:00:44. > :00:50.Welcome to the Sunday politics. Labour are in Brighton for the party
:00:50. > :00:56.conference this weekend. Ed Miliband promises policies galore. But a poll
:00:56. > :01:04.finds that 13-mac of his councils do not bring his doing a good job. They
:01:04. > :01:16.are partying like it is 2006 in Westminster. Memoirs to reunite the
:01:16. > :01:22.Tony Blair /Gordon Brown waters. -- wars. The Conservative party
:01:22. > :01:28.chairman gives his response to the rampant Tory bashing at the Lib Dem
:01:28. > :01:30.conference. And a promise from the first minister to renationalise the
:01:30. > :01:42.Royal mail under independence. Would it really work?
:01:42. > :01:49.right? With me, the best and the brightest political panel in the
:01:49. > :01:51.business. Isabel Hardman, Janan Ganesh and Steve Richards. They'll
:01:52. > :01:55.be tweeting like demented Damians throughout the programme. First
:01:55. > :02:00.today, scrapping the bedroom tax. Universal childcare for primary
:02:01. > :02:03.school kids. More apprenticeships. Labour Conference only begins in
:02:03. > :02:07.earnest today, but the policy and spending commitments are coming
:02:07. > :02:11.thick and fast. Not before time, according to the Labour leader's
:02:11. > :02:14.critics. He's been out and about this morning and told Andrew Marr
:02:15. > :02:23.that he knew it was going to be a tough fight in the run up to 2015.
:02:23. > :02:26.It is about a party that lost office three years ago. We are trying to be
:02:26. > :02:31.It is about a party that lost office a one term opposition. That is
:02:31. > :02:38.tough. I believe it is a fight that we can win and I am up for that
:02:38. > :02:42.fight. The stakes are so high for young people who want a job, for
:02:42. > :02:48.people whose living standards are being squeezed. For people who think
:02:48. > :02:54.that this is not good enough for Britain. So what do key Labour Party
:02:54. > :02:58.activists - its councillors - think about the direction Mr Miliband is
:02:58. > :03:02.taking their party? Adam Fleming is in Brighton at the Party Conference
:03:02. > :03:10.with all the details of our latest exclusive Sunday Politics survey.
:03:10. > :03:12.Labour have unwrapped their conference set. Let us unwrap them.
:03:12. > :03:19.Labour have unwrapped their With the help of an opinion poll we
:03:19. > :03:24.surveyed 1350 Labour councillors across England and Wales. We wanted
:03:24. > :03:29.to find out what they think as Labour gathers for its conference.
:03:29. > :03:32.The Labour leader warmed up for the week by taking to his soap box in
:03:32. > :03:39.Brighton city centre. It is great to week by taking to his soap box in
:03:39. > :03:42.be here. In our survey 31% of councillors said they did not think
:03:42. > :03:48.Ed Miliband was doing a good job as leader. 30% said they thought the
:03:48. > :03:55.party would have a better chance if someone else was in charge at the
:03:55. > :04:01.next election. You will see more of Ed Miliband as we run-up to general
:04:01. > :04:11.election. He has been in the job for three years! Now it is crunch time.
:04:11. > :04:16.The other Ed, Ed Balls, was disliked by roughly one third of the party as
:04:16. > :04:23.well. Ed Balls is not a pop your man. He says things and he speaks
:04:23. > :04:31.his mind. -- not a popular man. Sometimes he is not the most
:04:31. > :04:36.diplomatic. Sadly Ed Balls did not seem to be that bothered about our
:04:36. > :04:39.survey. Over at a conference centre the exhibitors were starting up.
:04:39. > :04:45.When it comes to relations with trade unions, the majority of Labour
:04:45. > :04:50.councillors thought things were absolutely fine. Just 9% thought
:04:50. > :04:56.things with the unions were a little bit too close. Tricky because Ed
:04:57. > :05:00.Miliband want to loosen the link. The shadow environment secretary
:05:00. > :05:06.arrived in Brighton ride bicycle from London to raise money for
:05:06. > :05:10.charity. When we as Labour councillors what they would do if
:05:10. > :05:16.the next election results in a hung parliament, just over half said they
:05:16. > :05:20.would tell the lid Dems to get on their bikes. We would never say no
:05:21. > :05:24.to going into coalition. It gives us the chance to be in government and
:05:24. > :05:29.prepare some of the damage of the last three years. So are you going
:05:29. > :05:35.to start being nice about the Lib Dems? I always treat them with
:05:35. > :05:41.courtesy. And the parties admitted that perhaps they had opened the
:05:41. > :05:46.door to too many immigrants. It in our survey Labour councillors of
:05:46. > :05:51.warming the felt that immigration had been positive for the UK.
:05:51. > :06:00.We're now joined by the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Rachel
:06:00. > :06:03.Reeves. Good morning. Let us start with Ed Miliband. Is it true that
:06:03. > :06:05.Reeves. Good morning. Let us start the team insisted that he be called
:06:05. > :06:12.the leader? I just call him Ed and I the team insisted that he be called
:06:12. > :06:22.think the rest of the Shadow Cabinet do. Do you welcome working for a
:06:22. > :06:28.leader that says he is winning back socialism? We are a democratic
:06:28. > :06:30.socialist party. We make no apologies for that. The most
:06:30. > :06:34.important thing is that we have the apologies for that. The most
:06:34. > :06:40.policies that will improve people 's lives and tackle the cost of living
:06:40. > :06:46.crisis facing so many families. Policies like expanding childcare,
:06:46. > :06:51.offering more apprenticeships, all policies that I think the country
:06:51. > :06:58.are calling out for after three years of a flat-lining economy and
:06:58. > :07:02.seeing prices rise faster than wages for 38 out of the 39 months but
:07:02. > :07:08.David Cameron has been Prime Minister. I think that is the most
:07:08. > :07:13.important thing. So it is OK now to risk their to the Labour Party again
:07:13. > :07:18.as the Socialist party? The clue is in the name, we stand up for working
:07:18. > :07:23.people. You are socialist party according to the leader. We have
:07:23. > :07:27.always been the Labour Party, that is our name and we stand up for
:07:27. > :07:31.working people, not the privileged few like this government with their
:07:31. > :07:35.working people, not the privileged tax cuts for millionaires. Those are
:07:35. > :07:39.policies that help just the privileged few. The Labour Party is
:07:39. > :07:49.about helping everyone in Britain, all families. Interesting that your
:07:49. > :07:52.run don't use the word socialist. In our survey one third of Labour
:07:52. > :07:58.councillors said Ed Miliband was not doing a good job as leader. If he
:07:58. > :08:02.cannot convince his own councillors, who can he convince?
:08:02. > :08:08.Well you could say that two thirds of councillors think that he is the
:08:08. > :08:13.right leader. But these are Labour councillors. The overall majority of
:08:13. > :08:22.Labour councillors think that he is doing a good job. What matters is
:08:22. > :08:28.the results on election day. Two thirds of councillors think that he
:08:28. > :08:32.is doing a good job. That us see what they say at the end of this
:08:32. > :08:34.week. Because I think the policies he is announcing will go down well
:08:34. > :08:38.week. Because I think the policies with Labour Party people and will
:08:38. > :08:44.also resonate with the British public. Policies like expanding
:08:44. > :08:48.apprenticeships, giving a break to hard-working families who are
:08:48. > :08:53.struggling. I think people will see what kind of a leader that he is.
