:00:00. > :00:22.Hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the papers will be
:00:23. > :00:25.With me are Matthew Syed, columnist at the Times,
:00:26. > :00:33.and Kevin Schofield, editor of PoliticsHome.
:00:34. > :00:35.Tomorrow's front pages: The Times, unsurprisingly leads
:00:36. > :00:38.on the Scotland First Minister's demand for a second referendum
:00:39. > :00:40.on Scottish independence, calling it an ambush,
:00:41. > :00:42.and reporting that Theresa May is preparing to reject
:00:43. > :00:47.A witty play on words from the Metro.
:00:48. > :00:49.Scots throw a sporran in the works, reporting that the First Minister's
:00:50. > :00:51.announcement has thrown Downing Street's Brexit
:00:52. > :00:57.And the Guardian continues the theme, headlining
:00:58. > :01:00.that the Prime Minister's plans have been upstaged by Scotland's First
:01:01. > :01:07.The Daily Telegraph calls the face-off between the two leaders
:01:08. > :01:10.the new battle for Britain, and the paper includes quotes
:01:11. > :01:13.from Theresa May accusing Nicola Sturgeon of tunnel vision.
:01:14. > :01:15.Finally, the Daily Express switches focus to this evening's events
:01:16. > :01:18.in Westminster, saying that, following the votes in Parliament
:01:19. > :01:20.pushing through the Government's Article 50 bill, the Queen
:01:21. > :01:30.could sign Brexit into law as early as tomorrow morning.
:01:31. > :01:36.Well, let's have a look at some of those at least in detail over the
:01:37. > :01:41.next few minutes. We start with the Telegraph. A new battle for Britain.
:01:42. > :01:46.Picture of Nicola Sturgeon at her press conference early this morning.
:01:47. > :01:50.That is the way this is being portrayed by a number of the papers
:01:51. > :01:55.going into the morning. Yes, and I sort of agree with it. I think this
:01:56. > :01:58.is blatant opportunism for Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish
:01:59. > :02:02.Nationalists. It was supposed to be a once in a generation referendum
:02:03. > :02:06.the last campaign, and 900 and something days later they are
:02:07. > :02:12.calling for another one. Has been material change since. That is what
:02:13. > :02:16.she claims. She does indeed, and she campaigned on that during the
:02:17. > :02:19.elections, but I don't remember during the election campaigns, even
:02:20. > :02:23.though David Cameron had promised them and in out referendum and those
:02:24. > :02:26.who voted for remaining in the United Kingdom must have understood
:02:27. > :02:30.and those who campaigned against the jury that referendum must have
:02:31. > :02:35.understood that if that was the democratic will of the Scottish
:02:36. > :02:39.people that they would have to respect the opinion of the UK as a
:02:40. > :02:42.whole. I also think this is a dangerous gamble, because there is
:02:43. > :02:50.quite an interesting detail here towards the end of the Telegraph
:02:51. > :02:55.piece, saying that there is a BMG poll, showing that 43% oppose,
:02:56. > :02:58.equally significantly, 49% say they should be no referendum before
:02:59. > :03:02.Brexit, which is precisely what Theresa May as saying. Nicola
:03:03. > :03:08.Sturgeon would seem to want to have one before then, of course. You can
:03:09. > :03:12.see why, it is a moment of maximum chaos as far as Great Britain is
:03:13. > :03:16.concerned, so I suppose at that point in time the thought of being
:03:17. > :03:20.able to have an escape hatch, if you like, becomes very, very attractive.
:03:21. > :03:25.But I just don't see why it Theresa May would agree to have... To allow
:03:26. > :03:29.the Scottish Parliament the power to vote in the referendum at the same
:03:30. > :03:33.time she is trying to extricate Britain from the European Union. We
:03:34. > :03:38.are going to be. I mean, the last are going to be. I mean, the last
:03:39. > :03:41.independence referendum was all-encompassing, certainly in the
:03:42. > :03:45.final weeks of the campaign. The government effectively shut down
:03:46. > :03:49.here. They cancelled Prime Minister's Questions, when that
:03:50. > :03:54.famous poll put the yes campaign in front. David Cameron's sole focus
:03:55. > :03:59.was on keeping the country together. So the idea that the Prime Minister
:04:00. > :04:03.could do that while also holding these discussions with 27 other EU
:04:04. > :04:07.member states is just fanciful. I wonder how this will be seen in
:04:08. > :04:11.terms of the two prominent women involved at the top of this dispute
:04:12. > :04:15.in the coming weeks and months, looking at what Theresa May decides
:04:16. > :04:19.to do. Last time it was David Cameron and Alex Salmond, this time
:04:20. > :04:24.it is Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon, it will be interesting how
:04:25. > :04:27.that is covered. I think so, and I think as well that Theresa May's
:04:28. > :04:32.approach will be very different from David Cameron's. A bit more of a
:04:33. > :04:37.gambler, he was a bit more arrogant, I think he thought he was a lucky
:04:38. > :04:42.general. He had won the election in 2010, squeak at it, really, in
:04:43. > :04:48.coalition and in 2015 it was a surprise victory but he was a guy
:04:49. > :04:54.who thought he would come out on top -- squeaked it. So he didn't drive a
:04:55. > :04:58.hard bargain when it came to give giving Alex Salmond a referendum and
:04:59. > :05:01.this time around Theresa May will drive a harder bargain, put down
:05:02. > :05:07.some more red lines and conditions on this, so it won't be quite a
:05:08. > :05:13.straightforward for Nicola Sturgeon as it was for Alex Salmond. In the
:05:14. > :05:16.Daily Mail very much a tie in with Brexit, as far as they are
:05:17. > :05:22.concerned, as a result of what Nicola Sturgeon has decided to do.
