Browse content similar to 16/06/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Morning, folks. Welcome to the Sunday Politics. Is this man a | :00:39. | :00:42. | |
racist thug with a taste for trouble or a voice of ordinary | :00:42. | :00:46. | |
people in the face of Islamic fundamentalism? We'll ask English | :00:46. | :00:51. | |
Defence League leader Tommy Robinson to come clean. The G8 | :00:51. | :00:54. | |
returns to the UK and the anti- capitalist protestors are gearing | :00:54. | :01:02. | |
up, we'll go head to head on the evils - and virtues - of capitalism. | :01:02. | :01:08. | |
And it is welfare reform's equivalent of the magic bullet. But | :01:08. | :01:11. | |
And coming up on Sunday Politics Scotland: As the Conservatives and | :01:11. | :01:14. | |
Labour tighten up on welfare, will granny escape the so-called bedroom | :01:14. | :01:24. | |
:01:24. | :01:24. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1712 seconds | :01:24. | :29:57. | |
tax? One charity says why should The Department for work and | :29:57. | :30:07. | |
:30:07. | :30:09. | ||
pensions is aiming for 80% of claims to be online. If someone | :30:09. | :30:13. | |
works, even for a short amount of time, it is worth their while and | :30:13. | :30:17. | |
they remain in the system. government deliver IT change on | :30:17. | :30:25. | |
this scale? I believe they can. The benefit system is incredibly | :30:25. | :30:28. | |
complicated. The major projects Authority looked at universal | :30:28. | :30:35. | |
credit in September of last year. Back then, it was graded amber/ red. | :30:35. | :30:40. | |
It means successful delivery of the project is in doubt. Urgent action | :30:40. | :30:46. | |
is needed. In May, the Government responded. Significant progress has | :30:46. | :30:50. | |
been made in the delivery of universal credit. The pathfinder | :30:50. | :30:54. | |
was successfully launched and we are on course to stop the | :30:54. | :30:59. | |
progressive national roll-out of universal credit in October. -- to | :30:59. | :31:03. | |
start. One MP is Warwick was that he is about to publish a book on | :31:03. | :31:08. | |
the chequered history of a large government projects. -- is worried. | :31:08. | :31:13. | |
The idea that the way to get this right is to say everything is going | :31:13. | :31:17. | |
fine and there are no problems, it is all on time and on Churchill. | :31:17. | :31:23. | |
That is not something I believe. -- on schedules. One theme runs | :31:23. | :31:28. | |
through the tortuous history of bad software and that is the failure to | :31:28. | :31:33. | |
confront reality. That is likely to be the case at the moment. That | :31:33. | :31:37. | |
would be catastrophic for many currently on benefits. What do | :31:37. | :31:47. | |
:31:47. | :31:49. | ||
someone who cannot afford to feed their children look and sound like? | :31:49. | :31:54. | |
I had never thought I would be in this predicament but I am. There | :31:54. | :31:59. | |
are others out there who are in this situation but never dreamed of | :31:59. | :32:05. | |
being in it. The thing is, how do you get out of it? That is what I | :32:05. | :32:10. | |
am struggling with. I do not want to be on benefits. I want to work. | :32:10. | :32:16. | |
The situation I am in now stops me. Exactly the sort of person | :32:16. | :32:21. | |
universal credit are designed to help. Why does she not think being | :32:21. | :32:26. | |
paid a lump sum monthly will work for people like her? What do they | :32:26. | :32:32. | |
have to fall back on? They do not have an overdraft. I did have an | :32:32. | :32:36. | |
overdraft and I lived off the overdraft. It has got so bad that | :32:36. | :32:42. | |
they cannot afford to pay it back. You get this money. What happens if, | :32:42. | :32:46. | |
for some reason or another, you have to spend more than the | :32:46. | :32:51. | |
budgeted for a week or so? People will apply crisis loans. It will | :32:51. | :32:57. | |
get worse. The Government insists it will ensure no one falls through | :32:57. | :33:01. | |
the cracks. Despite backing some of the aims of universal credit, food | :33:02. | :33:07. | |
banks are preparing to help more people when changes come. Last year, | :33:07. | :33:13. | |
in 2012, we looked after 153,000 people whose primary reason for | :33:13. | :33:17. | |
needing the three days of food we give them in the food bank was that | :33:17. | :33:23. | |
there was a problem, a mistake, a change or to lay in benefit | :33:23. | :33:27. | |
payments. We are dealing with a significant change. We anticipate | :33:27. | :33:32. | |
large numbers of extra people coming to the banks as a | :33:32. | :33:38. | |
consequence. That worries us. -- food banks. The Government says it | :33:38. | :33:43. | |
will be flexible with people who might struggle to manage their | :33:43. | :33:47. | |
money. Universal credit will roll out of right, not early. It has not | :33:47. | :33:53. | |
yet convinced everyone this flagship policy is under control. | :33:54. | :33:56. | |
Now, we would have liked to put those concerns about the | :33:56. | :33:58. | |
implementation and implications of universal credit to a government | :33:58. | :34:01. | |
minister but our invitation to someone - anyone - responsible for | :34:01. | :34:11. | |
:34:11. | :34:12. | ||
the policy was rejected. We will keep on asking. We are not easily | :34:12. | :34:15. | |
embarrassed by rebuttals, and we will return to the subject in the | :34:15. | :34:19. | |
weeks and months ahead. Now, it is G8 time again, and it is back in | :34:19. | :34:22. | |
the United Kingdom, in Northern Ireland in fact, where the | :34:22. | :34:25. | |
authorities are bracing themselves for aggro. This weekend, world | :34:25. | :34:30. | |
leaders a Cabinet this luxurious golf resort in County Fermanagh for | :34:30. | :34:37. | |