:08:53. > :09:02.Well he has a mountain to climb among all voters. Let me ask the
:09:02. > :09:05.question. Just 12% see him as a Prime Minister in waiting, just 2%
:09:05. > :09:10.see him as a natural leader. Why? If Prime Minister in waiting, just 2%
:09:10. > :09:16.you look at the overall opinion polls, we are consistently ahead in
:09:16. > :09:18.those polls. It is hard being leader of the opposition, you cannot
:09:18. > :09:22.those polls. It is hard being leader demonstrate how you would be Prime
:09:22. > :09:29.Minister. By nature you are in opposition. But he has taken on
:09:29. > :09:36.Rupert Murdoch and the press barons. That is strong leadership, standing
:09:36. > :09:41.up to the vast majority. If you look at his reforms to our relationship
:09:41. > :09:48.with the trade unions, strengthening ties with individual members. I
:09:48. > :09:55.think that he is a strong leader making the right decisions. If that
:09:55. > :10:00.is the case, why has the Labour lead gone from 14 points one year ago to
:10:00. > :10:07.at most four points now. What went wrong? Well we are six or eight
:10:07. > :10:09.points ahead in the polls today. We are six or eight points ahead in the
:10:09. > :10:14.polls today. We're still consistently ahead. It looks as if
:10:14. > :10:18.we would get an overall majority if there was an election tomorrow. But
:10:18. > :10:25.we have more work to do to convince more people to vote for Labour. But
:10:25. > :10:29.this is a historic challenge, to be a one term Labour opposition. I
:10:30. > :10:34.believe that Ed Miliband will be the next Labour Prime Minister and will
:10:34. > :10:39.be an excellent Prime Minister. The big policy announcement today is the
:10:39. > :10:44.guaranteed childcare for all primary school children. How much will that
:10:44. > :10:50.cost? When Labour were in government, they ring fenced money
:10:50. > :10:53.to provide after-school -- after-school and breakfast clubs. We
:10:53. > :10:59.think that money should be ring fenced again. How much will it
:10:59. > :11:05.cost? We are saying that schools within their budgets should be able
:11:05. > :11:12.to provide that. At the moment they can charge for children to come to
:11:12. > :11:13.their first clubs. But this is a policy that does not involve
:11:13. > :11:17.additional money. As it was under policy that does not involve
:11:17. > :11:22.the last Labour government it will be about ring fencing money because
:11:22. > :11:27.we think that this is a priority. This is something that the schools
:11:27. > :11:32.should do. You cannot ring fenced money you do not have. You saying
:11:32. > :11:37.you could provide wraparound childcare for every family
:11:37. > :11:41.schoolchild from eight o'clock in the morning until six o'clock at
:11:41. > :11:46.night and it will not cost any more money? Well we did ring fence that
:11:46. > :11:52.money in the last Labour government. That money is gone! It has not gone.
:11:52. > :12:00.It is about priorities and we are saying that it should be a priority
:12:00. > :12:05.to provide that wraparound care. So where is the money being spent now
:12:05. > :12:09.that you would take it from? If we look at some of the things that this
:12:09. > :12:14.government is doing, building free schools in areas where there are
:12:14. > :12:20.already enough. That is capital spending. We are ring fencing that
:12:20. > :12:26.many. Again, it is different priorities. We had the ring fence
:12:26. > :12:31.when we were in government. It would be reintroduced so that schools had
:12:31. > :12:35.to offer that wraparound care. Of course schools can charge a small
:12:35. > :12:39.to offer that wraparound care. Of fee for their breakfast clubs and
:12:39. > :12:44.after-school DVDs. But the important thing is that provision is there for
:12:44. > :12:51.parents going out to work. Ed Balls and Ed Miliband are at the heart of
:12:51. > :12:55.the Brown project. Damien Wright was the hit man. Is it not inconceivable
:12:55. > :13:00.that they did not know what he was the hit man. Is it not inconceivable
:13:00. > :13:12.up to. It is inconceivable that they did not -- Damian McBride. I am
:13:12. > :13:18.asking about Damian McBride. What I'm saying is that I was not there.
:13:19. > :13:25.I was not there under the last Labour government. But I do know
:13:25. > :13:31.that these things are not happening under the leadership of Ed Miliband.
:13:31. > :13:38.He has led by example. There is not that backstabbing going on. There is
:13:38. > :13:44.no plotting against Ed Balls going on? I do not see that. And anyone
:13:44. > :13:52.who briefed against colleagues should be sacked, I agree with that.
:13:52. > :13:58.Nick Clegg's conference speech made it clear he was repaired to work
:13:58. > :14:05.with Ed Miliband in the event of a hung parliament. Are you excited by
:14:05. > :14:13.that prospect or is it just boring? That is very generous of Nick Clegg
:14:13. > :14:17.to say that. With his poll ratings of 9%. I think it is up to the
:14:17. > :14:21.to say that. With his poll ratings general public to decide who they
:14:21. > :14:26.want to form a government. We are campaigning for an overall Labour
:14:26. > :14:37.government at the next election. Are you excited by the prospect, or is
:14:37. > :14:41.that just boring boring? I want to serve in a Labour government is not
:14:41. > :14:47.a coalition government. That is what we are campaigning for. Thank you
:14:47. > :14:55.for joining us. Steve Richards, what has Ed Miliband got to do this
:14:55. > :15:01.week? He has got to start to win the argument about the economy. I think
:15:01. > :15:05.they will be quite clever on that in terms of saying that the recovery
:15:05. > :15:10.has begun but it is not going to benefit many of the voters. Unlike
:15:10. > :15:23.previous economic recoveries. That is a strong line and they need to
:15:24. > :15:25.make that again and again. The recovery has barely started. The
:15:25. > :15:29.make that again and again. The interesting thing, Isabel, they want
:15:29. > :15:31.to make a living standards the issue now because growth has returned,
:15:31. > :15:36.let's return to living standards which have been squeezed. The polls
:15:36. > :15:43.show that twice as many people blame Labour for the living standards than
:15:43. > :15:47.the Conservatives. It is a great scene for them to mine, and it is
:15:47. > :15:50.the only one before they announce big policies, but they have not
:15:50. > :15:53.gained the trust of voters on the economy, so the Conservatives can
:15:53. > :15:57.say they are finishing the job of fixing the recovery now and then
:15:57. > :16:01.we'll focus on living standards, whereas Labour is trying to say, you
:16:01. > :16:05.cannot quite trust us with the economy but we will talk about
:16:05. > :16:09.living standards. Ed Miliband's main job this week is to begin
:16:09. > :16:11.elucidating policies and not just themes, and that makes
:16:11. > :16:14.elucidating policies and not just incredibly vulnerable. The only
:16:14. > :16:22.thing worse than not having a policy for an opposition leader is to have
:16:22. > :16:26.a policy. It gives the opposition something to attack, the media
:16:26. > :16:31.something to scrutinise and it makes you bold rubble and you can see that
:16:31. > :16:39.coming through already before the conference has started. You have
:16:39. > :16:46.sketchy ideas on child, -- childcare. Spigot can he provide
:16:46. > :16:49.wraparound childcare for free? -- can he provide wraparound childcare
:16:49. > :16:57.for free? I don't even know what it is. Opposition is emphatically an
:16:57. > :17:00.art form, and the art form, and the artform for them at the moment is to
:17:00. > :17:07.announce policies without spending any money and it is very difficult
