Browse content similar to 07/11/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Welcome to Politics Scotland. As Scottish politicians tweet their | :00:22. | :00:25. | |
congratulations to President Obama, we will assess what his victory | :00:25. | :00:31. | |
could mean for the wider world. We have picked ourselves up, we | :00:31. | :00:36. | |
have fought our way back and we know in our hearts that for the | :00:36. | :00:43. | |
United States of America the best is yet to come. | :00:43. | :00:46. | |
Holyrood took the international perspective too this afternoon | :00:47. | :00:49. | |
examining Scotland's relationship with Malawi. | :00:49. | :00:53. | |
Alex Salmond reflects on becoming Scotland's longest-serving First | :00:53. | :00:57. | |
Minister today, looking back over the highs and lows. | :00:57. | :01:00. | |
Here at Westminster, congratulations from all sides to | :01:00. | :01:05. | |
President Obama on his re-election victory. But also as well questions | :01:05. | :01:09. | |
- could it mean a tightening of the British economy in the future? | :01:09. | :01:13. | |
Welcome to the programme. We are out of our usual slot as Andy | :01:13. | :01:20. | |
Murray played in the ATP World Tour. I'm joined by Hamish Macdonnell. | :01:20. | :01:27. | |
Before we get down to normal business, you are doing Movember? | :01:27. | :01:33. | |
am. It is a charity thing, where men all over the world try and grow | :01:33. | :01:39. | |
the biggest moustache they can through November so I suggest you | :01:39. | :01:44. | |
get me back in three weeks to see how I have got on! Looking at | :01:44. | :01:47. | |
President Obama, an historic victory for him? It is a very | :01:47. | :01:52. | |
significant achievement, I think. For anybody to win re-election at a | :01:52. | :01:55. | |
time of this amount of economic trouble and economic woe that the | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
world and the United States is going through, it is very | :01:58. | :02:05. | |
significant. I think that just from a personal point of view, to have | :02:05. | :02:12. | |
won so convincingly is a very, very big achievement. Of course, that | :02:12. | :02:17. | |
comes with the proviso that America is a divided nation politically. | :02:17. | :02:23. | |
President Obama has a lot to do to try and bridge that now very, very | :02:23. | :02:26. | |
deep divide on both sides politically in the United States to | :02:26. | :02:33. | |
really move forward. Let's turn to another issue - another political | :02:33. | :02:38. | |
leader, Alex Salmond, celebrating as he is the longest-serving First | :02:38. | :02:45. | |
Minister in Scotland? I know there's only been a field of four - | :02:45. | :02:49. | |
we had Jack McConnell who lasted for five-and-a-half years and then | :02:49. | :02:53. | |
Alex Salmond. It is a significant achievement to become the longest- | :02:53. | :02:58. | |
serving First Minister in Scotland, in the short time of devolution. | :02:58. | :03:02. | |
He's most of the time managed to do so very well. He has commanded the | :03:02. | :03:05. | |
complete support of his party and commanded big support throughout | :03:05. | :03:10. | |
the country. He has had his highs and lows. Congratulations to him. | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
He has coming up to him one of the most important points in his long | :03:14. | :03:17. | |
political career, with the referendum? That's right. I think | :03:17. | :03:22. | |
that there is an issue here that Alex Salmond perhaps is feeling | :03:22. | :03:25. | |
that he's having a few dark days at the moment, things aren't going | :03:25. | :03:30. | |
terribly well. There was a point in the life of every Governmental | :03:30. | :03:35. | |
leader when they start to tip in terms of public opinion, the public | :03:35. | :03:38. | |
opinion turns against him. What Mr Salmond will be hoping is that he | :03:39. | :03:43. | |
has not reached that point at the moment. As you say, he has the most | :03:43. | :03:50. | |
important point in his political career coming up. What he doesn't | :03:50. | :03:54. | |
need is to tip over the edge now and lose some of that public | :03:54. | :03:59. | |
opinion. OK. Thank you very much. Back with you later. Now, staying | :03:59. | :04:01. | |
with Mr Salmond, he has been telling us he has no immediate | :04:02. | :04:06. | |
plans to depart the scene with the independence referendum due in 2014. | :04:06. | :04:11. | |
He has no plans too to go on and on. Raymond Buchanan caught up with him | :04:11. | :04:15. | |
and asked him which of the over 2,000 days he has been in office | :04:15. | :04:25. | |
:04:25. | :04:35. | ||
has been the darkest. Well, the Al- Megrahi issue, Kenny MacAskill took | :04:35. | :04:40. | |
the right decisions. There were some difficult days. If you are | :04:40. | :04:44. | |
doing the right things, that is a great strength. Of course, the | :04:44. | :04:48. | |
election was a vindication of that. People said the SNP would never | :04:48. | :04:53. | |
survive taking that decision. In fact, we survived to prosper. | :04:53. | :04:56. | |
People believe, whether they agreed or disagreed with the decision, | :04:56. | :05:00. | |
they believed we had done it for the right reasons. That is a great | :05:00. | :05:03. | |
strength in politics. It is a great mistake to believe the only people | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