the latest G8 summit. On the agenda are trade, tax and transparency. | :34:37. | :34:42. | |
There will also be discussions on Syria and internet spying. Prime | :34:42. | :34:45. | |
ministers and presidents were not be the only ones descending on this | :34:45. | :34:48. | |
peaceful part of Northern Ireland because protesters plan to make | :34:48. | :34:53. | |
themselves heard as well. Meetings like the G8 and G20 have been | :34:53. | :34:57. | |
accompanied by protests and violence for a number of years. | :34:57. | :35:02. | |
Already this week, police raided a squat used by stock-take protesters | :35:02. | :35:11. | |
in Central London. Police in Northern Ireland up on alert. | :35:11. | :35:15. | |
Anarchist groups are protesting against capitalism itself. So, to | :35:15. | :35:19. | |
debate all that, Owen Jones and Charlie Wolf go head to head on the | :35:19. | :35:29. | |
:35:29. | :35:30. | ||
I assume you stand shoulder to shoulder with the protesters. What | :35:30. | :35:34. | |
do you want to achieve? Some of the main issues which are angering | :35:34. | :35:39. | |
people are the fact we have 22,000 children dying every single day of | :35:39. | :35:43. | |
hunger, poverty. That is seven times bigger than 9/11 every day. | :35:44. | :35:50. | |
More people are dying of hunger can AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria | :35:50. | :35:54. | |
combined. We have 14 trillion dollars of tax which has been | :35:54. | :35:59. | |
stashed away, hidden from the taxman, at a time when third World | :35:59. | :36:02. | |
countries are losing three times more through tax avoidance than | :36:02. | :36:06. | |
they are getting through eight. Then the issues of climate change, | :36:06. | :36:11. | |
the human rights record of Russia. The key point is, what protesters | :36:11. | :36:17. | |
are trying to do, in the way that UK has put tax avoidance on the | :36:17. | :36:21. | |
agenda, it is to hold leaders to account and make sure we have a | :36:21. | :36:26. | |
national and global debate. We are holding to recount the eight most | :36:26. | :36:33. | |
importing countries in the world. - - holding to account. The problem | :36:33. | :36:37. | |
with world hunger is generally local governments. You can continue | :36:37. | :36:42. | |
to throw money at the problem. There is more than enough food in | :36:42. | :36:48. | |
the world. I agree with you. In Zimbabwe, it used to be Africa's | :36:48. | :36:55. | |
breadbasket. It is not any more. this an issue for the G8? I do have | :36:55. | :37:00. | |
a problem with the protesters. You can see by the way they handle | :37:00. | :37:04. | |
themselves was a bit speaks volumes. I do not like the word capitalism. | :37:04. | :37:10. | |
I prefer the word, free market. Capitalism was first used by | :37:10. | :37:15. | |
William Thackeray make peace. pressed taxpayers are having to | :37:15. | :37:20. | |
bail out the banks. That is not the fault of the people. The whole | :37:20. | :37:26. | |
point about free markets is people making free decisions. Free markets | :37:26. | :37:31. | |
are a morally correct institution. This is something that Margaret | :37:31. | :37:35. | |
Thatcher talked about many years ago. Let me put this to you Foster | :37:35. | :37:44. | |
in terms of free-market capitalism, in 2008, when the linchpin of the | :37:44. | :37:51. | |
capitalist system came crashing down. The state came to the rescue. | :37:51. | :37:55. | |
That is socialism - socialism for the rich and capitalism for | :37:55. | :38:03. | |
everyone else. A lot of people on the right had agreed to let them | :38:03. | :38:07. | |
fail. There are places for the state. I do not disagree. One needs | :38:07. | :38:11. | |
to look at how we got into the mess in the first place was a free | :38:11. | :38:15. | |
markets were not allowed to be free. The whole genesis of the problem | :38:15. | :38:20. | |
was Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Capitalism is in crisis. Why is | :38:20. | :38:26. | |
there left so weak? Why are they making no advances democratically? | :38:26. | :38:32. | |
The number of protesters is diminishing. It is a good point. | :38:32. | :38:39. | |
You need anger at how things I hope at how things can be. There is | :38:40. | :38:43. | |
anger out there. The average worker is going through the bigger squeeze | :38:43. | :38:49. | |
in pay packets since records began. What is lacking is hope. That is | :38:49. | :38:57. | |
the need for a coherent alternative. That will give people hope. | :38:57. | :39:02. | |
Ordinary folk, living standards being squeezed. They are paying a | :39:02. | :39:08. | |
shed load of tax, helping to bail out the banks. Shouldn't they be | :39:08. | :39:16. | |
angry that companies like Google and Amazon pay next to nothing? | :39:16. | :39:20. | |
Governments right laws. They act to the laws. They are paying a legal | :39:20. | :39:26. | |
tax. They had aggressive lawyers and accountants. Are they doing | :39:26. | :39:33. | |
anything illegal? Of course not. That makes it worse. Change the tax | :39:33. | :39:37. | |
laws. It disturbs me when I listen to David Cameron going on about the | :39:37. | :39:41. | |
Irish and their corporate tax laws. If he does not like it, blow up our | :39:42. | :39:48. | |
tax rates. Do you think socialism would ever come up in a search | :39:48. | :39:58. | |
engine? -- lower at tax rates. They are still talking but not as bad as | :39:58. | :40:06. | |
last week. It is coming up to Welcome to Sunday Politics Scotland. | :40:07. | :40:14. | |
Coming up: As the so-called bedroom tax bites across the UK, we ask | :40:14. | :40:20. | |
should the over-65s be dependent on benefit cuts, and what is the | :40:20. | :40:24. | |
knock-on effect for Scotland? The political arguments go round and | :40:24. | :40:30. | |
