely. You cannot do that. It is not practical on the ground. You | :32:01. | :32:06. | |
would create isolation between the rebels, because the bad guys think | :32:06. | :32:10. | |
of themselves as the good guys, who are liberating Syria from the | :32:10. | :32:16. | |
dictatorship. By arming the rebels in Syria, you are creating a | :32:16. | :32:21. | |
revolution, a kind of battle between the Islamists and between the Syrian | :32:21. | :32:28. | |
free army. We have three poll is of the conflict, and political solution | :32:28. | :32:34. | |
is the only way to move forward. do we get that? Through pressure on | :32:34. | :32:41. | |
Assad. Not through the pressure of Russia and Iran. Assad is not the | :32:41. | :32:49. | |
supermassive power in Syria. cannot get Russia to do any | :32:49. | :32:55. | |
pressuring. They are bolstering the Iranians. It will end up with | :32:55. | :33:01. | |
terrorism in Syria. Even if Al-Qaeda has lost its war with America, it | :33:01. | :33:09. | |
can regain in Syria. You say 70,000 people have died there, and that is | :33:09. | :33:12. | |
probably a reasonably accurate estimate. If you give these people | :33:12. | :33:21. | |
guns, and more than guns, a lot more will die. They've got guns already. | :33:21. | :33:27. | |
Syria is awash with small arms already. The problem is we cannot | :33:27. | :33:31. | |
force Assad to a political transition. Nobody wants to see a | :33:31. | :33:36. | |
violent overthrow, but it is happening in slow motion right now, | :33:36. | :33:41. | |
because he has enough power to hang on without being forced to the | :33:41. | :33:45. | |
negotiation table. We have to bring the moderate and secular forces | :33:45. | :33:49. | |
there, because that is the only guarantee you can get pressure on | :33:49. | :33:54. | |
Russia, Iran and Hezbollah to change their mind. He says you have to do | :33:54. | :33:59. | |
it to break the logjam on the ground. But that is not through | :34:00. | :34:06. | |
getting more debt in Syria. Syria can use chemical weapons in order to | :34:06. | :34:12. | |
gain power right now. It knows it will get the full power of the | :34:12. | :34:22. | |
:34:22. | :34:23. | ||
United States if it did that. solution is to pressure Iran and | :34:23. | :34:27. | |
Russia and Hezbollah. We need to pressure more, more pressure from | :34:27. | :34:36. | |
the superpowers like America, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The | :34:36. | :34:41. | |
situation could escalate more, to have a more regional war in Syria, | :34:41. | :34:47. | |
where we have vulnerable borders, which can leak to Jordan, Israel and | :34:47. | :34:52. | |
Lebanon. Then we have an international war in the region. | :34:52. | :34:58. | |
Syria is a tribal mosaic. It is a hotchpotch of tribes that we | :34:58. | :35:06. | |
understand almost none of. What has it got to do with us? Plenty -- | :35:06. | :35:11. | |
plenty. Firstly, there is a challenge to values going on. Tens | :35:11. | :35:17. | |
of thousands of people are dying, and that speaks to our values. | :35:17. | :35:24. | |
you are talking about hard power. Those are national security | :35:24. | :35:30. | |
situations of a classic kind. Now we have moral interests and strategic | :35:30. | :35:34. | |
interests too. We are seeing refugees streaming over, | :35:35. | :35:40. | |
destabilising Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon. It is in our interests to | :35:40. | :35:45. | |
stop that happening. Thank you both. You are watching the Sunday | :35:45. | :35:55. | |
:35:55. | :36:03. | ||
conference for Labour in Inverness as the party mulls over what it | :36:03. | :36:07. | |
might offer in the event of a no vote. | :36:07. | :36:09. | |
I'll be speaking live with Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour Party | :36:09. | :36:14. | |
deputy leader. Parents in rural areas want to keep | :36:14. | :36:18. | |
their local schools open, of course, but it's a difficult balance for | :36:19. | :36:24. | |
cash-strapped councils. We'll debate the way forward. And that's the UK | :36:24. | :36:26. | |
Treasury raises doubts about an independent Scotland keeping the | :36:26. | :36:32. | |
pound, the SNP hip back, saying it in the best interests of Scotland to | :36:32. | :36:42. | |
:36:42. | :36:45. | ||
stay in stolen -- sterling will stop Scottish Labour have been trying to | :36:45. | :36:48. | |
refresh and regroup. They say they have to be honest | :36:48. | :36:52. | |
about the hard choices. One of those hard choices is deciding what to | :36:52. | :36:57. | |
offer in the event of a no vote in the referendum. Our political | :36:57. | :36:59. | |
correspondent Raymond Buchanan has been taking the air in the far | :36:59. | :37:05. | |
north. The glorious Highlands - home to | :37:05. | :37:10. | |
some of Europe's great wilderness. A place to contemplate, to consider, | :37:10. | :37:15. | |
to renew. An appropriate location for the modern Labour Party to | :37:15. | :37:21. | |
choose for their conference. Swept out of office by the voters in | :37:21. | :37:25. | |
Westminster and Holyrood, they have much to ponder. Some of the | :37:25. | :37:28. | |
questions the party has to ask itself are really quite deep. How | :37:28. | :37:32. | |
should they deal with the deficit? What public services should Labour | :37:32. | :37:37. | |
supporting future? What is the party's attitude to welfare reform, | :37:37. | :37:43. | |
immigration and the Constitution? These are potentially treacherous | :37:43. | :37:47. | |
areas to navigate but that is the task of Ed Miliband and JoAnn | :37:47. | :37:53. | |
laminate. The UK leader arrived in the capital with an old Tory idea. | :37:53. | :37:57. | |
He wants Labour to be the one nation movement, uniting communities from | :37:57. | :38:05. | |
Shetland to Southampton. We have something none of the other parties | :38:05. | :38:10. | |
have - the power of the people joining together. Let's leave the | :38:10. | :38:15. | |
Tories to divide our society. unity can be a difficult thing to | :38:15. | :38:23. | |
achieve if one party, let alone one nation, doesn't agree. The Scottish | :38:23. | :38:25. | |
leadership plan to give Holyrood control of all tax hasn't been | :38:25. | :38:35. | |
unanimously praised. On the subject of MPs, I would say to those unnamed | :38:35. | :38:38. | |
comrade suspecting their dummies out this week, " get over it and engage | :38:38. | :38:46. | |
in the party consultation". That's certainly not the phrasing I would | :38:46. | :38:49. | |
use. There has been a great deal of anxiety about the way this has been | :38:49. | :38:54. | |
handled. The first I heard was when I read it in the paper. There are | :38:54. | :38:57. | |
three MPs on the group but they went reporting back so nobody knew what | :38:57. | :39:04. | |
was being discussed. When Johann Lamont took to the stage, she | :39:04. | :39:08. | |
challenged Alex Salmond to work with her to improve childcare and be more | :39:08. | :39:14. | |
open about the economic challenges Scotland's public services face. | :39:14. | :39:18. | |
is time politicians were honest with the public about hard choices. We | :39:18. | :39:22. | |
can't afford a cartoon debate when older people are being tucked up in | :39:22. | :39:27. | |
bed by 6pm because it fits in a carer's pressure to schedule because | :39:27. | :39:35. | |
of pressure budgets. But she didn't set out what hard choices she would | :39:35. | :39:39. | |
make. But she did set out the choices she believes faces people in | :39:39. | :39:43. | |
this country. Alex Salmond would have you believe the enemy is our | :39:43. | :39:48. | |
neighbours. He wants to have a debate with David Cameron but he | :39:48. | :39:51. | |
