:00:00. > :00:37.media and then I would have been liked what can we
:00:38. > :00:41.We're putting the leaders of the SNP, the Conservatives,
:00:42. > :00:44.Labour and the Liberal Democrats on the spot this week.
:00:45. > :00:46.They'll each face questions from a live studio
:00:47. > :00:49.And I'll try to press them for the answers.
:00:50. > :00:51.If you'd like to join the debate on social media,
:00:52. > :00:54.We'll hear from Kezia Dugdale, Ruth Davidson and Nicola
:00:55. > :00:57.But tonight it's the turn of Willie Rennie, leader
:00:58. > :01:01.And the first question for him comes from Gordon Bruce.
:01:02. > :01:03.Will the electorate ever forgive the Liberal Democrats
:01:04. > :01:14.Now that needs a little bit of explanation because we have to wind
:01:15. > :01:18.the clock back to 2010. The Liberal Democrats were into that election
:01:19. > :01:24.promising to set themselves against any increase in fees, actually it
:01:25. > :01:27.was a pledge for England but that did you enormous damage across the
:01:28. > :01:31.whole of the UK. What we've got to recognise is that in Scotland, we
:01:32. > :01:37.had a different approach to tuition fees. We abolished it back in
:01:38. > :01:41.2000/01 as part of the Liberal Democrat-Labour Government. It was
:01:42. > :01:45.regrettable what happened. But actually, what we've done now is
:01:46. > :01:50.changed the direction of student policy in Scotland. Now we've seen,
:01:51. > :01:54.with the SNP, they promised to dump the debt but they've doubled it.
:01:55. > :01:58.That is deeply regrettable. So Liberal Democrats, yeah, we
:01:59. > :02:01.recognise we got it wrong at the last election. We recognise that.
:02:02. > :02:05.But now what we're doing is moving on to try and make sure that
:02:06. > :02:08.students get the right kind of support so that they can go to
:02:09. > :02:14.education just like everyone else. In Scotland you were against tuition
:02:15. > :02:18.fees and then you introduced the graduate endowment, which has
:02:19. > :02:22.subsequently been abolished. In terms of this pledge, how much
:02:23. > :02:27.damage did it do to the perception of the Liberal Democrats, given that
:02:28. > :02:32.at the subsequent election you went from 57 to eight MPs? There's no
:02:33. > :02:36.doubt it did us damage. We got it wrong. We regret that, of course, we
:02:37. > :02:40.felt it very dearly. But what we're now doing is we've seen a bit of a
:02:41. > :02:46.recovery. At the last Scottish elections, I managed to win my seat
:02:47. > :02:48.in NEET Fife, lost in the previous year at the general election. In
:02:49. > :02:52.Edinburgh west we won that seat, which we'd lost. In the Northern
:02:53. > :02:57.Isles, we got over 70% of the votes. Do you think the public are starting
:02:58. > :03:02.to forgive? I think so. We are proving by what we do, by our
:03:03. > :03:05.actions. In this election we have a very robust backage of policies.
:03:06. > :03:08.We're against independence. We're in favour of the European Union. We're
:03:09. > :03:12.in favour of investing in mental health and education. I think that
:03:13. > :03:14.is showing signs of positive recovery, with more people returning
:03:15. > :03:18.to the Liberal Democrats. Let's bring in the audience on the
:03:19. > :03:22.question of trust and go back to the questioner, what's your answer to
:03:23. > :03:25.your own question? That's a difficult one. I think partly it
:03:26. > :03:32.shows the difficulty that the Liberal Democrats had when we were
:03:33. > :03:35.in coalition down south. But it's shown that certainly when we were in
:03:36. > :03:41.coalition back up here in Scotland, we were able to put plans into play.
:03:42. > :03:44.At this election, the Liberal Democrats go in saying there will be
:03:45. > :03:47.no coalitions, the Liberal Democrats won't do deals this afternoon sort.