round the roundabout. I've been to Aberdeen Donside ahead of | :40:30. | :40:36. | |
Thursday's by-election. Granny is mugging you, that is how | :40:36. | :40:39. | |
one commentator in a newspaper yesterday warned the younger | :40:39. | :40:44. | |
generation that there are not having it so good. As the Conservatives and | :40:44. | :40:47. | |
Labour take tougher positions on welfare, how long will the elderly | :40:47. | :40:52. | |
escape the cuts? One charity are seeing the bedroom tax should apply | :40:52. | :40:58. | |
across the board. These ladies feel strongly that | :40:58. | :41:03. | |
older people like them should not face welfare cuts, particularly when | :41:03. | :41:09. | |
it comes to something known as the bedroom tax. Older people have | :41:09. | :41:14. | |
adapted their homes by that age to suit their way of living. They have | :41:14. | :41:18. | |
paid taxes all their life and when they get to that age they should be | :41:18. | :41:27. | |
able to live in comfort. Currently none of the Westminster parties... | :41:27. | :41:31. | |
Given that two thirds of the entire welfare budget is spent on older | :41:31. | :41:37. | |
people, some say that position is not sustainable. When the UK | :41:37. | :41:41. | |
Government introduced what became known as the bedroom tax, it was to | :41:41. | :41:47. | |
save money and lease larger houses for families. One area they haven't | :41:47. | :41:54. | |
tackled is the occupation of those over the age of 65. One charity for | :41:54. | :41:59. | |
disabled people believes that the burden for the bedroom tax should be | :41:59. | :42:07. | |
spread more equally. There should be a presumption of equality for older | :42:07. | :42:16. | |
people as well as younger people. average 29% of people over the age | :42:16. | :42:23. | |
of 65 are on housing benefit. Of them 81% live on their own. Only | :42:23. | :42:26. | |
three local authorities were able to tell us how many of those were | :42:26. | :42:36. | |
occupied. Interestingly, no one exactly knows how much under | :42:36. | :42:41. | |
occupancy of the over 65s costs the country. Labour and the | :42:41. | :42:47. | |
Conservatives have stated that they will reduce the level of welfare | :42:47. | :42:52. | |
spending should they win the next election. An academic told me that | :42:52. | :42:59. | |
older people could be in the frame for future cuts. The Chancellor at | :42:59. | :43:03. | |
his last budget said he wanted to limit the amount spent on annually | :43:04. | :43:10. | |
managed expenditure. 40% of that is the state pension. Labour have just | :43:10. | :43:14. | |
said that if they return to government they would cap welfare. | :43:14. | :43:23. | |
That cannot be done without capping payments to the elderly. | :43:23. | :43:33. | |
:43:33. | :43:36. | ||
government has control over what buildings are created. Housing | :43:36. | :43:40. | |
groups say it is making it very hard to plan. We didn't start off with a | :43:41. | :43:45. | |
policy in Scotland that there is a problem with under occupied | :43:45. | :43:50. | |
property. I was convinced that there was data for people of pensionable | :43:50. | :44:00. | |
:44:00. | :44:02. | ||
age that showed that they were under applying to a significant extent. | :44:02. | :44:07. | |
The elderly vote across the UK is a large and influential one. We know | :44:07. | :44:12. | |
what those parties are going to give us and we will vote for the party | :44:12. | :44:18. | |
that will serve us best. For any government to cut welfare to older | :44:18. | :44:24. | |
people would be brave. But changes may be inevitable given the growing | :44:24. | :44:34. | |
:44:34. | :44:39. | ||
elderly population. Joining me is the SNP's Linda | :44:39. | :44:48. | |
Fabiani, Drew Smith and Alex Johnston. Our older people at risk | :44:48. | :44:55. | |
now from funding cuts under a future Tory government, do you think? | :44:55. | :44:58. | |
government had given a sound commitment that older people will be | :44:58. | :45:04. | |
protected. We have already seen a record rise in the state pension and | :45:04. | :45:08. | |
that is evidence of what is going on, but we have to remember that it | :45:08. | :45:15. | |
is the case that pension age people are not exempt from the kind of | :45:15. | :45:19. | |
reorganisation that is going on. The pension age will change radically | :45:19. | :45:23. | |
and that will be the way in which efficiencies are made in the cost of | :45:23. | :45:30. | |
keeping those who are now pensioners. That promised to protect | :45:30. | :45:35. | |
the over-65s only extends to the end of parliament, doesn't it? In the | :45:35. | :45:40. | |
car and circumstances there is a needed to ensure the welfare budget | :45:40. | :45:46. | |
is brought under control. -- current. You can seek employment or | :45:46. | :45:52. | |
find extra hours, for example, and many people do not have that | :45:52. | :45:58. | |
option. These are people who have contributed all their lives to the | :45:58. | :46:02. | |
support of the welfare and benefit system and it is appropriate that | :46:02. | :46:10. | |
their position should be protected. Drew, it looks like Labour are now | :46:10. | :46:19. | |
sticking to the Tory spending plans. Ed Miliband wants a cap on benefits. | :46:19. | :46:21. | |
Perhaps you are understanding tough choices need to be made protest over | :46:21. | :46:25. | |
the bedroom tax has turned into a whisper. Will you be cutting | :46:25. | :46:30. | |
benefits for older people? protest for the bedroom tax has not | :46:30. | :46:37. | |
reduced to a whisper. The protest is that it simply won't work. For a | :46:37. | :46:42. | |
whole range of people affected by it and across disabled groups, they | :46:42. | :46:46. | |