won't debate me and that's because he wants to deceive people into | :39:51. | :39:57. | |
thinking this is a question of Scotland versus England. It isn't. | :39:57. | :40:01. | |
The fight is Scotland versus Alex Salmond and it is one that Scotland | :40:01. | :40:11. | |
:40:11. | :40:15. | ||
themselves as the party of the many and the SNP as the party of the few. | :40:15. | :40:22. | |
In the end, Scotland will decide which direction it prefers. And also | :40:22. | :40:25. | |
how long Labour's wildernesses continue. | :40:25. | :40:28. | |
Joining me live from the Scottish Labour conference in Inverness is | :40:28. | :40:32. | |
the deputy leader of the party Anas Sarwar. Good afternoon and thank you | :40:32. | :40:37. | |
for joining me. At the launch of the report on the evolution report, | :40:37. | :40:42. | |
there was controversy. There is a recommendation to devolve income | :40:42. | :40:47. | |
tax. Has that been thought through adequately? We are hearing those | :40:47. | :40:52. | |
concerns from MPs. I wouldn't frame it in the way you have done. What | :40:52. | :40:56. | |
we're doing is having a genuine discussion and debate to say that we | :40:56. | :40:59. | |
recognise we need to get a devolution model that works best for | :40:59. | :41:05. | |
Scotland so we can create the kind of society we want to live in are up | :41:05. | :41:13. | |
our children. -- and bring up our children. This needs to be a wider | :41:13. | :41:20. | |
debate right across Scotland. We will base our final conclusions on | :41:20. | :41:23. | |
those constitution responses and make sure we act not in the Labour | :41:23. | :41:27. | |
Party's interests but in the interests of Scotland. But raising | :41:27. | :41:30. | |
income tax purely in Scotland - MPs are concerned that could put | :41:31. | :41:39. | |
Scotland at risk financially. said there is a strong case around | :41:39. | :41:41. | |
the accountability argument about having income tax Scottish | :41:41. | :41:44. | |
parliament but there are still questions that need to be answered. | :41:44. | :41:48. | |
One thing we are not going to do is create a system that undermined | :41:48. | :41:53. | |
Scotland's position. We don't want to make Scotland who are. That is | :41:53. | :41:55. | |
why we are going to test all the arguments to make sure we have a | :41:55. | :41:59. | |
devolution model that is in the best interests of Scotland. It's an open, | :41:59. | :42:04. | |
frank discussion and debate. It's not just inside the Labour Party but | :42:04. | :42:08. | |
with Scotland. We could have the approach of the opposition who make | :42:08. | :42:12. | |
up all the answers as they go along. That is not the approach the | :42:12. | :42:16. | |
Labour Party is taking. We want to engage, have a genuine consultation | :42:16. | :42:20. | |
and discussion with Scotland. Perhaps this discussion has been a | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
bit too open and frank, as we saw earlier with the comrades spitting | :42:24. | :42:30. | |
their dummies out. As Johann Lamont spent this weekend trying to exert | :42:30. | :42:36. | |
her authority in the party? What she has spent this weekend doing is | :42:36. | :42:39. | |
setting out a different case for Scotland, not just on the | :42:39. | :42:44. | |
constitution but all the big issues. Just a few weeks ago, you have the | :42:44. | :42:47. | |
first Minister come here with all the usual bluster, all the usual | :42:47. | :42:52. | |
lines, but set out his own case for setting up his own legacy. Contrast | :42:52. | :42:56. | |
that to what you had yesterday - a speech of humility, emotion and | :42:56. | :43:02. | |
passion. Someone who is not in this for some kind of personal glory but | :43:02. | :43:05. | |
to increase opportunities for everyone across the country. That is | :43:05. | :43:08. | |
something we should be proud of and something the party got right | :43:08. | :43:12. | |
behind. Some say the first Minister was setting out a vision for | :43:12. | :43:16. | |
Scotland and some said that Johann Lamont's speech lacks vision. She | :43:16. | :43:20. | |
spoke about her background and university education and said it was | :43:20. | :43:24. | |
time politicians were honest with the public about hard choices. What | :43:24. | :43:28. | |
is Labour's hard choice when it comes to higher education? She spoke | :43:28. | :43:32. | |
about the college budget being mauled. Do you want to reintroduce | :43:32. | :43:37. | |
tuition fees or a graduate endowment for higher education? That's not | :43:37. | :43:42. | |
what she is saying. She is saying you can't measure the success of an | :43:42. | :43:46. | |
individual area by just looking at one policy. We can't pretend we have | :43:46. | :43:50. | |
perfect higher education system because we have free tuition. The | :43:50. | :43:53. | |
fat that Scotland, despite not having to tuition fees, if you are | :43:53. | :43:57. | |
kids in Scotland from a working-class background you are | :43:57. | :44:04. | |
less likely to go to university than it did in England. Because of health | :44:04. | :44:07. | |
care inequalities, a lot of people went live long enough to receive | :44:07. | :44:11. | |
free personal care. How can we have people living longer, more | :44:11. | :44:15. | |
fulfilling lives? How do we improve the education system to make sure | :44:15. | :44:19. | |
that no matter where you live, whether affluent area or more | :44:19. | :44:26. | |
deprived area, there will be a successful education system to go to | :44:26. | :44:32. | |
university and go to college and be an asset to your community. That's | :44:32. | :44:35. | |
the kind of society that Johann Lamont wants to create and that's | :44:35. | :44:39. | |
what she was setting out. opposition said it was rather policy | :44:39. | :44:44. | |
light. Nicola Sturgeon tweeted that reducing tuition fees was the | :44:44. | :44:51. | |
closest she came to introducing a policy. She also had to revisit a | :44:51. | :44:55. | |
controversial policy, the something for nothing speech. She said she was | :44:55. | :44:58. | |
not attacking the principle of universal benefits but raising the | :44:58. | :45:01. | |
point that there was not perhaps enough resources to pay for these | :45:02. | :45:08. | |
universal benefits, so in essence wasn't she attacking the policy? | :45:08. | :45:11. | |
think what the Cabinet Secretary for infrastructure should do is not just | :45:11. | :45:15. | |
bend all their time building a case up for independence in the | :45:15. | :45:18. | |
referendum next year but spent time building infrastructure, roads, | :45:18. | :45:25. | |
schools, hospitals to help tackle the inequalities I set out. Johann | :45:25. | :45:27. | |
Lamont is saying there are real challenges right here in Scotland | :45:27. | :45:30. | |
and what we can't have over the next 18 months is constant conversations | :45:30. | :45:34. | |
purely about the constitution and funding models and devolution or | :45:34. | :45:38. | |
about independence. There are real challenges that people are facing | :45:38. | :45:43. | |
right now. What people don't need is politicians sitting in parliament, | :45:43. | :45:47. | |
council chambers or Right now in TV studios talking about things like | :45:47. | :45:52. | |
the monetary policy committee and other issues - all very important | :45:52. | :45:57. | |
but not ones that affect people's daily lives. People are worried | :45:57. | :46:01. | |
about how they get food on their table, whether their child will get | :46:01. | :46:05. | |
access to a college place, will get a job, how their loved one will be | :46:05. | :46:09. | |
treated by the NHS. They are the real conversations taking place up | :46:09. | :46:12. | |
and down this country and that's the conversation we want to have and | :46:12. | :46:17. | |
