Browse content similar to 05/03/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Hello and welcome to Politics Scotland. Coming up on the | :00:21. | :00:24. | |
programme: Currency in an independent Scotland. The debate | :00:25. | :00:27. | |
continues as the man who chairs the Scottish Government's Fiscal | :00:28. | :00:29. | |
Commission says the Chancellor's "not serious" in ruling out monetary | :00:30. | :00:42. | |
union. And here at Westminster, consensus and support for the | :00:43. | :00:44. | |
Ukraine, but consensus and support for the | :00:45. | :00:53. | |
our live debate in the chamber this afternoon. The Scottish Government | :00:54. | :00:55. | |
welcome the use of the latest technology in health care, but | :00:56. | :00:58. | |
Labour call for a fundamental review of the NHS. In Edinburgh and London, | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
finance and the economy are once again proving central to the | :01:03. | :01:06. | |
independence debate. In Holyrood this morning, Crawford Beveridge, | :01:07. | :01:08. | |
the chair of the Scottish Government's Fiscal Commission, | :01:09. | :01:10. | |
questioned the Chancellor's assertion there wouldn't be a | :01:11. | :01:13. | |
monetary union after a Yes vote, saying he "wasn't serious". | :01:14. | :01:16. | |
Meanwhile, arguments continue over the economic outlook of an | :01:17. | :01:18. | |
independent Scotland and London's dominance of the UK economy. First, | :01:19. | :01:30. | |
here's Mr Beveridge in committee. In our opinion, economic 's will trump | :01:31. | :01:35. | |
the politics and good heads will prevail in a yes vote. We would not | :01:36. | :01:40. | |
want to talk about an alternative plan, we would say there are lots of | :01:41. | :01:44. | |
options, but at this moment our advice would be to go down the path | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
of recommending to the government that they stick with the monetary | :01:50. | :01:55. | |
union, we will spend some time on the Fiscal Commission working group, | :01:56. | :02:00. | |
trying to help the rest of the UK understand the strong advantage is | :02:01. | :02:03. | |
to that and the strong disadvantages there would be if they went against | :02:04. | :02:09. | |
that. I'm now joined in the studio by the former director of the | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
Scottish Conservatives and now a PR executive, Moray Macdonald, he's our | :02:14. | :02:15. | |
political commentator for the afternoon... Good afternoon. First | :02:16. | :02:22. | |
of all, let us look at what he was saying on the economy committee this | :02:23. | :02:26. | |
morning. Interesting to see that he is going with the line that the | :02:27. | :02:32. | |
Chancellor is bluffing. He is meeting tomorrow with experts. This | :02:33. | :02:39. | |
is the line they will person who. That is the way that the campaign | :02:40. | :02:49. | |
has to go -- per suing. If they are seen to switch tack, it will load | :02:50. | :02:56. | |
very bad and it will look as though they have not thought through their | :02:57. | :03:02. | |
ideas. Their plea is simple, they believe that an independent Scotland | :03:03. | :03:05. | |
would be best to keep the pound and I cannot see that they will change. | :03:06. | :03:11. | |
What happens after the referendum, is different. We are talking about | :03:12. | :03:17. | |
the economic outlook for an independent Scotland. The speech by | :03:18. | :03:24. | |
Alex Salmond in London yesterday was talking about the dominance of | :03:25. | :03:28. | |
London in the UK economy and he called it a dark Star and suggested | :03:29. | :03:34. | |
that Scotland could be the north and lights. What is your view? -- | :03:35. | :03:42. | |
norther lights. There is no doubt that London dominates the UK | :03:43. | :03:48. | |
economy. That has always been an issue, not just for Scotland, but | :03:49. | :03:55. | |
the English regions. This is an interesting part of his argument | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
about what he wants to achieve with independence. He wants to try and | :04:00. | :04:05. | |
create an aspirational Scotland, where entrepreneurs and businesses | :04:06. | :04:09. | |
are attracted to something that might allow growth. Thank you. Let's | :04:10. | :04:16. | |
get some political reaction to might allow growth. Thank you. Let's | :04:17. | :04:19. | |
now from the Garden Lobby at Holyrood. I'm joined by the SNP's | :04:20. | :04:22. | |
Christian Allard, Iain Gray for Labour, and from the | :04:23. | :04:27. | |
Christian Allard, Iain Gray for we have Murdo Fraser. Good | :04:28. | :04:31. | |
afternoon. Thank you for joining me. We were hearing from Crawford | :04:32. | :04:36. | |
Beveridge this morning and it looks like it is the first plan all along. | :04:37. | :04:45. | |
Is this a serious line of argument that you are per suing? Is a | :04:46. | :04:53. | |
currency union the best -- that you are going after. Crawford Beveridge | :04:54. | :05:03. | |
with his group have been sitting and looking at alternatives and that was | :05:04. | :05:09. | |
the best option. That is not the language we want to hear. It is | :05:10. | :05:19. | |
better to have one plan. It is the Chancellor who is using plan a and | :05:20. | :05:29. | |
plan B. Perhaps he will have questions to answer. He has not been | :05:30. | :05:41. | |
very cooperative. The governor of the Bank of England needs to speak | :05:42. | :05:44. | |
to the Scottish Government about all the options. You still insist they | :05:45. | :05:53. | |
are bluffing. We all think so. It is common sense, it is not a question | :05:54. | :06:00. | |
of politics, what will prevail after a Yes vote will be common sense. | :06:01. | :06:08. | |
What will prevail after the vote? A currency union might be the best | :06:09. | :06:15. | |
option? After the vote, the Chancellor of the UK will decide | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
solely on the basis of the rest of the United Kingdom. He will do that | :06:20. | :06:26. | |
on the advice of treasury. The Treasury's advice is that we should | :06:27. | :06:31. | |
refuse to take part in a currency union. The current Chancellor has | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
said he would accept that advice and the next Chancellor has said he | :06:37. | :06:41. | |
would accept that advice. The currency union will not happen and | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
simply to stick your fingers in your ears and say we are not listening is | :06:47. | :06:52. | |
an irresponsible response from what is supposed to be a Scottish | :06:53. | :06:58. | |
Government. Murdo Fraser, U2 are joined at the hip on this. -- you | :06:59. | :07:09. | |
two. He said it would be rational -- rational and sensible. What about | :07:10. | :07:19. | |
what happens after a Yes vote? It is not up to just Scotland what happens | :07:20. | :07:24. | |