need that extra room for good reasons and the bedroom tax fails to | :46:46. | :46:51. | |
recognise that. The real problem is that we don't have homes to move | :46:52. | :46:56. | |
people into. Even if it was desirable, we take the view that | :46:56. | :47:01. | |
there is a significant problem with under occupancy here in Scotland. | :47:01. | :47:05. | |
The idea of extending bedroom tax is not something that will carry much | :47:05. | :47:11. | |
favour. What about the winter fuel allowance for less well-off | :47:11. | :47:20. | |
pensioners? We are saying that in terms of higher rates of income tax, | :47:21. | :47:26. | |
we would not pay the winter fuel payment for those well-off | :47:26. | :47:32. | |
individuals. That is a small group of people, so we are not removing a | :47:32. | :47:34. | |
large group of pensioners from the system, but we are recognising that | :47:34. | :47:44. | |
these are tough times and economies must be made. We need to look at | :47:44. | :47:47. | |
what pensioners can afford, but in the main we need to understand that | :47:47. | :47:52. | |
a lot of pensioners are on small incomes and it is difficult for them | :47:52. | :47:59. | |
to meet the bills that we all have. Linda Fabiani, it is a different | :47:59. | :48:04. | |
story from you. You want to repeal the bedroom tax in the first year of | :48:04. | :48:10. | |
an independent Scotland. That would cost �60 million. How on earth can | :48:10. | :48:18. | |
you afford this largess? When you look at the Treasury figures, | :48:18. | :48:27. | |
Scotland spends less of its GNP on welfare than the UK as a whole, so | :48:28. | :48:32. | |
Scotland can cope very well with its own system. What I would like to say | :48:32. | :48:36. | |
about pensioners is any talk at all from the Westminster parties about | :48:36. | :48:43. | |
extending the bedroom tax, we should always bear in mind that a lot of | :48:43. | :48:48. | |
pensioners pay full rent and always have. A lot of pensioners pay most | :48:48. | :48:53. | |
of their rent and get a top up from housing benefit, so the impression | :48:53. | :48:56. | |
that there are all these pensioners getting free housing is quite | :48:56. | :49:01. | |
clearly wrong. When you set out your stall to voters and people see what | :49:01. | :49:07. | |
you are proposing, it does seem quite generous, but when you see | :49:07. | :49:11. | |
what the Conservatives and Labour Party are doing, do you not think | :49:11. | :49:19. | |
they are taking a more pragmatic view? When you look at what is | :49:19. | :49:22. | |
happening to disabled people through the welfare cuts, when you look at | :49:22. | :49:26. | |
the fact that for the first time in a long time you have people queuing | :49:26. | :49:30. | |
at food banks. We have people being sanctioned for mistakes they have | :49:31. | :49:35. | |
not made in their applications. We have even got people with terminal | :49:35. | :49:39. | |
illnesses being forced to go to work assessment. I think people will look | :49:39. | :49:44. | |
at that and think, "that is not what we want. That is not what we pay | :49:44. | :49:48. | |
taxes for. Our country should not be part of a system that allows that to | :49:48. | :49:56. | |
happen." Alex Johnson, hearing that, the bedroom tax has had terrible | :49:56. | :50:01. | |
publicity. It has been pretty bad for the Coalition government. It | :50:01. | :50:03. | |
sounds from what Linda Fabiani is saying that she thinks she can | :50:03. | :50:09. | |
balance the books. What do you see? I do not believe that at all. The | :50:09. | :50:15. | |
under occupancy charge is beginning to do its job. The commitment that | :50:15. | :50:19. | |
Alex Salmond gave me that it would be repealed in the first year of an | :50:19. | :50:23. | |
independent Scotland is bogus. By 2017, the charge will have done its | :50:23. | :50:28. | |
job. As a result, it will no longer cost a vast amount to repealed. What | :50:28. | :50:32. | |
has to be said is that in a recent report published by the welfare | :50:32. | :50:38. | |
reform committee, it was suggested that welfare changes were going to | :50:38. | :50:41. | |
cost Scotland �1.6 billion per year. At that stage, Linda Fabiani | :50:41. | :50:45. | |
was jumping up and down, demanding that the �1.6 billion be brought | :50:45. | :50:50. | |
back again. The fact is that when I asked the First Minister about this, | :50:50. | :50:54. | |
he talked about a few million here and a few million there was 1 | :50:54. | :50:58. | |
million miles away from giving that �1.6 billion commitment. What you're | :50:58. | :51:02. | |
getting is a lot of hot air. No facts on how an independent | :51:02. | :51:08. | |
Scotland, or the SNP, would deal with the situation. It is all talk. | :51:08. | :51:17. | |
I put that back to. A lot of hot air? Scotland can afford its own | :51:17. | :51:22. | |
social care system. More than the rest of the UK. Fact, after the | :51:22. | :51:25. | |
transitional arrangements within which will make changes such as | :51:25. | :51:30. | |
getting rid of the bedroom tax in the first year and moving to a | :51:30. | :51:33. | |
fairer system of an integrated tax benefit system instead of these | :51:33. | :51:39. | |
quick fixes that the other parties do all the time. Fact. Is this going | :51:39. | :51:44. | |
to be a 0-sum change? Will it cost us nothing? Scotland is even rich | :51:44. | :51:50. | |
country. It is the richest ever been. Yes, Scotland can do it. The | :51:50. | :51:53. | |
proof is there. You just have to look at the figures. Drew Smith, | :51:53. | :52:01. | |
talking of a fairer, more equal society, it has been suggested that | :52:01. | :52:05. | |
the burden should be shared across the ages. What do you think about | :52:05. | :52:10. | |