find the right solutions. important policy is childcare which | :46:17. | :46:21. | |
Johann Lamont mentioned but there was a scant lack of detail. She | :46:21. | :46:25. | |
challenged Alex Salmond to return next week. She said she had worked | :46:25. | :46:32. | |
out proposals for childcare - what are the proposals? I'm sorry, | :46:32. | :46:36. | |
Andrew, that is the wrong reflection of what she said. What she said was | :46:36. | :46:41. | |
that the first Minister made a promise on childcare not to actually | :46:41. | :46:45. | |
change women's lives but to get votes for the referendum. He has the | :46:45. | :46:48. | |
powers in the Scottish parliament right now to introduce the policy | :46:48. | :46:51. | |
proposals that he wants and what Johann Lamont quite rightly said is | :46:51. | :46:55. | |
that we will work with the SNP. People don't care about party | :46:55. | :47:00. | |
politics when it comes to changing their lives so we will work with the | :47:00. | :47:03. | |
SNP in the budget and come up with a proposal that works and we will | :47:03. | :47:06. | |
support it and make the policy happen now. Are they big enough to | :47:06. | :47:12. | |
take that on? Let's make sure we deliver for Scotland bow. Why wait | :47:12. | :47:17. | |
until after the referendum? Alex Salmond has the power to do it now | :47:17. | :47:21. | |
but he is not taking the opportunity. It's a very expensive | :47:21. | :47:25. | |
policy, which is the point the first Minister made and it needs time to | :47:25. | :47:29. | |
be worked out. Are you just trying to smoke out the first Minister and | :47:29. | :47:33. | |
make him commit to a very expensive policy which would require a cut in | :47:33. | :47:37. | |
another area of the budget? Which every would you like to see cut to | :47:37. | :47:43. | |
pay for it? Andrew, I'm sorry. He has the power, he says it's a | :47:44. | :47:46. | |
priority if Scotland wants an independent country. Let's not make | :47:46. | :47:52. | |
it up as we go along. He can't promise tax systems like Ireland and | :47:52. | :47:56. | |
public services like Scandinavia. You can't make it up as you go | :47:56. | :48:01. | |
along, which is what the first minute and the SNP are doing. If he | :48:01. | :48:04. | |
genuinely believes that it's in the best interests of Scotland to have a | :48:04. | :48:09. | |
childcare system that works to help women back into work, we will help | :48:09. | :48:13. | |
them to deliver that policy in this Parliament. Will he take that | :48:13. | :48:21. | |
challenge? Will he join us in that? If not it proves that it's a policy | :48:21. | :48:28. | |
to gain votes. Less than 18 months until the referendum, there is | :48:28. | :48:33. | |
difficulty getting this policy of further devolution for Scotland - | :48:33. | :48:37. | |
that has been mired over the course of the weekend. Johann Lamont had to | :48:37. | :48:40. | |
explain once again the something for nothing speech. Where labour | :48:40. | :48:45. | |
standing at the moment? I don't accept that reflection that you | :48:45. | :48:49. | |
have. You should perhaps listen less to the SNP press machine and listen | :48:49. | :48:53. | |
to what actually happened here at conference. I would welcome you to | :48:53. | :48:57. | |
come to our conference next year, rather than in the studio, is what | :48:57. | :49:01. | |
we had was a fantastic speech from Johann Lamont. We also set out what | :49:01. | :49:06. | |
we would do if we were in charge of the NHS, setting out a 12 point plan | :49:06. | :49:12. | |
on social justice. We had a discussion about the centralisation | :49:12. | :49:21. | |
of Holyrood. All positive things happening right here at conference | :49:21. | :49:25. | |
because we are on the side of Scotland and putting Scotland first. | :49:25. | :49:29. | |
We have to leave it there. Thanks for joining us. | :49:29. | :49:34. | |
Now to an emotive subject - ruble school closures. For two years | :49:34. | :49:37. | |
there's been a moratorium on closing village schools while a commission | :49:37. | :49:40. | |
investigated the future of ruble education. It is now reported but | :49:40. | :49:44. | |
would it be enough to satisfy the concerns of campaigners or might it | :49:44. | :49:49. | |
actually make ruble school closures easier? Here's Jamie McIvor. | :49:49. | :49:54. | |
Any proposal to close a school can be emotive but integral areas, the | :49:54. | :50:02. | |
passion can be even more intense. -- in rural areas. Quite apart from how | :50:02. | :50:05. | |
proposals might affect a child's education, the school could be an | :50:05. | :50:10. | |
important part of the team unity. Two years ago, villagers here bought | :50:10. | :50:15. | |
a powerful campaign when their village school was facing closure. | :50:15. | :50:18. | |
The kids keep everybody going and that brings parents here, who look | :50:18. | :50:23. | |
after the elderly people, who work in the shops to keep the village | :50:23. | :50:27. | |
open to the tourists that come here. Without the school we will struggle | :50:27. | :50:32. | |
to keep and attract families to this area. The local primary was one of | :50:32. | :50:39. | |
many local schools put under threat. At one point, around 25 were facing | :50:39. | :50:43. | |
the axe. In the end they were saved following a move by the Scottish | :50:43. | :50:48. | |
government. There was some concern over how the process en route will | :50:48. | :50:53. | |
school closures was working. The government called for a moratorium | :50:53. | :50:56. | |
on closures across Scotland while a commission on the future of roll | :50:56. | :51:02. | |
education carried out a full investigation. It has now reported. | :51:02. | :51:08. | |
It is a detailed report which makes several recommendations. Key amongst | :51:08. | :51:18. | |
:51:18. | :51:25. | ||
them... I hope that it will ensure that the education which is provided | :51:25. | :51:31. | |
for our children in rural Scotland is of a standard which we can be | :51:32. | :51:41. | |
:51:42. | :51:42. | ||
proud of. But one point in the report is proving controversial. It | :51:42. | :51:49. | |
proposes... Instead it would be simply about making sure it would | :51:49. | :51:59. | |
not be harmed. Some fear at good make closures easier. | :51:59. | :52:03. | |
educational statement not now having priority over everything else, it | :52:03. | :52:07. | |
gives councils they license to make this all about numbers and there | :52:07. | :52:12. | |
will be more regard given to the quality of education that will be | :52:12. | :52:16. | |
lost. Others will suggest that this change will make the debate more on | :52:16. | :52:23. | |
-- more honest, arguments are sometimes considered later than by | :52:23. | :52:29. | |
the need to save money anyway. In his Dumbarton sure there is an | :52:29. | :52:34. | |
intense debate about possible school closures. One rural school as at | :52:34. | :52:42. | |
risk. I think there should be consultation and that has been | :52:42. | :52:47. | |
brought up in this sheriff's report, we need financial transparency in | :52:47. | :52:53. | |
the dealings that the council is having. There is no option here for | :52:53. | :52:59. | |
us apart from closure. The council could not make a formal moves until | :52:59. | :53:02. | |
after the commission 's report. The question here will be, what happens | :53:02. | :53:08. | |
now? Nationally a full response from the Scottish Government is expected | :53:08. | :53:12. | |
in the next few weeks. So what changes might happen and what will | :53:12. | :53:20. | |
be the measure of their success? Well, with me in the studio now is | :53:20. | :53:22. | |
COSLA spokesperson for Education, Children and Young People, the SNP | :53:22. | :53:25. | |