:17:07. > :17:12.to do. You gave an illustration of how difficult it is. They are under
:17:12. > :17:15.huge pressure, for the last year, to announce policies and they announce
:17:16. > :17:20.one on childcare and you immediately say, how do you paper it? And she
:17:20. > :17:24.immediately says, we will not spend a penny on it, because they are
:17:24. > :17:32.terrified of spending anything. This is where it an artform. The tax
:17:32. > :17:36.suspension before and election is crazy, because they will find money
:17:37. > :17:41.one way or another, but in another way, they cannot say we will spend
:17:41. > :17:44.money on this. It is a real problem. How do you measure the state of the
:17:44. > :17:50.coalition after the Liberal Democrat conference? The Liberal Democrats
:17:50. > :17:54.were in a very strong position after their conference, Nick Clegg had
:17:54. > :17:58.faced and activists on some issues, including fracking, which they
:17:58. > :18:02.supported, which seem to be the most important part of the conference. In
:18:02. > :18:06.terms of the coalition, the Tories have had to sit and watch as Vince
:18:06. > :18:07.Cable, Nick Clegg and Coe have basically criticised them and said
:18:07. > :18:12.Cable, Nick Clegg and Coe have they are evil and only the Lib Dems
:18:12. > :18:15.can make sure the Government is fair and works properly. So in terms of
:18:15. > :18:20.how the coalition works, you can expect to see some revenge at the
:18:20. > :18:31.Tory conference. The Lib Dems, Nick Clegg's followers, they had their
:18:31. > :18:34.revenge. Mister Clegg may have convinced his own activists to stay
:18:34. > :18:38.behind him, but he has a bigger challenge, which is called
:18:38. > :18:41.convincing the British people. There is some interesting polling they
:18:41. > :18:46.have done privately that suggests there is a market of about 25% of
:18:46. > :18:50.the electorate which is plausibly open to them, and all they have to
:18:50. > :18:54.do is target policies remorselessly at that group, rather than the
:18:54. > :18:57.broader public, in order to do well enough at the next election to hold
:18:57. > :19:00.the balance of power. That is why policies that seem weird to us, like
:19:00. > :19:14.free school meals regardless of policies that seem weird to us, like
:19:14. > :19:16.income, may perversely make sense to them. Because it appeals to their
:19:16. > :19:17.demographic. It is a strange political world we are in, the
:19:17. > :19:20.Labour strategists think they can political world we are in, the
:19:20. > :19:22.win with 35%, the Lib Dems are going to concentrate on 25. The Tories
:19:22. > :19:28.have seized to be a national party any more. We haven't been used to it
:19:28. > :19:32.for a long time. In the 80s, one party dominated, the Tories. In the
:19:32. > :19:39.90s into the 21st century, the policy matter delayed the Labour
:19:39. > :19:44.Party dominated. -- the Labour party dominated. We are now here but we
:19:44. > :19:48.have other parties hoping that 36% will give them a small overall
:19:48. > :19:53.majority and it is the best they can get. It is a very odd situation
:19:53. > :20:00.where the main two parties feel they can lose and the Lib Dems are openly
:20:00. > :20:05.targeting only 25%. They have gotten rid of 75% already and it is a long
:20:05. > :20:12.way from the policies of last couple of decades Nick Clegg talked about
:20:12. > :20:15.all of the policies he had locked. There is a real opportunity for the
:20:15. > :20:19.Conservatives to say that he is blocking all of the things that
:20:19. > :20:23.voters outside of our bays are interested in, top immigration
:20:23. > :20:27.policy, human rights reform, that sort of thing. David Cameron can say
:20:27. > :20:42.that in Manchester next week. One thing was quite clear, it came out
:20:42. > :20:48.of this awayday, and and this is this, that when you look at Mister
:20:48. > :20:53.Miller band's polls, the Tories are going to make this a presidential
:20:53. > :20:59.election -- Ed Miliband's polls. Which is why I am curious why they
:20:59. > :21:03.are not more keen on TV debates. When the strength of your party is
:21:03. > :21:07.the visibility of your leader against his opponents, why not have
:21:07. > :21:13.him or her juxtaposed against them in 90 minutes three times a week.
:21:13. > :21:16.Let's turn now to the coalition. The past week has given us inklings of
:21:16. > :21:17.how the yellow half of the Government is planning on fighting
:21:17. > :21:22.how the yellow half of the the General Election.
:21:22. > :21:25.When the Lib Dems gathered for their annual shindig in Glasgow, some
:21:25. > :21:30.ministers were non-too complimentary about their blue blood fellows. --
:21:30. > :21:33.bedfellows. Vince Cable led the way about their blue blood fellows. --
:21:33. > :21:38.in stick in the boot in, saying the Tories had reverted to type as a
:21:38. > :21:44.nasty party and describe their politics as ugly, cynical, callous
:21:44. > :21:46.and prejudice. Nick Clegg did not restrict himself to policies that
:21:46. > :21:48.and prejudice. Nick Clegg did not the Lib Dems had champion, such as
:21:48. > :21:54.and prejudice. Nick Clegg did not increasing the amount you can earn
:21:54. > :21:59.before paying tax. The Deputy Prime Minister proudly listed all of the
:21:59. > :22:02.things he had stopped the Tories from doing. Speak of scrapping
:22:03. > :22:08.housing benefit the young people, no. No to ditching the human rights
:22:09. > :22:15.act. No to weakening the protections in the equalities act. So how much
:22:15. > :22:18.of a break have the yellow brigade being on Conservative ambitions
:22:18. > :22:22.question mark in the two leaders shake hands again after the 20 15th
:22:22. > :22:29.election, what policies were David Cameron insist on. -- 2015? No
:22:29. > :22:29.matter how many times Nick Clegg says no?
:22:29. > :22:32.matter how many times Nick Clegg And Grant Shapps joins me the Sunday
:22:32. > :22:43.Interview. Grant Shapps, good morning. Nick
:22:43. > :22:48.Clegg, Doctor Know himself, self-styled. He boasted to his
:22:48. > :22:52.conference that he had stopped the Tories from going ahead with 16
:22:52. > :22:56.policies in government. Is this accurate? I don't know but what I
:22:56. > :23:02.can tell you, as your commentator Isabel said, some of the policies
:23:02. > :23:05.that we wanted them if we were a majority government sent out to be
:23:05. > :23:10.very popular things, like reforming the human rights act and some of the
:23:10. > :23:13.problems that provides when it comes to sending people who have no right
:23:13. > :23:17.to be in this country back. So there may be some things we could have
:23:17. > :23:21.made progress on. You are in government, did he stop the
:23:21. > :23:26.inheritance tax cut? I don't know the details, but I think it is
:23:26. > :23:30.absolutely true to say that coalitions are a process of
:23:30. > :23:35.negotiation and sometimes you can't get everything you want, and we had
:23:35. > :23:38.done the best, given where the electoral maths left us. That is why
:23:38. > :23:42.70 people in this country say they would rather see a single party
:23:42. > :23:47.running the country -- why so many people. I have to say I agree. They
:23:47. > :23:52.are not sure which single party. Give me a couple of major policies
:23:52. > :23:56.that you would introduce if you had had a majority in 2010 and were not
:23:56. > :24:04.held back by the Lib Dems. Speaking the one I just mentioned would be
:24:04. > :24:07.the Human Rights Act. In This Country, we have had 1,000 years of
:24:07. > :24:11.developing the law and we are more than capable of putting in place
:24:11. > :24:16.sensible laws. you would have left the European Court of human rights.