who ever vote for you are people who absolutely agree with you on | :05:08. | :05:15. | |
everything. Sometimes I don't know if I agree with everything that the | :05:15. | :05:20. | |
SNP puts forward! People take a balanced judgment, they judge you | :05:20. | :05:24. | |
on the whole. On the whole, the SNP Government has been judged | :05:24. | :05:30. | |
favourably by the people. The great strength is there is an absolute | :05:30. | :05:34. | |
conviction that the SNP do what is best for Scotland. We have | :05:34. | :05:38. | |
Scotland's interests at our heart. If we keep that bond between | :05:39. | :05:43. | |
Government and people, then we've got a good chance of continuing | :05:43. | :05:48. | |
Government, of achieving more things, of re-establishing and | :05:48. | :05:51. | |
spreading that social contract in difficult times and we have a great | :05:51. | :05:55. | |
chance of winning a referendum to open the door to a better future | :05:55. | :05:59. | |
for an independent Scotland. last couple of weeks must have been | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
difficult. Is there a trust issue with you and your Government? | :06:03. | :06:12. | |
I think over the last couple of weeks, compared to the Al-Megrahi | :06:12. | :06:18. | |
affair, the last couple of weeks is high nor compared to that. You will | :06:18. | :06:22. | |
always have bumps in politics. But there are important stroo tee JIC | :06:22. | :06:27. | |
things that needed to be done -- strategic things that needed to be | :06:27. | :06:33. | |
done. These were as follows: We had to have the agreement to put the | :06:33. | :06:36. | |
process of independence beyond challenge. In that agreement, the | :06:37. | :06:40. | |
understanding that everybody will accept a result, that it will be a | :06:40. | :06:43. | |
proper process, that the Scottish Parliament will decide and that | :06:43. | :06:49. | |
result will bind all sides, that was very important to do. Secondly, | :06:49. | :06:56. | |
as we see in a poll this morning, we have to have a platform for | :06:56. | :06:59. | |
independence which is robust and can carry the people with us, hence | :06:59. | :07:07. | |
some decisions that the SNP had to take in a democratic fashion. | :07:07. | :07:13. | |
Sometimes the process of these things is difficult. But that | :07:13. | :07:17. | |
platform is necessary for us to proceed to the White Paper, to | :07:17. | :07:20. | |
spell out the vision and the practicality of independence. That | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
is where we are now. How long can you go on for? Well, I know that | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
you must not ever repeat the mistake some politicians and say | :07:29. | :07:37. | |
you are going to go on and on - I'm not saying that. I want to see the | :07:37. | :07:42. | |
- I want to see Scotland win the referendum. I want us to open the | :07:42. | :07:47. | |
door of opportunity in that referendum and I have no immediate | :07:47. | :07:52. | |
plans to depart the scene. I've - and the Scottish National Party - | :07:52. | :07:56. | |
people before me have worked their socks off for generations in order | :07:57. | :08:02. | |
to bring Scotland to the point where we are, to make Scotland a | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
more self-confident place, where people have a Parliament that they | :08:06. | :08:11. | |
can look to to defend their interests. We've got a job in hand | :08:11. | :08:15. | |
to persuade our fellow citizens to vote by majority to become an | :08:15. | :08:18. | |
independent country and to make sure that independent country uses | :08:18. | :08:23. | |
the powers it has to work on behalf of the people. So these are | :08:23. | :08:25. | |
inspiring times and I have no immediate plans for retirement. | :08:25. | :08:31. | |
There is a clock ticking now. We know autumn 2014, there will be a | :08:31. | :08:34. | |
referendum. For you, Alex Salmond, that means one of two things. You | :08:34. | :08:39. | |
either win it and go on, or you lose it and you can't carry on? | :08:39. | :08:45. | |
there is a choice, let's win it! Let's cross to Holyrood now and | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
speak to Kevin Stewart, Ken Macintosh and Annabelle Goldie. | :08:51. | :08:59. | |
Good afternoon to you all. We will get to Mr Salmond's days in office | :08:59. | :09:05. | |
in a moment. I want to pick up on a report in From Audit Scotland, | :09:05. | :09:10. | |
there is a mismatch between what is effective and what's been done to | :09:10. | :09:12. | |
reduce reoffending according to the watchdog. Kevin Stewart, why is | :09:13. | :09:17. | |
there that mismatch there when it comes to reoffending? Well, I think | :09:17. | :09:27. | |
the Government has said today that reoffending has been too high. We | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
now see it at a 13-year low. 1,000 more police on the beat has | :09:31. | :09:35. | |
probably got something to do with that. We have seen resources going | :09:35. | :09:40. | |
in last year, some �128 million from Government to community | :09:40. | :09:43. | |
justice authorities, to try and stop reoffending. I hope those | :09:43. | :09:48. | |
numbers will continue to go down. Ken Macintosh, you have been | :09:48. | :09:53. | |
criticising what the SNP have been doing when it comes to this | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