:05:23. > :05:26.Two yes, quite. I think it is noteworthy that there is a lot of
:05:27. > :05:30.uncertainty both in the United Kingdom but also in Scotland. For
:05:31. > :05:33.businesses in England, for example, they don't know precisely what the
:05:34. > :05:38.terms of Brexit are going to be. That is going to be very complex,
:05:39. > :05:41.thorough negotiation over the following two years. They are
:05:42. > :05:46.probably going to take the view that they will not be the single market,
:05:47. > :05:50.and probably won't be in the customs union. For Scottish businesses, the
:05:51. > :05:54.time of uncertainty is endemic, because they don't know either of
:05:55. > :05:58.those two things, but they don't even know what the currency is going
:05:59. > :06:01.to be. When it comes to inward investment, forward planning, all
:06:02. > :06:05.these strategic investments that businesses and others are making,
:06:06. > :06:11.this will be an extraordinarily difficult time. The Guardian's take
:06:12. > :06:15.on it is more about the way Nicola Sturgeon has played it politically
:06:16. > :06:17.in the last 12 hours or so, her timing, which took a lot of people,
:06:18. > :06:21.apparently including the prime apparently including the prime
:06:22. > :06:26.minister, by surprise. I think it certainly did. There was not much of
:06:27. > :06:30.a prior indication, I think it was on the front of the Telegraph this
:06:31. > :06:33.morning, they have the late last night that Nicola Sturgeon was going
:06:34. > :06:40.to have this event in Edinburgh. So Number Ten did not see this coming.
:06:41. > :06:43.It is incredibly canny, astute politics late Nicola Sturgeon,
:06:44. > :06:48.because she will appreciate that the Article 50 bill would probably pass
:06:49. > :06:50.today. At that time all the briefing coming from Number Ten was that
:06:51. > :06:57.Article 50 will actually be triggered tomorrow. All that went as
:06:58. > :07:01.soon as Nicola Sturgeon got up and said this is what I want, I want a
:07:02. > :07:05.referendum in 2019. These are my red lines. Everything changed as far as
:07:06. > :07:10.Downing Street was concerned. All of a sudden Article 50 was not going to
:07:11. > :07:14.the month has always been the plan. the month has always been the plan.
:07:15. > :07:20.You are fairly convinced that is all connected? I think it is definitely
:07:21. > :07:23.connected and I think she has thrown Number Ten, Theresa May,
:07:24. > :07:28.off-balance. If you see this as the first shots in the second referendum
:07:29. > :07:32.battle than she has certainly won this particular leg. There may well
:07:33. > :07:37.be a couple of things that suit Theresa May, but there is definitely
:07:38. > :07:44.fatigue. Even though there were was an enthusiastic campaign last time,
:07:45. > :07:48.there is a huge amount of enthusiasm for another referendum -- isn't a
:07:49. > :07:51.huge amount of enthusiasm. The economic argument in favour of
:07:52. > :07:58.independence is more robust now that it was last time. Over those things
:07:59. > :08:02.that well for Theresa May. The two personalities involved in this one
:08:03. > :08:05.at the top of the Scottish and UK governments are very different to
:08:06. > :08:08.last time around, and I think that the psychology of the electorate
:08:09. > :08:12.will be influenced by the credibility and power of those two
:08:13. > :08:21.campaigns. I think they are quite canny politicians. Yes, Alex Salmond
:08:22. > :08:26.was more of a divisive figure, I think it is safe to say. He was more
:08:27. > :08:36.of a Marmite figure and Nicola Sturgeon is not in that vein of
:08:37. > :08:40.politics. I think he could be a little bit limited, because I don't
:08:41. > :08:44.think he is a vote winner. A quick nod to the Scottish Daily Mail,
:08:45. > :08:52.where it is fairly clear where it is pointing. Very clear about their
:08:53. > :08:57.editorial line. On any other day, the vote in the British Parliament
:08:58. > :09:01.going through the House of Lords, Brexit Bill likely to get Royal
:09:02. > :09:07.assent tomorrow would have been the dominant story. And yet it has been
:09:08. > :09:10.completely scuppered. It just shows how monumental that upcoming period
:09:11. > :09:14.is going to be in our politics, is entangling the UK and the European
:09:15. > :09:18.Union. The constitutional crisis between Scotland and the rest of the
:09:19. > :09:22.UK. Who knows what other things are going to be coming down the track?
:09:23. > :09:27.What it seems to me is the level of political uncertainty is at a level
:09:28. > :09:29.unprecedented in our lifetimes, and I think it is really difficult to
:09:30. > :09:32.envision what else might come along. envision what else might come along.