:24:16. > :24:20.We have already started the process of negotiation. There was some
:24:20. > :24:25.progress, but limited, and we would like to move further. Let me give
:24:25. > :24:28.you one other. I think this country has a great future but we can only
:24:28. > :24:30.grasp that country if we make ourselves the best place in the
:24:30. > :24:34.world to come and set up a business. ourselves the best place in the
:24:34. > :24:37.If we make ourselves the best place in Europe to develop jobs and
:24:37. > :24:42.entrepreneurship and I think there are a host of things we could do to
:24:42. > :24:48.go further on cutting back red tape. And the Lib Dems have stopped you? I
:24:48. > :24:53.think that is the case. In what ways, if any, have the Lib Dems
:24:53. > :24:58.improved the coalition process? It has been a stable government. No one
:24:58. > :25:04.talks about when the next election will come, we know it is in May 2015
:25:04. > :25:10.but that is in part being in a coalition. The Tories wouldn't have
:25:10. > :25:16.done that? It wasn't the plan of any party to go from... In the old days,
:25:16. > :25:19.there would have been speculation. You turned it into a national
:25:19. > :25:23.debate, you changed the British constitution in a fundamental way
:25:23. > :25:28.and nobody got a say. It was debated on the floor of the Has, as all
:25:28. > :25:34.constitutional changes are and there was a lot of agreement -- of the
:25:34. > :25:39.House. Nobody has ever said to me that it is a problem that we now
:25:39. > :25:46.have a fixed term parliament. Here it is, every five years. This is
:25:46. > :25:51.what it has done, it has provided stability in an incredibly uncertain
:25:51. > :26:01.economic time and that has been good for the economy. we will chalk that
:26:01. > :26:08.up to delete -- Lib Dem. What about taking people out of tax, the Lib
:26:08. > :26:15.Dems did that question mark it is a great policy. It is a conservative
:26:15. > :26:21.led government, it is a Conservative government massively Chancellor.
:26:21. > :26:25.This is a screen grab from your party's website, income tax cut to
:26:25. > :26:29.25 million people. You are taking the credit for it, it wouldn't have
:26:29. > :26:33.happened without the Lib Dems. It certainly came about because of the
:26:33. > :26:36.coalition and we put it in the coalition agreement. It could not
:26:36. > :26:41.have happened without a Conservative Chancellor making it happen. It is
:26:41. > :26:48.right, 25 million people taken out of tax. Another 17 by this April
:26:48. > :26:52.will not be paying tax at all. you didn't want to do it. Look at what
:26:52. > :27:03.David Cameron told Nick Clegg during the leaders debate in 2010.
:27:03. > :27:10.What Nick Clegg is promising is a £17 billion tax cut. We are saying,
:27:10. > :27:12.stop the waste of 6 billion to stop the national insurance rise. I would
:27:12. > :27:14.stop the waste of 6 billion to stop love to take everyone out of their
:27:14. > :27:17.first £10,000 of income tax, it is a love to take everyone out of their
:27:17. > :27:23.beautiful idea but we cannot afford it. It wasn't in your manifesto.
:27:23. > :27:28.Mister Cameron said it was unaffordable and now you are taking
:27:28. > :27:32.the credit for it. I feel like it is having a three year afterwards
:27:32. > :27:35.argument, and we got into coalition because the British people put us
:27:35. > :27:39.there and we agreed to make the best of it. And as it happens, if you
:27:39. > :27:42.want to hear a confession, I absolutely think it is the right
:27:43. > :27:47.thing to take as many people out of tax entirely as possible. Two points
:27:47. > :27:54.7 million people pay no tax at all because of this rise in the
:27:54. > :27:59.threshold. -- 2.7 million. I'm pleased it worked out. What are the
:27:59. > :28:05.most important thing is a majority Tory government would do after 2015,
:28:05. > :28:07.unencumbered by the Lib Dems? I think produce even more jobs when
:28:07. > :28:11.unemployment goes down, because we think produce even more jobs when
:28:11. > :28:16.are the most entrepreneurial place to set up a business. Are more
:28:16. > :28:23.free-market economy? We make our money because we are out global
:28:23. > :28:28.trading economy. That is why it is so important that we have to make
:28:28. > :28:32.sure it is easy to trade around the world. One simple example, it is
:28:32. > :28:35.crazy in my view that we have global tariffs that prevent some of the
:28:35. > :28:39.hardest other countries in the world, in developing parts of the
:28:39. > :28:46.world, from exporting to us and vice versa. I'm giving you a platform of
:28:46. > :28:50.things that I think we would be more interested in progressing in. It
:28:50. > :28:57.sounds like you are talking about even more Thatcherite, market led
:28:57. > :29:01.agendas. I think that you did a huge amount to show this country that if
:29:01. > :29:03.you want to help the least well off people in society, and the least
:29:03. > :29:07.well off people in the world, around people in society, and the least
:29:07. > :29:11.the globe, the way to do it is to trade, and I think we should have an
:29:11. > :29:15.economy which is much more open to free trade. If there is another hung
:29:15. > :29:21.parliament, and the poll suggest there might be, at the moment it is
:29:21. > :29:26.all to play for on both sides, what would your non-negotiable Red Line
:29:26. > :29:34.speak? We are still two years away from that, it is a long way away,
:29:34. > :29:38.but there is a lot we want to lay out. What we are going to be saying
:29:38. > :29:42.to this country is most people want a single party running the country,
:29:42. > :29:45.they think it is clean and clear and you don't end up with negotiation
:29:45. > :29:49.after an election. We will be setting out a very clear platform
:29:49. > :29:52.which will be for hard-working people in this country who want to
:29:52. > :29:57.work hard and get on in life. We would, I think, want to see the
:29:57. > :30:01.welfare state that we have got into, where it is no longer about helping
:30:01. > :30:05.those most in need but became a situation where you are better off
:30:05. > :30:09.not working than in worker, I think we plan to ensure that this is an
:30:09. > :30:14.incredibly fair place to go out and do a day's work and get the money at
:30:14. > :30:17.the end of the day rather than thinking there is an alternative.
:30:17. > :30:22.you have promised a referendum on UK membership of the EU in 2017, that
:30:22. > :30:30.must be your first Red Line? We are clear, we want to see a referendum,
:30:30. > :30:36.a reform European Union. So no poll... ? I should remind viewers
:30:36. > :30:43.that there is an act of Parliament, a bill going through Parliament
:30:43. > :30:48.right now, for a referendum on the EU, which comes back to the House.
:30:48. > :30:53.It is past the report stage and comes back in November and we will
:30:53. > :30:57.be discussing it. The Lib Dems, Labour, will have an opportunity to
:30:57. > :31:03.support what the British people want. Lots may have changed. But it
:31:03. > :31:06.would be a Red Line for any future coalition government question mark
:31:06. > :31:14.we are clear that it is time to have a say. You will know from our
:31:14. > :31:20.manifesto. What is wrong with yes or no? I cannot write the manifesto for
:31:20. > :31:23.2015. You are asking me to project beyond that and see in advance the
:31:23. > :31:28.election result and carry out the negotiations that are yet to come.
:31:28. > :31:39.I'm just trying to work out how much... I know you are committed but
:31:39. > :31:44.she won't tell me. Let's move on. Your party has been described as
:31:44. > :31:50.nasty and blinkered. What do you feel when he says that? We are
:31:50. > :31:57.interested in helping the most vulnerable people in society. I
:31:57. > :32:02.think we're doing all that and more. And it is a shame that that language
:32:02. > :32:07.was used because we have made so much progress together. Are you
:32:07. > :32:22.getting to the end of your tether with Mr King? I do not think it is
:32:22. > :32:24.terribly helpful for any Cabinet minister to make comments like that.
:32:24. > :32:35.What I would say is that Nick Clegg minister to make comments like that.