that? I think any reform of the welfare system looks to look at the | :52:10. | :52:15. | |
whole system. -- needs to look at the whole system. The debate here in | :52:15. | :52:18. | |
Scotland is to an extended. Eight. Scottish Government are telling us | :52:18. | :52:23. | |
that it will be all right if some we | :52:23. | :52:31. | |
we are going to keep a transitional agreement with the rest of the UK, | :52:31. | :52:34. | |
which is astonishing from a Nationalist party. They then say | :52:34. | :52:38. | |
that we will continue with the bases of sharing that with the rest of UK? | :52:39. | :52:44. | |
How that work? Will they need to have separate computer systems to | :52:44. | :52:46. | |
administer this? In the meantime, we are not getting to the bigger | :52:47. | :52:49. | |
changes which are actually needed, hitting people to work and | :52:49. | :52:54. | |
supporting them. We are talking about infrastructure. The North of | :52:54. | :52:58. | |
Ireland's part of the UK and already does that differently policy wise. | :52:58. | :53:02. | |
Scotland can do that as well. We can have that transitional period. We do | :53:02. | :53:09. | |
not want to wake up the day after independence and that nobody in | :53:09. | :53:12. | |
England gets their benefit payments. That is not correct. Thank | :53:12. | :53:18. | |
you all very much. We have to leave it there. It has been the final | :53:18. | :53:20. | |
weekend of campaigning in the Aberdeen Donside by-election. The | :53:20. | :53:24. | |
parties are now appealing for the poor on Thursday. The oil capital of | :53:24. | :53:28. | |
Europe has not provided a fiery and energetic debate at local issues | :53:28. | :53:35. | |
have come to the fore. I caught up with the candidates. | :53:35. | :53:39. | |
Getting in some early practice for the Aberdeen traffic at this | :53:39. | :53:44. | |
nursery. The Granite city's transport problems have been a | :53:44. | :53:47. | |
feature of this campaign. Labour's Will Young has spotted this as a key | :53:47. | :53:52. | |
issue. He has accused is SNP opponent of failing to stand up for | :53:52. | :53:58. | |
the city. We are the oil capital of Europe. Our infrastructure is very | :53:58. | :54:01. | |
important, to the people of Aberdeen. We need to give the | :54:01. | :54:09. | |
roundabout sorted out. My opponent said it was a priority a few years | :54:09. | :54:12. | |
ago. Now he says we need to wait until 2019 to sorted out. That is | :54:13. | :54:19. | |
unacceptable. To the doorsteps of leafy Kings Wells, the Liberal | :54:19. | :54:23. | |
Democrat says that both Labour and the SNP are giving a transport. She | :54:23. | :54:27. | |
says the city is not receiving its of cash. What people want is money | :54:27. | :54:33. | |
invested in Aberdeen. They want to see it getting its fair share. The | :54:33. | :54:36. | |
SNP and Holyrood art shortchanging Aberdeen to the tune of �21 million | :54:36. | :54:39. | |
per year. That is money that could be spent on the infrastructure that | :54:39. | :54:44. | |
we would want to be spent on better roads, keeping schools open. It is a | :54:44. | :54:50. | |
similar message from the Conservatives. Ross Thomson's a | :54:50. | :54:53. | |
councillor. He says he has secured more money for monuments like this | :54:53. | :54:58. | |
and is now fighting for what he calls the forgotten city. It is a | :54:58. | :55:02. | |
successful city but not successful for all. In down side, we have some | :55:02. | :55:06. | |
of the highest levels of deprivation. Some of the communities | :55:06. | :55:14. | |
are in the top 15%. We're not getting our fair should have -- | :55:14. | :55:18. | |
first year of taxes and I would go to Holyrood and tell them to give us | :55:18. | :55:24. | |
that. Also, the Scottish Greens. A different view. They don't want big | :55:24. | :55:28. | |
transport projects. We want to concentrate on public transport. We | :55:28. | :55:32. | |
see that as the way forward. You cannot keep building more and more | :55:32. | :55:38. | |
roads, more and more bridges. You just increase the traffic and | :55:38. | :55:44. | |
congestion. It is Friday lunchtime here. Six days to go until the | :55:44. | :55:49. | |
by-election. Let's see what people are thinking. I have never voted. I | :55:49. | :55:54. | |
just don't bother any more. Away from SNP, which devoted the last | :55:54. | :56:04. | |
:56:04. | :56:04. | ||
time. I haven't decided. I am still thinking about it. SNP. Why? I have | :56:04. | :56:11. | |
been brought up with that, with my family. It is just what we do. | :56:11. | :56:16. | |
is the Aberdeen Exhibition And Conference Centre. It is -- I | :56:16. | :56:22. | |
remember the night very clearly in 2003 when the late Brian Adam one | :56:22. | :56:27. | |
Aberdeen North is a very slim majority over the liver party. It | :56:27. | :56:32. | |
was a sign of what was to come, the SNP's popularity in this city and | :56:32. | :56:39. | |
the rest of Scotland. The SNP won a majority in 2011. Their opponents | :56:39. | :56:43. | |
claim independence has not been mentioned much in this Ambien. Not | :56:43. | :56:48. | |
true, says Mark O'Donnell. He also rejects claims that he is dithering | :56:48. | :56:51. | |
on the roundabouts. Apparently, the new bypass has to be constructive | :56:51. | :56:55. | |
first. The so-called forgotten city of actually receiving �1 billion of | :56:55. | :57:03. | |
investment, he claims. Brian Adam, of course, received about half the | :57:03. | :57:08. | |
votes last election are you complacent? Absolutely not. We are | :57:08. | :57:12. | |
speaking to as many voters as we can. Brian did a huge amount of work | :57:12. | :57:15. | |
for this constituency, over many years. People are recognising that | :57:15. | :57:18. | |
on the doorsteps. Many people you speak to will talk about O'Brien | :57:19. | :57:23. | |
