Browse content similar to 14/09/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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It is threatening the life of a second British hostage. David | :01:05. | :01:10. | |
Cameron described the murder as an act of pure evil. President Obama | :01:11. | :01:19. | |
said the US were shoulder to shoulder in grief. Alex Salmond says | :01:20. | :01:27. | |
Scotland stands on the cusp of history as he predicts a historic | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
and substantial victory on Thursday's referendum. The latest | :01:32. | :01:37. | |
poll shows the two sides neck and neck. I will ask Tommy Sheridan | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
about his vision for an independent Scotland. After last week's | :01:42. | :01:50. | |
interventions by Gordon Brown and other leaders, I will ask George | :01:51. | :01:51. | |
Galloway if it is enough. Coming up on | :01:52. | :01:54. | |
Sunday Politics Scotland: The Scottish aid worker, | :01:55. | :01:55. | |
David Haines, has been killed by extremists from Islamic State, | :01:56. | :01:58. | |
and they've threatened the life Late last night, as most folk were | :01:59. | :02:01. | |
preparing for bed, news broke that Islamic State extremists had carried | :02:02. | :02:16. | |
out their threat to murder the The group released a video, similar | :02:17. | :02:19. | |
to the ones in which two American journalists were decapitated, | :02:20. | :02:23. | |
showing a masked man apparently beheading Mr Haines who was taken | :02:24. | :02:25. | |
captive in Syria last year. The terrorist, | :02:26. | :02:29. | |
who has a southern British accent, also threatened the life | :02:30. | :02:32. | |
of a second hostage from the UK. Mr Haines is | :02:33. | :02:36. | |
the third Westerner to be killed His family have paid tribute to | :02:37. | :02:38. | |
his humanitarian work; they say he David Cameron described the murder | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
as an act of pure evil, and said his heart went out to Mr Haines? | :02:44. | :02:50. | |
family, who had shown extraordinary Mr Cameron went on to say, | :02:51. | :02:53. | |
"We will do everything in our power to hunt down these murderers | :02:54. | :03:02. | |
and ensure they face justice, Mr Haines was born in England | :03:03. | :03:05. | |
and brought up in Scotland. Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
condemned the killing on the Marr Well, it's an act of unspeakable | :03:10. | :03:26. | |
barbarism that we have seen. Obviously our condolences go to the | :03:27. | :03:31. | |
family members of David Haynes who have borne this with such fortitude | :03:32. | :03:33. | |
in recent months -- David Alex Salmond was also asked | :03:34. | :03:40. | |
whether he supported military action Haines there is no reason to believe | :03:41. | :03:49. | |
whatsoever that China or Russia or any country will see their will to | :03:50. | :03:58. | |
deal with this barbarism. There is a will for effective, international, | :03:59. | :04:00. | |
legal action but it must come in that fashion, and I would urge that | :04:01. | :04:07. | |
to be a consideration to develop a collective response to what is a | :04:08. | :04:09. | |
threat to humanity. Our security correspondent | :04:10. | :04:11. | |
Gordon Corera joins me now Gordon, as we speak, the Cobra | :04:12. | :04:23. | |
emergency meeting is meeting yet again. It meets a lot these days. I | :04:24. | :04:29. | |
would suggest that the options facing this committee and Mr Cameron | :04:30. | :04:33. | |
are pretty limited. That's right. I think they are extremely limited. | :04:34. | :04:36. | |
They have been all along in these hostage situations. We know, for | :04:37. | :04:41. | |
instance, that British government policy is not to pay ransom is to | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
kidnappers. Other Europeans states are thought to have done so to get | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
hostages released, and also not to make substantive policy concessions | :04:50. | :04:54. | |
to the groups, so while there might be contact, there won't be a lot of | :04:55. | :05:00. | |
options left. We know the US in the past has looked at rescue missions | :05:01. | :05:07. | |
and in July on operation to free the hostages, landing at the oil | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
facility in Syria but finding no one there. If you look at the options, | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
they are not great. That is the difficult situation which Cobra will | :05:17. | :05:23. | |
have been discussing the last hour. Does this make it more likely, | :05:24. | :05:28. | |
because it might have the direction the government was going in any way, | :05:29. | :05:32. | |
that we join with the Americans in perhaps the regional allies in air | :05:33. | :05:37. | |
strikes against Islamic State, not just in Iraq, but also in Syria. We | :05:38. | :05:43. | |
heard from President Obama outlining his strategy against Islamic State | :05:44. | :05:46. | |
last week when he talked about building a coalition, about | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
authorising air strikes. And training troops. We are still | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
waiting to hear what exact role the UK will play in that. We know it | :05:57. | :06:03. | |
will play a role because it has been arming the fishmonger forces but the | :06:04. | :06:11. | |
question is, will it actually conduct military strikes in Iraq -- | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
arming the passion are there. We have not got a clear answer from | :06:16. | :06:28. | |
government and that is something where they are ours to discuss what | :06:29. | :06:31. | |
was around the table. It's possible we might learn some more today as a | :06:32. | :06:35. | |
result of the Cobra meeting, but I think the government will be wanting | :06:36. | :06:39. | |
to not be seen to suddenly rushed to a completely different policy as a | :06:40. | :06:42. | |
result of one incident, however terrible it is. Whether it hardens | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
their reserve -- resolved to play more active role in the coalition, | :06:48. | :06:50. | |
that's possible, but we have to wait see to get the detail. -- wait and | :06:51. | :06:57. | |
see. What the whole country would like to see would be British and | :06:58. | :07:02. | |
American special forces going in and getting these guys. I think that | :07:03. | :07:06. | |
would unite the nation. But that is very difficult, isn't it? It is. As | :07:07. | :07:12. | |
you saw with a rescue mission a few months ago, the problem is getting | :07:13. | :07:15. | |
actionable intelligence on the ground at a particular moment. The | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
theory is that the group of kidnappers are moving the hostages | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
may be even every or few days, so you need intelligence and quickly | :07:24. | :07:26. | |
and then you need to be able to get the team onto the ground into that | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
time frame. That is clearly a possibility and something they will | :07:32. | :07:34. | |
be looking at, but it certainly challenging, particularly when you | :07:35. | :07:38. | |
have a group like this operating within its own state, effectively, | :07:39. | :07:42. | |
and knowing that other people are looking very hard for it and doing | :07:43. | :07:49. | |
everything they can to hide. Gordon, thank you very much. | :07:50. | :07:51. | |
Clegg dropped everything and headed to Scotland when a poll last Sunday | :07:52. | :07:55. | |
gave the YES vote its first ever lead in this prolonged referendum | :07:56. | :08:02. | |
If their reaction looked like panic, that's because it was. | :08:03. | :08:05. | |
Until last weekend, though the polls had been narrowing, | :08:06. | :08:07. | |
the consensus was still that NO would carry the day. | :08:08. | :08:10. | |
The new consensus is that it's too close to call. | :08:11. | :08:18. | |
If we look back at the beginning of the year, public opinion in Scotland | :08:19. | :08:25. | |
was fairly settled. The no campaign had a commanding lead across the | :08:26. | :08:29. | |
opinion polls, excluding the undecided voters. At one point, at | :08:30. | :08:32. | |
the end of last year, an average of 63% backed the no campaign and only | :08:33. | :08:40. | |
37% supported a yes vote. As we move into 2014 and up to this week, you | :08:41. | :08:44. | |
can see a clear trend emerging as the lead for the no campaign gets | :08:45. | :08:48. | |
narrower and narrower and the average of the most recent polls has | :08:49. | :08:52. | |
the contest hanging in the balance. There was a poll a week ago that put | :08:53. | :08:56. | |
the Yes campaign in the lead for the first time, 51% against 49%, but | :08:57. | :09:01. | |
that lead was not reflected in the other polls last week. For polls | :09:02. | :09:06. | |
were published last night, one by Salvation, for the macro-2 campaign | :09:07. | :09:18. | |