to the pound. It is up to the rest of the UK. The most interesting part | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
of the evidence was there compelling response from important academics. | :07:30. | :07:41. | |
These are independent academics like David Bell, Angus Armstrong and | :07:42. | :07:52. | |
others, all saying the same thing, that the response | :07:53. | :07:57. | |
others, all saying the same thing, Osborne, Ed Balls and Danny | :07:58. | :07:58. | |
Alexander is understandable Osborne, Ed Balls and Danny | :07:59. | :08:02. | |
attach to the rest of the UK economy Osborne, Ed Balls and Danny | :08:03. | :08:09. | |
Scotland. We need to listen, not to the partisan voices, but to the | :08:10. | :08:13. | |
independent experts who say that George Osborne and company are quite | :08:14. | :08:18. | |
right to say this. The people bluffing IDS MP and the Fiscal | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
Commission. They are putting their heads in the sand and not coming up | :08:24. | :08:31. | |
with a Plan B. Alex Salmond was in London yesterday. He was talking | :08:32. | :08:38. | |
about the dominance of London and the UK economy will stop --. Is a | :08:39. | :08:52. | |
dominant London as successful London and that is good for the rest of the | :08:53. | :09:04. | |
UK? Vince Cable is a dark Star. Vince Cable said that London was | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
taking the light out of the rest of the UK. The First Minister needs to | :09:09. | :09:17. | |
come to London and speak to everyone, not like the Prime | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
Minister. He made it clear that what we would like to be is giving a | :09:22. | :09:28. | |
shining example to the rest of the UK, what the rest of the UK could | :09:29. | :09:35. | |
be. It is not all about London. This is an awkward position for a Labour, | :09:36. | :09:40. | |
because in some ways you want to fight against what the SMP are | :09:41. | :09:45. | |
saying, but norther in England misses out to London -- SNP. Much of | :09:46. | :10:03. | |
our financial services industry in Edinburgh is successful because we | :10:04. | :10:07. | |
are part of the same country as the City of London. To separate those | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
links would damage those industries which employ thousands of people, | :10:14. | :10:18. | |
particularly in the East of Scotland. That is why we are seeing | :10:19. | :10:27. | |
the warning from Standard Life. A lot of their customers are self of | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
the border and want to be part of the same regime in London -- south. | :10:32. | :10:38. | |
They are making contingency plans to leave Scotland and that would be | :10:39. | :10:45. | |
disastrous. Once again, the SNP put their fingers in their ears and say | :10:46. | :10:48. | |
they do not mean what they are saying. It is time they started | :10:49. | :10:57. | |
listening. Murdo Fraser, there was a documentary on BBC Two on Monday, | :10:58. | :11:02. | |
they were talking to Boris Johnson and he said that if there was more | :11:03. | :11:06. | |
jam for London, it would flow out to the rest of the UK. Is London's | :11:07. | :11:12. | |
dominance not good for Scotland and the North of England? The important | :11:13. | :11:19. | |
point is what difference would independence make. Even if you | :11:20. | :11:25. | |
accept the permanent -- premise that London is too dominant and there are | :11:26. | :11:30. | |
different views, how does independence help? If you look at | :11:31. | :11:34. | |
the Irish economy, it is equally affected by the dominance of London | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
despite the fact they are independent. By becoming | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
despite the fact they are independent, we cut ourselves off | :11:44. | :11:45. | |
from some of the economic success that flows from London and some of | :11:46. | :11:51. | |
the benefits of being part of that union which will only exist if we | :11:52. | :11:57. | |
vote Noel in the referendum. What that out the Aberdeen question? What | :11:58. | :12:10. | |
was your reaction to that? It is ridiculous. I do not know if anyone | :12:11. | :12:16. | |
knows about Willie Young, he is not the leader. There is a problem of | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
leadership in that council and I would want to see Aberdeen in the | :12:22. | :12:31. | |
news for another reason. It is a positive destination. Was he an | :12:32. | :12:44. | |
embarrassment to Aberdeen? There has been embarrassment on both sides of | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
this dispute. The First Minister said a letter to them using language | :12:50. | :12:55. | |
which the First Minister should never use. The idea of banning the | :12:56. | :13:01. | |
First Minister from buildings in Aberdeen does not make sense and I | :13:02. | :13:05. | |
believe that is not going ahead in the discussions in the council. We | :13:06. | :13:11. | |
have to leave it there. Thank you all very much. Let's head to our | :13:12. | :13:20. | |
live debate in the chamber at Holyrood now. It's a Scottish | :13:21. | :13:23. | |
Government debate on the use of technology in the health service, | :13:24. | :13:27. | |
saying how that can help people live longer, healthier lives in their own | :13:28. | :13:30. | |
homes. Labour welcome that, but are calling for a full, independent | :13:31. | :13:33. | |
review of the health service to identify pressure points. First of | :13:34. | :13:36. | |
all, let's hear from the Health Secretary Alex Neil... Those digital | :13:37. | :13:38. | |
health leaders agree with me that there is an opportunity to stab up | :13:39. | :13:44. | |
the pace of change and the scale of change and to exploit significant | :13:45. | :13:48. | |
investments made in the core infrastructure. While we are ahead | :13:49. | :13:53. | |
of the game, we need to ensure that we focus our energies and support | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
digital technologies to step up the pace of delivery for our 2020 | :13:59. | :14:05. | |
priorities of person centred effective and high quality safe | :14:06. | :14:09. | |
health and social care. Many members will be familiar of the reviews of | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
national health technology programmes south of the border and | :14:15. | :14:17. | |
the astronomical cost with little to show from much of that investment. | :14:18. | :14:24. | |
That unsuccessful approach has failed for many reasons, including a | :14:25. | :14:30. | |
lack of collaboration with service providers and bad public | :14:31. | :14:34. | |
consultation. The Scottish Government recognises the risks. We | :14:35. | :14:39. | |
have taken a consultative approach with patience, made improvements | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