:03:48. > :03:51.You've seen what happens when the Tories run the country by
:03:52. > :03:55.themselves. Just look, human rights are under threat. We've had the
:03:56. > :03:59.triple lock for pensioners under threat. We've had Brexit, which is
:04:00. > :04:03.probably the most damaging thing this country will face for some
:04:04. > :04:07.time. Renewable energy has been slashed. We've seen a massive cut in
:04:08. > :04:09.support for people on benefits. That's what happened with the
:04:10. > :04:12.Conservatives when they're running the country by themselves. The
:04:13. > :04:16.Liberal Democrats stopped every single one of those things when we
:04:17. > :04:20.were in power. That's an argument for coalition. You're going into
:04:21. > :04:24.this election saying no coalition deals. Actually just to go back to
:04:25. > :04:27.the coalition, so it's worth recognising the difference that we
:04:28. > :04:31.did make. Because we've seen what happened since. Why no deals this
:04:32. > :04:37.time? Well, we couldn't possibly do a deal with Theresa May with her
:04:38. > :04:41.plan for a damaging hard Brexit. We're pro-European. These careering
:04:42. > :04:47.towards something very dangerous for our economy, for jobs, for security,
:04:48. > :04:50.but also for our NHS funding. Jeremy Corbyn he's just backed up Theresa
:04:51. > :04:55.May in terms of a damaging hard Brexit. I couldn't believe when he
:04:56. > :04:58.voted with Theresa May and Ukip for probably the most damaging hard
:04:59. > :05:01.Brexit you could imagine, in the House of Commons. We couldn't
:05:02. > :05:05.possibly do a coalition deal with Jeremy Corbyn. When you say hard
:05:06. > :05:11.Brexit, you are talking about taking the UK out of the single market as
:05:12. > :05:14.well as the European Union? Out of free movement of people, out of the
:05:15. > :05:19.single market, common tariffs. That's what you mean by hard Brexit?
:05:20. > :05:23.Yeah, cutting all the ties, the formal arrangements with Europe.
:05:24. > :05:27.Doesn't that free the UK up as the Conservative Government would argue
:05:28. > :05:33.to do international trade deals and find new prosperity. I'm rather
:05:34. > :05:37.sceptical about that. It's like returning to the old empire. We're
:05:38. > :05:40.better working with our closest neighbours. Just like I believe
:05:41. > :05:42.Scotland should work within the United Kingdom. I think the United
:05:43. > :05:45.Kingdom should work with the European Union. Our closest allies
:05:46. > :05:50.are our best friends. Hands up, if this is on the issue of coalition,
:05:51. > :05:56.then I'll take a point from the gentleman at the back row. Then the
:05:57. > :06:00.guy in the red T-shirt. By saying no to coalitions then would you rather
:06:01. > :06:03.see another Tory Government than going into a progressive alliance
:06:04. > :06:07.with Labour and the SNP? I would prefer neither. I would prefer more
:06:08. > :06:12.Liberal Democrat MPs in the House of Commons. That means we have a
:06:13. > :06:15.greater chance a a closer relationship with Europe. A greater
:06:16. > :06:18.chance of Scotland in the United Kingdom and a greater chance to
:06:19. > :06:21.deliver policies on mental health and edgeindication that we feel very
:06:22. > :06:25.strongly about. No the terrible choice between either of those, with
:06:26. > :06:28.the more of us we have, the greater chance of delivering those things.
:06:29. > :06:32.You are against a coalition deal during the next Parliament, but
:06:33. > :06:36.you're also against taking part in some kind of so-called progressive
:06:37. > :06:39.alliance with Labour and others? I couldn't believe Nicola Sturgeon
:06:40. > :06:45.last night, she was saying that Jeremy Corbyn had no credibility as
:06:46. > :06:48.a potential Prime Minister but she would put him in as Prime Minister
:06:49. > :06:52.nonetheless. That's incredibly reckless. It's nothing we will have
:06:53. > :06:56.anything to do with. The gentleman there. Do you not think you could
:06:57. > :06:59.achieve some of your aims if you did go into coalition with the
:07:00. > :07:05.Conservative Government, say for example, the land slide doesn't
:07:06. > :07:13.happen and they either don't have an overall majority, so this could be
:07:14. > :07:16.an ideal opportunity for your party to reprove themselves and also
:07:17. > :07:21.achieve some of the aims and policies that you've got? I think we
:07:22. > :07:24.can flex our muscles in the House of Commons using the votes we have got.
:07:25. > :07:27.The more of us there are in the House of Commons, the greater the
:07:28. > :07:31.chance we have of getting whichever Government it is to do what we want.