-- Better Together campaign, and there was another that gave a one | :09:19. | :09:21. | |
percentage point different. ICM have the yes campaign back in the lead at | :09:22. | :09:27. | |
54% and the no campaign at 46%, but their sample size was 705 Scottish | :09:28. | :09:34. | |
adults, smaller than usual. Another suggests that the contest remains on | :09:35. | :09:42. | |
a knife edge with 49.4% against 50.6%. When fed into the poll of | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
polls the figures average out with yes at 49% and polls -- no at 51%. | :09:48. | :09:54. | |
But some people think 18% are undecided, and it is how they vote | :09:55. | :09:58. | |
gets -- when they get to the polling booths that could make all the | :09:59. | :09:59. | |
difference. campaigner and Respect Party MP, | :10:00. | :10:01. | |
George Galloway. Welcome to the Sunday Politics. Big | :10:02. | :10:10. | |
business, big oil, big banks, the Tories, the Orange order, all | :10:11. | :10:13. | |
against Scottish independence. You sure you are on right side? Yes, | :10:14. | :10:19. | |
because the interests of working people are in staying together. This | :10:20. | :10:22. | |
is a troubled moment in a marriage, a very long marriage, in which some | :10:23. | :10:26. | |
good things and bad things have been achieved together. And there is no | :10:27. | :10:31. | |
doubt that the crockery is being thrown around the house of the | :10:32. | :10:34. | |
minute. But I believe that the underlying interests of working | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
people are on working on the relationship rather than divorce. I | :10:40. | :10:42. | |
have been divorced. It's a very messy, acrimonious, bitter affair | :10:43. | :10:46. | |
and it's particularly bad for the children will stop that's why I am | :10:47. | :10:50. | |
here. You talk about working people, and particularly Scottish working | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
people, they seem to have concluded that the social democracy they want | :10:56. | :10:59. | |
to create cannot now be done in a UK context. Why should they not have a | :11:00. | :11:06. | |
shot of going it alone? Because the opposite will happen. Separation | :11:07. | :11:09. | |
will cause a race to the bottom in taxation. Alex Salmond has already | :11:10. | :11:13. | |
announced he will cut the taxes on companies, corporation tax, down to | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
3% hello whatever it is in the rest of these islands. And business will | :11:18. | :11:23. | |
only be attracted to come here, country of 5 million people on if | :11:24. | :11:29. | |
there is low regulation, low public expenditure, low levels of taxation | :11:30. | :11:35. | |
for them will stop you cannot have Scandinavian social democracy on | :11:36. | :11:38. | |
Texan levels of taxation. The British government, as will be, the | :11:39. | :11:42. | |
rest of the UK, they will race Alex Salmond to the bottom. If he cuts it | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
by three, they will cut it by four. And so on. So whether some people | :11:48. | :11:54. | |
cannot see it clearly yet or not, the interests of the working people | :11:55. | :11:57. | |
on both sides of the border would be gravely damaged by separation. Let's | :11:58. | :12:01. | |
take the interest of the working people. As you know, as well as | :12:02. | :12:04. | |
anyone, the coalition is in fermenting both a series of cuts and | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
reforms in welfare, and labour, Westminster Labour, has only limited | :12:10. | :12:14. | |
plans to reverse any of that. Surely if you want to preserve the welfare | :12:15. | :12:18. | |
state as it is, independence is the way to do it. For the reasons I just | :12:19. | :12:24. | |
explain, I don't believe that. But Ed Miliband will be along in a | :12:25. | :12:28. | |
minute. He will be along in May. The polls indicate... They say he is | :12:29. | :12:34. | |
only four or 5%, that is the average. Like the referendum, the | :12:35. | :12:39. | |
next general election could be nip and tuck. I don't, myself, think | :12:40. | :12:44. | |
that the time of David Cameron as Prime Minister is for much longer. I | :12:45. | :12:48. | |
think there will be a Labour government in the spring and the | :12:49. | :12:52. | |
Labour government in London and a stronger Scottish Parliament, super | :12:53. | :12:57. | |
Devo Max, that is now on the table. That is the best arrangement of | :12:58. | :13:03. | |
people in the country. But the people of Scotland surely cannot | :13:04. | :13:07. | |
base a decision on independence on your feeling that Labour might win | :13:08. | :13:11. | |
the next general election. It is my feeling. When the Tories were beaten | :13:12. | :13:15. | |
on the bedroom tax last week in the house, it was written all over the | :13:16. | :13:19. | |
faces of the government side not only that they were headed for | :13:20. | :13:25. | |
defeat, but probably a massive fishy -- Fisher. I think the race to the | :13:26. | :13:34. | |
bottom that I have proper size will mean that the welfare state will be | :13:35. | :13:40. | |
a distant memory quite soon. The cuts and the run on the Scottish | :13:41. | :13:46. | |
economy here in Edinburgh, the financial services industry, that | :13:47. | :13:50. | |
will be gravely damage. The Ministry of Defence jobs in Scotland | :13:51. | :13:55. | |
decimated, probably ended, more or less. It will be a time of cuts and | :13:56. | :14:03. | |
austerity, maybe super austerity in an independent Scotland. You | :14:04. | :14:06. | |
mentioned defence. What about nuclear weapons? The Tories and | :14:07. | :14:09. | |
Labour will keep them. You are against them. Surely the only way to | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
be rid of them in Scotland is by independence. But you are not rid of | :14:15. | :14:20. | |
them by telling them down the river. The danger would be the same -- | :14:21. | :14:24. | |
telling them down the river. The danger would be the same. Nuclear | :14:25. | :14:30. | |
radiation does not respect Alex Salmond's national boundaries. They | :14:31. | :14:35. | |
would be committed to immediately joining NATO, which is bristling | :14:36. | :14:38. | |
with nuclear weapons and is what -- involved in wars across the | :14:39. | :14:43. | |
Atlantic. So anyone looking for a peace option will have to elect a | :14:44. | :14:47. | |
government in Britain as a whole that will get rid of nuclear weapons | :14:48. | :14:51. | |
and get out of military entanglements. We are in one again | :14:52. | :14:54. | |
now. I have been up the whole night, till 5am, dealing with some of the | :14:55. | :15:02. | |
consequences and implications of the grave international matter that you | :15:03. | :15:05. | |
opened the show with. David Haines and the fate of the hostage still in | :15:06. | :15:12. | |
their hands. There are many other hostages as well. And there are many | :15:13. | :15:15. | |
people dying who are neither British nor American. I have, somehow, been | :15:16. | :15:21. | |
drawn into this matter. And it showed me, again, that the world is | :15:22. | :15:27. | |
interdependent. It is absolutely riven with division and hatred, and | :15:28. | :15:35. | |
this is the worst possible time to be opting out of the world to set up | :15:36. | :15:40. | |
a small mini-state on the promises of Alex Salmond of social democracy | :15:41. | :15:47. | |
funded by Texan taxes. Let's, for the sake of the next question, | :15:48. | :15:50. | |
assume that everything you have told us is true. Why is your side | :15:51. | :15:53. | |
squandering a 20 point lead? I will have a great deal to say | :15:54. | :16:10. | |
about that, whatever the result. This is very much a Scottish Labour | :16:11. | :16:18. | |
project, is that not a condemnation of Scottish Labour? It is | :16:19. | :16:23. | |
potentially on its deathbed. The country breaking up, the principal | :16:24. | :16:41. | |
responsibility will be on them. And the pitiful, absolutely pitiful job | :16:42. | :16:45. | |
that has been made of defending a 300-year-old relationship in this | :16:46. | :16:53. | |
island by the Scottish Labour leadership is really terrible for me | :16:54. | :16:57. | |
to behold, even though I'm no longer one of them. I don't know how they | :16:58. | :17:02. | |
are going to get out of this deathbed. Do you agree that if this | :17:03. | :17:07. | |
referendum is lost by your side, it will be because traditional | :17:08. | :17:11. | |
working-class Labour voters, particularly in the west of | :17:12. | :17:15. | |
Scotland, have abundant Labour and decided to vote for independence? | :17:16. | :17:21. | |
Without a doubt, the number of Labour voters intending to vote yes | :17:22. | :17:26. | |
is disturbingly high. Even just months ago during the European | :17:27. | :17:31. | |
Parliament elections, swathes of people who didn't vote SNP will be | :17:32. | :17:36. | |
voting yes on Thursday. That is a grave squandering of a great legacy | :17:37. | :17:42. | |
of Scottish Labour history, which history will decree as | :17:43. | :17:49. | |