Councillor Douglas Chapman, and from our Dundee studio, the Scottish | :53:25. | :53:34. | |
Conservative's Murdo Fraser. Good afternoon. First the euro, Douglas. | :53:34. | :53:44. | |
A full report. Let's pick up on that. It is that a semantic or | :53:44. | :53:51. | |
significant point as raised in the report? The report covers a lot of | :53:51. | :53:55. | |
ground and there are 30 different recommendations. We hope that we can | :53:55. | :54:00. | |
support all or most of the recommendations. From a council 's | :54:00. | :54:06. | |
point of view, we would always want to move ahead and ensure that | :54:06. | :54:09. | |
children's education is protected whatever the situation, a rural or | :54:09. | :54:14. | |
urban environment. This point for me is about, if a council decides to | :54:14. | :54:20. | |
close a school, it has got to prove the case that it is in the child's | :54:20. | :54:26. | |
best interest to do so. I think the point that has been made in the | :54:26. | :54:30. | |
report is about not having to go as far as saying it has to be a | :54:30. | :54:36. | |
benefit. As long as that position is neutral and there is no detriment to | :54:36. | :54:40. | |
a child's education, then that is something that we can support and I | :54:40. | :54:44. | |
think that is a good thing. Scottish Conservatives say that that | :54:44. | :54:49. | |
could make the closing of rural skills easily, is that true? We need | :54:49. | :54:55. | |
to go back to basics on this. There are things in there that benefit | :54:55. | :54:59. | |
payments in terms of information that is provided and more clarity | :55:00. | :55:05. | |
and transparency around information. I think some of the recommendations | :55:05. | :55:11. | |
are how you look at a community in the hall. -- in the hall. Not just | :55:11. | :55:16. | |
look at a school on its own. I think these are positive steps for how to | :55:16. | :55:24. | |
take things forward. Are you reassured by Mr Chapmans words? | :55:24. | :55:29. | |
There is a lot I would agree with and there is a lot that is positive | :55:29. | :55:37. | |
in the report. I think having to provide a stronger financial case is | :55:37. | :55:42. | |
very reasonable. We know that in the past of a very unsound financial | :55:42. | :55:47. | |
case is put forward. But there is a fundamental problem with this that I | :55:47. | :55:52. | |
think Douglas Chapman has skirted around. That is the shift from | :55:52. | :55:57. | |
having to prove it is in the educational benefit of the pupils to | :55:57. | :56:01. | |
close. In effect, lauding that far to say that all the council has to | :56:01. | :56:06. | |
do is to sure that there would be no disadvantage. That is a fundamental | :56:06. | :56:13. | |
shift in both the goalposts from where we are. I think we saw in the | :56:13. | :56:19. | |
film, patents from rural skills to see that as a concern. If that was | :56:19. | :56:22. | |
to become a change in legislation, are changing guidance, that is | :56:22. | :56:27. | |
something that would be very vigorously posed, not just by the | :56:27. | :56:33. | |
Scottish Conservatives but many rural schools campaigners. It does | :56:33. | :56:37. | |
not sound like you have reassured him. I think we can work on days | :56:37. | :56:41. | |
bets over the coming months but the important point is, you have a | :56:41. | :56:49. | |
commission, it is reported on the recommendations that we spoke of, | :56:49. | :56:53. | |
and the whole issue means that we need to get behind each of these | :56:53. | :57:01. | |
recommendations and make sure there implemented. I think the discussion | :57:01. | :57:11. | |
:57:11. | :57:14. | ||
with the Scottish Government needs to start now. The main point, 15 | :57:14. | :57:17. | |
people sitting on the commission and they have all come to the conclusion | :57:17. | :57:25. | |
that the standard of where the bar is set is the right one to set. | :57:25. | :57:29. | |
Based on all the evidence, that is the view they have taken so I think | :57:29. | :57:34. | |
we should move forward with that. very thorough report, of course, and | :57:35. | :57:39. | |
it is a difficult balance to strike. Cash-strapped councils need to make | :57:39. | :57:47. | |
difficult decisions. I think that is exactly the problem. Pencils do have | :57:47. | :57:51. | |
financial issues, that is why the prospect of closing small rural | :57:51. | :57:58. | |
schools seems so attractive. In the past we have seen a very dubious | :57:58. | :58:02. | |
cases put forward where councils have not factored in the cost of the | :58:02. | :58:07. | |
alternative, such as batting pupils to another centre nearby. Anything | :58:07. | :58:14. | |
that makes it easier for councils to close rural schools is something | :58:14. | :58:18. | |
that setting councils will seize on. That is why this is so worrying in | :58:18. | :58:23. | |
the current financial climate and why so many parents will be worried | :58:23. | :58:26. | |
about it. If we can agree that we will not change that particular | :58:26. | :58:31. | |
piece of Baden's and embrace the report, I think Douglas and I can | :58:31. | :58:37. | |
both go home happy. Thank you for joining me. | :58:37. | :58:41. | |
Coming up after the news. As the UK Treasury prepare to launch a paper | :58:41. | :58:44. | |
on the economics of independence, there's a warning to the SNP about | :58:44. | :58:46. | |
keeping the pound. Ministers accuse the party of tying themselves in | :58:46. | :58:50. | |
knots and bringing powers home with one hand, while giving them away | :58:50. | :58:56. | |
with another. Alex Salmond has hit out at the downgrade Chancellor. | :58:56. | :58:59. | |
We'll debate with the SNP Treasury spokesman Stewart Hosie and Sir | :58:59. | :59:04. | |
Malcolm Bruce of the Liberal Democrats. You're watching Sunday | :59:04. | :59:09. | |
Politics Scotland and the time is coming up for 3pm. So let's cross | :59:09. | :59:19. | |
:59:19. | :59:21. | ||
now for the news with Chris Eakin and Sally McNair. Thousands lined | :59:21. | :59:31. | |
:59:31. | :59:35. | ||
the route in response to the Boston attack. Many wore black ribbons and | :59:35. | :59:44. | |
was tighter security. Before the start, 35,000 fell silent. Despite | :59:45. | :59:48. | |
the weeks events, the crows immersed in their hundreds of thousands to | :59:48. | :59:58. | |
:59:58. | :59:59. | ||
cheer on the runners. The spirit of the day was summed up by America's | :59:59. | :00:07. | |
winner of the wheelchair event, she won the event in Boston just hours | :00:07. | :00:13. | |
before the bombing. She dedicated her when did people of Boston. | :00:13. | :00:16. | |
definitely dedicate this one to Boston and I am just remembering | :00:16. | :00:23. | |
those affected by it. Britain's David Weir only finished fifth while | :00:23. | :00:31. | |
victories in the elite races went to Ethiopian and Kenyan athletes. | :00:31. | :00:39. | |
Thoughts were with those across the Atlantic. The great thing about the | :00:39. | :00:44. | |
marathon is that, no matter what colour, religion or nationality you | :00:45. | :00:49. | |
are, everyone comes together. everyone who crosses the finish line | :00:49. | :00:57. | |
here, the ordinator is -- the organiser is donating �2 to the | :00:57. | :01:01. | |
Boston fund. Many runners are still out on the course but for all, it | :01:01. | :01:08. | |
has been a day of high emotion. Police in Boston are still waiting | :01:09. | :01:12. | |
to question the teenager who is expected -- who is suspected of | :01:12. | :01:16. | |
carrying out the bombing. The FBI has released new energies taken with | :01:16. | :01:23. | |
a thermal imaging camera. They show the suspect shortly before the | :01:23. | :01:27. | |