based on clinical leadership and local innovation and we have | :14:44. | :14:48. | |
recognised that the technology is an enabler to achieving a 2020 vision | :14:49. | :15:04. | |
and not an end in its own right. I want to highlight some examples of | :15:05. | :15:07. | |
where technology is delivering for patients in Scotland and where we | :15:08. | :15:10. | |
can do more. In Renfrewshire, people with dementia have been able to stay | :15:11. | :15:13. | |
in their own homes for two years longer than expected. It is an | :15:14. | :15:17. | |
effective use of resources. The project | :15:18. | :15:20. | |
effective use of resources. The has been put back into | :15:21. | :15:30. | |
effective use of resources. The vulnerable people in Scotland | :15:31. | :15:32. | |
received telecare services last year. In east Ayrshire, at Govan in | :15:33. | :15:40. | |
south air share and parts of north Ayrshire has shown that telehealth | :15:41. | :15:45. | |
has reduced emergency admissions by 70%. And GP appointments by 26% for | :15:46. | :15:52. | |
patients with chronic lung diseases. There's more to come. Already over | :15:53. | :15:57. | |
8,000 people have been involved in the initial planning stage of Living | :15:58. | :16:04. | |
It Up, our innovative ?10 million partnership programme with the UK | :16:05. | :16:09. | |
technology strategy board. It uses televisions and smartphones to help | :16:10. | :16:13. | |
people manage their own health and wellbeing at home. I think we would | :16:14. | :16:17. | |
all agree that self management has a big role to play in the future | :16:18. | :16:22. | |
delivery of health and social care. There's clearly a demand for all of | :16:23. | :16:28. | |
these areas of work, but we want to do much more. I want to see it all | :16:29. | :16:33. | |
happen with a greater pace across the health and Sorbol social care | :16:34. | :16:37. | |
sector in Scotland. I'm therefore pleased to confirm to the chamber | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
that an additional ?10 million of funding will be provided to NHS | :16:42. | :16:46. | |
boards to support the expansion of home health monitoring solutions | :16:47. | :16:52. | |
across Scotland as part of an integrated care package. In the will | :16:53. | :16:57. | |
help us deliver real results in telehealth and telecare over the | :16:58. | :17:02. | |
next two years. We must not forget the emerging technologies we are | :17:03. | :17:05. | |
developing with partners to support future healthcare models. I was | :17:06. | :17:10. | |
delighted when thanks to a ?10 million investment from the Scottish | :17:11. | :17:15. | |
Funding Council, the Digital Health Institute was launched last year. | :17:16. | :17:20. | |
This innovative partnership between healthcare providers, industry and | :17:21. | :17:24. | |
academia will create the next generation of technology. I've | :17:25. | :17:27. | |
outlined how patients in Scotland are already seeing benefits from | :17:28. | :17:32. | |
digital technology, but they rightly expect more. In a world where | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
technology allows us to access information at the touch of a button | :17:37. | :17:41. | |
we must also support people electronically to interact with | :17:42. | :17:44. | |
their healthcare services. Today I can also confirm that I am setting | :17:45. | :17:50. | |
the ambitious goal of creating a personalised electronic patient | :17:51. | :17:56. | |
record for every patient in Scotland and every citizen in Scotland by | :17:57. | :18:03. | |
2020 at the latest. This will allow people to digitally access and | :18:04. | :18:07. | |
jointly manage the health and care information that's important to them | :18:08. | :18:11. | |
and their wellbeing. Involving people and co-producing their rods | :18:12. | :18:16. | |
ensures that complex clinical information is explained to the | :18:17. | :18:20. | |
patient. This can bolster the relationship between patients and | :18:21. | :18:24. | |
clinicians and promote patient and pourment. It will build upon a | :18:25. | :18:28. | |
series of building blocks that we already have in place. Award-winning | :18:29. | :18:36. | |
key information summary, Kes, is an excellent example of clinicians and | :18:37. | :18:42. | |
patients working together. It is now supporting more than 76,000 | :18:43. | :18:46. | |
vulnerable people to live safe and secure lives. We need to develop an | :18:47. | :18:51. | |
approach to handling information that keeps everyone in whiched, | :18:52. | :18:53. | |
engaged and aware. I've asked for that keeps everyone in whiched, | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
clear and effective risk-based that keeps everyone in whiched, | :18:59. | :19:00. | |
models to be developed to ensure that | :19:01. | :19:04. | |
models to be developed to ensure system. Some of our patients have | :19:05. | :19:07. | |
direct access to online records and advice to support greater | :19:08. | :19:09. | |
direct access to online records and interaction with their clinicians. | :19:10. | :19:14. | |
Take the examples of my diabetes my way, supporting nearly 5,000 people | :19:15. | :19:20. | |
with diabetes and renal patient view supporting over 4,000 people, which | :19:21. | :19:26. | |
were developed by clinicians to support patients to live fully | :19:27. | :19:30. | |
active lives in their own homes. In response to patient demands, | :19:31. | :19:35. | |
technology systems within GP practices are starting to offer | :19:36. | :19:40. | |
online trans transactional services such as online bookings, repeat | :19:41. | :19:46. | |
prescriptions and test results. This service needs to be available to | :19:47. | :19:49. | |
everybody in Scotland as soon as possible. We need individuals to | :19:50. | :19:54. | |
participate in their own health and care, designing solutions that fit | :19:55. | :20:01. | |
their needs. I've had highlighted how digital technology is delivering | :20:02. | :20:05. | |
to patients. There season element which may not be visible to | :20:06. | :20:09. | |
patients, but it is how technology will mean that the NHS in Scotland | :20:10. | :20:14. | |
will be working smarter and more flexibly and cost effectively in the | :20:15. | :20:18. | |
delivery of services. We have to recognise that new ways of working | :20:19. | :20:21. | |
will be required and there needs to be a big shift in embedded cultures | :20:22. | :20:26. | |
and practices. These are tricky challenges to address. But through | :20:27. | :20:30. | |
strong leadership and the commitment of a workforce that's already valued | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
service improvement, we intend to meet these challenges head on. We've | :20:36. | :20:42. | |
already seen how technology advances supports effective service redesign. | :20:43. | :20:47. | |
Take a telestroke service. This has led to a 151% increase the treatment | :20:48. | :21:03. | |