mismatch. As Kevin Stewart was pointing out, we have seen | :09:57. | :10:01. | |
reconviction rates are at their lowest for the past 13 years? | :10:01. | :10:04. | |
has been a fall in crime. The fall in crime has been there for the | :10:05. | :10:10. | |
last ten years. It goes back well before the SNP administration. If | :10:10. | :10:16. | |
the SNP - I'm happy to pay credit. What I would like to know is when | :10:16. | :10:21. | |
organisations like Audit Scotland show up, where they are failing, | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
will they do something about it? This report shows there is a | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
mismatch between where the funding is spent - we are talking | :10:28. | :10:35. | |
substantial sums of money here - and it has not been well spent. Our | :10:35. | :10:38. | |
prisoners are not being educated, which is the big difference to | :10:38. | :10:41. | |
trying to reduce reoffending rates. The Tories are saying the | :10:41. | :10:46. | |
Government should get a grip on this. It is a tough nut to crack, | :10:46. | :10:50. | |
isn't it? The dilemma for the Scottish Government is that Audit | :10:50. | :10:54. | |
Scotland was very clear. The �128 million being spent is not | :10:54. | :10:57. | |
delivering that purpose. That begs a question for the taxpayer, what | :10:58. | :11:01. | |
is happening to the money? It begs an important question about how we | :11:01. | :11:04. | |
are dealing with our prisoners as they propose to reenter the | :11:04. | :11:10. | |
community. We have known for several years that there are traits | :11:10. | :11:19. | |
of behaviour that are not being addressed, prisoners still come out | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
drug addicted. Everybody is entitled to ask what is going wrong | :11:22. | :11:26. | |
here? Somebody needs to take this by the scruff of the neck and sort | :11:26. | :11:31. | |
it out. Just want to ask you about another justice story that is doing | :11:31. | :11:35. | |
the rounds today. Lawyers threatening action over the | :11:35. | :11:40. | |
Scottish legal aid change. They will have to try to make people pay | :11:40. | :11:45. | |
to them, if people are earning more than �68 per week, lawyers will | :11:45. | :11:47. | |
have to receive that financial contribution from their clients. | :11:47. | :11:54. | |
Why is this a problem? It is very alarming if lawyers are feeling so | :11:54. | :11:57. | |
pressurised that they are left only with the option of withdrawing | :11:57. | :12:02. | |
their services to clients in the criminal courts. There is a very | :12:02. | :12:06. | |
serious issue about how we expect the Criminal Justice System to | :12:06. | :12:11. | |
function if lawyers are not in the courts doing the job required. The | :12:11. | :12:17. | |
second issue is the increasing danger to the whole system of Scots | :12:17. | :12:22. | |
law under this Justice Minister. We have seen one attack after another | :12:22. | :12:25. | |
on the important institution which is Scots law, that includes | :12:25. | :12:28. | |
criminal law. If you don't have that law being practised and | :12:28. | :12:31. | |
applied by lawyers, you lose the law, you lose the system. I think | :12:31. | :12:35. | |
there is a very profound issue here to be addressed about how on earth | :12:35. | :12:39. | |
is the Scottish Government going to restore confidence in the legal | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
profession that the Scottish Government believes in a separate | :12:42. | :12:52. | |
Scottish legal system and is Kevin Stuart, can you pick up on | :12:52. | :12:58. | |
those criticisms from Annabel Goldie? It would be worrying if the | :12:58. | :13:02. | |
lawyer as it went on strike. I would hope it did not happen. I | :13:02. | :13:08. | |
would hope that justice secretary takes notice of what people have to | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
say to him. We have seen this before with this just a secretary. | :13:12. | :13:18. | |
I am surprised Annabel Goldie has come in quite so hard on Kenny | :13:18. | :13:25. | |
MacAskill. I want to pick up on Mr Salmond being the longest serving | :13:25. | :13:28. | |
First Minister. He has had a difficult time over the past few | :13:28. | :13:33. | |
weeks with his adviser on Europe. But it looks like we are living in | :13:33. | :13:40. | |
a parallel world. Are these his darkest days as First Minister? | :13:40. | :13:44. | |
just interviewed him yourself and he says there is always ups and | :13:44. | :13:49. | |
downs in politics. I would prefer to look at the ups over the time he | :13:49. | :13:55. | |
has been in power, the abolition of prescription charges, road tolls, | :13:55. | :13:58. | |
freezing of the council tax and free education continued in | :13:58. | :14:03. | |
Scotland, unlike elsewhere in the UK. These are the highlights of his | :14:03. | :14:10. | |
2002 days in office. Mr McIntosh, you are critical of Mr Salmond, but | :14:10. | :14:15. | |
looking at the approval ratings the SNP have put out, he gets 43% in | :14:15. | :14:25. | |
:14:25. | :14:27. | ||
terms of whom stands up for Scotland. The First Minister is not | :14:27. | :14:32. | |
lacking in political charisma. I think that is reflected in his | :14:32. | :14:38. | |
profile in Scotland. But, it is difficult in the middle of an | :14:38. | :14:44. | |