exchange of gunfire and he remains under armed guard in hospital. | :01:27. | :01:31. | |
More than 200 people are now known to be dead reported missing after | :01:31. | :01:36. | |
yesterday's earthquake in China. More than 11,000 people have been | :01:36. | :01:40. | |
injured, according to authorities. Rescue workers have been searching | :01:40. | :01:45. | |
remote mountain villages for survivors. | :01:45. | :01:51. | |
Celtic have been crowned Scottish Premier League champions after | :01:51. | :01:57. | |
beating Inverness at Celtic Park. Celtic only needed a point but they | :01:57. | :02:05. | |
ran out comfortable 4-1 winners. It is the club's 44th success. There | :02:05. | :02:13. | |
will be more news on BBC One just after 6:30pm. | :02:13. | :02:23. | |
:02:23. | :02:23. | ||
Good Afternoon. Experts at Edinburgh Zoo have performed artificial | :02:23. | :02:30. | |
insemination on the female giant panda Tian Tian. There have been | :02:30. | :02:36. | |
positive signs. The male panda has been eating bamboo to build himself | :02:36. | :02:42. | |
up and sniffing around the female enclosure. He has also been | :02:42. | :02:48. | |
vocalising. Despite this, experts decided against an attempt at | :02:48. | :02:51. | |
natural meeting and the artificial procedure was carried out. Both | :02:51. | :02:57. | |
pandas are now slipping after what has been described as an intensive | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
week. It will be several weeks before it is now an effort was | :03:00. | :03:07. | |
successful but pandas will be back on display in a couple of days. | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
Scottish Labour's Deputy Leader, Anas Sarwar, has ended his party's | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
spring conference in Inverness by telling delegates they have a fight | :03:13. | :03:15. | |
on their hands ahead of next year's Independence referendum. Mr Sarwar | :03:15. | :03:19. | |
accused the SNP of making up policy as they go along in a bid to secure | :03:19. | :03:24. | |
a yes vote in the September 2014 poll ballot. It is now very clear | :03:24. | :03:29. | |
that they will say what you want to hear, Ron is you that independence | :03:29. | :03:37. | |
will be at whatever you wanted to be to get a yes vote. Not for them a | :03:37. | :03:43. | |
debate gritted in reality, but a debate based on what you want to | :03:43. | :03:46. | |
hear to get your vote. Celebrations are continuing at Celtic Park in | :03:46. | :03:49. | |
Glasgow after Celtic beat Inverness Caley Thistle to seal the SPL title | :03:49. | :03:59. | |
:03:59. | :04:15. | ||
with four matches of the season remaining. | :04:15. | :04:20. | |
Second World War hero has been honoured at a ceremony in Edinburgh. | :04:20. | :04:24. | |
Thomas Peck Hunter was posthumous he awarded the Victoria Cross for | :04:24. | :04:28. | |
action in Italy in the final days of the war. He was killed by German | :04:28. | :04:32. | |
gunfire while he tried to protect men under his command by lying in | :04:32. | :04:36. | |
full view of the enemy until his colleagues reached safety. The | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
service was attended by members of his family, including his nephew, | :04:40. | :04:49. | |
:04:50. | :04:53. | ||
Now the forecast for Scotland. This morning's reign has passed | :04:53. | :04:55. | |
through and this afternoon it should be brightening up for most of us. | :04:55. | :05:00. | |
There will be a number of showers around, especially across the West | :05:00. | :05:06. | |
fairly fairly heavy. Temperatures between | :05:06. | :05:12. | |
ten and 12 Celsius. Into the evening and overnight, showers tend to fade | :05:12. | :05:16. | |
away and it will be dry for a time but during the overnight period, and | :05:16. | :05:26. | |
:05:26. | :05:27. | ||
other weather front starts to work at 6:50pm. Now back to the Sunday | :05:28. | :05:32. | |
Politics Scotland. This week the UK government will | :05:32. | :05:35. | |
publish its latest paper on independence. This time it's from | :05:35. | :05:40. | |
the Treasury. The Chancellor is claiming the SNP are tying | :05:40. | :05:43. | |
themselves in knots with plans to keep the pound if there is a yes | :05:43. | :05:48. | |
vote. The SNP say the policy would benefit the whole UK sterling zone. | :05:48. | :05:51. | |
If Scotland votes yes next year, the Scottish government wants to retain | :05:51. | :05:55. | |
the pound is part of what it calls a sterling zone with the rest of the | :05:55. | :06:00. | |
UK. But in a joint UK government article, the chancellor George | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
Osborne and his Treasury chief secretary say the SNP are tying | :06:04. | :06:14. | |
:06:14. | :06:32. | ||
Friday, the leader of the Better Together campaign said it would | :06:32. | :06:35. | |
affect the ability to spend. currency union would mean another | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
country, which would be a foreign country, would have to approve our | :06:39. | :06:44. | |
budget, tax, spending and borrowing. That is not freedom. If | :06:44. | :06:48. | |
you are voted for independence, you are voting yourself into a | :06:48. | :06:51. | |
straitjacket from which you can never escape and the consequence of | :06:51. | :06:55. | |
that would be very bad for Scotland. But the Scottish government believes | :06:55. | :06:59. | |
a currency union would help boost the rest of the UK's Alencon | :06:59. | :07:05. | |
payments, thanks to its assets including oil and gas. The Deputy | :07:05. | :07:07. | |
first Minister Nicola Sturgeon insists its the common-sense | :07:07. | :07:17. | |
:07:17. | :07:27. | ||
position supported by the facts. She experts on the fiscal commission | :07:27. | :07:35. | |
working group set up by the first Minister Alex Salmond. The UK | :07:35. | :07:40. | |
Treasury process analysis of what it would mean on Friday. | :07:40. | :07:46. | |
I'm joined by the SNP's Treasury spokesman, Stewart Hosie, and from | :07:46. | :07:49. | |
Aberdeen we have the Liberal Democrat MP Sir Malcolm Bruce. Good | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
afternoon to both of you. First of all to you, Stewart Hosie, the | :07:54. | :07:59. | |
Treasury in that article is saying you are tying yourselves in knots | :07:59. | :08:02. | |
with this policy. They are threatening that Scots could risk | :08:02. | :08:07. | |
losing the pound under independence. You must rue the day when the euro | :08:07. | :08:12. | |
crisis began because this rather convoluted policy which, of course, | :08:12. | :08:17. | |
the Treasury say doesn't really make sense. I look forward to the | :08:17. | :08:20. | |
document being published because if it's as thin as the spun comments | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
today, it's not going to amount to much more than a repetition of the | :08:24. | :08:30. | |
usual scare stories that we have to join the euro, which we won't. This | :08:30. | :08:34. | |
is dreadfully complicated, which it isn't. They say it means a foreign | :08:34. | :08:37. | |
country will be a controlling our economy, which is completely and | :08:37. | :08:42. | |
utterly false. I'm happy to expand on any of those. We'll put some of | :08:42. | :08:47. | |
those points to Sir Malcolm Bruce. What is wrong with a currency zone | :08:47. | :08:53. | |
because the SNP make it quite clear that the balance of payments would | :08:53. | :08:59. | |
make it a benefit to the rest of the UK? They say it's just as much | :08:59. | :09:04. | |
Scotland's pound as England's. is the point - if you want a | :09:04. | :09:08. | |
currency union, we've got one, it's called the UK. If that's the | :09:08. | :09:13. | |