unforgivable. If Labour is to get out of its deathbed in Scotland, it | :17:50. | :17:55. | |
will have to become Labour again. Real Labour again. I am ready to | :17:56. | :18:00. | |
help them with that. My goodness, they need help with it. I wonder if | :18:01. | :18:08. | |
it isn't just a failure of Labour in Scotland. People all over Britain | :18:09. | :18:13. | |
are increasingly fed up with the Westminster system, but it is only | :18:14. | :18:17. | |
the Scots who currently have the chance to break free from it, so why | :18:18. | :18:22. | |
shouldn't they? That is exactly right. They see a parliament of | :18:23. | :18:28. | |
expenses cheats led by Lord snooty and the Bullingdon club elite, | :18:29. | :18:34. | |
carrying through austerity for many but not for themselves and they are | :18:35. | :18:39. | |
repulsed by it. They need change, but you can go backwards and call it | :18:40. | :18:44. | |
change but it will be worse than the situation you have now. A lot of | :18:45. | :18:50. | |
Scottish people don't buy that. It is a big gamble. If I were poised to | :18:51. | :18:57. | |
put my family's life savings on the roulette table in Las Vegas, my wife | :18:58. | :19:02. | |
would not be scaremongering if she pointed out the potential | :19:03. | :19:06. | |
consequences if I'd lost. She would not be negative by telling me that | :19:07. | :19:11. | |
is my children's money I am risking. If I jumped off this roof it would | :19:12. | :19:14. | |
change my point of view, but it would be worse than the point of | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
view I have now. There is another issue here because the Scots are | :19:20. | :19:24. | |
being asked to gamble on the Westminster parties, which they are | :19:25. | :19:31. | |
already suspicious of, of delivering home rule. Alistair Darling could | :19:32. | :19:35. | |
not even tell me if Ed Balls had signed off on more income tax powers | :19:36. | :19:40. | |
for Scotland, so that is a gamble for the Scots. I feel the British | :19:41. | :19:45. | |
state has had such a shake out of all this that they would be beyond | :19:46. | :19:51. | |
idiots, they would be insane now to risk all of this flaring up again | :19:52. | :19:57. | |
because whatever happens, if we win on Thursday, it is going to be | :19:58. | :20:03. | |
narrowly. It will be a severe fissure in Scotland. A great deal of | :20:04. | :20:08. | |
unpleasantness that we are already aware of. That could turn but we're | :20:09. | :20:14. | |
still. It would be dicing with death, playing with fire, to let | :20:15. | :20:20. | |
Scottish people down after Thursday if we narrowly win. If you narrowly | :20:21. | :20:25. | |
win, and if there are moves to this home rule Mr Brown has been talking | :20:26. | :20:31. | |
about, England hasn't spoken yet on this. Whilst England would probably | :20:32. | :20:38. | |
not want to stop -- stop Scotland getting this, they would say, what | :20:39. | :20:44. | |
about us? It could delay the whole procedure. It is necessary, you are | :20:45. | :20:52. | |
right. England should have home rule, and I screamed at Scottish | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
Labour MPs going into the vote to introduce tuition fees in England. I | :20:58. | :21:04. | |
told them this was a constitutional monstrosity, as well as a crime | :21:05. | :21:08. | |
against young people in England. It was risking everything. We are led | :21:09. | :21:15. | |
by idiots. Our leaders are not James Bonds, they are Austin powers. We | :21:16. | :21:23. | |
need to change the leadership, not rip up a 300-year-old marriage. | :21:24. | :21:23. | |
Thank you. It's been one of the longest and | :21:24. | :21:29. | |
hardest fought political campaigns in history, with Alex Salmond firing | :21:30. | :21:32. | |
the starting gun on the referendum Adam's been stitching together | :21:33. | :21:35. | |
the key moments of the campaign. It is the other thing drawing people | :21:36. | :21:50. | |
to the Scottish parliament, the new great tapestry of Scotland. It is | :21:51. | :21:56. | |
the story of battles won and lost, Scottish moments, British moments, | :21:57. | :22:02. | |
famous Scots, and not so famous Scots. There is even a panel | :22:03. | :22:07. | |
dedicated to the rise of the SNP. Alex Salmond's majority in the | :22:08. | :22:11. | |
elections in 2011 made the referendum inevitable. It became | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
reality when he and David Cameron did a deal in Edinburgh one year | :22:17. | :22:21. | |
later. The Scottish Government set out its plans for independence in | :22:22. | :22:26. | |
this book, just a wish list to some, a sacred text to others. This White | :22:27. | :22:35. | |
Paper is the most detailed improvements that any people have | :22:36. | :22:40. | |
ever been offered in the world as a basis for becoming an independent | :22:41. | :22:45. | |
country. The no campaign, called Better Together, united the Tories, | :22:46. | :22:50. | |
Labour and the Lib Dems under the leadership of Alistair Darling. Then | :22:51. | :22:55. | |
the Scottish people were bombarded with two years of photo | :22:56. | :22:58. | |
opportunities and a lot of campaigning. For the no campaign, | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
Jim Murphy went on tour but took a break when he was egged and his | :23:04. | :23:09. | |
events were often hijacked by yes campaigners who were accused of | :23:10. | :23:14. | |
being intimidating. In turn, they accused the no campaign of using | :23:15. | :23:18. | |
scare tactics. Things heated up when the TV dinner -- during the TV | :23:19. | :23:26. | |
debate. Fever pitch was reached one week ago when one poll suggested the | :23:27. | :23:32. | |
yes campaign was in the lead for the first time. The three main | :23:33. | :23:37. | |
Westminster leaders ditched PMQs to head north. I think people can feel | :23:38. | :23:41. | |
it is like a general election, that you make a decision and five years | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
later you can make another decision if you are fed up with the Tories, | :23:46. | :23:49. | |
give them a kick... This is totally different. And Labour shelved not | :23:50. | :23:59. | |
quite 100 MPs onto the train, Alex Salmond took a helicopter instead. | :24:00. | :24:03. | |
This is about the formation of the NHS. A big theme of the yes campaign | :24:04. | :24:09. | |
is that changes to the NHS in Linden -- in England would lead to | :24:10. | :24:20. | |
privatisation in Scotland. Alex Salmond's plan to share the pound | :24:21. | :24:26. | |
was trashed by big names. There were other big question is, what would | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
happen to military hardware like Trident based on the Clyde? Would an | :24:31. | :24:35. | |
independent Scotland be able to join the EU? And how much oil was left | :24:36. | :24:40. | |
underneath the North Sea? This panel is about famous Scots, we | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
have Annie Lennox, Stephen Hendry, Sean Connery. I cannot see Gordon | :24:46. | :24:50. | |
Brown. These are big changes we are Sean Connery. I cannot see Gordon | :24:51. | :24:54. | |
proposing to strengthen the Scottish parliament, but at the same time to | :24:55. | :25:00. | |
stay as part of the UK. A regular on the campaign, he was front and | :25:01. | :25:04. | |
centre when things got close, unveiling a timetable for more | :25:05. | :25:08. | |
devolution. People wondered whether Ed Miliband was able to reach the | :25:09. | :25:12. | |
parts of Scotland Labour leader should reach, and at Westminster | :25:13. | :25:17. | |
some Tories pondered whether David Cameron could stay as prime minister | :25:18. | :25:21. | |
if there was a yes vote. This tapestry is nonpartisan so it is a | :25:22. | :25:26. | |
good place to get away from it all but it is crystallising voters' | :25:27. | :25:32. | |
views. Look at what we have contributed to Great Britain, and I | :25:33. | :25:41. | |
am British and I hope to be staying British. This is what people from | :25:42. | :25:44. | |
Scotland have done, taken to the rest of the world in many cases and | :25:45. | :25:48. | |
I think I am going to vote yes. I am so inspired by it. It has certainly | :25:49. | :25:52. | |
inspired me to have a go at stitching. How long do you think it | :25:53. | :25:58. | |
would take to do the whole thing? I would say to put aside maybe 30 | :25:59. | :26:02. | |
hours of stitching. Maybe by the time I am done, we will know more | :26:03. | :26:06. | |
about how the fabric of the nation might be changing. | :26:07. | :26:10. | |
And I've been joined by yes campaigner and convenor | :26:11. | :26:13. | |
of Scotland's Solidarity socialist party, Tommy Sheridan. | :26:14. | :26:15. | |
An economy dependent on oil, the Queen as head of state, membership | :26:16. | :26:27. | |
of the world 's premier nuclear alliance of capitalist nations - is | :26:28. | :26:33. | |
that the socialist Scotland you are fighting for? No, that is the SNP's | :26:34. | :26:43. | |
prospectus and they are entitled to put forward their vision, but it is | :26:44. | :26:47. | |