:07:32. > :07:37.That's the influence that we'll exert. Won't voters find this hard
:07:38. > :07:42.to believe? Because the Liberal Democrats have always stood for
:07:43. > :07:46.sharing power. You were in coalition with Labour at Holyrood for eight
:07:47. > :07:49.years. A five-year deal with the Conservatives at Westminster. You
:07:50. > :07:53.put a Liberal Democrat as a minister in the Welsh Government. If it's
:07:54. > :07:58.been OK in those occasions in the past, if you had a sniff of power
:07:59. > :08:01.this time, wouldn't you take it? These were exceptional
:08:02. > :08:03.circumstances. We are probably the most pro-European of all the parties
:08:04. > :08:07.that exist in British politics. There's no way that we could go
:08:08. > :08:11.along with Theresa May and her plans for Brexit. Or Jeremy Corbyn, who
:08:12. > :08:17.backed her up alongside Ukip. That's not something that we could ever
:08:18. > :08:21.contemplate. Of course, we're pragmatic, we're reasonable. We form
:08:22. > :08:24.coalitions in councils across Scotland with various parties. What
:08:25. > :08:27.we're not prepared to do is go along with those two parties, careering
:08:28. > :08:29.towards a hard Brexit. It's going to be damaging for our country. I'm
:08:30. > :08:35.going to take a second question now. If you are against another
:08:36. > :08:38.independence referendum, why do you campaign for another
:08:39. > :08:46.Brexit vote? I'm going to ask to unpack this a
:08:47. > :08:51.bit to take it in two parts if you don't mind. What, first of all, is
:08:52. > :08:57.the reason for pushing for a second vote on Brexit? Last June, when we
:08:58. > :09:02.had the referendum campaign, we had slogans on the side of a bus, from
:09:03. > :09:06.Nigel Farage, telling us ?350 million a week would be coming to
:09:07. > :09:09.the NHS. That's all we H we didn't have a white paper. We didn't have
:09:10. > :09:12.the detail. We didn't know what the deal was going to be like when we
:09:13. > :09:18.came out of Europe. We voted to leave the European Union. We did not
:09:19. > :09:21.vote on the destination. So for something so monumental, we believe
:09:22. > :09:25.it should be put back to the British people for them to have the
:09:26. > :09:29.sign-off. It's either going to be Theresa May and her Conservative
:09:30. > :09:32.Government, a few people inside round the Cabinet table that are
:09:33. > :09:37.going to decide whether that deal is good enough or not, and bearing in
:09:38. > :09:40.mind they'll accept Brexit whatever it is, because they're destined to
:09:41. > :09:44.leave the European Union - or it should be the British people. I
:09:45. > :09:48.think the British people should have the right to reject a bad deal.
:09:49. > :09:52.That's all we're asking. If that vote took place and certainly the
:09:53. > :09:56.Conservatives and Labour are against that happening, if it were to take
:09:57. > :10:00.place, and people voted against whatever deal has been negotiated,
:10:01. > :10:04.what would happen then? The choice in our minds would be between
:10:05. > :10:09.staying in the European Union or accepting the deal. If people voted
:10:10. > :10:16.against it, what would happen? We would stay in the European Union. So
:10:17. > :10:20.effectively it's a rerun of the referendum. It would change the
:10:21. > :10:24.referendum. The British people would decide. Because we were denied the
:10:25. > :10:27.detail last year, we should be offered it before we go ahead with
:10:28. > :10:30.it. The Conservatives are determined to deliver a hard Brexit. I think
:10:31. > :10:33.the British people should be given that final say rather than Theresa
:10:34. > :10:39.May I'd be interested to hear thoughts from our audience on that.