argument, we should stay in it. What the SNP doing is creating confusion | :09:13. | :09:18. | |
and uncertainty and begging a lot of questions because if the Bank of | :09:18. | :09:22. | |
England is effectively underwriting the Scottish economy, there will be | :09:22. | :09:26. | |
conditions and, indeed, other parts of the UK, the North of England, | :09:26. | :09:31. | |
Wales and Northern Ireland, will have use. The SNP seem to think they | :09:31. | :09:35. | |
can run a completely free budget, underwritten by a foreign bank - | :09:35. | :09:39. | |
which it will be - and they'll be no conditions attached. When you look | :09:39. | :09:42. | |
at what's happening in the eurozone, it's fanciful to believe | :09:42. | :09:45. | |
such an agreement could be achieved, even if it was in | :09:45. | :09:50. | |
anybody's interests. Stewart Hosie, we have this monetary, fiscal and | :09:50. | :09:54. | |
political union as things stand - you want to take the political bit | :09:54. | :09:59. | |
out of it. Does this policy really make sense? As Sir Malcolm points | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
out, we will have to have these constraints if there is | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
independence. You would have to reach an agreement with the Bank of | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
England when it comes to fiscal policy. This all makes perfect | :10:10. | :10:15. | |
sense. The Bank of England is independent. That's a good thing. | :10:15. | :10:21. | |
Both Scotland and the rest of the UK will be subject to... Just let him | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
finish that point. Scotland and the rest of the UK would be subject to | :10:25. | :10:30. | |
military discipline with independent decisions made. But both Scotland | :10:30. | :10:35. | |
and the rest of the UK would have full control of their fiscal policy. | :10:35. | :10:38. | |
At the moment, George Osborne has control of the fiscal policy but | :10:38. | :10:41. | |
there is very little of that in Scotland. We would have it all and I | :10:41. | :10:46. | |
think that is a profoundly good thing. What that means in terms of a | :10:46. | :10:49. | |
stability pact, it makes perfect sense for countries to try to make | :10:49. | :10:55. | |
sure their deficit is reasonable and their debt begins to shrink. Those | :10:55. | :11:00. | |
aren't constraints which any country would not want to have. Those are | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
proper and sensible targets to be worked to buy any government and | :11:03. | :11:09. | |
that makes sense both for Scotland and the rest of the UK. But how | :11:09. | :11:11. | |
independent is the Bank of England when the Chancellor in the budget | :11:11. | :11:16. | |
decided to change its remit to try to boost growth and, of course, | :11:16. | :11:21. | |
ministers under the bank of England that of 1998 have the power to | :11:21. | :11:30. | |
override the MPs in the military policy committee. In relation to the | :11:30. | :11:34. | |
change from a fixed inflation target to flexible inflation targeting, I | :11:34. | :11:37. | |
think that's extremely sensible indeed because it lays out the | :11:37. | :11:40. | |
direction of travel for interest rates over the medium-term and | :11:40. | :11:48. | |
provide more certainty to borrowers, banks and members of the public, to | :11:48. | :11:52. | |
the decisions the MPC is likely to take. It's a sensible decision and | :11:52. | :11:56. | |
I'm sure the MPC will use it properly. I think it's a good thing | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
in terms of monetary stability and boosting growth in the long run. | :12:00. | :12:05. | |
Stewart Hosie was speaking about the stability pact and the chair of the | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
Scottish government's fiscal commission was writing this week | :12:09. | :12:12. | |
saying that a mutual agreement on borrowing and debt levels would | :12:13. | :12:17. | |
underpin a currency union and would actually be good for both economies. | :12:17. | :12:20. | |
Yes but with the emphasis on the word mutual. It requires the whole | :12:20. | :12:25. | |
of the UK to agree it. The way the SNP project it is that it will be | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
the way the SNP wants it and the rest of the UK will somehow accept. | :12:29. | :12:33. | |
That's not the real world. The Bank of England is owned by the UK | :12:33. | :12:35. | |
government and operates under legislation passed by the UK | :12:35. | :12:39. | |
Parliament. If Scotland was an independent country, it would have | :12:39. | :12:43. | |
no mistake Bank of England in terms of appointment or any changes in its | :12:43. | :12:48. | |
mandate or legal basis. It would simply have to deal with it as a | :12:48. | :12:53. | |
foreign bank and negotiate what it could. It's fine to say we should | :12:53. | :12:57. | |
have such a pact but both sides will have to agree and the SNP cannot | :12:57. | :13:01. | |
tell the people of Scotland what the outcome of that agreement will be | :13:01. | :13:03. | |
because we will not know until Scotland, if it votes for | :13:04. | :13:09. | |
independence, negotiated. That's the real problem - we have a perfectly | :13:09. | :13:13. | |
good currency union right now, it's called the United Kingdom and the | :13:13. | :13:17. | |
best way to keep that is to stay in the UK. Hard for you to make your | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
imprint on the Bank of England and, as Danny Alexander and Alistair | :13:20. | :13:25. | |
Darling have been warning this weekend, when it comes to the bigger | :13:25. | :13:31. | |
partner, these currency unions - look at Germany and Greece in, that | :13:31. | :13:36. | |
bigger partner tends to have the biggest say. The German and great | :13:36. | :13:40. | |
example is a particularly bad one. The reason for the great | :13:40. | :13:45. | |
difficulties is not that there wasn't a political union or a tax | :13:45. | :13:48. | |
harmonisation with Germany, it's because the productivity was so | :13:48. | :13:52. | |
miserable. The difference between Scotland and the rest of the UK is | :13:52. | :13:56. | |
that productivity is near identical, which means we're in an | :13:56. | :14:01. | |
optimum currency area and that's the key point. We hear the scare stories | :14:01. | :14:05. | |
about why the rest of the UK might say no but I look forward to | :14:05. | :14:07. | |
Unionist politicians explain to the good people of England, Wales and | :14:07. | :14:12. | |
Northern Ireland why they would want to damage sterling in a balance of | :14:12. | :14:16. | |
trade terms by saying that the �40 million contribution which Scottish | :14:16. | :14:20. | |
oil and gas brings would no longer be available at the sterling table. | :14:20. | :14:23. | |
There are lots of scare stories and I understand why are parents want to | :14:23. | :14:28. | |
use them but they make no sense, even for the rest of the UK. When we | :14:28. | :14:32. | |
get to the negotiations, and of course there will be negotiations, | :14:32. | :14:37. | |
common sense will prevail. A currency union but fiscal freedom is | :14:37. | :14:40. | |
the ideal position for Scotland to be in and that's why independence | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
makes so much sense. You were shaking your head about the balance | :14:43. | :14:48. | |
of trade terms. If there's so much agreement, I can't see the need for | :14:48. | :14:52. | |
us to break up an existing agreement. But I was shaking my head | :14:52. | :14:56. | |
in relation to things like the oil revenues. They come and go and the | :14:56. | :15:03. | |