rates for strokes, thrum whole owes is -- thrombosis. | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
We need to support... That was Alex Neil, the Health Secretary speaking | :21:09. | :21:12. | |
in Parliament. Charities have been telling MSPs the | :21:13. | :21:15. | |
growing demand for food banks is linked to the UK Government's | :21:16. | :21:18. | |
welfare reforms. Speaking to the Scottish Parliament's Welfare Reform | :21:19. | :21:20. | |
Committee, the Trussell Trust described the sharp increase in | :21:21. | :21:23. | |
those requiring help as "terrifying". The UK Government says | :21:24. | :21:26. | |
that by offering free provisions, food banks themselves are helping to | :21:27. | :21:32. | |
increase the demand for their use. I think if you consider the facta | :21:33. | :21:40. | |
there was only 5,762 men women and children that utilised the Trussell | :21:41. | :21:47. | |
Trust food bank in Scotland in 2011-2012 and 14,318 in 2012-13 it | :21:48. | :21:54. | |
is terrifying that the number has risen to over 56,000. We are not | :21:55. | :21:58. | |
even at the end of this financial year. We'll know what that actual | :21:59. | :22:01. | |
number looks like by the end of this month. But that's an exponential | :22:02. | :22:08. | |
rise in the demand for emergency food relief. I think there's a | :22:09. | :22:11. | |
number of things that we can take from our statistics that link that | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
to welfare reform. I think one of the things I would like to refer to | :22:17. | :22:20. | |
before that is the Scottish Government report that was released | :22:21. | :22:25. | |
in December. It indicated that providers who participated in the | :22:26. | :22:33. | |
study were in agreementa welfare reform benefit -- recent | :22:34. | :22:37. | |
study were in agreementa welfare driving the recent | :22:38. | :22:41. | |
study were in agreementa welfare me is clear. I have | :22:42. | :22:45. | |
study were in agreementa welfare lunch, an evening meal and cup of | :22:46. | :22:50. | |
tea before go to bed. It is some power if I were to decide if someone | :22:51. | :23:02. | |
eats or are they no gon na, e eat? I was brought up with parents that | :23:03. | :23:07. | |
brought me up to believe that those that can should do for those that | :23:08. | :23:15. | |
can't. Powers that be. It is time we woke up to reality. We don't need | :23:16. | :23:23. | |
meetings to decide, is it benefit cuts, has it got anything to do with | :23:24. | :23:28. | |
food banks. Let's be truthful about the situation. The situation is | :23:29. | :23:33. | |
people are getting penalised for being poor. For no having the | :23:34. | :23:41. | |
ability, through not having a job. Go a food bank. | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
But the Scottish Conservatives have defended the UK Government's welfare | :23:46. | :23:48. | |
reforms, saying they were necessary to tackle the current culture. | :23:49. | :23:52. | |
Scotland's mistake of fostering dependency in many areas has not | :23:53. | :23:56. | |
been good for the people who've been left dependent. As a result, a | :23:57. | :24:00. | |
programme of welfare reform is essential. Moray Macdonald is still | :24:01. | :24:10. | |
with me here in the studio. First of all we are hearing from the Welfare | :24:11. | :24:16. | |
Reform Committee, the welfare reform is proving extremely controversial | :24:17. | :24:21. | |
for the UK Government, the so-called bedroom traffic, the food bank issue | :24:22. | :24:25. | |
and its playing a role in the independence debate as well. Welfare | :24:26. | :24:29. | |
reform is always going to be controversial, no matter which party | :24:30. | :24:32. | |
is in power. One of the interesting things if you look at opinion polls | :24:33. | :24:37. | |
in the UK, but particularly in England, there is broad public | :24:38. | :24:40. | |
support for the changes that Iain Duncan Smith and George Osborne are | :24:41. | :24:43. | |
pushing through. The issue with the food banks is very interesting. | :24:44. | :24:48. | |
There is a real issue here in terms of supply and demand. I think more | :24:49. | :24:52. | |
and more food banks are being supplied by charities, churches and | :24:53. | :24:56. | |
other sources. I think of course numbers are going to rise. If people | :24:57. | :25:01. | |
are being offered free parcels of food, more and more people will want | :25:02. | :25:05. | |
to use them. It is a controversial issue, because it is being used by | :25:06. | :25:10. | |
some perhaps to show that people are living in poverty, but food banks | :25:11. | :25:18. | |
weren't as popular as they were ten years ago. It was hard to find them | :25:19. | :25:23. | |
ten years ago. Their availability increases demand. I think it does | :25:24. | :25:28. | |
increase demand. Yes there are more of them than there were ten years | :25:29. | :25:34. | |
ago. It is a relatively new concept, I think it is good that there are | :25:35. | :25:39. | |
charities who are willing to step in for those needing them. People | :25:40. | :25:42. | |
shouldn't be in that situation but some are. The availability of them | :25:43. | :25:46. | |
is causing issues. If you link this to the referendum debate, where it | :25:47. | :25:49. | |
is interesting is picking up on the comments of the IFS yesterday, where | :25:50. | :25:56. | |
they said yes, the finances under independence could be OK, could be | :25:57. | :26:01. | |
quite good, but it would require John Swinney or whoever is | :26:02. | :26:04. | |
Chancellor after independence to stick to similar fiscal rules that | :26:05. | :26:08. | |
George Osborne has. That will mean we'll have to have similar types of | :26:09. | :26:13. | |
welfare levels that we do have. In some ways that's esoteric isn't it? | :26:14. | :26:19. | |
Stories of people having to walk 12 miles to get to a food bank. It | :26:20. | :26:27. | |
sounds positively voirn. -- Victorian. It does. The Government | :26:28. | :26:31. | |
should ensure that those most in need are able to get it. But the | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
clear point from a referendum angle is being independence won't solve | :26:37. | :26:40. | |
this programme. We'll still have people requiring welfare after | :26:41. | :26:44. | |
independence and people who are very poor. Point the IFS makes is | :26:45. | :26:49. | |
there'll still have to be strict financial controls. Controversy | :26:50. | :26:54. | |
about welfare reforms and about another keynote to Conservative | :26:55. | :26:59. | |
issue, immigration. Stories that the UK Government is withholding a | :27:00. | :27:03. | |
report about immigration which shows that immigration has had no impact | :27:04. | :27:09. | |
on the jobs situation of the UK citizens, which is not something | :27:10. | :27:13. | |
that the Conservatives want to hear is it? No, it is not. The | :27:14. | :27:17. | |