:32:35. > :32:40.is the leader of the Lib Dems and entitled to have a view on it
:32:40. > :32:47.himself. Look at these figures on party membership. Why has your party
:32:47. > :32:53.lost half of its members since Mr Cameron became leader? I would like
:32:53. > :32:58.it to be more. But I think the world has changed. People do not rush out
:32:58. > :33:07.and join political parties as they used to. Instead they support you in
:33:07. > :33:11.different ways. If I released the number of people who give to the
:33:11. > :33:18.party in different ways, through donations for example, through
:33:18. > :33:25.friend memberships. If you include that that figure goes back up. But
:33:25. > :33:35.your membership has fallen by 50% at a time when UKIP has doubled. I do
:33:35. > :33:44.not want to to misinterpret what I want to say. It is important to gain
:33:44. > :33:47.members. I think we will have done that by the time of the next
:33:47. > :33:54.election. But one statistic of interest, in the last election I had
:33:54. > :33:59.a 17,000 majority in my own constituency. The difference was I
:33:59. > :34:04.had 1000 people helping me to deliver leaflets and knock on the
:34:04. > :34:14.doors. The Conservative party has changed. We now have an army of
:34:14. > :34:20.people, volunteers who are not necessarily traditional members. The
:34:20. > :34:25.days when you expect people to give you £25, before you accept their
:34:25. > :34:28.support, those days have passed. You spoke about your most vulnerable
:34:28. > :34:38.marginal seats. This is a poll from spoke about your most vulnerable
:34:38. > :34:45.Michael Ashcroft. The 40 most marginal seats that you will be
:34:45. > :34:54.defending. Labour is way up, you are way down and UKIP is also up. What
:34:54. > :34:59.is happening, the Lib Dem Mo -- both are moving to Labour. And
:34:59. > :35:06.disillusioned Conservatives are moving to UKIP. If these figures
:35:06. > :35:11.came at an election he would lose 32 of these 40 seats. The point about
:35:11. > :35:13.any opinion poll is that it is perhaps accurate at the moment it is
:35:13. > :35:34.taken. We are now in The people being ask about these
:35:34. > :35:40.things will be interested in their own standard of living. The mortgage
:35:40. > :35:47.payments they are making. Why are you doing worse in marginal seats
:35:47. > :35:53.than nationally? You are the net and top with Labour nationally, you are
:35:53. > :35:57.way behind on the marginals. That is not the picture people will see in
:35:57. > :36:03.25 nine. They will see a government that stuck to its guns. -- 2015. We
:36:03. > :36:07.have a record that dam and straights that the last thing you want to do
:36:07. > :36:18.is get the car keys of the economy back to the people who crashed at
:36:18. > :36:22.the calendar first place. The chap that Vince cable calls a Rottweiler,
:36:22. > :36:31.has one message was to go all out and attack Ed Miliband. It will be a
:36:31. > :36:37.nastier lection, won't it? We will focus on the policies of Ed Miliband
:36:37. > :36:44.when he finally announces some. But it will mean more borrowing, taxing,
:36:44. > :36:50.spending. Ed Balls said that they will be absolutely ruthless with
:36:50. > :36:58.spending commitments. Just if you months later, £27.9 billion extra
:36:58. > :37:06.spending committed by Labour. Those are your figures. They are Treasury
:37:06. > :37:11.tested. You have done some jiggery-pokery. We are out of time.
:37:11. > :37:19.You are watching the Sunday politics.
:37:19. > :37:28.Welcome to Sunday politics Scotland. Coming up: The Royal Mail sale
:37:28. > :37:36.dominates the debate. A promise to renationalise after an ultimatum
:37:36. > :37:40.made on the programme last Sunday. Rather than pre-empt a decision by
:37:40. > :37:45.the Scottish people in one year's time, the pre-Minister should have a
:37:45. > :37:49.moratorium to load the Scottish people -- to allow the Scottish
:37:49. > :37:56.people to decide what to do with our share of that great national asset.
:37:56. > :38:00.Harriet Harman joins the Scottish Labour Party at the national
:38:00. > :38:08.conference. Ed Miliband hoping that the tide will turn in his favour. A
:38:08. > :38:15.new twist in the Royal Mail story was delivered by the first Minister
:38:15. > :38:24.this week. A promise to renationalise after independence,
:38:24. > :38:27.quickly seized on by opponents. It is set to be the biggest
:38:27. > :38:35.privatisation for more than 20 years. The UK government planning to
:38:35. > :38:39.sell off part of its stake in the Royal Mail. It says it is about
:38:39. > :38:44.giving the Royal Mail freedom to raise the money to invest in the
:38:44. > :38:47.future. Critics say that the government is simply selling off and
:38:47. > :38:54.asset to make money for the Treasury. The Royal Mail is now a
:38:54. > :38:58.separate organisation from the post office with a duty to provide a
:38:58. > :39:05.universal service to even the most remote corner of the country. The
:39:05. > :39:11.cost of hosting a letter -- posting has to be the same, whether it is
:39:11. > :39:17.being sent to the centre of London or an isolated island. What happens
:39:17. > :39:21.if this goes ahead then Scotland votes for independence next year?
:39:21. > :39:30.Alex Salmond made a clear declaration. An independent Scottish
:39:30. > :39:34.government that I lead, but it will be the decision of the Scottish
:39:34. > :39:40.people, with brown Royal Mail back into public ownership. -- would
:39:40. > :39:50.bring. But would really nationalising the company be
:39:50. > :39:55.feasible -- renationalising? How could it be cleanly split from the
:39:55. > :40:03.rest of the business? Some analysts are sceptical. It will be such a
:40:03. > :40:10.long and expensive process that even at we imagine from the one that it
:40:10. > :40:14.is what they wanted to do, it would take five or six years at least to
:40:14. > :40:22.do it. The complications, the procedure is, in tombs of
:40:22. > :40:27.governmental procedures, that they would have to go through to get to
:40:27. > :40:36.that stage. The valuation of assets, the negotiations. The future of a
:40:36. > :40:39.privatised Royal Mail in an independent Scotland would not be
:40:39. > :40:43.decided in negotiations between Edinburgh and London which would
:40:43. > :40:49.follow the Yes vote. Any move to renationalise it with be a political
:40:49. > :40:59.decision for an independent Scottish government, which, of course, may
:40:59. > :41:09.not be an SNP government. It is a populist policy. Political mood
:41:09. > :41:19.music. It is giving out a signal. The cost, the money, this will be
:41:19. > :41:27.popular with voters. The privatisation of utilities in the
:41:27. > :41:33.1980s were controversial at the time. Few in the mainstream and
:41:33. > :41:38.would now argue they should be brought back into the hands of the
:41:38. > :41:47.state. Well the argument over the Royal Mail go the same way?