:10:40. > :10:42.Gentleman in the back row. Do you not think it's quite elitist to say
:10:43. > :10:45.that people didn't know what they were voting for, considering it was
:10:46. > :10:49.a largely working class vote that wanted to leave? They voted to
:10:50. > :10:53.leave. I don't deny that. I respect that. But I think it should be more
:10:54. > :10:57.something so monumental, we should see the detail. That's all I'm
:10:58. > :11:02.asking. So people are leaving in full knowledge of actually what it
:11:03. > :11:07.will mean for the Nantes nonce, for jobs -- NHS, for jobs, for the
:11:08. > :11:12.economy, security. All those things should be laid bear. -- bare. I'd
:11:13. > :11:17.like to know that everything you're saying there is going completely
:11:18. > :11:21.against what the SNP have put forward for the referendum on the
:11:22. > :11:29.freedom of Scotland. You're saying that the British people should
:11:30. > :11:34.decide about the Brexit again. It was a democratic vote to say to come
:11:35. > :11:37.out of it, well England was. The thing is that you're turning around
:11:38. > :11:41.and saying the same thing. You're not letting the British people have
:11:42. > :11:46.a shot at going for independence again. To be fair to the SNP, three
:11:47. > :11:50.years ago, they produced a white paper and there was a lot of detail
:11:51. > :11:54.in it. It was a wee bit repetitive and boring at times, nevertheless, a
:11:55. > :11:58.white paper, chunky white paper. People knew what they were voting
:11:59. > :12:01.for when they rejected it. We rejected, in my mind, a bad deal
:12:02. > :12:05.three years ago. I think we should have the right to reject a bad deal
:12:06. > :12:09.when the detail is forth coming this time. Should we not be allowed a
:12:10. > :12:13.right to go back again, if people have changed their minds with things
:12:14. > :12:17.that have happened recently and go there? Let's deal with that. It was
:12:18. > :12:22.the other part of the original question, if you are in favour of
:12:23. > :12:24.another vote on Brexit, why not another vote on Scottish
:12:25. > :12:29.independence? We decided three years ago, in full knowledge - You know as
:12:30. > :12:32.well as anybody, circumstances have changed in that we have voted to
:12:33. > :12:37.leave the European Union. The oil price has plummeted. We have a ?15
:12:38. > :12:40.billion deficit. We've got economic circumstances which are much worse
:12:41. > :12:44.in Scotland. We're totering on the edge of an economic recession.
:12:45. > :12:47.Wouldn't you get a more decisive result for the union in those
:12:48. > :12:52.circumstances? How many times are we going over and over this? Three
:12:53. > :12:56.years ago, we decisively decided to reject the SNP's proposition on
:12:57. > :13:03.independence. We've rejected that deal. We need to get on. If you had
:13:04. > :13:07.nothing - if the referendum in 2014 didn't settle it and you are more
:13:08. > :13:11.confident, it seems, of the case for the UK now than you perhaps even
:13:12. > :13:16.were then, what have you got to fear? I'm against independence. We
:13:17. > :13:20.Democratically decided. The opinion polls show that people in Scotland
:13:21. > :13:24.don't want another independence referendum. One of the critical
:13:25. > :13:30.things here is that last time round, the number of people I met who had
:13:31. > :13:34.fallen out with brothers, sisters, friends, neighbours over this issue.
:13:35. > :13:38.It caused huge division. Putting aside the economic uncertainty that
:13:39. > :13:43.was created, it caused huge personal diviegss. I -- divisions. I don't
:13:44. > :13:48.want to go through that again. We should reject the SNP's plan for a
:13:49. > :13:52.devicive referendum and that's what you get with the Liberal Democrats.
:13:53. > :13:54.I will come back to the audience, the gentleman in the back row with
:13:55. > :13:59.glasses. Then the gentleman in front of him. You said that we
:14:00. > :14:02.Democratically rejected independence in 2014, so you're saying it's
:14:03. > :14:07.undemocratic that the Scottish Parliament this year passed a vote
:14:08. > :14:09.to give permission for a second independence referendum? Well, the
:14:10. > :14:14.Parliament has got a majority of SNP Parliament has got a majority of SNP
:14:15. > :14:20.- Is that undemocratic then? They have a majority of SNP and green
:14:21. > :14:23.msps. They were elected. I wasn't surprised they did that. What they