administration to make an accurate description of his legacy. My view | :14:44. | :14:48. | |
at the moment is Scotland seems to be in a worse place than we were | :14:48. | :14:53. | |
four years ago, the economy is worse and unemployment is worse in | :14:53. | :14:58. | |
Scotland than the rest of the UK. Scotland is performing worse than | :14:58. | :15:03. | |
the rest of the UK. The biggest worry is the First Minister it is | :15:03. | :15:07. | |
leading us into an irreversible position at where we leave the rest | :15:07. | :15:11. | |
of the UK behind. If that is his legacy, it will be damning for | :15:11. | :15:17. | |
future demolitions. Annabel Goldie, your reaction to Mr Salmond's | :15:17. | :15:25. | |
legacy and his days in office? best period of delivering devolved | :15:25. | :15:32. | |
Government was in his first term. He does not like specific questions, | :15:33. | :15:39. | |
he cannot find a specific answers. And the devolved, domestic agenda, | :15:39. | :15:44. | |
all is not tranquil for Starkey is sustaining the university budget by | :15:44. | :15:50. | |
raiding the college at budget will stop Annabel Goldie, Ken Macintosh, | :15:50. | :15:54. | |
Kevin Stuart, we have to leave it there. | :15:54. | :15:58. | |
Scotland badly needs more doctors, the message from the children and | :15:58. | :16:01. | |
young people's minister, Aileen Campbell during a debate at | :16:02. | :16:06. | |
Holyrood yesterday. There appear to be cross-party consensus in the | :16:06. | :16:11. | |
need to speed up the process with some MSPs giving first hand | :16:11. | :16:14. | |
accounts of their experience of adoption. | :16:14. | :16:22. | |
Over the short life of the register so far, 135 children and 139 | :16:22. | :16:25. | |
families had been referred to the linking service. We have 82 | :16:25. | :16:31. | |
children who have been linked to 47 families. 14 children Abbey match | :16:31. | :16:37. | |
for adoption by the register, 14 more than we would have found a | :16:37. | :16:44. | |
safe home. Whilst it is modest, it is becoming an important tool for | :16:45. | :16:49. | |
those referred to it. I would like all local authorities to use the | :16:49. | :16:53. | |
register and referrals are a requirement by agencies for any | :16:53. | :16:57. | |
child who has not found a home in three months. The register can only | :16:57. | :17:03. | |
support families already approved to dock. If we are going to provide | :17:03. | :17:08. | |
secure Homes for more children redefined more adopters. The Act | :17:08. | :17:12. | |
introduced more opportunities to adopt, particularly for single | :17:12. | :17:16. | |
people and same-sex couples. But we're not seeing significantly more | :17:16. | :17:20. | |
people coming forward. The key aim is to spread the word to people who | :17:20. | :17:25. | |
do not see themselves as prospective adopters and encourage | :17:25. | :17:28. | |
them to rule themselves in. daughter was only two years old | :17:29. | :17:33. | |
when we adopted her, having lived her life up until then in an | :17:33. | :17:37. | |
orphanage. She was an extremely well behaved and have the baby, I | :17:37. | :17:44. | |
have got to save. Still is, she is coming up to 12 and still my baby. | :17:44. | :17:49. | |
My wife and I agree those people who put themselves forward to adopt | :17:49. | :17:55. | |
an older child, a child who perhaps has what is commonly referred to as | :17:55. | :18:01. | |
baggage. A child who has had a traumatic experience at a young age, | :18:01. | :18:10. | |
but adopters make that child part of the family. What a goal and what | :18:10. | :18:16. | |
an achievement. We both believe they are living cents -- Saints. It | :18:16. | :18:20. | |
is clear from studies, the sooner a child is permanently placed with a | :18:20. | :18:27. | |
family, the sooner the child begins the process of secure attachment | :18:27. | :18:31. | |
and that integration and family belonging takes effect at the same | :18:31. | :18:37. | |
time. My focus is on the child in this regard. I would suggest more | :18:37. | :18:41. | |
should be done to build up a bank, if you like, of prospective parents | :18:41. | :18:46. | |
to have been approved so that as soon as it is practically possible | :18:46. | :18:52. | |
to do so, a child can be placed when they have been recognised for | :18:52. | :18:57. | |
adoption. I also went through the adoption process. After two years | :18:57. | :19:03. | |
of interviews and training and visits, and people coming to my | :19:03. | :19:06. | |
place and my parents' place and the children were interviewed, | :19:06. | :19:11. | |
eventually I was told I was unsuitable. The reason is I work | :19:11. | :19:16. | |
too hard. I got worried, I said I already have two children. I said, | :19:16. | :19:21. | |
you are not taking my children awake are you? My children are OK, | :19:21. | :19:26. | |
they can stay with me even though I work very hard, but they cannot | :19:26. | :19:34. | |
adopt anybody else. An interesting phenomenon. I think it shows why | :19:34. | :19:43. | |
awareness raising is important because it needs to ensure a broad | :19:43. | :19:48. | |
spectrum of people put themselves forward as potentially adoptive | :19:48. | :19:51. | |
parents. The illustration you have presented shows the action to do a | :19:52. | :19:56. | |
bit of work to show people can be actively ruled in to provide loving | :19:56. | :20:01. | |