not mine or that of the majority of Scotland. We will find out in two | :26:48. | :26:54. | |
years. On Thursday we are not voting for a political party, we are voting | :26:55. | :26:58. | |
for our freedom as a country. That is why people are going to vote yes | :26:59. | :27:04. | |
on Thursday. A lot of people are voting for what you call freedom | :27:05. | :27:09. | |
because they think it will be more Scotland. You have already got free | :27:10. | :27:13. | |
prescriptions, no tuition fees, free care for the elderly. You might not | :27:14. | :27:18. | |
in future have that if public spending is overdependent on the | :27:19. | :27:23. | |
price of oil, over which you have no control. We don't have to worry | :27:24. | :27:27. | |
about one single resource, we already have 20% of the fishing | :27:28. | :27:35. | |
stock in Europe. We already have 25% of the wind, wave and solar power | :27:36. | :27:44. | |
generation. We, as an independent country, have huge resources, | :27:45. | :27:49. | |
natural resources but also people resources. We have five first-class | :27:50. | :27:54. | |
universities, food and beverages industry which is the envy of the | :27:55. | :27:58. | |
world. We have the ability to produce the resources on the | :27:59. | :28:02. | |
revenues that won't just maintain the health service and education but | :28:03. | :28:06. | |
it will develop health and education. I don't want to stand | :28:07. | :28:10. | |
still, I want to redistribute wealth. But all of the projections | :28:11. | :28:14. | |
of public spending for an independent Scotland show that to | :28:15. | :28:22. | |
keep spending at the current level you need a strong price of oil and | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
you are dependent on this commodity which goes up and down and sideways. | :28:28. | :28:33. | |
That is a gamble. I have got to laugh because I have been told the | :28:34. | :28:38. | |
most pessimistic is that in 40 years the oil is running out, panic | :28:39. | :28:45. | |
stations! If you were told by the BBC you could only guarantee | :28:46. | :28:48. | |
employment for the next 40 years you would be over the moon. I am talking | :28:49. | :28:54. | |
about in the next five. You need 50% of your revenues to come from oil to | :28:55. | :29:00. | |
continue spending and that is not a guarantee. Of course it is, the | :29:01. | :29:04. | |
minimum survival of the oil is 40 years. Please get your viewers to go | :29:05. | :29:15. | |
onto the Internet and look at the website called oilandgas.com. The | :29:16. | :29:27. | |
West Coast has 100 years of oil to be extracted. It hasn't been done | :29:28. | :29:32. | |
because in 1981 Michael Heseltine said we cannot extract the oil | :29:33. | :29:38. | |
because we have Trident going up and down there. Let's get rid of Trident | :29:39. | :29:47. | |
and extract the oil. You are a trot right, why have you failed to learn | :29:48. | :29:53. | |
his famous dictum, socialism in one country is impossible. Revolutions | :29:54. | :29:58. | |
and change are not just single event. What will happen here on | :29:59. | :30:03. | |
Thursday is a democratic revolution. The people are fed up of being | :30:04. | :30:08. | |
patronised and lied to by this mob in Westminster who have used and | :30:09. | :30:13. | |
abused us for far too long. The smaller people now have a voice. | :30:14. | :30:19. | |
What about socialism in one country? Mr Trotsky warned you | :30:20. | :30:28. | |
against that. The no campaign represents the past. The yes | :30:29. | :30:32. | |
campaign represents the future. That is the truth of the matter. What we | :30:33. | :30:36. | |
are going to do in an independent Scotland is tackle inequality and a | :30:37. | :30:44. | |
scourge of low pay. If we vote no on Thursday, there will be more low pay | :30:45. | :30:50. | |
on Friday, more poverty and food banks on Friday. I'm not going to be | :30:51. | :30:53. | |
lectured by these big banks, you vote less -- yes and we will leave | :30:54. | :31:03. | |
the country! The food banks will be the ones closing. If you got your | :31:04. | :31:09. | |
way, for the type of Scotland you would like to see, state control of | :31:10. | :31:14. | |
business, nationalisation of the Manx, the roads to Carlisle will be | :31:15. | :31:17. | |
clogged with people Yes, hoping to come into Scotland, | :31:18. | :31:28. | |
because in their hearts, the Scottish people know that England | :31:29. | :31:33. | |
because in their hearts, the want to see the people having the | :31:34. | :31:37. | |
bottle. The working class people in Liverpool, Newcastle, outside of | :31:38. | :31:40. | |
London, they are saying good on the jocks that are taking on big | :31:41. | :31:44. | |
business. When we are independent and investing in social housing, the | :31:45. | :31:48. | |
people of England will say, we can do that as well, and they will | :31:49. | :31:53. | |
rediscover the radical tradition. In wanting to build socialism in one | :31:54. | :31:57. | |
country, it really means you are fighting for the few, rather than | :31:58. | :32:00. | |
the many. You are bailing out of the socialist Battle for Britain. You | :32:01. | :32:04. | |
think it will be easier to make it work. Think globally, act locally | :32:05. | :32:12. | |
and we will build socialism in Scotland but I wanted across the | :32:13. | :32:16. | |
world. I won my brothers and sisters in England and Wales to be | :32:17. | :32:20. | |
encouraged by what we do so they can reject the Westminster consensus as | :32:21. | :32:24. | |
well -- I want. We had the three Stooges coming up to London, three | :32:25. | :32:29. | |
millionaires united on one thing, austerity. Doesn't matter whether Ed | :32:30. | :32:32. | |
Miliband wins the next election, he said he would stick to the story | :32:33. | :32:36. | |
spending cuts. Why vote for Ed Miliband? You wouldn't trust him to | :32:37. | :32:42. | |
run a bath, not a country. Let's see if this is realistic, this great | :32:43. | :32:46. | |
socialist vision. At the last Scottish election, the Socialist | :32:47. | :32:50. | |
party got 8000 votes. The Conservatives got 30 times more | :32:51. | :32:56. | |
votes. Where is the appetite in Scotland for your Marxist ideology | :32:57. | :33:00. | |
question we might not win it. But do you know what, see in two years | :33:01. | :33:03. | |
time. See when we have the Scottish general election. You won't -- you | :33:04. | :33:18. | |
are saying you might win and you went to the Holyrood election and | :33:19. | :33:24. | |
got 8000 Pope -- votes. The SNP won a democratic election and then won | :33:25. | :33:27. | |
the 2011 election and you know why they won? Because they picked up the | :33:28. | :33:31. | |
clothes that the Labour Party has thrown away. They picked up the | :33:32. | :33:35. | |
close of social democracy and protecting the health service was -- | :33:36. | :33:43. | |
service. There are people in the SNP who believe in public ownership and | :33:44. | :33:48. | |
people in the SNP who believe in the NHS should be written into a | :33:49. | :33:50. | |
constitution as never for sale people in the the SNP that think the | :33:51. | :33:55. | |
Royal mail should return to public ownership. That is there in black | :33:56. | :33:59. | |
and white. Do you agree with George Galloway that this is potentially a | :34:00. | :34:03. | |
crisis for Scottish Labour? Scottish Labour is finished. They are | :34:04. | :34:08. | |
absolutely finished. George is right in that. Scottish Labour is | :34:09. | :34:13. | |
finished. The irony of ironies is, Labour in Scotland has more chance | :34:14. | :34:15. | |
of recovery in an independent Scotland that they have in a no | :34:16. | :34:21. | |
vote. Labour in Scotland in an independent country will have to | :34:22. | :34:25. | |
rediscover the traditions of Keir Hardie, the ideas of Jimmy Maxon, | :34:26. | :34:29. | |
because right now, they are to the right of the SNP as a political | :34:30. | :34:37. | |
party. I understand the socialist vision, but it is where the appetite | :34:38. | :34:41. | |
is. And you look at the independence people in Scotland. One of your | :34:42. | :34:47. | |
colleagues, Brian Souter, a man who fought against the appeal -- repeal | :34:48. | :34:53. | |
of homosexual rights in Scotland. Another of your allies would seem to | :34:54. | :34:56. | |
be Rupert Murdoch, the man who engineered your downfall. You say he | :34:57. | :35:03. | |
engineered your downfall, but I'm still here and his newspaper has | :35:04. | :35:08. | |
closed. Whether it Rupert Murdoch, Brian Souter, or any other | :35:09. | :35:12. | |
millionaire supporting independence, I couldn't care less. This boat on | :35:13. | :35:16. | |
Thursday is not about millionaires, it is about the millions. -- this | :35:17. | :35:22. | |
vote. We will not be abused any young -- longer. Would you rather | :35:23. | :35:27. | |
not have their support? I couldn't care about the support. You know who | :35:28. | :35:32. | |
is supporting the union. It is the unions of the big businesses, the | :35:33. | :35:36. | |
BNP, UKIP, they are the ones who support it. You are giving me a | :35:37. | :35:43. | |