fluctuation of one or 2% in terms of UK GDP is absorbable. For the | :15:03. | :15:09. | |
Scottish economy, that could be 5% or 10% in any one given year. That | :15:09. | :15:12. | |
could put pressure on Scotland that does not currently exist. What the | :15:12. | :15:17. | |
SNP are proposing is to impose more uncertainty into what is a difficult | :15:17. | :15:20. | |
and uncertain situation at a time when what we actually need is to get | :15:20. | :15:24. | |
over our problems together, not argue about who should take the | :15:24. | :15:27. | |
lion's share of the burden. The SNP try to attend that they are somehow | :15:27. | :15:31. | |
fundamentally different but Stewart Hosie is saying today it won't make | :15:31. | :15:37. | |
much difference. If it weren't, what's the point? What are the | :15:37. | :15:40. | |
reasons for independence apart from the currency union? Crawford | :15:40. | :15:43. | |
Beveridge writing in the Scotsman on Friday said the right way forward | :15:43. | :15:48. | |
would be for both parties to engage in technical discussions but, of | :15:48. | :15:51. | |
course, the UK government don't want to engage in that just now, do | :15:51. | :15:56. | |
they? Know, and why should we? You can't debate a situation which is | :15:56. | :16:00. | |
hypothetical. The people of Scotland have not voted and right now it | :16:00. | :16:04. | |
looks as if they are unlikely to vote for the separation of Scotland | :16:04. | :16:08. | |
and it's quite reasonable and proper to say that the mood, the | :16:08. | :16:11. | |
environment, the circumstances for any kind of negotiation to | :16:11. | :16:15. | |
hypothetical prior to a decision being made. Only when the decision | :16:15. | :16:18. | |
has been made and is for real can you properly engage and most people | :16:18. | :16:22. | |
are beginning to realise that that is a very unpredictable and volatile | :16:23. | :16:27. | |
situation which we do not have to go into. Why should the UK government | :16:28. | :16:32. | |
engage and, perhaps, why embark on this policy when the Economist Jim | :16:32. | :16:36. | |
Cuthbert, sometimes quoted by the SNP, said that your strategy should | :16:36. | :16:41. | |
be rethought because it could expose Scotland to a catastrophic rises? | :16:41. | :16:44. | |
a great deal of respect for the work of Jim Cuthbert over many years and | :16:44. | :16:51. | |
I would criticise but I think on this he is wrong. In terms of | :16:51. | :16:53. | |
instability, the very fact that the fiscal commission suggested, very | :16:53. | :16:58. | |
sensibly, that we have a stability fund based on the oil revenues so | :16:58. | :17:02. | |
that we can park cash in the good times and use it in the good times | :17:02. | :17:04. | |
is the technical answer to the scaremongering Malcolm Bruce had | :17:04. | :17:10. | |
earlier. In terms of instability, he suggested the UK economy can absorb | :17:10. | :17:14. | |
certain losses. The UK economy debt is about to rise to over 100% of | :17:14. | :17:20. | |
GDP. It is in excess of �1 trillion at the moment there is no certainty | :17:20. | :17:27. | |
in terms of UK's future. If we sort this currency thing, fiscal | :17:27. | :17:33. | |
decisions so that we could grow the Scottish economy, will be taken in | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
Scotland according to Scottish needs and circumstances and not in terms | :17:36. | :17:41. | |
of the disastrous it annoyed losses of George Osborne. The future of the | :17:41. | :17:46. | |
UK possibly at stake as well in the hands of, as the SNP budget, the | :17:46. | :17:50. | |
downgrade Chancellor. The point we have to accept is we have a | :17:50. | :17:53. | |
difficult few years ahead of us and this is a distraction the people of | :17:53. | :17:58. | |
the UK, Scotland and elsewhere could do without. It would put pressure on | :17:58. | :18:01. | |
Scotland. Never mind the oil revenues, there could be other | :18:01. | :18:05. | |
sectors which are vulnerable which a small economy like Scotland would | :18:05. | :18:10. | |
have difficulty absorbing. It's right to say the UK has difficulty | :18:10. | :18:15. | |
but together, we have a better chance of overcoming our problems | :18:16. | :18:20. | |
when we unite as one to deal with it. When the SNP at knowledge we | :18:20. | :18:24. | |
have more in common than divides us, to tear that up right now is not the | :18:24. | :18:27. | |
interests of Scotland or the rest of the UK. We have to leave it there. | :18:27. | :18:32. | |
Thank you both very much. In a moment, we'll be discussing the | :18:32. | :18:36. | |
coming week at Holyrood but let's take a look back at the week in 60 | :18:36. | :18:44. | |
seconds. Thousands of people lined the | :18:44. | :18:50. | |
streets of London for the funeral of Baroness Thatcher will stop in the | :18:50. | :18:53. | |
former -- in a former pit village in Midlothian, well it is laid a | :18:53. | :18:56. | |
wreath. The Scottish government published | :18:56. | :19:04. | |
legislation to increase preschool childcare. It will entitle three and | :19:04. | :19:07. | |
four-year-old s two hours of free care. | :19:07. | :19:09. | |
The six time Olympic gold medallist Sir Chris Hoyer announced he is | :19:09. | :19:15. | |
retiring from cycling. I didn't want to turn up just a way to the crowd | :19:15. | :19:18. | |
and get a tracksuit. I wanted to be there to win a medal for Scotland | :19:18. | :19:22. | |
and because I don't feel I can do that, I've got to step aside and let | :19:22. | :19:26. | |
someone else take my place. Almost 600 workers have been made redundant | :19:26. | :19:31. | |
following the collapse of Scottish Coal. Directors of the biggest | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
coal-mining company put it into Administration on Friday. | :19:34. | :19:38. | |
And we were on Panda watch all week. The question now is, will the | :19:38. | :19:47. | |
artificial insemination work? Stay tuned. That's the week that's just | :19:47. | :19:51. | |
gone by. Now let's turn our attention to the big stories in | :19:51. | :19:59. | |
politics and look at what's coming up in the week ahead. | :19:59. | :20:02. | |
I'm joined in the studio now by two keen political bloggers, Kate | :20:02. | :20:05. | |
Higgins who writes as Burdz Eye View, and Ian Smart who posts on his | :20:05. | :20:10. | |
own site and contributes to Labour Hame. Good afternoon to you both. | :20:10. | :20:18. | |
Let's start with a lighter subject, the pandas. First some news. I think | :20:18. | :20:25. | |
we would -- we should just leave them alone. It is a reason why | :20:25. | :20:34. | |
pandas are endangered. Animals should be treated with committee. | :20:34. | :20:39. | |
am struggling to say anything respectful about this before the | :20:39. | :20:45. | |
watershed. Let's turn our attention to what we were discussing at the | :20:45. | :20:53. | |
top of the programme, we were interviewing Anas Sarwar. In the | :20:53. | :21:01. | |
newspapers today we have headlines like... This was Johann Lamont 's | :21:01. | :21:09. | |
conference speech. What did you make of it. It's hard to try and be | :21:09. | :21:13. | |
positive when there is so little positivity coming from Labour. The | :21:13. | :21:20. | |
first thing I would say, Labour has two stop orbiting around the SNP | :21:20. | :21:25. | |
sun. It needs to define a political message and an offering for the | :21:25. | :21:28. | |
Scottish people based on its values and what it has to say for himself. | :21:28. | :21:37. | |
And linked into the interim report on devolution commission, that was | :21:37. | :21:40. | |
basically an exercise on writing off all the things we can't do for | :21:40. | :21:46. | |
reasons that are really about trying to win the UK election and also | :21:46. | :21:51. | |