homes, which you have provided for your own family. That was the | :20:01. | :20:08. | |
debate yesterday. Hamish Mac Donald is still with me. Let's talk about | :20:08. | :20:14. | |
Mr de Salmond's 2002 days in office. He has face some difficult times | :20:14. | :20:20. | |
over the past few weeks over this European advice issues. Is this his | :20:20. | :20:25. | |
most difficult? It is pretty close. There have been times when he has | :20:25. | :20:30. | |
faced a crisis, not of his or his party's making. There was the | :20:30. | :20:35. | |
Glasgow Airport attack. The whole issue he touched on in his | :20:35. | :20:38. | |
interview with Abdelbaset ali al- Megrahi and things got bad because | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
of the international pressure. But this row over the EU legal advice | :20:42. | :20:46. | |
and his decision to go to court to keep something secret that did not | :20:46. | :20:50. | |
exist, has raised a more fundamental point, which will be | :20:50. | :20:54. | |
longer lasting and that is the issue of trust. If Alex Salmond, as | :20:54. | :21:00. | |
a political leader starts to lose the trust he has built up over | :21:00. | :21:04. | |
these years, then that will be bad news for him, bad news for the SNP | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
and bad news for the independence cause. It could be the start of the | :21:08. | :21:13. | |
catalyst for something much more long-lasting. Let's try the two | :21:13. | :21:19. | |
stories together. President Obama's re-election. What endures could he | :21:19. | :21:24. | |
have on Scotland? David Cameron has a quite close relationship, is | :21:24. | :21:30. | |
there anything Mr a banner could see about Scottish independence? | :21:30. | :21:35. | |
think David Cameron would like him too. It is an open secret David | :21:35. | :21:40. | |
Cameron was hoping that Barack Obama would get back in and will be | :21:40. | :21:45. | |
delighted he did. As we approach the referendum in 2014, I would | :21:46. | :21:49. | |
thought David Cameron would put feelers out there to see if he can | :21:49. | :21:54. | |
get Barack Obama to say something in support of the Union. But Barack | :21:54. | :21:59. | |
Obama has to weigh that up. Against the possibility that Scotland might | :21:59. | :22:02. | |
become independent and does not want to rock the boat. There is a | :22:02. | :22:07. | |
chance, we will see how things go. Mr Cameron will probably push him | :22:07. | :22:12. | |
that way. I wouldn't be surprised if something came through the back | :22:12. | :22:14. | |
channels and the Americans made clear their opposition at a later | :22:14. | :22:21. | |
date. And because of NATO and the nuclear weapons based in Scotland? | :22:21. | :22:24. | |
We are seeing an interest in America about the issue of | :22:24. | :22:29. | |
independence. The Washington Post had an editorial on it a couple of | :22:29. | :22:33. | |
weeks ago. Other papers and organisations are picking up on it. | :22:33. | :22:39. | |
It matters because of NATO, and the UK is the US's big ally and that | :22:39. | :22:42. | |
interest will grow over the next few years. | :22:42. | :22:45. | |
From David Livingstone to the former First Minister, Jack | :22:45. | :22:51. | |
McConnell, Scotland has had a 150 year long relationship with Mullaly, | :22:51. | :22:55. | |
often described as the warm heart of Africa. Now those links are | :22:55. | :22:59. | |
debated at Holyrood. The development funds the key ways of | :22:59. | :23:06. | |
the relationship is kept alive. We go into the chamber now. We have | :23:06. | :23:11. | |
the external affairs of international development minister. | :23:11. | :23:17. | |
We also provide the resources to carry out an initial visit and a | :23:17. | :23:22. | |
scoping study for work to support the preservation of Malawi's | :23:22. | :23:27. | |
important heritage, some of which is shared Scottish and Malawi in | :23:27. | :23:35. | |
heritage. I am pleased the Cabinet Secretary for Education presented | :23:35. | :23:39. | |
her accident -- Excellency with an invitation from the First Minister | :23:39. | :23:45. | |
to celebrate the bicentenary celebrations in Scotland. I think | :23:45. | :23:51. | |
it is an incredible testament to the work today, almost 200 years | :23:51. | :23:57. | |
later, the legacy has been continued by none other than Martha | :23:57. | :24:03. | |
Payne, and nine-year-old girl. If we will read about the future of | :24:03. | :24:07. | |
this historic friendship, let's cast those anxiety aside. Her | :24:07. | :24:12. | |
example gives us assurances the relationship is in safe hands. We | :24:13. | :24:17. | |
are all aware of the constitutional debate Scotland is engaged in. At | :24:17. | :24:21. | |
its core is the discussion about what kind of Scotland we wish to | :24:21. | :24:26. | |
see in the future. For me, our international development work in | :24:26. | :24:31. | |
Malawi encapsulates what this Government wants to see. It is born | :24:31. | :24:34. | |
out of 200 year old history next year, but a legacy continued by the | :24:34. | :24:40. | |
children. On a moderate budget we are pushing ahead with some of the | :24:40. | :24:45. | |
most ground-breaking sustainable energy projects. Continuing that | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
thread of innovation that has won through on nation. It thrills me to | :24:49. | :24:53. | |