:09:33. > :09:38.Will there be other nations looking for independence? I think it is
:09:39. > :09:41.unlikely, but I do think that there will be eventualities that we
:09:42. > :09:53.haven't yet foreseen. Sinn Fein have said there should be a referendum on
:09:54. > :09:59.a united Ireland. The Plaid Cymru leader has suggested something
:10:00. > :10:03.similar. Those political assumptions we have lived with all our lives. We
:10:04. > :10:08.thought the Thatcher watershed in 1979 was a big change in the
:10:09. > :10:11.post-war consensus. What we have now is of a completely different scope.
:10:12. > :10:15.As you are saying about Brexit and the competition is there, they are
:10:16. > :10:25.writ large on the front of the Times. And the Times have a list of
:10:26. > :10:29.legislation prepared by Whitehall to cover the various areas that have to
:10:30. > :10:35.be dealt with as we leave the European Union. So we have this
:10:36. > :10:41.great repeal bill coming, and that would tie up all the loose ends, in
:10:42. > :10:45.one fell swoop, as it were. And that was going to be compensated enough
:10:46. > :10:48.because it you imagine how much legislation that has been
:10:49. > :10:52.accumulated over the last 40 or so years... According to this leaked
:10:53. > :10:57.list of legislation being prepared, it is covering immigration, tax,
:10:58. > :11:04.agriculture, trade and customs regimes, fishing, data protection,
:11:05. > :11:09.sanctions, a bill for each one. A bill for each one, and amendments
:11:10. > :11:13.reach one, and... The sheer complexity is mind blowing, really.
:11:14. > :11:17.The idea that they are going to be able to get through all of this
:11:18. > :11:21.within two years while also holding discussions with the other 27
:11:22. > :11:24.leaders and trying to gain free trade deals, because the official
:11:25. > :11:27.position at the moment is that Downing Street can do all of that
:11:28. > :11:33.within two years, two years is nothing. It is the blink of an iron.
:11:34. > :11:37.It is quite a to-do list. Imagine them waking up in the with post-it
:11:38. > :11:42.notes all over David Davis's bathroom. I was very strongly in
:11:43. > :11:46.favour of remain, but I think it is right that this is going to be
:11:47. > :11:51.triggered and Brexit must happen. Whether they get a good deal or a
:11:52. > :11:54.bad Deal or no Deal, I think it is vital that the democratic judgement
:11:55. > :11:58.of the British people is carried through. And I just got the
:11:59. > :12:03.impression last week, that backbench Conservative MPs and Lords were
:12:04. > :12:07.using what looked like on the face of it democratic arguments, you
:12:08. > :12:12.know, Parliamentary sovereignty, when they were really looking to
:12:13. > :12:16.overturn Brexit itself. I think that would be wrong. Interestingly, in
:12:17. > :12:21.today's voting or this evening's voting, one or two conservatives
:12:22. > :12:26.were expected to vote against. There were some abstentions, but not many.
:12:27. > :12:31.No, it completely collapsed. The talk of 20 Tory MPs voting against
:12:32. > :12:38.it just didn't happen. The amendments were overturned pretty
:12:39. > :12:43.comfortably. Let's finish with the Express, the Queen glowing on the
:12:44. > :12:47.Commonwealth Games, they say. And further coverage on, with regards to
:12:48. > :12:53.the Commonwealth, the start-up of the run-up to the Commonwealth
:12:54. > :12:57.Games. On the 2020 to Commonwealth Games in Durban will not take place
:12:58. > :13:00.there are any more. And there are other cities which are therefore now
:13:01. > :13:04.in the running and I think Liverpool and Birmingham have made initial
:13:05. > :13:15.soundings and they may be interest in hosting at. A second opportunity
:13:16. > :13:20.to see it. Having played in the Commonwealth Games in 2000 in
:13:21. > :13:24.Manchester, in table tennis, and having won a gold medal in the team
:13:25. > :13:27.event, I know that you want to talk to me about that very much. Victory
:13:28. > :13:31.over India in the finals. Some wonderful backhand slices on in
:13:32. > :13:35.there. It is a wonderful festival of sport, very different from the
:13:36. > :13:39.Olympic Games. People often say the Commonwealth Games is an anachronism
:13:40. > :13:43.because there is no British Empire, but it is terrific fun. It is a
:13:44. > :13:46.great privilege to play in it. I know you want to talk about your
:13:47. > :13:50.swimming bronze medal. I actually made that up. You were panicking,
:13:51. > :13:56.because you have nothing to contribute. I won a couple of golf
:13:57. > :14:00.trophies, I wasn't as good as my friends. In the last Commonwealth
:14:01. > :14:05.great success. A huge success, and great success. A huge success, and
:14:06. > :14:11.it is an opportunity for the nations within the United Kingdom,
:14:12. > :14:15.independently. I remember in 2014 Commonwealth Games there was a
:14:16. > :14:18.feeling that that would be another boost of Scotland did well, they
:14:19. > :14:20.would vote for independence. It didn't quite work out that way. On
:14:21. > :14:23.that note, no more medal talk.