:41:47. > :41:55.We need to discuss the issue the Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and
:41:55. > :42:08.Shetland, Alistair Carmichael, and GSM the business spokesperson, Mike
:42:08. > :42:16.Weir. -- the SNP. A massive, uncosted promise. Possibly a blank
:42:16. > :42:27.cheque. Was this up and pledge on and remark? A planned. I have made
:42:27. > :42:33.no secret of the fact that I believe we should renationalise it if it is
:42:33. > :42:41.privatised. But this should not go ahead at this stage. As an
:42:41. > :42:48.independent Scotland we should be able to get our hands on our share
:42:48. > :42:52.of the Royal Mail. The government have not said they are selling the
:42:52. > :43:00.hole share of Royal Mail at the moment. They are starting the
:43:00. > :43:07.process. But it could take quite a long time. In an independent
:43:07. > :43:15.Scotland would it be fully renationalise? And how much would
:43:15. > :43:19.that cost. We have made clear that we would renationalise Royal Mail,
:43:19. > :43:24.an important economic asset of Scotland. Part of the economic
:43:24. > :43:31.infrastructure and not to be treated as just another business. We have
:43:31. > :43:36.made that clear. Until we see the structure we cannot be certain of
:43:36. > :43:42.the cost. We have made no bones about that and being open and
:43:43. > :44:01.truthful on that point. Alistair Carmichael, you must be pleased that
:44:01. > :44:03.the SNP government promised to protect the postal service of your
:44:03. > :44:06.constituents whilst you put it in jeopardy. We are doing no such
:44:06. > :44:08.thing. We have put in place protections that will guarantee a
:44:08. > :44:13.universal service across the whole of United Kingdom. You are seeing
:44:13. > :44:21.the latest example of what is, from a political league point of view --
:44:21. > :44:26.political point of view, tactically stupid from the SNP. They are seeing
:44:26. > :44:34.what they think people want to see other in order to be better disposed
:44:34. > :44:38.to independence. What makes Weir is proposing here, and this is an
:44:38. > :44:41.important point, the Royal Mail offers the opportunity to send an
:44:41. > :44:46.acre and the length of the United Kingdom. He is talking about
:44:46. > :44:51.separating the Scottish postal service. Presumably we will end up
:44:51. > :45:02.having separate stamps, different costs. At the end of the day he does
:45:02. > :45:06.not know how much it will cost. I am interested to know how big your
:45:06. > :45:13.postbag is in Lerwick about complaints about the possible
:45:13. > :45:19.privatisation. Many people contact me with perfectly legitimate
:45:19. > :45:29.concerns. I unable to tell them that when this goes through the regulator
:45:29. > :45:30.will have the power to impose a levy on private operators currently in
:45:30. > :45:37.will have the power to impose a levy competition with Royal Mail, who can
:45:37. > :45:39.cherry pick the easy bets. If they are as a threat to universal service
:45:39. > :45:42.cherry pick the easy bets. If they they can be made to hear the subsidy
:45:42. > :45:47.which will guarantee we continue in daily service to every door in the
:45:47. > :46:01.country. That is a meaningful protection. I want to go to make
:46:01. > :46:04.Weir. You do not look happy. The independent review a few years ago
:46:04. > :46:12.advocated the privatisation of the Royal Mail. Alistair is wrong. I
:46:12. > :46:21.will not take a lecture from a liberal on this. They have abandoned
:46:21. > :46:26.their pledges from before being in government. Universal service is not
:46:26. > :46:34.safe. Ofcom will decide that. Anybody paying gas and electric els
:46:34. > :46:44.will not be greatly reassured by the fact that is just a regulator. --
:46:44. > :46:49.else. -- bills. Ofcom would look at changes in the universal service,
:46:49. > :46:54.reduction, a compensation fund. That is not just the company, but the
:46:55. > :47:01.users of the service. That means higher prices. If that was not
:47:01. > :47:07.suitable they would put it out to tender. Does anybody really believe
:47:07. > :47:15.that... This is blatant scaremongering. We see this all the
:47:15. > :47:20.time. The reason you are feeling at today is because Alex Salmond has
:47:20. > :47:24.shot from the hat. He has come up with something that will destroy a
:47:24. > :47:30.universal service across the United Kingdom. That is what Scottish
:47:30. > :47:36.people want. It just shows the weakness of the case for
:47:36. > :47:41.independence. This Scottish people want the privatisation of the Royal
:47:42. > :47:46.Mail? Let me finish. The first minister pointed out that only 90
:47:46. > :47:55.plus -- 90% of Scottish MPs do not want privatisation. MSPs will bang
:47:55. > :48:01.their desks behind Alex Salmond and the chamber. That is no surprise.
:48:01. > :48:05.The people of Scotland want guarantees they can have a service,
:48:05. > :48:12.six days a week, to the door, a uniform price. One of the threats to
:48:12. > :48:18.that universal service is doing nothing. If you do nothing you leave
:48:18. > :48:27.the Royal Mail exposed to competition from Li Na private
:48:27. > :48:31.sector competitors. -- leaner. The Labour Party and now this. They
:48:31. > :48:34.tried to do it in the last parliament. Taking steps that will
:48:34. > :48:41.protect the service rather than obsessing about who owns the
:48:41. > :48:46.provider. What does this possible threat to a private company to
:48:46. > :48:53.renationalise, in a hypothetical situation, what does it mean to the
:48:53. > :49:00.business friendly SNP? Would you renationalise other companies?
:49:00. > :49:05.Alistair Carmichael has not read the legislation, or does not understand
:49:06. > :49:12.it. The threat to universal service from this privatisation will not be
:49:12. > :49:20.bound to keep this up in the long-term. As for the specific
:49:20. > :49:29.question, Royal Mail has not been privatised yet, we could still stop
:49:29. > :49:35.it. But hypothetically, if it is, it is a threat to renationalise private
:49:35. > :49:39.companies. It is a commitment to keep a company that is currently in
:49:39. > :49:46.public ownership in public ownership in an independent Scotland. The
:49:46. > :49:50.point is, it has not been privatised yet. It is unlikely to be fully
:49:50. > :49:57.privatised at the point of independence. We have a real chance
:49:57. > :50:07.of stopping it. I want to move onto another issue. These Scottish
:50:07. > :50:12.Government saying today that the Scottish pension age could be one
:50:13. > :50:18.year award. Is this another extravagant claim? More details will
:50:18. > :50:26.be available tomorrow but we have made clear that we are uncomfortable
:50:26. > :50:31.with the rush to continually raise the retirement age. What we are
:50:31. > :50:36.seeing as there should be a commission to look at this in more
:50:36. > :50:45.detail. The different demographics and Scotland and we have a different
:50:45. > :50:51.life expectancy. We need to look at this in more detail. We are not
:50:51. > :51:04.going the same way as Westminster. It is up to 66 and perhaps 67 or
:51:04. > :51:11.father. What is your reaction? It is perhaps a kind of vision people want
:51:11. > :51:15.to see the different Scotland? If you are going to have that vision,
:51:15. > :51:25.you have to tell people how much that will cost. Just as with any
:51:25. > :51:29.other number of examples, this is another populist idea with no price
:51:29. > :51:34.tag attached. It is all very well coming up with the wish list that
:51:34. > :51:40.presents an independent Scotland as Candy Mountain, but at the end of
:51:40. > :51:45.the day it will cost. They cannot tell you how much it'll cost than
:51:45. > :51:50.that tells you all you to know. Thank you very much.
:51:50. > :51:54.Last week it was the Lib Dems here in Glasgow, this week Labour have
:51:54. > :51:57.their conference turn by the seaside in Brighton. Eyes are firmly fixed
:51:57. > :52:00.on the main prize, victory at the 2015 general election, but Scottish
:52:00. > :52:05.Labour are also buoying up their troops ahead of the referendum. The
:52:05. > :52:17.whole thing kicked off with an important policy announcement.
:52:17. > :52:25.Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman is swept off her feet dancing
:52:25. > :52:28.to a Scottish tune. Delegates from across the UK joined Scottish
:52:28. > :52:36.comrade in Brighton hoping for an upbeat conference designed to cement
:52:36. > :52:40.Ed Miliband's authority. Accused this week of being any policy
:52:40. > :52:47.vacuum, he has given a clear commitment to housing benefit
:52:47. > :52:51.reforms. We are abolishing an unfair tax which is hurting tens of
:52:51. > :52:56.thousands of people across Scotland and causing misery to disabled
:52:56. > :53:00.people. We will pay for it by scrapping hedge fund tax breaks for
:53:00. > :53:06.companies that George Osborne introduced. An announcement foretold
:53:06. > :53:14.by the Scottish welfare spokeswoman last week. This will help the party
:53:14. > :53:21.to steal the SNP's thunder. When it comes to the referendum, Ed Miliband
:53:21. > :53:24.backs the suggestion of Douglas Alexander about a national
:53:24. > :53:33.convention be held in the event of a no vote. F as I hope Scotland
:53:33. > :53:37.remains part of the United Kingdom, it is good if people can get
:53:37. > :53:46.together after the referendum to consider Scotland's future within
:53:46. > :53:51.the United Kingdom. I think it is right to think about that again,
:53:51. > :53:56.what future Scotland has and it is a good idea of Douglas Alexander has
:53:56. > :54:04.suggested. Ed Miliband says things have moved on since Falkirk but the
:54:04. > :54:09.issue of unions is still stormy. There has been a blast from the past
:54:09. > :54:18.with the recent Expose of Labour's internal warfare during the Blair
:54:18. > :54:22.Brown years. The party is now hoping for the revival in fortunes,
:54:22. > :54:24.starting with the wind in next year's referendum.