Conservatives made a major pledge as part of their manifesto that they | :27:18. | :27:22. | |
would drastically cut the amount of immigration coming into the UK. That | :27:23. | :27:25. | |
was about trying to protect, as they put it, British jobs. The line, | :27:26. | :27:31. | |
"British jobs for British people.". They will be embarrassed by this | :27:32. | :27:36. | |
report. I suspect we'll see it published soon, but the key thing in | :27:37. | :27:41. | |
this report is talking about non-EU immigration. There is an issue I | :27:42. | :27:45. | |
think in terms of if you look at opinion polls, some people, | :27:46. | :27:49. | |
particularly the south of England, do have concerns about immigration. | :27:50. | :27:54. | |
But that's primarily EU immigration, which this report doesn't look at. | :27:55. | :28:01. | |
Nigel Farage was saying the report referred to non-EU immigration. He | :28:02. | :28:06. | |
wants it to look at EU immigration, because he thinks EU immigrants are | :28:07. | :28:11. | |
taking British people's jobs. This is a con stat refrain of his. There | :28:12. | :28:16. | |
is a European election coming up. Clearly he believe this is the | :28:17. | :28:20. | |
fertile ground for him. There is no doubt that in some parts of the | :28:21. | :28:24. | |
country this is fertile ground. There is a feeling, we've seen | :28:25. | :28:29. | |
Romania now has free access to the UK. There is a feeling among some | :28:30. | :28:33. | |
sectors, particularly those likely to vote UKIP, that there is an issue | :28:34. | :28:37. | |
here that needs to be dealt with. Thank you. | :28:38. | :28:45. | |
Let's head back to Holyrood. The Government Government emphasising | :28:46. | :28:48. | |
the use of technology to allow people to live longer and healthier | :28:49. | :28:54. | |
lives in their own homes. We are hearing from Labour now. 2013 showed | :28:55. | :29:01. | |
a patchy response except in the field of implementing video | :29:02. | :29:07. | |
conferencing. I very much welcome the launch in September and October | :29:08. | :29:13. | |
last year of the digitalta Health Institute. Its aim is to establish | :29:14. | :29:19. | |
120 innovative collaborations and release 140 products and services. I | :29:20. | :29:26. | |
wish it well. Empowering patients is essential for self management. This | :29:27. | :29:31. | |
does mean access to things like the key information summary across | :29:32. | :29:35. | |
Scotland. I want to add my congratulations to Dr Libby Morris | :29:36. | :29:40. | |
and her team for their success and winners as the major excellence in | :29:41. | :29:46. | |
healthcare IT awards category in 2013. KISS | :29:47. | :29:49. | |
healthcare IT awards category in records system in Scotland are | :29:50. | :30:00. | |
healthcare IT awards category in indeed a success story. I want to | :30:01. | :30:05. | |
turn to IT. This is an area which promises much, but in Scotland it is | :30:06. | :30:12. | |
fragmented. We have avoided the massive implosion system that was so | :30:13. | :30:17. | |
expensive in England, but we have had problems. The Cabinet secretary | :30:18. | :30:25. | |
did not mention the failure of one project at a course of ?56 million. | :30:26. | :30:32. | |
There is the needle exchange system, developed at the cost of a | :30:33. | :30:37. | |
quarter of ?1 million, which was only used by one area in Scotland. I | :30:38. | :30:43. | |
have an area of personal interest as a previous clinician in our failure | :30:44. | :30:48. | |
to develop a system for drugs and alcohol which I called for in 2003. | :30:49. | :31:00. | |
Now we have a system, but that is ten years later and it is a national | :31:01. | :31:05. | |
system. Glasgow has tried to develop a system and I hope it will be built | :31:06. | :31:15. | |
on. We have undertaken a series of projects in the past six months and | :31:16. | :31:20. | |
this has demonstrated a number of disturbing features. There is only | :31:21. | :31:24. | |
one health board in Scotland which met the standard for IT. Another | :31:25. | :31:37. | |
area has shown not one, but 252 interruptions in IT services over | :31:38. | :31:41. | |
three years. It has shown three health boards, who could not even | :31:42. | :31:48. | |
tell us whether there had been entered up -- interruptions. This is | :31:49. | :31:53. | |
not satisfactory. The recent collapse of the Glasgow IT system | :31:54. | :31:57. | |
with its potential for damaging clinical consequences produced a | :31:58. | :32:02. | |
first report which could not find a cause and that was worrying, but it | :32:03. | :32:07. | |
went on to recommend quite expensive measures and how can that be done, | :32:08. | :32:11. | |
if you do not know what the cause of the original failure was? This is an | :32:12. | :32:19. | |
area crying out for a formal inspection of the resilience of our | :32:20. | :32:24. | |
IT systems across all health boards in Scotland. Devolving most of the | :32:25. | :32:29. | |
IT budgets to 14 different health boards, in my view, following the | :32:30. | :32:36. | |
report by the Nao Chief Executive of Glasgow health board, was an | :32:37. | :32:40. | |
aggregation of the central leadership necessary. It allows the | :32:41. | :32:48. | |
growth of fragmented IT systems. For example, this is from my recent | :32:49. | :32:51. | |
experience, Tayside consultants cannot access lab results for | :32:52. | :32:57. | |
patients in Fife. They see quite a number. The clinical Portal system | :32:58. | :33:13. | |
is only just in place after five years and is not accessible across | :33:14. | :33:17. | |
managed care networks and is only accessible in a cumbersome way in | :33:18. | :33:21. | |
which clinicians have to enter a different systems and they say it is | :33:22. | :33:26. | |
cumbersome. Our only major success which I would not criticise has been | :33:27. | :33:31. | |
cumbersome. Our only major success the radiology system which is | :33:32. | :33:34. | |
world-class. I think younger health professionals | :33:35. | :33:37. | |
world-class. I think younger health I am, by our failure to adopt | :33:38. | :33:43. | |
digital solutions. They use iPads extensively, but they are back to | :33:44. | :33:49. | |
pencil and paper on hospital wards. I saw vast paper records in the | :33:50. | :33:57. | |
wards. There is a lack of a prospective system of ensuring | :33:58. | :34:00. | |
patient confidentiality in IT systems. This is in breach of the EU | :34:01. | :34:10. | |
legal case and is worrying. We had an mother FOIA, which looked at the | :34:11. | :34:13. | |
access to electronic data and this showed that Lothian was reporting | :34:14. | :34:25. | |
700 and 94 breaches in two years, but at least they have a system and | :34:26. | :34:28. | |
they are showing a reduction. The other boards do not have systems or | :34:29. | :34:36. | |
are reporting unbelievable results, Glasgow ten breaches, five reported | :34:37. | :34:42. | |