stray that has wandered into the campaign and are you seriously going | :35:44. | :35:46. | |
to argue with me that the establishment isn't united to try | :35:47. | :35:51. | |
and save the union? That is what they are trying to be. The BBC, you | :35:52. | :35:55. | |
have been a disgrace in your coverage of the campaign. Not you | :35:56. | :35:58. | |
personally. You don't have editorial control. The BBC coverage, | :35:59. | :36:04. | |
generally, has been a disgrace and the people. Oil and gas, go and look | :36:05. | :36:09. | |
at that, why is that not feature. Why is the idea of 100 years of oil | :36:10. | :36:13. | |
not featured in the campaign. Because the BBC does not want to see | :36:14. | :36:17. | |
it. Are you getting in your excuses if you lose? You better be kidding. | :36:18. | :36:22. | |
Is this the face of somebody looking to lose. We are going to win, 60/40. | :36:23. | :36:28. | |
Absolutely. There is a momentum that you guys are not seeing on the | :36:29. | :36:33. | |
working-class housing estates. Working class people are fed up | :36:34. | :36:37. | |
being taken for granted fed up with the lives of people dragging us into | :36:38. | :36:46. | |
tax cuts, bedroom tax for the poor. They will have power on Thursday, | :36:47. | :36:48. | |
and they will use You're watching Sunday Politics. We | :36:49. | :37:13. | |
say goodbye to viewers and Scotland. Good morning and welcome to | :37:14. | :37:17. | |
Sunday Politics Scotland. The Scottish Aid worker, David | :37:18. | :37:19. | |
Haines, has been executed by Islamic State, and the group has | :37:20. | :37:23. | |
threatened the life Both campaigns hit the streets | :37:24. | :37:25. | |
in search We'll be talking to the | :37:26. | :37:30. | |
First Minister and to Lord Reid Professor John Curtice will give | :37:31. | :37:35. | |
his analysis Islamic State extremists have | :37:36. | :37:39. | |
carried out their threat to kill Late last night, a video was | :37:40. | :37:48. | |
released, appearing to show a Mr Haines, who was 44 years old | :37:49. | :37:53. | |
grew up in Perth. He is | :37:54. | :37:58. | |
the third Westerner to be killed Two American journalists | :37:59. | :38:00. | |
have also been murdered. A man with a great passion for | :38:01. | :38:16. | |
helping others, that is how colleagues describe David Janes | :38:17. | :38:22. | |
pictured here in Croatia in 2003, he helped refugees moved back to their | :38:23. | :38:27. | |
homes and rebuild their lives. -- David Haines. Many people do not | :38:28. | :38:31. | |
know who to turn to. In doing this, our office goes across to Belgrade | :38:32. | :38:37. | |
and meets the people so they can gain trust from us. David was | :38:38. | :38:41. | |
working with a French charity when he was kidnapped in Syria 19 months | :38:42. | :38:49. | |
ago. Holding a meeting of COBRA el layer, David Cameron condemned the | :38:50. | :38:53. | |
attack describing it as an act of pure evil. The foreign office says | :38:54. | :38:58. | |
it is no reason to doubt the man shown is David Haines in the video. | :38:59. | :39:02. | |
We are not showing any moving pictures from that film, but we are | :39:03. | :39:07. | |
going to show a single image and a message from David's killer. You | :39:08. | :39:14. | |
might find this distressing. This British man has to pay the price. | :39:15. | :39:22. | |
David, whose parents live on air, went to Perth Academy. He has two | :39:23. | :39:27. | |
children. Just 24 hours ago, his family appealed to the outdoors. | :39:28. | :39:31. | |
Today they say he will be mist terribly and forever loved. -- | :39:32. | :39:34. | |
captors. Our guests of the day are the | :39:35. | :39:36. | |
First Minister, Alex Salmond, and the former Labour cabinet | :39:37. | :39:39. | |
minister, Lord Reid. We'll be asking them for | :39:40. | :39:41. | |
their reaction in a few moments. Meanwhile, on the campaign trail, | :39:42. | :39:44. | |
well, both sides have won, Alistair Darling says we should | :39:45. | :39:46. | |
"be in no doubt" that Scotland will reject independence - | :39:47. | :39:49. | |
and that that's based on Meanwhile Blair Jenkins, | :39:50. | :39:52. | |
chief executive of the Yes campaign says based on his canvass returns, | :39:53. | :39:56. | |
"I think we've got a Yes vote". We'll be trying to assess how | :39:57. | :40:01. | |
confident each side really is But first let's remind ourselves | :40:02. | :40:06. | |
of the campaign headlines this week in our referendum week in | :40:07. | :40:11. | |
Sixty Seconds. The Chancellor promised a timetable | :40:12. | :40:28. | |
for more personal Scotland on the day a new poll suggested the yes | :40:29. | :40:31. | |
campaign was ahead for the first time. The First Minister said it was | :40:32. | :40:36. | |
too little too late. Gordon Brown then suggested a timetable would | :40:37. | :40:44. | |
start on the 19th of September. David Cameron and Ed Miliband mist | :40:45. | :40:49. | |
Prime Minister 's questions to campaign in Scotland alongside Nick | :40:50. | :40:56. | |
Clegg. The First Minister described their day as teams Scotland against | :40:57. | :41:03. | |
team Westminster. Mark Carney said a currency union would be incompatible | :41:04. | :41:08. | |
with sovereignty. RBS will move their registered headquarters from | :41:09. | :41:15. | |
Edinburgh to London. Alex Salmond accuse the no side of coordinating | :41:16. | :41:22. | |
business scare stories. He urged voters to opt for independence. | :41:23. | :41:26. | |
Well, the First Minister, Alex Salmond, | :41:27. | :41:28. | |
First of all, the news of that killing of the Scottish aid worker, | :41:29. | :41:34. | |
You have had a meeting of your resilience committee. What has that | :41:35. | :41:46. | |
decided? Firstly, let's express our condolences and solidarity with the | :41:47. | :41:51. | |
family who have borne the difficulties of the last few months | :41:52. | :41:55. | |
with tremendous dignity against the uncertainty of the fate of David | :41:56. | :41:59. | |
Haines. Now we have seen this act of barbarism. There are a number of | :42:00. | :42:07. | |
matters within the Scottish government Jude restriction, firstly | :42:08. | :42:11. | |
there is the insurance of security and privacy for the family, a matter | :42:12. | :42:17. | |
which we take very seriously. Secondly, there are some | :42:18. | :42:21. | |
jurisdictional matter is that we need to deal with the Home Office, | :42:22. | :42:28. | |
that will be done with officers to investigate and pursue the | :42:29. | :42:32. | |
perpetrators of the crime. Thirdly and importantly there is the issue | :42:33. | :42:35. | |
of community dig each in within Scotland. -- cohesion. No part of | :42:36. | :42:46. | |
the Muslim community in Scotland is responsible for any part of this. If | :42:47. | :42:53. | |
there is any sign whatsoever of aggravating offences in Scotland, it | :42:54. | :42:57. | |
will be dealt with the full force of them all. We hold strong communities | :42:58. | :43:05. | |
in Scotland together. When you were speaking to Andrew Marr earlier on, | :43:06. | :43:10. | |
you seem to suggest that there might be a role for the United Nations and | :43:11. | :43:15. | |
coordinating action on a legal basis about Islamic State. What I was | :43:16. | :43:19. | |
unclear north was where using that there was a case for military action | :43:20. | :43:24. | |
here as long as it is approved by the United Nations? I am pointing | :43:25. | :43:31. | |
out two things. Firstly we will give continuing support to the foreign | :43:32. | :43:36. | |
office and their efforts in terms of their position and jeopardy of any | :43:37. | :43:39. | |
other hostage as we have done in the case of David Haines, tragically | :43:40. | :43:44. | |
unsuccessful, but at the nonetheless in a matter like this, they deserve | :43:45. | :43:48. | |
complete support and that is what we will do. Secondly, whatever strategy | :43:49. | :43:54. | |
is devised, we have said there has been an absence of policy from not | :43:55. | :44:00. | |
just the UK government but the United States in recent years, | :44:01. | :44:03. | |
therefore it should be done by collective action. I was also | :44:04. | :44:07. | |
pointing out that there was no suggestion, I cannot see any | :44:08. | :44:11. | |
suggestion that China or Russia or any other major state would want to | :44:12. | :44:15. | |
do anything other than respond to what is a challenge to humanity in | :44:16. | :44:18. | |
terms of the barbarism of what we are seeing going on in Iraq and | :44:19. | :44:24. | |
Syria at the moment. But that should be discussed collectively under the | :44:25. | :44:29. | |
rule of international law. Should you win the referendum and become | :44:30. | :44:35. | |
eventually First Minister of independent Scotland. The British | :44:36. | :44:41. | |
government has always taken a very strong line against negotiation in | :44:42. | :44:46. | |
cases like this or against paying ransom. With that also be your | :44:47. | :44:52. | |
policy? I think that is the correct policy. I don't think that any | :44:53. | :44:58. | |
democratic government can allow itself to have its policies | :44:59. | :45:03. | |