:14:24. > :14:25.need to recognise is that the Scottish people don't want this. We
:14:26. > :14:28.don't want to go back into the division. This election is an
:14:29. > :14:32.opportunity to say clearly we do not want more division. We do not want
:14:33. > :14:35.another divisive independence referendum. The seats across
:14:36. > :14:37.Scotland, where the Liberal Democrats are challenging the SNP,
:14:38. > :14:41.that's the choice that people have got. Actually you say that, you put
:14:42. > :14:45.out a statement yesterday saying you were the party, your party was the
:14:46. > :14:49.spearhead against independence. But actually, there are people in the
:14:50. > :14:52.Liberal Democrats who support independence and are sympathetic to
:14:53. > :14:59.the idea of an independence referendum. Mark Littlewood, former
:15:00. > :15:04.press spokesperson - Really Mark Littlewood. He's been well gone from
:15:05. > :15:08.the party for a long time. He's one of the most right-wing commentators
:15:09. > :15:13.you could find. He says things have changed. It's a sensible reason to
:15:14. > :15:16.revisit. Nick Clegg, former Deputy Prime Minister talked about
:15:17. > :15:19.independence, there be a more compelling case for independence
:15:20. > :15:22.given the result of the Brexit vote. I don't know what quotes you're
:15:23. > :15:27.taking. That's not the quotes I have. Christopher Wilson, the youth
:15:28. > :15:31.activist, at your party conference, who said on independence he was a no
:15:32. > :15:32.supporter in 2014, then he saw was happened in the Brexit vote and
:15:33. > :15:44.changed his mind. You would be able to pick out one or
:15:45. > :15:48.two members. You can pick out one or to members within any political
:15:49. > :15:52.party who are sympathetic towards independence. The Liberal Democrats
:15:53. > :15:57.are against another independence referendum. I have said that very
:15:58. > :16:02.clearly. Very brief contributions from the two people I invited. I
:16:03. > :16:08.don't understand how you can say it is undemocratic. Scottish MSPs are
:16:09. > :16:13.elected by proportional representation. Surely that is more
:16:14. > :16:20.democratic and representative? You still got the result you do not
:16:21. > :16:23.want. I got a mandate last year in the Scottish Parliament elections to
:16:24. > :16:26.oppose another independence referendum whenever I have the
:16:27. > :16:30.opportunity to do so. That is exactly what I am doing. I'm going
:16:31. > :16:38.to let that be the last word. I am running out of time. Another
:16:39. > :16:46.question now. Our third question of the evening. It comes from Andrew
:16:47. > :16:51.McDonald, who is not with us in the studio audience this evening. He
:16:52. > :16:56.asks, should we aim to keep our taxes are with the rest of the UK to
:16:57. > :16:59.avoid the risk of wealth creators moving south? I think the main
:17:00. > :17:03.objective for the Scottish Parliament should be to decide what
:17:04. > :17:07.is best for Scotland one of the biggest challenges we have is
:17:08. > :17:10.getting the Scottish education system back up to the best it can be
:17:11. > :17:15.full to it used to be one of the best and it has now been judged as
:17:16. > :17:20.just average was that is why we are saying we should have a
:17:21. > :17:27.transformational investment in education. It is confusing. Let me
:17:28. > :17:30.explain you are talking big your policy for the Scottish Parliament
:17:31. > :17:34.and this is a UK general election for the question at the outset was
:17:35. > :17:41.about a principle. Should we keep taxes aligned in Scotland with that?
:17:42. > :17:45.This transformational investment will be for nurseries, schools and
:17:46. > :17:49.colleges where investment is required. Nursery education is one
:17:50. > :17:54.of the best educational investments you can possibly make in young
:17:55. > :17:58.people from two to four years old for that I think that investment is
:17:59. > :18:02.worthwhile, even if it is different for the rest of the United Kingdom.
:18:03. > :18:06.Scotland deserves an education system it can be proud of once
:18:07. > :18:10.again. Absolutely we should be pursuing that policy, even if it is
:18:11. > :18:20.different from the rest of the UK. In terms of the UK position, you go
:18:21. > :18:23.into the election proposing to put a penny on income tax at UK level.