a rising trend, Dumfries and Galloway has recorded 23 in six | :34:43. | :34:49. | |
months, but I have no confidence in the other boards protecting patient | :34:50. | :34:54. | |
data. The last Secretary made a promise that patients by 2015 would | :34:55. | :34:59. | |
have access to a betrayal of all those who were looking at their | :35:00. | :35:04. | |
clinical data and I wonder if the Secretary would update us on that | :35:05. | :35:11. | |
promise. This is an area the government must get a grip on. Now | :35:12. | :35:19. | |
to Prime Minister's Questions and David Cameron said "no options" | :35:20. | :35:22. | |
should be ruled out in efforts to exert pressure on Russia over its | :35:23. | :35:25. | |
incursion into Ukraine. The Labour leader Ed Miliband said economic | :35:26. | :35:27. | |
sanctions should still be considered. Mr Cameron told MPs | :35:28. | :35:30. | |
there would be no Royal representation at the Sochi | :35:31. | :35:33. | |
Paralympic Games and warned the forthcoming G8 meeting might not go | :35:34. | :35:39. | |
ahead. The whole house and the whole country has been watching events in | :35:40. | :35:43. | |
Ukraine with concern, does the Prime Minister agree that Russia's | :35:44. | :35:50. | |
actions, violating the sovereignty of Ukraine, are completely without | :35:51. | :35:55. | |
justification? Does he further agree that these actions deserve to be | :35:56. | :35:58. | |
condemned across the international community? I agree with him that | :35:59. | :36:06. | |
what Russia has done is completely unacceptable. We should be clear | :36:07. | :36:11. | |
about our national interest and our aim in this, our national interest | :36:12. | :36:15. | |
is that we have a strong interest in the rule of law being upheld, were | :36:16. | :36:22. | |
territorial integrity is protected and we should be clear that our aim | :36:23. | :36:28. | |
is to deter further Russian military action and to de-escalate the | :36:29. | :36:33. | |
situation. The action by the Russian government should be condemned. When | :36:34. | :36:39. | |
he was leader of the opposition in 2008, he said that Russia's elite | :36:40. | :36:46. | |
value their ties to Europe, Russian armies cannot march into other | :36:47. | :36:50. | |
countries while Russian shoppers march into Selfridges, if we do not | :36:51. | :36:53. | |
see the required action from Russia, we could look at asset freezes and | :36:54. | :37:00. | |
travel restrictions, so that Russia is clear about the consequences of | :37:01. | :37:06. | |
its actions? When we look at the diplomatic and political steps we | :37:07. | :37:09. | |
can take, nothing should be off the table. We have taken steps in terms | :37:10. | :37:15. | |
of the Ukrainian corrupt oligarchs and making sure that their assets | :37:16. | :37:19. | |
are properly dealt with including here in the UK, so we should not | :37:20. | :37:24. | |
rule out other things, but as I have tried to explain, there are steps we | :37:25. | :37:29. | |
need to take in respect of the current unacceptable situation and | :37:30. | :37:33. | |
then agree with our European partners and American partners and I | :37:34. | :37:36. | |
will be speaking to President Obama this afternoon and meeting with | :37:37. | :37:46. | |
Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande before the European Council and | :37:47. | :37:48. | |
agree what steps should be taken. Two: Side with the launch on youth | :37:49. | :37:52. | |
unemployment, figures have been published in the library which show | :37:53. | :37:56. | |
us that despite the figures the Prime Minister has quoted that the | :37:57. | :38:01. | |
dole queue for under 25 is reaches from London to Edinburgh, can he | :38:02. | :38:06. | |
tell us, does he think that that reflect success in his policy and | :38:07. | :38:12. | |
will he meet us to discuss long-term solutions about this? Of course | :38:13. | :38:17. | |
there are still too many people unemployed, but the fact is there | :38:18. | :38:22. | |
are 1.6 million new private-sector jobs, 1.3 million more people in | :38:23. | :38:28. | |
work, big cuts in unemployment, big reductions in the claimant count and | :38:29. | :38:33. | |
almost half a million fewer people reliant on out of work benefits. | :38:34. | :38:38. | |
That is what we want to do and we have not forgotten the record of the | :38:39. | :38:44. | |
Labour Party. Female unemployment rose by 24% and youth unemployment | :38:45. | :38:49. | |
went up by 45%. Instead of giving lectures, they should make an | :38:50. | :38:55. | |
apology. It is good use he has resuscitated plans for a recall bill | :38:56. | :38:59. | |
but can he confirmed that he intends to push ahead with a genuine system | :39:00. | :39:05. | |
of recall and not fall back on the widely discredited Bill? It will be | :39:06. | :39:16. | |
difficult to satisfy him. We should proceed, taking the draft clauses, | :39:17. | :39:20. | |
taking them as a starting point for what I think would be an excellent | :39:21. | :39:25. | |
reform, a reform we committed to in our manifesto, -- manifesto. If | :39:26. | :39:32. | |
members of Parliament are seriously in breach of standards and judged to | :39:33. | :39:36. | |
be so, they should not have to wait for a General Election to receive | :39:37. | :39:40. | |
the verdict of their constituents. Let's stay at Westminster now and | :39:41. | :39:43. | |
speak to our correspondent David Porter, he's standing by as usual on | :39:44. | :39:47. | |
College Green for us this afternoon. David... A different feel to | :39:48. | :39:55. | |
Question Time today, because the leader of the Labour Party decided | :39:56. | :39:59. | |
he would use all his questions to talk about the crisis in Ukraine? | :40:00. | :40:05. | |
Prime Minister's Questions. That is what we will be talking about. I am | :40:06. | :40:15. | |
joined by three Scottish MPs. Let me start with you. A different feeling | :40:16. | :40:25. | |
in the Commons, not the political row that everyone realise, Ukraine | :40:26. | :40:29. | |
is hugely important issue, but perhaps one that the UK is not a | :40:30. | :40:35. | |
leading player in? Mines were focused somewhere else today and | :40:36. | :40:40. | |
rightly so. The crucial thing that happens is a de-escalation and it is | :40:41. | :40:47. | |
welcome that Europe is getting involved and sending observers. | :40:48. | :40:53. | |
David Cameron is meeting at the EU tomorrow and we wish him well and we | :40:54. | :41:00. | |
hope the emphasis will be on the escalating the issues and we find a | :41:01. | :41:08. | |
peaceful resolution. There are a lot of meetings going on, there are | :41:09. | :41:21. | |
meetings in Paris, the European Commission heads are meeting | :41:22. | :41:28. | |
tomorrow, but at the end of the day, do we have much way to ask the | :41:29. | :41:34. | |
Kremlin to stop? As the European Union we do. Ukraine is a European | :41:35. | :41:40. | |