interviewed with by terrorist acts. The reasons for that are obvious. It | :45:04. | :45:07. | |
is also important to have a policy and strategy to be pursued. I think | :45:08. | :45:14. | |
that is vitally important which is why I am suggesting the root of | :45:15. | :45:18. | |
collective security would make common sense at the present moment, | :45:19. | :45:22. | |
given the recent history of the last few years. The lack of collective | :45:23. | :45:27. | |
security and international legality has caused so many problems which | :45:28. | :45:33. | |
will stay with us for generations to come. You have been saying this | :45:34. | :45:38. | |
morning that you expect to win the referendum. Is that based on a | :45:39. | :45:42. | |
feeling in your heart or based on actual figures that the yes campaign | :45:43. | :45:52. | |
have? No, it is based on the people around the communities, villages and | :45:53. | :45:56. | |
cities in Scotland. I think anyone who has been in these communities | :45:57. | :46:02. | |
over the last few days knows the movement has moved strongly towards | :46:03. | :46:07. | |
yes. We take nothing for granted. I still believe we are the underdogs | :46:08. | :46:10. | |
in this contest as we have been throughout. We are well aware of the | :46:11. | :46:14. | |
massive influence and power that can be deployed against the bus. We have | :46:15. | :46:22. | |
seen some of that lining up in the last week. -- against us. That | :46:23. | :46:29. | |
movement is against us and towards a yes vote. You have talked about | :46:30. | :46:34. | |
having a team Scotland. You mentioned earlier that perhaps | :46:35. | :46:39. | |
Johann Lamont would take part in it or Michael Carmichael. Which sounds | :46:40. | :46:42. | |
grand if you win the referendum. How will people like Johann Lamont and | :46:43. | :46:50. | |
Michael Carmichael supposed to negotiate a currency union? The | :46:51. | :47:02. | |
reason I mentioned them was because they had already said that was their | :47:03. | :47:07. | |
attitude. He said he would consider his duty to resign as Secretary of | :47:08. | :47:14. | |
State. I said it is the sort of person we want to have within team | :47:15. | :47:21. | |
Scotland. You cannot expect them to be negotiating policies they don't | :47:22. | :47:25. | |
agree with. The circumstances of a yes vote, we would have a verdict | :47:26. | :47:28. | |
from the sovereign will of the people of Scotland. On the | :47:29. | :47:33. | |
circumstances of what is in the White Paper, the proposal we have | :47:34. | :47:38. | |
put forward for the common currency. Everybody after the election and | :47:39. | :47:41. | |
after the referendum except the verdict of the people, that has been | :47:42. | :47:47. | |
run so many times in the past. I am certain in the case of JoAnn Lambert | :47:48. | :47:52. | |
and Alistair, whoever may disagree about this, they will not disagree | :47:53. | :47:56. | |
about the sovereign will of the people. -- Johann Lamont. They | :47:57. | :48:06. | |
haven't just to sign up with the will of the Scottish people in the | :48:07. | :48:10. | |
sense that they will have voted for independence, they have got to sign | :48:11. | :48:14. | |
up for your proposed currency union with the UK even though they have | :48:15. | :48:17. | |
been saying it is against the interests of Scotland. You are | :48:18. | :48:21. | |
expecting them to sign up to the whole package. If you trace back the | :48:22. | :48:31. | |
statements to Alistair, Alistair at one point was saying that the UK | :48:32. | :48:35. | |
should not declared against a currency union. We know Alistair | :48:36. | :48:40. | |
Darling said a currency union would be logical and desirable. Let's not | :48:41. | :48:45. | |
misty what was said and done and posture in a campaign for what | :48:46. | :48:50. | |
happens after the votes are counted and the results are in when everyone | :48:51. | :48:54. | |
will want to move together as quickly as possible to establish a | :48:55. | :48:58. | |
framework in which Scotland can get the best settlement possible. I | :48:59. | :49:03. | |
think the day after the referendum and following a yes vote, then I | :49:04. | :49:09. | |
think you will find a great deal of enthusiasm for putting past argument | :49:10. | :49:13. | |
is behind us and getting on with the job for Scotland. Talking about | :49:14. | :49:17. | |
posturing in a campaign to use your phrase, would it not be health and | :49:18. | :49:24. | |
-- helpful, if you withdrew your promise, / threat suggestion that an | :49:25. | :49:32. | |
independent Scotland would not take part of the UK's debts. That would | :49:33. | :49:36. | |
give you more credibility with the financial markets. Can I point out | :49:37. | :49:48. | |
that the legal position is that the debt remains with the UK government. | :49:49. | :49:56. | |
They accepted that the continuing United Kingdom as they put it would | :49:57. | :50:01. | |
have contractual liability for the debts. What we are offering to do is | :50:02. | :50:05. | |
to finance our probable that share of the debt. -- a appropriate. A | :50:06. | :50:20. | |
substantial proportion of the Treasury gilts, the debts that have | :50:21. | :50:25. | |
been building up, we would have to also have a proportion of the | :50:26. | :50:32. | |
assets. You say for example that... Uses Scotland will be welcomed into | :50:33. | :50:36. | |
the European Union. Should you not get the currency union and not take | :50:37. | :50:42. | |
on the debt, do you think the governments of the euro zone which | :50:43. | :50:44. | |
have gone through all the treasure and stress and diplomatic effort to | :50:45. | :50:50. | |
avoid and light default in Greece, the German government of Angela | :50:51. | :50:57. | |
Merkel with this obsession would welcome Scotland into the European | :50:58. | :51:00. | |
Union when the UK government is saying these people are refusing to | :51:01. | :51:08. | |
pay a share of their debt? You use the word default. Let's be accurate | :51:09. | :51:15. | |
about this. The default has been excepted by the UK government. Now | :51:16. | :51:25. | |
one from any perspective will expect the people of Scotland to take on | :51:26. | :51:29. | |
financing a fair share of the assets, the financial assets, held | :51:30. | :51:34. | |
by the Bank of England unless Leslie were entitled to our fair share of | :51:35. | :51:38. | |
the liability in terms of financing. Unless we were entitled to our share | :51:39. | :51:48. | |
of the assets. -- we want a position where we accept our responsibility, | :51:49. | :51:53. | |
a moral responsibility in my view, to take a share of the liabilities | :51:54. | :51:57. | |
and the financing of these debts which have been built up by George | :51:58. | :52:02. | |
Osborne and Alistair Darling. In turn we should have a share of the | :52:03. | :52:06. | |
assets. In that position the two things will go together. Now one | :52:07. | :52:14. | |
would look askance at that position. Thank you very much for joining us. | :52:15. | :52:20. | |
And listening to that was John Reid who joins us now from our Edinburgh | :52:21. | :52:34. | |
Studio. I wanted to get your thoughts on David Keynes. My | :52:35. | :52:42. | |
condolences are sent to the family and friends of David Haynes. | :52:43. | :52:55. | |
Terrorists do terrible things like this for two reasons, the first is | :52:56. | :53:01. | |
to terrify, frighten and code people. The second is to divide, | :53:02. | :53:08. | |
cause division within people. I hope our response will be resolution and | :53:09. | :53:17. | |
secondly to unite. That is the best response to the terrorists, to | :53:18. | :53:23. | |
defeat the aim. When I see Unite I mean to do what we have always done | :53:24. | :53:29. | |
in these situations at a UK level. We won support from all parties in | :53:30. | :53:36. | |
response to situations like this. Perhaps more importantly, to unite | :53:37. | :53:41. | |
across the division of the referendum here in Scotland because | :53:42. | :53:46. | |
whatever differences Alex Salmond and I have, and we have many, and | :53:47. | :53:51. | |
however robust weekly debate over the next few days, I think it would | :53:52. | :53:57. | |
be a signal back to those who wish to divide us if we resolved that | :53:58. | :54:05. | |
this issue would not become an issue in the referendum. That we would | :54:06. | :54:08. | |
become very careful when dealing with this and that we hereby send | :54:09. | :54:15. | |
that signal and solace to, I hope, the family, that the whole country | :54:16. | :54:25. | |
is united behind them and against the terrorists. One final point | :54:26. | :54:29. | |
about unity, I believe entirely with Alex Salmond that we recognise in | :54:30. | :54:35. | |
Scotland and throughout the UK that this is not a division between one | :54:36. | :54:43. | |
religion and the rest. The dividing line here is between terrorists and | :54:44. | :54:49. | |
others, between evil people and good people. The vast majority of Muslims | :54:50. | :54:55. | |
in this country and throughout the UK will be as horrified as anyone | :54:56. | :55:02. | |