think about the change we could make it in alleviating poverty | :24:53. | :24:57. | |
across the world, it in the future we have a budget of hundreds of | :24:57. | :25:04. | |
millions. To conclude, it I have been asked by many people how I | :25:04. | :25:09. | |
have found a new role. I always say it is an honour to serve your | :25:09. | :25:13. | |
country at the highest political level and it is akin to what they | :25:13. | :25:17. | |
footballer feels when he is asked to play for his national team. And | :25:17. | :25:21. | |
for those who have seen my footballing prowess, it is the | :25:21. | :25:26. | |
closest I will ever get to such a feeling. To be able to represent | :25:26. | :25:30. | |
the Scottish Government in a post with the potential to do so much | :25:30. | :25:35. | |
good and push Scotland's agenda in this area, only makes me feel more | :25:35. | :25:40. | |
lucky to be where I am today. I hope I have demonstrated a | :25:40. | :25:46. | |
partnership with Malawi and it is growing ever stronger as a society | :25:46. | :25:49. | |
in Government with prospect of further institutional links. | :25:49. | :25:54. | |
Perhaps the day after the US presidential election, it is only | :25:54. | :25:57. | |
appropriate to quote Benjamin Franklin who said, just as well not | :25:57. | :26:02. | |
be served until those unaffected are as outraged as those who are. | :26:02. | :26:06. | |
It is the duty in every one of us across the chamber to be outraged | :26:06. | :26:13. | |
about the fact only 75% of Malawi's population live on less than $1.25 | :26:13. | :26:20. | |
a day. Only 40% of the population lives below the national poverty | :26:20. | :26:29. | |
line. We have a duty to be outraged by the fact no eternal mortality | :26:30. | :26:34. | |
means 10 women die every day. They have no access to clean drinking | :26:34. | :26:37. | |
water Vostok I look forward to working with everyone in this | :26:37. | :26:47. | |
:26:47. | :26:52. | ||
Parliament to take this agenda forward. I now call Patricia | :26:52. | :26:59. | |
Ferguson. It is always a pleasure to debate issues about a | :26:59. | :27:02. | |
relationship with Malawi and have an update from the Scottish | :27:02. | :27:08. | |
Government as to progress. In welcoming Mr Yusuf to his new role, | :27:08. | :27:11. | |
can I congratulate him on his choice of this subject for his | :27:11. | :27:15. | |
first of what I am sure, will be many speeches in his ministerial | :27:15. | :27:22. | |
position. Presiding officer, it never ceases to amaze me, just how | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
many links and connections this country house with Mullaly. There | :27:26. | :27:31. | |
are schools and churches twinned with Malawi, and professional | :27:31. | :27:35. | |
organisations and individuals for whom The Lowry is a very special | :27:35. | :27:40. | |
place. As we have had, next year we have the opportunity to celebrate | :27:40. | :27:46. | |
those links with the anniversary of David Livingstone's birth. I hope | :27:46. | :27:51. | |
in the list of organisations, Mr used if mention, that he has not | :27:51. | :27:56. | |
forgotten the National Library of Scotland who has an extensive | :27:56. | :27:59. | |
collection of David Livingstone's papers, which are very interesting | :27:59. | :28:04. | |
today, as I am sure they were at the time. But, in talking about | :28:04. | :28:09. | |
those links, I think it is sensible to consider the range and depth of | :28:09. | :28:14. | |
them. Only today, my colleague, Richard Simpson told me of an | :28:14. | :28:18. | |
initiative being undertaken by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, who | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
are raising funds and actively working with a small number of | :28:22. | :28:27. | |
their profession who practise in Malawi. Just yesterday, one of the | :28:27. | :28:32. | |
schools from my own constituency unvisited the Parliament and the | :28:32. | :28:36. | |
school pupils told me of an important visitor to their school | :28:36. | :28:40. | |
for just last week. He was a teacher from The Lowry and his name | :28:40. | :28:45. | |
was, Tom. He explained to the pupils what school was like and | :28:45. | :28:55. | |
:28:55. | :28:57. | ||
obviously inspired them with his It's called the Malawi Leaders of | :28:57. | :29:02. | |
Learning Project. This scheme helps to upskill classroom teachers and | :29:02. | :29:04. | |
promotes a sense of civic responsibility in young people. In | :29:04. | :29:09. | |
addition to Tom, there are five other teachers in Glasgow from | :29:09. | :29:13. | |
Malawi at the moment. They are attending the reception in | :29:13. | :29:18. | |
Parliament tonight. I look forward to meeting them there. Having read | :29:18. | :29:23. | |
the evaluation report, it is clearly doing great work and has | :29:23. | :29:30. | |
great potential. In its first year, it has enabled 15 education | :29:30. | :29:35. | |
professionals, indeed I was delighted the party included active | :29:35. | :29:39. | |
schools co-ordinators, and they worked in Malawi for some five | :29:39. | :29:42. | |
weeks. It is clear from the report that there were teething problems, | :29:42. | :29:49. | |
to be expected, but it was also clear that all of the staff learned | :29:49. | :29:53. | |
and benefited from the experience and planned to continue the | :29:53. | :30:00. | |
initiative. The debate on Scotland's relationship with Malawi. | :30:00. | :30:03. | |