country, not many Russians live there. It is not helpful if Ukraine | :41:41. | :41:45. | |
becomes involved in a tug of war between Russia and the EU. Ukraine | :41:46. | :41:52. | |
needs to face both ways. We cannot tolerate Russia using force to | :41:53. | :41:56. | |
impose its will on Ukraine and not allowing Ukraine to play a game | :41:57. | :42:03. | |
where it acknowledges its Russian connections. The Kremlin does not | :42:04. | :42:07. | |
want this and they have to understand if they play hardball, | :42:08. | :42:11. | |
there will be consequences. They have offended every neighbour they | :42:12. | :42:17. | |
have got at some time or another. Ukraine have found that. If Russia | :42:18. | :42:22. | |
thinks they can keep pushing, ultimately Russia will find | :42:23. | :42:26. | |
themselves isolated. We can give and take, but they have to as well. In | :42:27. | :42:33. | |
any negotiations, there has to be give and take, but if Moscow says | :42:34. | :42:38. | |
they will take it, at the end of the day, does the western community have | :42:39. | :42:44. | |
to say, we are not going to give any more, we will impose sanctions? The | :42:45. | :42:50. | |
Prime Minister made it clear that everything is on the table and that | :42:51. | :42:54. | |
would include sanctions, he made that clear. He was pushed on that | :42:55. | :43:00. | |
and he made it clear. Russia has to understand, they have a legitimate | :43:01. | :43:07. | |
right to be in Crimea, but beyond that, that creates a real | :43:08. | :43:13. | |
difficulty. We need people around the table, we need Ukrainian | :43:14. | :43:17. | |
ministers, Russian ministers to get there and hopefully what we will see | :43:18. | :43:21. | |
over the next few days, the discussions that the UK will be | :43:22. | :43:25. | |
involved with, with its partners is to ensure that we get people round | :43:26. | :43:30. | |
the table to discuss where we are going with this and to try and | :43:31. | :43:35. | |
de-escalate the heat in the situation. Vladimir Putin was | :43:36. | :43:41. | |
swaggering yesterday because he is playing politics, but if he takes a | :43:42. | :43:45. | |
long-term interest in Russia, there are economy is not strong, they | :43:46. | :43:51. | |
depend on their ability to trade. Our city is full of Russian money | :43:52. | :43:58. | |
and citizens. It will have an impact on the economy. Vladimir Putin has | :43:59. | :44:01. | |
to decide if he wants to play tough at the expense of his own economy. | :44:02. | :44:07. | |
Russia does not have a good reputation, it is corrupt, a | :44:08. | :44:08. | |
difficult place reputation, it is corrupt, a | :44:09. | :44:12. | |
we have to reduce our dependence on that country if it will not be part | :44:13. | :44:21. | |
of the Family Of Nations. Crimea has a majority of Russians, has Vladimir | :44:22. | :44:29. | |
Putin not got a point, if he wants to protect Russians? I do not think | :44:30. | :44:37. | |
there was a sign of danger. He has been using a lot of excuses. I was | :44:38. | :44:42. | |
in Latvia when a Russian soldier went over the border. This behaviour | :44:43. | :44:48. | |
towards their neighbours is unacceptable. The independence of | :44:49. | :44:53. | |
Ukraine should be respected. This is a matter for the Ukrainians. This is | :44:54. | :45:01. | |
a front and a smoke ring -- smoke screen for swaggering behaviour from | :45:02. | :45:05. | |
Vladimir Putin who seems to be enjoying what is a dangerous | :45:06. | :45:11. | |
situation. We have to keep our focus on de-escalate in this situation. We | :45:12. | :45:17. | |
have seen bravery from Ukrainian soldiers. We have to applaud that. | :45:18. | :45:23. | |
We have to be grateful it has not escalated. We need to encourage | :45:24. | :45:28. | |
others to take the heat out of this and that is the way forward. | :45:29. | :45:34. | |
Vladimir Putin does have form on this, if you think back to south | :45:35. | :45:40. | |
Georgia, he is quick not to mount a full-scale invasion but just to put | :45:41. | :45:44. | |
enough troops in there to think this is serious and then perhaps people | :45:45. | :45:50. | |
negotiate on his terms. Georgia is a divided country, and a very unhappy | :45:51. | :45:54. | |
one. I don't think it would be satisfactory if he does the same for | :45:55. | :45:59. | |
Ukraine. When do we push back? Crimea doesn't have a Russian | :46:00. | :46:03. | |
majority. But that doesn't give him to right to occupy it. Is he saying | :46:04. | :46:10. | |
anywhere there are Russian speakers he has a right to put soldiers in? | :46:11. | :46:18. | |
That's not right. I would argue there are targeted economic | :46:19. | :46:22. | |
sanctions that will hurt Russia and they need to understand this will | :46:23. | :46:25. | |
affect their long-term economic success. If they try to get away | :46:26. | :46:30. | |
with it on that basis they will lose. In a European context here, | :46:31. | :46:35. | |
the key player is going to be Germany and what Chancellor Merkel | :46:36. | :46:39. | |
does. There seems to be a feeling that for economic reasons she | :46:40. | :46:43. | |
doesn't want to go as heavy as she could do. This is all about vested | :46:44. | :46:49. | |
interests. She has real vested interests there, but I think the | :46:50. | :46:52. | |
pressure from the other EU member states and the UK at the forefront | :46:53. | :46:57. | |
of that need to make Chancellor Merkel aware of the fact that this | :46:58. | :47:01. | |
is a David Cameron rows situation. Mr Putin likes to flex his muscles. | :47:02. | :47:06. | |
As Malcolm has said, the situation in Georgia is still there to a | :47:07. | :47:10. | |
certain extent I'm not convinced that the Russianness wants to see | :47:11. | :47:15. | |
the conflict, they want to flex their muscles, to be the big boy in | :47:16. | :47:19. | |
the playground. Reality of it is that we have strength as EU member | :47:20. | :47:23. | |
states to say to Russia, get round the table. This is where you are | :47:24. | :47:28. | |
required to be along with the UK. It is right that the Germans are indeed | :47:29. | :47:34. | |
pivotal. It should be remembered that Mr Putin's first foreign | :47:35. | :47:39. | |
language is German. He spent a lot of time in Leipzig. Gerhard | :47:40. | :47:46. | |
Schroeder is head of Gazprom. He has good connections. Let's hope they | :47:47. | :47:48. | |
can use those connections good connections. Let's hope they | :47:49. | :47:52. | |
de-escalate to that we have good connections. Let's hope they | :47:53. | :47:54. | |
world. A slightly good connections. Let's hope they | :47:55. | :47:56. | |
our discussion today good connections. Let's hope they | :47:57. | :48:00. | |
focusing on a foreign issue, but one that I think most people will regard | :48:01. | :48:07. | |
as not just very important but perhaps critically important. Indeed | :48:08. | :48:12. | |