else. Let no-one do the terrorist's work for them by dividing ourselves. | :55:03. | :55:11. | |
Let's move on to the referendum. If yes win, it is very close now, if we | :55:12. | :55:17. | |
can agree it is very close, it is only very close because a Lord of | :55:18. | :55:26. | |
Labour voters are going to vote yes. This is because of an assumption | :55:27. | :55:31. | |
that party leaders should dictate to people how they should vote. They | :55:32. | :55:39. | |
can convince and they simply have not convinced. Saudi, I am having a | :55:40. | :55:43. | |
problem heaving, especially if you entered up to me. There are 20% | :55:44. | :55:52. | |
perhaps more of SNP people who are against separation which is even | :55:53. | :55:56. | |
more amazing because that is the primary central core of the SNP | :55:57. | :56:02. | |
beliefs. More important than an argument against the polls is the | :56:03. | :56:08. | |
undisputed fact it looks very close. Because it is of salt -- because it | :56:09. | :56:15. | |
is so close and of such huge consequences a couple of things come | :56:16. | :56:20. | |
out. For heavens sake, do not use this as a protest vote. There are | :56:21. | :56:29. | |
1000 ways to protest. Gambling with the future of your country, children | :56:30. | :56:34. | |
and grandchildren is not one of them. The second is because of the | :56:35. | :56:40. | |
consequences, very simple. If you do not know, if you genuinely don't | :56:41. | :56:45. | |
know, thought no, don't risk the future of Europe country on the | :56:46. | :56:53. | |
basis of something upon which you are not entirely persuaded. But hang | :56:54. | :56:58. | |
on a minute, it was the Scottish Labour Party who went around for | :56:59. | :57:03. | |
years saying we are the people who will defend Scotland against those | :57:04. | :57:07. | |
Tories down in London. You can hardly be terribly surprised if the | :57:08. | :57:17. | |
want to defend themselves by voting against London. The central question | :57:18. | :57:28. | |
is not the movement in the polls, the central question is, what is the | :57:29. | :57:35. | |
choice that faces people? The choice in the next few days has become | :57:36. | :57:40. | |
clearer, the choice is whether we can be a rich diverse nation with | :57:41. | :57:43. | |
the pride in our history, culture and orders and our control, | :57:44. | :57:51. | |
geographic entity and historic entity, but be part of the bigger | :57:52. | :57:56. | |
state that brings financial opportunity, greater security and so | :57:57. | :58:01. | |
on, or on the other hand say those borders will be inviolable and we | :58:02. | :58:07. | |
will separate with old risk to pensions, currency, jobs, investment | :58:08. | :58:14. | |
and so on that are obvious. What is annoying Alex Salmond and I listen | :58:15. | :58:19. | |
to him tearfully, it is now becoming obvious that those dangers are real. | :58:20. | :58:25. | |
He has gone through a number of stages digging a hole for himself. | :58:26. | :58:29. | |
The first was to deny the risk existed. Everybody was wrong. The | :58:30. | :58:40. | |
second stage was to threaten retaliation so the Nationalists have | :58:41. | :58:44. | |
said if you see this there will be a day of reckoning but today he is | :58:45. | :58:48. | |
threatening the fault if they do not get there way. I did not say he was | :58:49. | :58:55. | |
threatening the fault. I said the German government had avoided a | :58:56. | :59:04. | |
default in Greece, Mr Salmond says it is not legally a default that he | :59:05. | :59:10. | |
is suggesting he might do. We will see at the rest of the world regard | :59:11. | :59:15. | |
it as the default if you say we will not be our day -- Shear off the | :59:16. | :59:23. | |
debts. If you send that signal to the world, on top of threatening | :59:24. | :59:27. | |
those who are giving employment, investment and jobs to this country | :59:28. | :59:34. | |
providing a law towards pensions, on top of the inherent risks of | :59:35. | :59:38. | |
separation itself years digging deeper into the hole. Your campaign, | :59:39. | :59:45. | |
there has been much said about the timetable of extra powers and | :59:46. | :59:50. | |
devolution. I am completely confused about what these extra powers are. | :59:51. | :59:55. | |
One example on the issue of income tax, the Conservative party is | :59:56. | :59:59. | |
considering devolving all powers over income tax. The Labour Party is | :00:00. | :00:06. | |
considering devolving a little bit more powers. What will this | :00:07. | :00:11. | |
accelerating timetable going to be accelerating? Your policy on the | :00:12. | :00:17. | |
Tories policy? The timetable with which we will agree on the specifics | :00:18. | :00:24. | |
of policies. So we have an excel at each and of something that actually | :00:25. | :00:29. | |
you do not agree on? We do agree there should be further income tax | :00:30. | :00:36. | |
powers. We do agree on the devolution of further income tax. I | :00:37. | :00:43. | |
want to know exactly what it is this accelerated timetable is going to | :00:44. | :00:47. | |
get me. I do not want to know you are going to agree something with | :00:48. | :00:55. | |
the Tories at a later date. If you let me explain. There will be a | :00:56. | :01:00. | |
substantial devolution of power over income tax and other taxes on top of | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
what has already been agreed in the Calman commission. There is common | :01:06. | :01:10. | |
agreement across the parties there should be a devolution of power over | :01:11. | :01:13. | |
well there should be a devolution of power over wealthier to get rid of | :01:14. | :01:20. | |
the dreaded bedroom tax. Why is this important? It is not just because of | :01:21. | :01:26. | |
this campaign. This was announced months ago. Not only does it make | :01:27. | :01:31. | |
the Scottish government more powerful but more responsible and | :01:32. | :01:35. | |
accountable. If you are spending money but do not have the | :01:36. | :01:40. | |
responsibility of raising money you are not a truly responsible | :01:41. | :01:44. | |
parliament. All that has changed is that we are not somehow in the last | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
week saying these are areas which will be devolved, we are setting a | :01:50. | :01:55. | |
timetable so that those agreed in general can set out the specific | :01:56. | :02:01. | |
ones. Before you can set out the rules of a club you have to decide | :02:02. | :02:07. | |
if there is going to be a club. Sorry to entered up. I know you and | :02:08. | :02:13. | |
Alex Salmond have been affecting to not you me when I entered up. Sorry | :02:14. | :02:19. | |
to have to leave it there. Thank you for joining us. | :02:20. | :02:29. | |
I'm joined now by Professor John Curtice, psephologist | :02:30. | :02:32. | |
and professor of politics from Strathclyde University. | :02:33. | :02:43. | |
It is looking very close at the moment. Undoubtably a tight race. We | :02:44. | :02:49. | |
should bear in mind we have only had one poll that unambiguously puts one | :02:50. | :02:59. | |
side ahead. At the moment we are getting rather more polls putting no | :03:00. | :03:04. | |
ahead than yes ahead which suggests the balance of probabilities are | :03:05. | :03:11. | |
that the no side are still ahead but not with a significantly. The other | :03:12. | :03:17. | |
thing that is really odd, you look at some of the polls and there has | :03:18. | :03:23. | |
been a huge shift from no to yes Auberon four weeks. Some other | :03:24. | :03:36. | |
polling companies which were showing yes being quite close are detecting | :03:37. | :03:43. | |
very little or no shift whatsoever. Yes. There has been a consistent | :03:44. | :03:48. | |
discrepancy between the opinion polls and now they have largely | :03:49. | :03:52. | |
converged. Virtually every single poster is now putting the yes side | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
up or very close to the all-time high. There has not been a big swing | :03:59. | :04:07. | |
and that is intriguing. One answer is that they were right all along or | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
another technical one that if there has been some movement then some of | :04:13. | :04:16. | |
the opinion polls which were rather more where exaggerating and those on | :04:17. | :04:20. | |
the high side were underestimating. Evidently have converged something | :04:21. | :04:28. | |
not short of 50/50 we have to accept we are in that kind of race. Is | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
there a possibility, presumably there will be more polls before the | :04:34. | :04:38. | |
day, aren't they are likely to be big shifts in the polls before the | :04:39. | :04:47. | |
actual vote? It is possible. In 1972 in the general election there was a | :04:48. | :04:52. | |
late swing which allowed Edward Heath to unexpectedly become prime | :04:53. | :04:56. | |
minister. What we do know now is that although the yes side have made | :04:57. | :05:05. | |
progress, there is no necessary momentum. In a sense, the last week | :05:06. | :05:11. | |