:18:24. > :18:27.What impact would that have on the Holyrood budget? It is two separate
:18:28. > :18:30.pens. A penny for the rest of the United Kingdom which has been
:18:31. > :18:35.proposed by Tim Farron and then a penny for Scotland we have been
:18:36. > :18:39.arguing for. I'm hoping to persuade the Scottish Parliament to accept
:18:40. > :18:45.that as part of the next budget. The penny at the UK level is to spend on
:18:46. > :18:55.health and social care, presumably south of the border. Would a sheriff
:18:56. > :18:59.that come to Scotland? Through income tax, ?30 million would come
:19:00. > :19:04.north of the border. That is still deserved. That would be invested in
:19:05. > :19:07.mental health services to have a step change because mental health
:19:08. > :19:13.services are not good enough. With the penny that is proposed at UK
:19:14. > :19:20.level, what net impact would that have on the Holyrood budget? Would
:19:21. > :19:24.it go up or down? Apart from the 35mm handle so, it would have no
:19:25. > :19:32.other effect. The extra money would go towards mental health. -- the ?35
:19:33. > :19:35.million or so goes up there are other taxes, like corporation tax,
:19:36. > :19:40.which would apply across the United Kingdom. The extra revenues are
:19:41. > :19:47.there would be a Barnett Formula share for those. There are English,
:19:48. > :19:52.Welsh and Northern Irish and that would stay in those areas but we
:19:53. > :19:57.would not get a Barnett Formula consequential from that. A penny
:19:58. > :20:03.north of the border is what we are proposing. What happens if the penny
:20:04. > :20:09.goes on at the UK level question of what should happen in Scotland? ?35
:20:10. > :20:13.million extra to be invested. I can go through how the Barnett Formula
:20:14. > :20:19.works will dub it is ?35 billion extra a year that would go on mental
:20:20. > :20:24.health services. I come across an awful lot of people who are crying
:20:25. > :20:29.out for proper mental health support. There was a young mother
:20:30. > :20:32.the other day who told me about her daughter, who went to accident and
:20:33. > :20:38.emergency over the weekend and was sent home and told to see the GP on
:20:39. > :20:42.a Monday morning but no follow up support, no extra support which the
:20:43. > :20:48.family needed. That money would go into that we could have the change.
:20:49. > :20:56.Your priority, I thought, in raising tax in Scotland, was to spend on
:20:57. > :21:01.education above all else. The ?500 million would go towards education
:21:02. > :21:06.because Scottish education is stopping that. Though be a change in
:21:07. > :21:11.two sectors, mental health and education as a result of that. If
:21:12. > :21:20.the liberal democrats say extra is being paid, how much? If we get ?500
:21:21. > :21:27.million, we would be able to invest. How much I would income tax have to
:21:28. > :21:30.be? 1p. There was a hands up in the audience. Lady in the front row and
:21:31. > :21:40.a gentleman behind with the glasses. Thank you. Put more money in mental
:21:41. > :21:45.health is what you are saying. We don't want Apple to loads of money
:21:46. > :21:48.is going into mental health. It is not providing a service. It is
:21:49. > :21:55.making lawyers rich and the drugs companies buried rich and powerful.
:21:56. > :22:02.There are no human rights in mental health. -- very rich. It is creating
:22:03. > :22:08.a problem. You are paying lawyers to keep people locked up, drugged up
:22:09. > :22:15.and beaten up with no human rights. Not even the right to live. 78
:22:16. > :22:20.people year die in hospitals in Scotland from forced treatment which
:22:21. > :22:24.the UN is saying is illegal. The Scotland act says it has to be human
:22:25. > :22:28.right is compatible. The Mental Health Act so she can fall treat
:22:29. > :22:33.someone who is perfectly capable of saying no to drugs. Let's get a
:22:34. > :22:37.response to that. The human rights aspects are incredibly important. We
:22:38. > :22:41.can discuss afterwards about the particular cases you are concerned
:22:42. > :22:46.about. Of course human rights is a concern. What you need to recognise
:22:47. > :22:50.is that mental health services in Scotland are way below par. People
:22:51. > :22:56.are waiting up to two years. Waiting up to two years to get mental health
:22:57. > :22:59.treatment. It is not satisfactory. I disagree with you about how much
:23:00. > :23:05.money is going into mental health because it is not enough. The SNP
:23:06. > :23:11.mental health strategy was 15 months late. It used to be world leading.
:23:12. > :23:18.It is now 15 months behind schedule and money was left unspent. Mental
:23:19. > :23:22.health is a matter for the Holyrood parliament. We have six minutes
:23:23. > :23:29.left. Want to bring in the gentleman in the middle. That extra penny you
:23:30. > :23:35.talk about, would that have an effect on an ordinary person's pay?
:23:36. > :23:41.We would raise the tax thresholds so the personal allowance has gone up
:23:42. > :23:45.to about ?12,500. It takes a whole load of people out of tax
:23:46. > :23:51.altogether. It puts money back into people's pockets because of that. We
:23:52. > :23:55.can actually increase the income tax by 1p and actually protect low
:23:56. > :23:59.earners. That is the beauty of what we did when we were in government.