David. Let's turn our attention to one final point. Labour are raising | :48:13. | :48:15. | |
questions about when David Cameron was told that a senior Downing | :48:16. | :48:21. | |
Street adviser, Patrick Rock, was facing allegations of accessing | :48:22. | :48:26. | |
images of child abuse. Yes this, concerns deputy head of the policy | :48:27. | :48:30. | |
unit at Downing Street who retired from his job last month, I think on | :48:31. | :48:35. | |
13th February. The day afterwards in fact he was arrested by the | :48:36. | :48:38. | |
Metropolitan Police, who were looking at part of an investigation | :48:39. | :48:43. | |
into allegations of images of child abuse. There is have been questions | :48:44. | :48:49. | |
raise raised: Why the arrest took such a long time for Downing Street | :48:50. | :48:54. | |
to reveal details of that. They only did that after a newspaper revealed | :48:55. | :49:00. | |
the story. And secondly, why did it take so long for it to appear in the | :49:01. | :49:05. | |
public domain? Downing Street has perhaps not been more forthcoming. | :49:06. | :49:09. | |
Downing Street says with an issue as sensitive as sh, where an arrest has | :49:10. | :49:13. | |
been made, I must emphasis that no charges have been made at the | :49:14. | :49:19. | |
moment, they can't give a rung commentary. But there are plenty of | :49:20. | :49:23. | |
questions being asked here at Westminster this afternoon. David, | :49:24. | :49:31. | |
A final word with our commentate tore for the afternoon, Moray | :49:32. | :49:36. | |
Macdonald. Let's turn our attention to something we were discussing is | :49:37. | :49:38. | |
at the beginning of the programme, this supposed ban that Aberdeen City | :49:39. | :49:43. | |
Council was going to have on Scottish Government Ministers. It is | :49:44. | :49:47. | |
not going through. Willie Young, the convenor of the Finance Committee | :49:48. | :49:50. | |
was saying it was a slip of the tongue. Aberdeen City Council has | :49:51. | :49:54. | |
been left perhaps with egg on its face this afternoon. It is a bit | :49:55. | :49:59. | |
embarrassing for Aberdeen council as a whole, not just Willie Young and | :50:00. | :50:03. | |
the Labour Party there. It is rather strange for him to have said this | :50:04. | :50:07. | |
was a slip of the tongue. It clearly wasn't. This was a draft motion to | :50:08. | :50:11. | |
go down. The SNP have tried to put down a confidence motion but it was | :50:12. | :50:16. | |
ruled out by the council because it wasn't tabled in time. I find these | :50:17. | :50:19. | |
situations frustrating, because I don't think it wins anyone any | :50:20. | :50:24. | |
votes. A lot of councillors and MSPs enjoy the hustle and bustle of | :50:25. | :50:30. | |
argumentative-style politics and chucking sackisations, but they are | :50:31. | :50:33. | |
not things that matter to you and me, to anyone that's going to be | :50:34. | :50:38. | |
voting. And they don't achieve anything. It is this activity which | :50:39. | :50:41. | |
switches people off politics, because it makes no sense to | :50:42. | :50:49. | |
anybody. Labour's Iain Gray wasn't impress impressed about it. He was | :50:50. | :50:52. | |
talking about silliness on both sides. The Conservatives were | :50:53. | :50:56. | |
initially close to that position but they pulled back. I think the point | :50:57. | :51:03. | |
that Iain Gray made was spot on. He said there's nonsense being talked | :51:04. | :51:06. | |
about on both sides here and it is a ridiculous affair and people should | :51:07. | :51:12. | |
move on. This is from I think the by-election campaign just after | :51:13. | :51:16. | |
summer last year, when Alex Salmond went into a school. And now they are | :51:17. | :51:18. | |
talking about banning went into a school. And now they are | :51:19. | :51:21. | |
Minister and Scottish Government Ministers from schools | :51:22. | :51:25. | |
Minister and Scottish Government government, local authority property | :51:26. | :51:25. | |
throughout Aberdeen. The other thing that's ridiculous is | :51:26. | :51:32. | |
a council picking this type of petty argument with the Government. They | :51:33. | :51:35. | |
have to have good relationships both ways with the Government and with | :51:36. | :51:38. | |
local authority. This kind of activity isn't going to help anyone. | :51:39. | :51:41. | |
I can't imagine Alex Salmond will want to be particularly helpful to | :51:42. | :51:46. | |
Willie Young if he pops up and asks for cash for some emergency project. | :51:47. | :51:54. | |
It was confirmed today that Nigel Farage would debate with Nick Clegg, | :51:55. | :51:59. | |
the Lib Dem leader, on 2ened April. A big European debate. This will be | :52:00. | :52:04. | |
pretty interesting won't it? I think it will be a fascinating debate. One | :52:05. | :52:07. | |
of the things I find interesting about it is that it is a debate | :52:08. | :52:11. | |
between just two parties - UKIP and Lib Dems. From a Scottish | :52:12. | :52:15. | |
perspective the two parties are fifth and sixth in current polling, | :52:16. | :52:20. | |
so you have to wonder in Scottish perspective the relevance of it. | :52:21. | :52:26. | |
They are trying to go on from a pro-Europe and an anti-Europe vote. | :52:27. | :52:29. | |
I think the Lib Dems have probably done a good thing here. This raises | :52:30. | :52:34. | |
people's awareness that they are the pro-European party. Although that | :52:35. | :52:38. | |
might not be a majority of people in the country who support that idea it | :52:39. | :52:42. | |
might demonstrate to people who are pro-European that Lib Dems are the | :52:43. | :52:45. | |
people to go to the they can get the language right on this one. I find | :52:46. | :52:49. | |
it a bit rich of the Lib Dems as well, because Nick Clegg is a man | :52:50. | :52:53. | |
inside the cabinet who is making sure that during his Parliament | :52:54. | :52:58. | |
there isn't a referendum on in or out of Europe but he's happy to have | :52:59. | :53:03. | |
that debate in Parliament. Labour isn't taking part just yet. This | :53:04. | :53:08. | |
signals onward march of UKIP in England at least. Yes. If you look | :53:09. | :53:14. | |
at the opinion polls it looks like it will be difficult for UKIP to | :53:15. | :53:17. | |
gain a seat in Scotland, so you have to question the relevance of this | :53:18. | :53:22. | |
for us. If you want to link it back to Scotland, it will be fascinating | :53:23. | :53:29. | |
to see how the SNP react if as we think will happen UKIP gain a lot of | :53:30. | :53:35. | |
seats in England, they will say for the rest of this country it is | :53:36. | :53:38. | |
different for us. Moray Macdonald, thank you. We'll see you again soon. | :53:39. | :53:43. | |
That's all we have time for this afternoon. We're back at the same | :53:44. | :53:47. | |
time next week, 2.30pm here on BBC Two. Thanks for your company this | :53:48. | :53:49. | |
afternoon. Bye for now. | :53:50. | :53:54. |