has probably been a draw. Now remain narrowly ahead which is where they | :05:12. | :05:17. | |
have been for quite a while. We do not know how many people are still | :05:18. | :05:24. | |
undecided. One poll had 17%, another 10%. | :05:25. | :05:34. | |
There are not many people who do not know what they are going to do. | :05:35. | :05:46. | |
Depending on how you answer the question, the either tell you what | :05:47. | :05:49. | |
their inclination is or the don't know. Turnout, both sides obviously | :05:50. | :06:03. | |
will be trying to mobilise their people. There has been a view that | :06:04. | :06:08. | |
the yes side are better organised. Does that make any difference unless | :06:09. | :06:18. | |
it is much closer than it is? We are now sufficiently close that if you | :06:19. | :06:21. | |
were in the Better Together campaign you would be worried that there is a | :06:22. | :06:29. | |
stronger side for the yes side. We are beginning to talk about the | :06:30. | :06:35. | |
figures being around 48, 40 94 yes. The ability to get the vote out on | :06:36. | :06:43. | |
the day cooped be crucial. 49 four yes. Yes voters are just that bit | :06:44. | :06:51. | |
more motivated. What is clear from the polls is that, the most | :06:52. | :06:57. | |
important group in the referendum, the undecided people, the average in | :06:58. | :07:08. | |
the opinion polls as being no. The yes side have to worry about if the | :07:09. | :07:16. | |
turnout does increase, those people go to the polls. That will not be an | :07:17. | :07:21. | |
advantage to them. Thank you very much. There will be questions later. | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
You're watching Sunday Politics Scotland. Stay with us to see and | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
hear the reaction from better together. Let's now go to the news. | :07:32. | :07:34. | |
There has been international condemnation following the murder | :07:35. | :07:40. | |
of David Haines, after the release of a video appearing to show the | :07:41. | :07:43. | |
The 44-year-old aid worker was seized in Syria in 2013. | :07:44. | :07:48. | |
He was being held by Islamic State militants, who have already killed | :07:49. | :07:53. | |
David Cameron described Mr Haines' murder as an act of "pure evil". | :07:54. | :07:58. | |
Alex Salmond said it was an "act of unspeakable barbarism". | :07:59. | :08:00. | |
On this programme, Alex Salmond spoke about the importance of | :08:01. | :08:02. | |
community cohesion, saying no part of Scotland's Muslim community was | :08:03. | :08:05. | |
responsible for atrocities that were committed. | :08:06. | :08:10. | |
It's the last weekend of campaigning | :08:11. | :08:11. | |
in the independence referendum, and both sides will be | :08:12. | :08:13. | |
Pro-independence supporters are trying to appeal to | :08:14. | :08:17. | |
the older population with a message from Winnie Ewing, | :08:18. | :08:20. | |
regarded by nationalists as a key figure in their movement. | :08:21. | :08:24. | |
Meanwhile, those in Better Together are appealing to the those who still | :08:25. | :08:27. | |
have to make up their minds before they vote on Thursday. | :08:28. | :08:30. | |
A number of new opinion polls have been published, suggesting | :08:31. | :08:33. | |
That's the news, now let's take a look at | :08:34. | :08:38. | |
A dry story for most of us today but mixed fortunes in terms of sunshine. | :08:39. | :08:52. | |
The best of it through the Northwest Highlands. The South West Breitling | :08:53. | :08:57. | |
as well. For eastern Scotland more in the way of cloud. -- brightening. | :08:58. | :09:10. | |
Sunshine in the north-west. Our next update is 6:50 p.m.. I will hand you | :09:11. | :09:12. | |
back to Gordon. We know what is coming up in the | :09:13. | :09:19. | |
Week Ahead. I'm joined by our guests Tom Gordon, | :09:20. | :09:23. | |
political editor at the Herald, and by Alex Massie, freelance | :09:24. | :09:25. | |
journalist and commentator. This is where I asked you where you | :09:26. | :09:39. | |
think this is going. And you say it is too close to call. It reminds me | :09:40. | :09:47. | |
of what was said about the film industry, no one knows. Both seem | :09:48. | :09:54. | |
genuinely convinced that the numbers are on their side. Canvass returns | :09:55. | :09:59. | |
for both the yes and no campaigns. I have spoken to both sides and the do | :10:00. | :10:05. | |
seem... You say, you always say that. They say, no, our canvass | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
returns show that we are going to win this. Somebody is going to look | :10:11. | :10:18. | |
foolish on Friday morning. We have been told we have been to the doors, | :10:19. | :10:28. | |
people are solid. You say to the yes side and they say we have been | :10:29. | :10:31. | |
consistently ahead for the last ten days or so. We are talking about | :10:32. | :10:38. | |
20,000 cantons runs a day. It does not look like a panto on either | :10:39. | :10:44. | |
part. -- canvass returns. What do you make of it? It is possible that | :10:45. | :10:49. | |
voters are lying to both campaigns. I agree with Tom that anything could | :10:50. | :10:56. | |
happen on Thursday. Most people have a hunch I read up feeling. That | :10:57. | :11:04. | |
tends to confirm the outcome that they would like to see happen, no | :11:05. | :11:09. | |
voters have a quiet small conviction that everything will be all right in | :11:10. | :11:14. | |
the end. Yes voters are convinced deep inside them that all these no | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
voters are secret yes voters and they will have their conversion | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
moment as they walk into the polling station and all will be well. The | :11:23. | :11:26. | |
truth is that nobody really knows what will happen. What is your | :11:27. | :11:34. | |
guess? Six months ago, in January I said it would be 53-47 now. I think | :11:35. | :11:43. | |
it might still be a no vote. But it could be closer than that. Do you | :11:44. | :11:48. | |
have a hunch? I have always thought it would be exceptionally close. It | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
would be down to 1% or 2%, but I did not know who far. I think there is | :11:54. | :12:01. | |
still time for warble. People going to the polling booth and thinking... | :12:02. | :12:06. | |
You mean the polls were showing a yes" back. In their referendum in | :12:07. | :12:18. | |
sovereign tree. -- sovereignty. In the last second, the no side | :12:19. | :12:24. | |
recovered and the one x 50.6%. There is still scope for that. They have a | :12:25. | :12:30. | |
lot of energetic supporters. What you think they need to do over the | :12:31. | :12:35. | |
next few days? I do not think there is very much for them to do. They | :12:36. | :12:39. | |
have exhausted everything they can do. I would expect more of the same, | :12:40. | :12:49. | |
to be honest. We will have the yes campaign talking up team Scotland. | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
They will see vote for your imagined future. We will have the no side | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
focusing on the economic uncertainties of voting yes. It is | :13:00. | :13:03. | |
too late to have any last-minute change of direction. I do not think | :13:04. | :13:08. | |
we should expect any great surprises in the last 100 hours. You are | :13:09. | :13:14. | |
nodding. I would agree wholeheartedly with that. Maybe a | :13:15. | :13:17. | |
few months ago they could have said vote no and you can take the oil. | :13:18. | :13:24. | |
Something dramatic like that. Did it surprise you? Last Sunday, George | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
Osborne seem to be saying, there is this enormous new thing we are | :13:30. | :13:35. | |
announcing. Then it became just a timetable for stuff we had not | :13:36. | :13:40. | |
agreed upon. They should have said, they should have made a no for Devo | :13:41. | :13:47. | |
Max. It was always crystal clear throughout the campaign that if you | :13:48. | :13:52. | |
vote now you get this reviewed package of reforms. They cannot | :13:53. | :13:56. | |
agree on a single tax and the still don't agree. We do not know the | :13:57. | :14:00. | |
timetable even if we agree a bunch of powers on a no vote, we will not | :14:01. | :14:08. | |
know when those will comment. The process takes eight years long. When | :14:09. | :14:14. | |
these new powers come into effect is anyone's guess. It is not brilliant | :14:15. | :14:22. | |
politics. It is in the way a cucumber does not look like a | :14:23. | :14:26. | |
tomato. The Conservatives, the Strathclyde commission is the most | :14:27. | :14:32. | |
auto of these. They did not think a new Scotland Bill would be required | :14:33. | :14:36. | |
or would be ready in time for the first queen's speech after the next | :14:37. | :14:41. | |
UK election. It will have to be that. We will have to leave it | :14:42. | :14:44. | |
there. Thank you both very much indeed. | :14:45. | :14:48. | |
I'll be back at the same time next week. | :14:49. | :14:53. |