:54:24. > :54:27.Joining me now, live from the conference hall in Brighton - leader
:54:28. > :54:39.of the Scottish Labour party, Johann Lamont. Thank you. The bedroom tax
:54:39. > :54:46.announcement from Ed Miliband, is this a turning point? I am hoping it
:54:46. > :54:51.is a turning point for the people of this country because we now see that
:54:51. > :54:58.if we get a Labour government in 2015, they will scrap the bedroom
:54:58. > :55:02.tax and it is a cost that proposal. That is not an issue of independent
:55:02. > :55:07.spot of justice and the Scottish government could act now to mitigate
:55:07. > :55:12.the bedroom tax. They have chosen not to do so because John Swinney
:55:12. > :55:19.does not want to let Westminster off the hook. Vulnerable people in
:55:19. > :55:23.Scotland have to suffer in case they cannot make the case for
:55:23. > :55:31.independence. We have to deal with the real issues and in Scotland,
:55:31. > :55:38.they are not concerned about that. Everything is concerned with the
:55:38. > :55:44.referendum. Ed Miliband took a while to come to this decision. People
:55:44. > :55:49.called it a malaise at the top of the leadership. They are hampered by
:55:49. > :55:57.who are hampered by who are poor ratings and all the Damian McBride
:55:57. > :56:01.revelations. Is he a good leader? Here's a good leader and a great
:56:01. > :56:05.asset to Scotland and the United Kingdom because he is a man who
:56:05. > :56:12.wants to talk about what has happened to families and
:56:12. > :56:17.communities. He wants to talk about what is happening to our elderly
:56:17. > :56:23.population and that is in stark contrast to an SNP Government who
:56:23. > :56:30.want to talk about separating Scotland from the United Kingdom. My
:56:30. > :56:35.policy is about addressing the real challenges families face and those
:56:35. > :56:40.are Ed Miliband's politics as well. I want to pick up on another Ed
:56:40. > :56:44.Miliband issue. He said when it comes to Falkirk, nobody can be
:56:44. > :56:53.proud of what happened. The union have been cleared but do they do
:56:53. > :56:58.something wrong or that they not? If we get the message to the people of
:56:58. > :57:03.Scotland that we presume there are support and end up having a fight,
:57:04. > :57:09.we do everyone a disservice. We have investigated Falkirk thoroughly and
:57:09. > :57:14.will move to elect a candidate who will build up support and trust. We
:57:14. > :57:23.have no place for entitlement and presumption. We have just been
:57:23. > :57:28.having a discussion on Royal Mail privatisation and a lower pension
:57:28. > :57:32.age. These are real promises that appeal to young people. A real
:57:32. > :57:39.version, some people have been saying. Alex Salmond has written to
:57:39. > :57:45.Ed Miliband asking him to match the pledge. Ed Miliband could call the
:57:45. > :57:55.whole thing off by saying he would renationalise Royal Mail will stop
:57:56. > :58:01.it is self-evident nonsense. We are appealing to Liberal Democrats to
:58:01. > :58:06.act now to stop the privatisation and campaign to make sure it does
:58:06. > :58:11.not happen. My uncle was a postman for 50 years and they know how
:58:11. > :58:20.precious the universal obligation is to rule communities. For Alex
:58:20. > :58:25.Salmond to say nobody can make the commitment on renationalisation, it
:58:25. > :58:34.is a ploy to get him through the next year. He is pretending that
:58:34. > :58:45.Lara not hard choices to be made and he does not have any credible that
:58:45. > :58:50.lack any credibility. That is not treating people in Scotland with
:58:50. > :58:55.respect but contempt. On Wednesday we are having the debate in the
:58:55. > :58:59.Scottish Parliament and he made a very passionate speech in defence of
:58:59. > :59:10.the union. Even some critics applauded you for that. What is
:59:10. > :59:17.Labour's vision for Scotland? What can Labour offered to people? We
:59:17. > :59:24.need to offer people a consideration of the real world. What I was seeing
:59:24. > :59:31.on Wednesday is that Scotland stands strong and we share more than
:59:31. > :59:33.divides. There are radical and progressive voices across the whole
:59:33. > :59:39.of the United Kingdom that want to address these issues. I am keen to
:59:39. > :59:45.strengthen devolution within the United Kingdom. The government is
:59:45. > :59:54.using the Scottish Parliament to break up United Kingdom rather than
:59:54. > :00:00.using devolution to protect people. The test that Alex Salmond applies
:00:00. > :00:03.as what do I do to get myself past September 2014 and what we are
:00:03. > :00:07.increasingly seeing is a man who will put his own obsession with
:00:07. > :00:16.independence at head of the people of Scotland. When we talk about
:00:16. > :00:21.powers it is for the purpose. You talk about these powers but as we
:00:21. > :00:26.both know, they are growing calls for those powers to be made known to
:00:26. > :00:36.the people of Scotland before the referendum. Are you clear that he
:00:36. > :00:44.will set that out? Will you set them out before the referendum? We have a
:00:44. > :00:49.prospectus for independence that cannot even tell us what currency we
:00:49. > :00:54.will have. Some rational deep bait is required. The devolution
:00:54. > :01:02.commission as an interim report and we are looking at the consequences
:01:02. > :01:08.of the proposals. We will make clear to people in Scotland ahead of the
:01:08. > :01:13.referendum what the proposals are. In implementing them, we have to
:01:13. > :01:18.talk to one another. For too long it has been about dividing Scotland
:01:18. > :01:21.from the United Kingdom. I want the organisation of powers to be about
:01:21. > :01:27.how it affects or the organisation of powers to be about how it affects
:01:27. > :01:32.ordinary families. How we make sure we have shared prosperity across the
:01:32. > :01:36.United Kingdom and that vulnerable people are not the scapegoat. My
:01:36. > :01:43.work is to bring politics and the real world together. The report
:01:43. > :01:50.today is that you expect to win the referendum. The SNP are calling this
:01:50. > :01:57.a blunder. Where does the confidence come from? From listening to people
:01:57. > :02:03.across Scotland telling me they want to stay as part of the United
:02:03. > :02:06.Kingdom. We are not complacent and we will redouble our efforts to talk
:02:06. > :02:14.to people about their concerns. The real blunder is an SNP Government
:02:14. > :02:18.who apply the brains of the civil service to an imagined world after
:02:18. > :02:28.2014 rather than addressing problems now. They are doing nothing now
:02:28. > :02:33.because they are complacent about what will happen next year. I am
:02:33. > :02:37.confident the people of Scotland will embrace United Kingdom in
:02:37. > :02:41.September 2014. Coming up after the news, we'll take
:02:41. > :02:44.a look at the Week Ahead with our three pundits. You're watching
:02:44. > :02:51.Sunday Politics Scotland from the BBC. With the time coming up to
:02:51. > :02:54.midday, let's cross to Sally McNair for Reporting Scotland.
:02:54. > :02:58.Good afternoon. The Labour leader Ed Miliband has said he believes the
:02:58. > :03:02.pro-union parties are "winning" the referendum campaign and that Alex
:03:02. > :03:05.Salmond has been "found wanting." Mr Miliband was addressing Scottish
:03:05. > :03:11.delegates on the eve of the party's UK conference in Brighton. The
:03:11. > :03:16.Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont said she believed nationalism would
:03:16. > :03:20.be defeated over the next 12 months. A woman's died after a collision
:03:20. > :03:23.between a coach and a car towing a caravan near Inverness. The accident
:03:23. > :03:29.happened yesterday afternoon on the A82 Inverness to Fort William road,
:03:29. > :03:33.near Dunain. A 78-year-old passenger in the car died - the driver is in a
:03:33. > :03:36.stable condition in Raigmore Hospital in Inverness. Police are
:03:36. > :03:38.appealing for witnesses. Independence could mean people in
:03:39. > :03:42.Scotland picking up their state pension earlier than those in the
:03:42. > :03:46.rest of the UK. A Scottish Government paper to be published in
:03:46. > :03:49.the coming week will set out that if there is a Yes vote in next year's
:03:49. > :03:54.referendum, the Scottish Parliament will determine the state pension
:03:54. > :03:57.age. Ministers say Scotland needs a distinctive system, taking account
:03:57. > :04:01.of the fact that Scottish life expectancy is lower.