helped them, in one way or another. He a strong legacy of hard work for | :57:23. | :57:26. | |
this constituency and I want to build on that and make sure that | :57:26. | :57:30. | |
people continue to receive that representation. It may be a while | :57:30. | :57:33. | |
until building work starts at the notorious roundabout but this | :57:33. | :57:38. | |
political merry-go-round only has a few days left to run. | :57:38. | :57:40. | |
For more information on the Aberdeen Donside by-election, you can visit | :57:40. | :57:50. | |
:57:50. | :57:53. | ||
very own political editor Brian Taylor. Thanks for joining me. | :57:53. | :57:59. | |
Before we get to predictions, let's talk about the issues. I learned to | :57:59. | :58:02. | |
drive on the haddock and roundabout. You can understand why it has been a | :58:02. | :58:06. | |
big issue that seems to have been the big one. We both have Aberdonian | :58:06. | :58:13. | |
connections. I started my journalistic career there. It is | :58:13. | :58:17. | |
totemic for transport services generally, for the bypass, for a | :58:17. | :58:22. | |
third bridge crossing. It is for more than that. People in other | :58:22. | :58:25. | |
cities in Scotland would find it absurd given the level of employment | :58:25. | :58:28. | |
and welfare of other is in Aberdeen but there is also alongside that | :58:28. | :58:34. | |
wealth, a sense of insecurity, a sense of uncertainty, a sense of | :58:34. | :58:39. | |
doubt. A sense, perhaps, that they are missing opportunities. Here we | :58:39. | :58:43. | |
talk about the roundabout, the gardens on the Main Street, and you | :58:43. | :58:48. | |
just sends Aberdonians feeling that other cities might be taking the | :58:48. | :58:58. | |
:58:58. | :59:00. | ||
lead. Whether we are modernising more quickly. The local council is | :59:00. | :59:07. | |
led by Labour and it is whether it is whether to spin to that or | :59:07. | :59:12. | |
Holyrood. Or, does that in itself to the UK Government? The Liberal | :59:12. | :59:16. | |
Democrats were the Tories. It is a remarkable by-election with the four | :59:16. | :59:20. | |
main candidates each having to defend a record in office. As they | :59:20. | :59:23. | |
go around the doorsteps, they are having to defend the record in | :59:23. | :59:28. | |
office, whatever that may be. Of course, there are some areas of | :59:28. | :59:32. | |
deprivation in the city. We speak about its wealth and eyedropper of | :59:32. | :59:41. | |
Aberdeen so naughty wealth, but there are areas of deprivation. -- I | :59:41. | :59:49. | |
grew up in Aberdeen so now about the Wells. It is more generally. It is | :59:49. | :59:53. | |
this curious sense of being bypassed. They are demanding a | :59:53. | :59:58. | |
bypass but the curious sense of being bypassed. The argument is | :59:58. | :00:02. | |
whether that is intrinsic within Aberdeen itself. As the city doing | :00:02. | :00:05. | |
enough itself to stimulate its own economy or is it to external | :00:05. | :00:10. | |
factors, including the Scottish Government and the UK Government? | :00:10. | :00:15. | |
You're hearing this argument more and more. This has been a resolutely | :00:15. | :00:19. | |
local by-election and I give no harm to them for that. There are some big | :00:19. | :00:23. | |
vocal issues. Not just the roads but the provisional provision of schools | :00:23. | :00:28. | |
and the general state of the structure of Aberdeen alongside that | :00:28. | :00:33. | |
being the issue of poverty and deprivation. Each of the candidates | :00:33. | :00:36. | |
having to address these. Having to address this general feeling. Again, | :00:36. | :00:41. | |
I see that people in other parts of Scotland would find this incredible, | :00:41. | :00:45. | |
this general feeling of disquiet. I do not want to overemphasise that | :00:45. | :00:48. | |
Aberdeen is doing extremely well. Its economy is booming. There is | :00:48. | :00:57. | |
still that sense of, "is it going to last? " no, the bookies are calling | :00:57. | :01:02. | |
it for the SNP. Brian Adam had just over half of the vote. Mark McDonald | :01:02. | :01:06. | |
says he is not complacent. He is not. The SNP will not like that sort | :01:06. | :01:12. | |
of talk. They will not like the idea that it is a shoo-in for them. They | :01:12. | :01:20. | |
are defending a large majority will top by Brian Adam. The patch of | :01:20. | :01:22. | |
Aberdeen North generally has been a very strong Labour territory as | :01:22. | :01:26. | |
well. Of course, the other parties will be fighting for a share of the | :01:26. | :01:31. | |
vote. It will be down to who is best able to capture that zeitgeist in | :01:31. | :01:38. | |
Aberdeen. That idea of standing up for the city. You heard of the | :01:38. | :01:40. | |
candidates saying that they were going to knock on the First | :01:40. | :01:45. | |
Minister's door and see... He would have easy access to that! All the | :01:45. | :01:55. | |
:01:55. | :01:55. | ||
candidates would say they have -- or the ones to do that. What is | :01:55. | :02:01. | |
Labour's strategy? They are talking about Aberdeen as the forgotten city | :02:01. | :02:10. | |
and are also being dumb claim the independence card, they are going | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
around saying that they have to use this opportunity to put a stop on | :02:13. | :02:23. | |
:02:23. | :02:24. | ||
independence. -- also play the independence card. The issues that | :02:24. | :02:28. | |
are coming today for a big local constituency issues. It is perfectly | :02:28. | :02:35. | |
legitimate for those two opposed the SNP to stand against them. A huge | :02:35. | :02:39. | |
effort by Labour and the SNP. A lot of footsoldiers being often. Over | :02:39. | :02:46. | |