:24:00. > :24:00.You can now make that transformational investment in
:24:01. > :24:10.education which we need. Another question in the last five
:24:11. > :24:15.minutes. It comes from Stuart in Glasgow. In their wake of the recent
:24:16. > :24:20.attacks at Westminster, what measures do you think should be
:24:21. > :24:28.taken to maintain national-security? There are a number of different
:24:29. > :24:33.measures. We need the Prevent strategy to be scrapped. There are
:24:34. > :24:38.problems in engaging disaffected communities will stop there is huge
:24:39. > :24:43.distrust in that strategy. It needs to be community led. We need to make
:24:44. > :24:49.sure community services have the money they need to be able to tackle
:24:50. > :24:53.terrorism. We need to make sure the Scottish police force gets the extra
:24:54. > :24:58.investment it requires. We have set aside money as part of a costed
:24:59. > :25:03.proposal. The final one is international aid which may be
:25:04. > :25:08.counter intuitive. We need to invest in countries abroad with our big,
:25:09. > :25:15.international aid budget to try to prevent terrorism happening before
:25:16. > :25:18.it even starts for that dealing with the route conditions is
:25:19. > :25:23.comprehensive and rounded strategy for dealing with terrorism. Does it
:25:24. > :25:28.still makes sense to rollback states of valence powers? We have an
:25:29. > :25:32.extensive number of CCTV cameras around the country. It did not
:25:33. > :25:37.identify the bomber in Manchester. We need to protect the freedoms we
:25:38. > :25:42.cherish in this country and the terrorists hate. That is why they
:25:43. > :25:45.attacked us. If we can constantly improve and increase the valence
:25:46. > :25:54.across the country, or we are doing is undermining the freedoms we
:25:55. > :26:00.already have. These are developed online. Shouldn't the security
:26:01. > :26:12.service have greater access? There needs to be made sure that the state
:26:13. > :26:15.does not impinge on freedoms. I think it protects our freedoms and
:26:16. > :26:24.our security as well stop gentleman in the front row. On Friday, the man
:26:25. > :26:30.at the Manchester Central Mosque, when he was addressing the
:26:31. > :26:41.congregation, he said he thought the country, to defeat terrorism, they
:26:42. > :26:46.should be united and no tolerance. Do you think the media has a role to
:26:47. > :26:51.play in the way they portray terrorists in the aftermath of these
:26:52. > :27:00.kind of attacks? To think they are glorifying the acts? -- do you
:27:01. > :27:05.think? I think the media has got to be responsible. These events are
:27:06. > :27:10.pretty horrific, as well. I think people want to know what impact it
:27:11. > :27:17.has had on an individual's rights. I think the media by and large get it
:27:18. > :27:23.right but sometimes they get it wrong. They are sensitive. They want
:27:24. > :27:28.to tell the story in a sympathetic way. People have a right to know
:27:29. > :27:33.what happens. You have to make sure it is sensitive to people's feelings
:27:34. > :27:40.and beliefs. Our biggest allies in all of this are the good people in
:27:41. > :27:47.the mosques. I was in a mosque last Thursday. There were desperate to
:27:48. > :27:50.help the wider community. It is their problem as much as our problem
:27:51. > :27:56.and they want to eradicate terrorism from this country. We almost at the
:27:57. > :27:59.end of our time I wanted to finish by looking at some of the campaign
:28:00. > :28:06.images you have brought in recent times. From last year, it was Willie
:28:07. > :28:14.Rennie and the peaks. More recently, we have had Willie Rennie and I
:28:15. > :28:21.think it is a ram. Only this weekend, Willie Rennie and a pair of
:28:22. > :28:26.alpacas. What is it with you and animals? Everybody likes animals.
:28:27. > :28:35.They are all pretty. The ram was Rambus duress. The Packers, somebody
:28:36. > :28:43.said it would be an alpacalypse if the Liberal Democrats got into
:28:44. > :28:49.power. Elections can be very dry and dusty. We need more fun in election
:28:50. > :28:55.campaigns. It has been great fun having you here as our first leader
:28:56. > :29:00.in this series will hear from Kezia Dugdale on Tuesday. It is the turn
:29:01. > :29:04.of Ruth Davidson on Thursday. Thank you for watching.