keeping their hands on for this Scottish elections, rather than | :21:51. | :21:56. | |
actually thinking about what needs to be said and done as part of this | :21:57. | :22:02. | |
independence referendum. It needs to sort is strategy and stop trying to | :22:02. | :22:06. | |
make its proposals meet too many purposes. Let's take Kate's | :22:06. | :22:11. | |
critique. A lot of people were saying there is a lack of vision in | :22:11. | :22:21. | |
:22:21. | :22:21. | ||
Laming's speech. -- Johann Lamont's speech. If I can deal with the | :22:21. | :22:27. | |
demolition -- demolition commission first. Clearly, the Labour Party | :22:27. | :22:32. | |
would admit that it was wrong. That would really cast a cloud as the | :22:32. | :22:37. | |
conference met. As someone who was there, I thought the tone was too | :22:37. | :22:41. | |
negative and up to a certain point, we knew what we were against but we | :22:42. | :22:45. | |
didn't know what we are actually for. But I thought her speech that | :22:45. | :22:50. | |
have a lot of substance. She said these were the things that need a | :22:50. | :22:56. | |
priority, Scottish Parliament to bring in three childcare. But it | :22:56. | :23:00. | |
involves making choices and the difficulty at the moment as that the | :23:00. | :23:03. | |
current Scottish Government is not making these choices, it is just | :23:03. | :23:10. | |
saying that everything should stay the same until September 2014. That | :23:10. | :23:14. | |
is a long time away for there to be effectively no government in | :23:14. | :23:22. | |
Scotland. Just in the point of the demolition -- did demolition | :23:22. | :23:28. | |
commission, people would say what I Labour doing. When they are arguing | :23:28. | :23:33. | |
amongst themselves. I don't know if they are all arguing among | :23:33. | :23:38. | |
themselves but the same issues remain, if there is a vacant degree | :23:38. | :23:42. | |
of financial autonomy for the Scottish Parliament, should we still | :23:42. | :23:48. | |
have the same numbers of members at Westminster? The second thing is, as | :23:48. | :23:52. | |
they are a proper parliament if it does not have accountability? The | :23:52. | :24:01. | |
Americans had a revolution on no taxation without representation. In | :24:01. | :24:07. | |
Scotland it is bizarre that we will have that. The interim report on the | :24:07. | :24:12. | |
demolition commission, it is not the final one. Surely it is fear to have | :24:12. | :24:19. | |
this open debate. I think that is something of a fudge. How long does | :24:19. | :24:23. | |
it take for a commission to come up with a report? They have been at | :24:23. | :24:31. | |
this for a year. To come back to the point is that Ian raises, I think | :24:31. | :24:35. | |
they are fair ones. They are ones that Scottish Labour should be | :24:35. | :24:42. | |
considering. This report does neither. 2014 truths team, who ever | :24:42. | :24:46. | |
came up with that should be sacked or at least have a copy of 1984 | :24:46. | :24:54. | |
confiscated. The problem with setting yourself up as a witch | :24:54. | :24:59. | |
finder general is that you will be found out. For jailed gear, you need | :24:59. | :25:04. | |
that are currently reserved at Westminster. You need them in order | :25:04. | :25:09. | |
to fashion a proper childcare policy that fits in a proper economic | :25:09. | :25:13. | |
strategy, that is an argument for independence. I will let you come | :25:13. | :25:19. | |
back on that. I take your point on employment law which is not | :25:19. | :25:28. | |
devolved. I don't agree with the point about tax credits, I think | :25:28. | :25:32. | |
there is a lot that can be done using the existing powers of the | :25:32. | :25:41. | |
Scottish Parliament. Let's move it on to the current debate. From the | :25:41. | :25:51. | |
:25:51. | :25:52. | ||
male, we had... Not good reading for the SNP, is it? No, but I am sure | :25:52. | :25:56. | |
that the Daily Mail does not count as one of his greatest cheerleaders. | :25:56. | :26:03. | |
It is not partial or -- it is not impartial or I'm biased. Everything | :26:04. | :26:07. | |
has got -- everyone has that something different to say on this. | :26:07. | :26:10. | |
The one certainty we can offer is that the day after a yes vote we | :26:10. | :26:15. | |
will still have sterling and we will still have pound, we will still be | :26:15. | :26:19. | |
using the same currency as the rest of the UK. Thereafter, there is an | :26:20. | :26:26. | |
honest on everybody in Scotland to fashion and work out what is in | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
Scotland's long-term interests. It may be a separate currency because | :26:29. | :26:35. | |
other countries manage just fine and all the scaremongering that Malcolm | :26:35. | :26:40. | |
Bruce was putting up in the programme, and is contained in the | :26:40. | :26:44. | |
newspapers, is nonsense. Other small countries manage their finances | :26:44. | :26:47. | |
perfectly well without all the problems that seem to be foreseen by | :26:47. | :26:57. | |
Scotland. In Scotland on Sunday, the headline is... Kate says she | :26:57. | :27:01. | |
believes that after day one post independence, sterling will still be | :27:01. | :27:09. | |
there. I think what it was saying that day one after the referendum is | :27:09. | :27:14. | |
that sterling will still be there. The problem SNP has is that the | :27:15. | :27:17. | |
minute anyone in the SNP started suggesting they would be a separate | :27:17. | :27:26. | |
company, finds largely owned by English people in Scotland would get | :27:26. | :27:30. | |
out of Scotland otherwise the business would collapse. That is one | :27:30. | :27:33. | |
of the central contradictions, we have this integrated financial | :27:33. | :27:38. | |
services market disproportionately located in Scotland at the moment | :27:38. | :27:41. | |
and it would have to relocate for reasons of business necessity. It | :27:41. | :27:45. | |
would have to relocate to England and Scotland and England have | :27:45. | :27:50. | |
separate currencies. The point Malcolm Bruce was saying that why | :27:50. | :27:54. | |
have independence if you want to keep this rest Mark there is a | :27:54. | :28:00. | |
circle that the SNP are trying to square and not very well. Because | :28:00. | :28:04. | |
exactly the point is that Ian is trying to make, not scaling horses | :28:04. | :28:10. | |
before we get to the referendum. But there are ways around keeping a | :28:11. | :28:13. | |
strong financial sector in Scotland after independence if that is what | :28:13. | :28:20. | |
we want to do. You can use tax breaks, tax allowances in order to | :28:20. | :28:27. | |
get over a separate currency or indeed, Malcolm Bruce's position and | :28:27. | :28:33. | |
also the no campaign, is predicated on the fact that it would not be in | :28:33. | :28:36. | |
the rest of the UK's centres to keep Scotland any currency union. I don't | :28:36. | :28:40. | |
think that is the case, I think they would want to keep Scotland and all | :28:40. | :28:49. | |
her assets as much as we would want that to happen. Just be free, that | :28:49. | :28:52. | |
Treasury report coming out on Tuesday. Do these have a big impact | :28:52. | :28:59. | |
on the debate? I have to say, I don't think anything has is big | :28:59. | :29:09. | |
:29:09. | :29:10. | ||
impact. In various blogs, there is a lot of debate but I would guarantee | :29:10. | :29:16. | |
that nobody is a vote had been swept -- swayed by this. Bluntly, I don't | :29:16. | :29:21. | |
see any body having the breakthrough and we may be in the same position | :29:22. | :29:30. | |
for the next 18 months. We will have to leave it there, I'm afraid. Thank | :29:30. | :29:36. |