Supporters of Barack Obama have been celebrating his re-election as | :30:03. | :30:07. | |
President. He took 50% of the vote to 48% for Republican challenger, | :30:07. | :30:11. | |
Mitt Romney. I'm now joined from Washington DC by Elise Foley of the | :30:11. | :30:17. | |
Huffington Post. Good afternoon, or good morning to you there in | :30:17. | :30:22. | |
Washington. The east coast of the United States is waking up to | :30:22. | :30:25. | |
another term for President Obama. What is the mood in Washington DC, | :30:25. | :30:34. | |
do you think? Well, the mood here is very enthusiastic. DC is a | :30:34. | :30:38. | |
majority democratic district and so last night you had people going to | :30:38. | :30:41. | |
the White House, kind of storming the streets, they shut down some of | :30:41. | :30:47. | |
the major streets. People were very excited about Obama's re-election. | :30:47. | :30:50. | |
We have been hearing a lot about the changing face of the United | :30:50. | :30:57. | |
States. Can you tell me what role the Latino vote played in helping | :30:57. | :31:02. | |
to re-elect President Obama? Absolutely. Turnout among Latinos | :31:02. | :31:07. | |
was very high this year. You had record support for Obama. He won a | :31:08. | :31:11. | |
larger share of the population than any President before him. The | :31:11. | :31:16. | |
record before was Bill Clinton in 1996 who got 72% of the vote. It is | :31:16. | :31:22. | |
not all fully in, the exit polls are being tabulated. It is looking | :31:22. | :31:27. | |
like he is going to get a record share. So basically the Latino vote | :31:27. | :31:31. | |
is going to be a major issue going forward, Republicans are really not | :31:31. | :31:36. | |
able at this point to win over Latino voters and as they become a | :31:36. | :31:39. | |
larger share of the population, that will become a bigger problem. | :31:39. | :31:45. | |
So right now you are looking at a Republican Party who probably today | :31:45. | :31:49. | |
is already starting to think, "We have a problem and we need to fix | :31:49. | :31:54. | |
it." One of the biggest issues is immigration reform. Now Mr Obama | :31:54. | :32:02. | |
will be returning to the White House behind you. When he takes the | :32:02. | :32:07. | |
reins and concentrates on running the country once again, what will | :32:07. | :32:13. | |
his first actions be? Well, I think, as I mentioned, immigration reform | :32:13. | :32:17. | |
is going to come quickly. I think that now that you sort of have | :32:17. | :32:20. | |
Republicans in this place where they don't want to oppose it, I | :32:20. | :32:26. | |
think he will be able to get that past in the first year. First, he | :32:26. | :32:30. | |
has a bunch of economic issues to deal with. We have this fiscal | :32:30. | :32:34. | |
cliff, where we need to raise our debt ceiling otherwise we will | :32:34. | :32:38. | |
default on our debts. That's been very tense before. We have these | :32:38. | :32:43. | |
tax cuts that are said to expire soon, that he will have to either - | :32:43. | :32:48. | |
they will have to prove extending those tax cuts, Obama wants to end | :32:48. | :32:51. | |
them on the very wealthy, continue them on the middle-class, and that | :32:51. | :32:55. | |
is something that Republicans have opposed. But I guess we will see, | :32:55. | :33:00. | |
you know, now that Obama has got this mandate from the people, he | :33:00. | :33:05. | |
has more power to negotiate there. Now he is the most powerful man in | :33:05. | :33:10. | |
the world, the leader of the free world. What impact will his re- | :33:10. | :33:14. | |
election might have on us in the UK and in Scotland where we are going | :33:14. | :33:18. | |
to have a referendum on independence in two years' time? | :33:18. | :33:25. | |
Well, I think he's very popular abroad. All the polling of who the | :33:26. | :33:30. | |
world would pick as the President, Obama won every time. So I think | :33:30. | :33:34. | |
that he has an ability to influence those types of things. I don't | :33:34. | :33:37. | |
believe he has spoken out about Scottish independence. We will see | :33:37. | :33:41. | |
if he does, as it gets closer. I know the relationship between the | :33:41. | :33:49. | |
US and the UK has been very important especially as we look at | :33:49. | :33:52. | |
our role in the world, as we look at the wars we have been involved | :33:52. | :33:56. | |
in. I think the partnership is going to continue to be really | :33:56. | :34:01. | |
strong and you had Mitt Romney go over and anger people when he was | :34:01. | :34:06. | |
there last and so it's probably good that you are not having | :34:07. | :34:12. | |
somebody that angered the Mayor of London and the Prime Minister. | :34:12. | :34:17. | |
Thank you for joining us from Washington DC. Thank you. | :34:17. | :34:21. | |
Now to Prime Minister's Questions. They were led by the Deputy Prime | :34:21. | :34:24. | |
Minster, Nick Clegg, today in David Cameron's absence. The Shadow | :34:24. | :34:26. | |
Deputy Prime Minister, Harriet Harman, criticised Mr Clegg's | :34:26. | :34:29. | |
Government for their policy on tax credits, saying it was forcing | :34:29. | :34:36. | |
women out of work. Here's a flavour of their exchanges. This week, the | :34:36. | :34:42. | |
Deputy Prime Minister sent an e- mail to his party members. In it, | :34:42. | :34:46. | |