the period of the contest, for votes, it has been quite remarkable. | :02:46. | :02:51. | |
They really are pulling out all the two ruin this. Kuipers ins the | :02:51. | :02:55. | |
SNP's notional overall majority in. It is a big deal. Thank you. | :02:55. | :02:59. | |
Don't forget, there will be full coverage of the results in a | :02:59. | :03:03. | |
Newsnight Scotland by-election special at 11pm on Thursday on BBC | :03:03. | :03:12. | |
Two. Coming up after the news, the week ahead with our guests. Alf | :03:12. | :03:22. | |
:03:22. | :03:27. | ||
Young and Katie grant will be here. Good afternoon. | :03:27. | :03:33. | |
David Cameron will hold talks with the Russian president Vladimir | :03:33. | :03:36. | |
Putin, with the conflict in Syria expected to dominate discussions. | :03:36. | :03:42. | |
The Russians have suggested that the claims that chemical weapons have | :03:42. | :03:50. | |
been used or fabricated. -- or fabricated. | :03:50. | :03:54. | |
Northern Ireland is getting ready. The G8 Summit starts tomorrow. World | :03:54. | :03:57. | |
leaders to start arriving later today. Syria is like to be the big | :03:57. | :04:02. | |
talking point. Russia strongly opposes the idea of arming the | :04:02. | :04:06. | |
opposition there, exactly what the United States, France and the UK are | :04:06. | :04:12. | |
now considering. The Prime Minister's doing his best to find | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
common ground with Russia's President Putin, head of their talks | :04:15. | :04:20. | |
in Downing Street this afternoon. The option we all want is an | :04:20. | :04:23. | |
international peace conference and an international agreement for a | :04:23. | :04:27. | |
transitional government in Syria that the Syrian people can have | :04:27. | :04:30. | |
confidence in and then elections and a new Syrian government. That is | :04:30. | :04:35. | |
what everybody wants. The disagreement is how we get there. | :04:35. | :04:38. | |
David Cameron says he has not decided whether to arm decision | :04:38. | :04:44. | |
rebels. His deputy, Nick Clegg, says he is not decided either but does | :04:44. | :04:48. | |
not sound convinced. We have taken no decision to provide lethal | :04:48. | :04:51. | |
assistance. Weak religion not think it is the right thing to do | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
otherwise would have decided to do it. -- we clearly do not think. What | :04:55. | :05:01. | |
we are doing is providing only for assistance. As the gathering County | :05:01. | :05:06. | |
Fermanagh, the question is whether David Cameron could secure the | :05:06. | :05:15. | |
majority of MPs to send arms if he concludes that is worthwhile. A man | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
has been arrested after four people, including a police officer, were | :05:19. | :05:26. | |
stabbed in a mosque in Birmingham late last night. The incident | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
happened at around 11 o'clock last night. Local people were saying that | :05:30. | :05:35. | |
there was a dispute in the mosque behind me between two people. One | :05:35. | :05:40. | |
man was brandishing a knife, two other men went in to try to break up | :05:40. | :05:45. | |
the altercation. Three people ended up being stabbed. The police | :05:45. | :05:50. | |
attended afterwords and as they tried to detain the suspect one of | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
the officers was stabbed. It is important to stress that all of | :05:54. | :05:59. | |
those injured are in hospital but those injuries are not said to be | :05:59. | :06:04. | |
life-threatening. A 23-year-old man of Somali appearance is in custody | :06:04. | :06:09. | |
on suspicion of attempted murder. Police are not treating this as a | :06:09. | :06:14. | |
suspected hate crime, but we will hear much more at a press conference | :06:14. | :06:21. | |
in about one hour's time. Hundreds of Turkish police officers have used | :06:21. | :06:26. | |
tear gas to clear demonstrators from the park in Istanbul with a have | :06:26. | :06:30. | |
been protesting against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
move prompted and rest elsewhere in the city, with some people starting | :06:34. | :06:36. | |
bonfires, and there were demonstrations in other parts of the | :06:36. | :06:41. | |
country. The bodies of two men have been | :06:41. | :06:45. | |
recovered by emergency crews searching for two climbers missing | :06:45. | :06:50. | |
off the coast of Anglesey. The bodies were found in the water at | :06:50. | :06:53. | |
South Stack near Holyhead. North Wales Police say they have yet to | :06:53. | :07:03. | |
:07:03. | :07:08. | ||
speculate whether a threatening note found on board a plane travelling | :07:08. | :07:13. | |
from Cairo to New York is credible. The EgyptAir flight was forced to | :07:13. | :07:16. | |
make an emergency landing at Prestwick airport yesterday | :07:16. | :07:21. | |
afternoon after a passenger found a note in a toilet. It shortly | :07:21. | :07:27. | |
afterwards resumed its journey. Andy Murray will play Marin Cilic | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
after defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in three sets. The world number two | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
battle from one set down against the Frenchman and won the last set 6-2. | :07:36. | :07:42. | |
Final will begin in a few minutes and you can watch it live on this | :07:42. | :07:52. | |
breaking to allow some spells of sunshine. There will be a scattering | :07:52. | :07:58. | |
of showers. Not everyone will catch one, but if you do it will be | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
slow-moving and possibly on the heavy side. Temperatures will be as | :08:01. | :08:07. | |