:04:01. > :04:08.Now let's get the forecast with Judith.
:04:08. > :04:16.The weather is actually looking very summary considering we are reaching
:04:16. > :04:21.the end of September. Good spells of sunshine affecting eastern Scotland
:04:21. > :04:25.and that will spread westwards through the course of the day.
:04:25. > :04:34.Holding onto thick cloud in the North West and the rain clearing
:04:34. > :04:37.from Orkney. Temperature is widely reaching 20 Celsius, possibly 23
:04:37. > :04:39.across eastern Scotland. That's all for now, I'll be back with this
:04:39. > :04:46.evening's bulletin. Thanks, Sally. Now in a moment, we'll be discussing
:04:46. > :04:50.the big events coming up this week at Holyrood, but first, let's take a
:04:50. > :05:00.look back at the Week in 60 seconds.Now
:05:00. > :05:05.Billy Connelly is being treated for prostate cancer and symptoms of
:05:05. > :05:12.Parkinson's. He says he will keep on working. One
:05:12. > :05:17.year ahead of the referendum, MSPs debate the Scottish future holiday
:05:17. > :05:23.route. The people of Scotland will claim that opportunity. Bill Walker
:05:23. > :05:33.has been sentenced to one year in jail for domestic abuse.
:05:33. > :05:44.What a racist comment! UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom has had the party whip
:05:44. > :05:51.removed. Yes campaigners headed to
:05:51. > :05:55.Edinburgh. Supporters marched through the city. The capital
:05:55. > :06:06.city's kazoo is celebrating the birth of a baby koala.
:06:06. > :06:20.Turning attention to the week ahead now. I am with the historian Michael
:06:20. > :06:29.Fry, broadcaster, Katie Grant, and from the Labour conference, David
:06:29. > :06:40.Torrance. Katie, the Royal Mail story. A lively discussion from our
:06:40. > :06:48.guests this morning. Most people are just interested in how the mail will
:06:48. > :06:59.be deliberate. -- delivered. We just want it to work. How it best works
:06:59. > :07:06.as a bit of a mystery. What does this mean for business and an
:07:06. > :07:17.independent Scotland? Businesses are more and more use private means of
:07:18. > :07:21.conveying mail. Commercial junk and bills from various branches of
:07:21. > :07:32.government, I am not very anxious for the Royal Mail to survive. I
:07:32. > :07:39.much preferred my local supermarket delivering things to my door. The
:07:39. > :07:46.Royal Mail has rather slipped out of my life and I would regret it if it
:07:46. > :07:54.goes. For young people it sounds like something out of history. They
:07:54. > :08:04.do not rely on it at all. Outdated? Off-the-cuff of preplanned? It is
:08:04. > :08:11.certainly off-the-cuff. You could see that from the responses he did
:08:11. > :08:15.to questions. But this could be a hostage to fortune. It is a very
:08:15. > :08:21.different creature in Scotland than the rest of the UK. Predominantly
:08:21. > :08:27.rural in terms of geography. The cost of delivering is much more
:08:27. > :08:34.expensive. I would be interesting to see if the Scottish but is
:08:34. > :08:39.profitable. Retire early with independence. That is on the front
:08:39. > :08:46.page of the Scotland on Sunday. An interesting pledge. What is
:08:46. > :08:55.interesting is that the SNP has resorted to bribes. This is a silly
:08:55. > :09:01.bribe. We know that people are living longer and will have to work
:09:02. > :09:07.longer. We cannot afford to keep the pensions age exactly where it is. I
:09:07. > :09:14.do not see the point. This is unrealistic. An own goal. We have
:09:14. > :09:18.talked about division on the programme today. Is this not what
:09:18. > :09:26.people are looking for in a different type of Scotland? If the
:09:26. > :09:29.SNP offers rights to the electorate, that makes it unique amongst
:09:29. > :09:38.political parties in the world! Unheard-of! But it might just work
:09:38. > :09:44.and help them win an election. What is the point that it cannot be
:09:44. > :09:56.sustained? It was not a pledge. Just a review. At independence rests on
:09:56. > :10:03.practical bribes it will not work. A different story from what we usually
:10:03. > :10:13.your own pensions. -- what we usually see your. It is clear from
:10:13. > :10:16.opinion polls and surveys that Scots as much as those in the list of the
:10:16. > :10:21.UK are acutely aware that the economy is in difficulty. The
:10:21. > :10:30.demographic picture on pensions, wealthier, so on, it will get worse,
:10:30. > :10:37.not better. It is an attempt at a fightback by the SNP. They had a
:10:37. > :10:44.rough ride over the last few months. They hope to regain some lost
:10:44. > :10:51.ground. Talking about that, Labour trying to turn things around for Ed
:10:51. > :10:58.Miliband. But surrounded by the Damian McBride revelations. He has
:10:58. > :11:03.had a far more difficult ride than any other British politician over
:11:03. > :11:09.the summer. We were talking once about labour being ahead and David
:11:09. > :11:16.Cameron facing a severe problem. It has turned out exactly the opposite.
:11:16. > :11:19.This week as a chance for Ed Miliband to seize the initiative
:11:19. > :11:26.back again. It may determine his future. If he takes it back we can
:11:26. > :11:36.look forward to a closely fought general election. If not, I think he
:11:36. > :11:43.is finished. Make or break for him? I don't like that idea. It never is
:11:43. > :11:54.make or break. But he just does not look like a credible leader. The
:11:54. > :11:59.McBride stuff, it makes the party look like squabbles, it just does
:11:59. > :12:04.not look good. And he is not a big enough personality to rise above
:12:04. > :12:13.it. Also, the vision, we'll is he going? I can never understand what
:12:13. > :12:22.he is for. What do people make the revelations. Do they believe Ed
:12:22. > :12:29.Miliband get past them? It is the usual new Labour tittle tattle. Very
:12:29. > :12:32.entertaining. But no killer blow. Nothing with a direct link to Ed
:12:32. > :12:38.Miliband that could pose him real problems. People see it as an
:12:38. > :12:45.irritation and distraction but nothing debilitating. Yesterday he
:12:45. > :12:50.made a range of pledges in relation to the minimum wage, bedroom tax,
:12:50. > :12:56.and so on. They thanked this week will go well. And it has to. He made
:12:56. > :13:01.a good speech in Manchester last year introducing the one nation
:13:01. > :13:06.theme, but no follow-through. No great plan of action. He needs that
:13:06. > :13:14.this time of the next election is certainly lost. Can Johann Lamont
:13:14. > :13:20.keep Labour in connection with the Scottish people? They have fallen
:13:20. > :13:25.out of love with them at Holyrood. I struggle to see what Scottish Labour
:13:25. > :13:30.are about. Other than negativity. We don't know what they will offer if
:13:30. > :13:41.there is a note in the referendum. Just that they will offer something.
:13:41. > :13:47.-- No. Can they reconnect? I think the party has completely lost its
:13:47. > :13:53.way. It does not offer much. She's not charismatic enough to carry
:13:53. > :13:57.things along without a real message. That is all from us this week. I
:13:57. > :13:59.will return next week, until then, good afternoon.