high as 19 degrees. That is all from the newsroom for now, I will be back | :08:08. | :08:13. | |
at ten minutes to seven this evening. | :08:13. | :08:21. | |
Time to talk about the week that was and take a look at the week ahead. | :08:21. | :08:25. | |
To do that I have the political commentator Alf Young and Katie | :08:25. | :08:34. | |
Grant in the studio. Thank you for joining me. We had the debate on | :08:34. | :08:39. | |
welfare and older people are now more likely to be hit by cuts as the | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
two bigger parties at Westminster firm up their attitude on welfare. | :08:43. | :08:48. | |
They think this is likely? I don't like the language of targeting, but | :08:48. | :08:50. | |
I think there is a huge issue that I think there is a huge issue that | :08:50. | :08:58. | |
must be It is not just about the bedroom tax, it is about the reality | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
over the last 30 years that older people are doing rather well | :09:03. | :09:07. | |
compared to almost every other group in the population. The people doing | :09:07. | :09:16. | |
worst are those younger than 25. Younger people are starting their | :09:16. | :09:19. | |
lives with greater disadvantages in terms of finding work and their | :09:19. | :09:24. | |
earning power compared to when I was that age, so the big issue is the | :09:24. | :09:27. | |
equity between these different groups and what politicians are | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
going to do about it. What you saw from the film is that they are not | :09:31. | :09:36. | |
going to do very much, cause older people will vote for the people who | :09:36. | :09:43. | |
promised them the most. Katie Grant, you mentioned that Granny is mugging | :09:43. | :09:49. | |
you. There is a feeling amongst the younger generation that they are | :09:49. | :09:54. | |
paying a lot of benefits for the older generation. I agree with Alf, | :09:54. | :09:58. | |
the language is bad and it is going to have to change, because when we | :09:58. | :10:02. | |
talk about over-65s, these are relatively young people now because | :10:03. | :10:07. | |
you can live until you are 90. Many people want to work until they are | :10:07. | :10:12. | |
over 80, so this is a time of transition, but I agree with Alf. It | :10:12. | :10:16. | |
is not fair for older people, who have benefited from changes since | :10:16. | :10:22. | |
the war, to now say that younger people must look after themselves. I | :10:22. | :10:27. | |
know a lot of older people help their grandchildren are a lot, and | :10:27. | :10:30. | |
that is a good aim and I like the idea of older people helping younger | :10:30. | :10:34. | |
people, but I don't think they should hold themselves aloof over | :10:34. | :10:39. | |
what is happening in the world as though they are sacrosanct. The Tory | :10:39. | :10:45. | |
MSP was saying that as the retirement age edges up we can now | :10:45. | :10:52. | |
capture these people. Absolutely. We talk about pensioners as if they are | :10:52. | :10:57. | |
an endangered species. I saw a picture last night, Neil Young and | :10:57. | :11:05. | |
Crazy Horse at the SEC C. He is not at the stage where he is giving up | :11:05. | :11:12. | |
work. 1 million people over 65 are still working. Pensioners say, we | :11:12. | :11:16. | |
are discriminated against because of our age. You can't have it both | :11:16. | :11:22. | |
ways, you can't be fragile and needy and still get a job. We need to | :11:22. | :11:29. | |
change the way we think about being old. A big debate lies ahead. The | :11:29. | :11:38. | |
papers are discussing the Donside collection. -- E-Lites and. -- | :11:38. | :11:47. | |
election. What are your thoughts on this by-election? Unlike you I have | :11:47. | :11:52. | |
not been there, I see that right up front, but it seems to me it is | :11:53. | :11:58. | |
quite hard to overturn a 7000 majority in the current climate. The | :11:58. | :12:02. | |
really interesting question would be how many people vote, because if you | :12:02. | :12:12. | |
:12:12. | :12:13. | ||
get a very poor results on Thursday it will not look good for the debate | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
on the referendum because it says that a lot of people have just been | :12:16. | :12:21. | |
turned off by the whole thing. The other interesting thing about it is | :12:21. | :12:27. | |
you are getting a sense in Aberdeen of the outer Scotland beginning to | :12:27. | :12:31. | |
see the same things about the central belt and Edinburgh that we | :12:31. | :12:38. | |
are currently hearing about Scotland and London. I think this will be | :12:38. | :12:41. | |
about local issues, not a litmus test on independence. The | :12:41. | :12:45. | |
interesting thing will be what happens to the smaller parties, they | :12:45. | :12:50. | |
are more interesting than the bigger parties in this by-election. It will | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
be very interesting to see the anger directed against the Holyrood | :12:54. | :12:58. | |
government and what it is not doing for us rather than the UK | :12:58. | :13:03. | |
Government, so there is a sense that things are becoming more | :13:03. | :13:12. | |
sophisticated, if you like. Sunday mail says Brown Not Out, Pm | :13:12. | :13:22. | |
:13:22. | :13:23. | ||
Will Stand Again. If he doesn't, I suspect it is more about being | :13:23. | :13:27. | |
involved in Kirk day than about being involved in Westminster. | :13:27. | :13:31. | |
think he will, I think Sarah was saying, stand again, don't stay in | :13:31. | :13:37. | |
the house all day. Tomorrow Jackie Bird will be hosting a special | :13:37. | :13:42. | |
Newsnight Scotland debate. She will be joined by an audience of women. | :13:42. | :13:47. |