he describes the task of finding childcare as a real nightmare. | :34:46. | :34:50. | |
Isn't it clear that cutting the childcare element of tax credits | :34:50. | :34:55. | |
has made that nightmare worse for parents? I tell you what I think | :34:55. | :35:00. | |
has helped many people who have had to, who have struggled to pay for | :35:00. | :35:03. | |
childcare is the fact that it is this Government that is providing | :35:03. | :35:07. | |
15 hours of free pre-school support and childcare to every three and | :35:07. | :35:09. | |
four-year-old in the country, no Government has done that before. It | :35:09. | :35:13. | |
is this Government, as of next April, that will be providing 15 | :35:13. | :35:16. | |
hours of pre-school support and childcare to some of the poorest | :35:16. | :35:19. | |
two-year-olds in the country. No other Government has done that | :35:19. | :35:24. | |
before. It is this Government that is taking two million people on low | :35:24. | :35:31. | |
pay out of paying any income tax altogether. That's a record I'm | :35:31. | :35:34. | |
proud of. The Deputy Prime Minister has shown himself to be completely | :35:34. | :35:42. | |
out of touch in that answer. The reality is that many part-time | :35:42. | :35:47. | |
working parents are having to give up their job because of the cuts in | :35:47. | :35:52. | |
tax credits and having instead to be on benefits. I asked him about | :35:52. | :35:57. | |
the childcare elements of the tax credits and he hasn't answered. Why | :35:57. | :36:07. | |
:36:07. | :36:07. | ||
won't he admit the cut he voted for has cost families �500 and 44,000 | :36:07. | :36:12. | |
families are losing out? They are cutting �1 billion from Sure Start. | :36:12. | :36:18. | |
In his e-mail he said he was going to reveal - Mr Speaker... What | :36:18. | :36:22. | |
really goes on behind those Whitehall doors. Perhaps in his | :36:22. | :36:26. | |
next week's instalment, he will tell the truth. Under his | :36:27. | :36:33. | |
Government, families are worse off, aren't they? As of next April, | :36:33. | :36:37. | |
because of one of the most radical tax changes introduced by any | :36:37. | :36:43. | |
Government in living memory, 24 million basic rate taxpayers will | :36:43. | :36:48. | |
be �550 better off. That is a radical change, I am very proud of. | :36:48. | :36:51. | |
I'm proud of the fact that three and four-year-olds will benefit | :36:51. | :36:55. | |
from our changes, two-year-olds will benefit. As she may have | :36:55. | :37:00. | |
noticed, in the much-quoted Resolution Trust report, tax | :37:00. | :37:04. | |
credits are not the best answers for many families. So, yes, I | :37:04. | :37:09. | |
accept we need to do more to make childcare affordable so more women | :37:09. | :37:12. | |
can get back into work at an earlier stage, that is what this | :37:12. | :37:16. | |
Government is setting about doing, while we are cleaning up the mess | :37:16. | :37:21. | |
left behind by her. Scotland's First Minister has misled the | :37:21. | :37:26. | |
public on legal advice that doesn't exist. Rewritten the Ministerial | :37:26. | :37:30. | |
Code for his own gain. There are strong suggestions that he will | :37:30. | :37:33. | |
ignore the Electoral Commission in the upcoming referendum. People in | :37:33. | :37:37. | |
Scotland are losing faith in the First Minister and this Government | :37:37. | :37:43. | |
are in danger of being complicit in yet another muddle. Does the Deputy | :37:43. | :37:48. | |
Prime Minister trust the First Minister to deliver a fair, legal | :37:48. | :37:54. | |
and decisive referendum on separation? We have been working on | :37:54. | :37:58. | |
a cross-party basis, particularly between those partys who believe in | :37:58. | :38:00. | |
the maintenance of the family of the nations of the United Kingdom, | :38:00. | :38:07. | |
to ensure that there is a fair, legal and decisive vote in the | :38:07. | :38:17. | |
:38:17. | :38:17. | ||
referendum. I certainly agree with her characterisation. The spectacle | :38:17. | :38:21. | |
- you couldn't make it up. Let's cross to our Westminster | :38:21. | :38:24. | |
correspondent, David Porter, who's standing by on College Green. Good | :38:24. | :38:29. | |
afternoon. Thank you for joining me. Scottish affairs at the top of the | :38:29. | :38:34. | |
agenda, Nick Clegg having to take that question about the referendum? | :38:34. | :38:39. | |
Yes, Scotland got a mention a few times at Prime Minister's Question | :38:39. | :38:44. | |
Time. It was a rather strange Prime Minister's Question Time. Nick | :38:44. | :38:48. | |
Clegg and Harriet Harman for the opposition. The reason for that is | :38:48. | :38:52. | |
that David Cameron is still out of the country. Quite frankly, I think | :38:52. | :38:56. | |
it was one of those rare occasions here at Westminster where Prime | :38:56. | :39:00. | |
Minister's Question Time was not the main thoughts of MPs and the | :39:00. | :39:04. | |
political village here at Westminster. The place behind me is | :39:04. | :39:09. | |
perhaps still digesting the events in Washington and the rest of | :39:09. | :39:12. | |
America, the re-election of President Obama and perhaps looking | :39:12. | :39:16. | |
a bit further ahead what that will mean for the relationship between | :39:17. | :39:23. | |
Britain and the United States and perhaps as importantly, if America | :39:23. | :39:29. | |
goes ahead with stopping these tax cuts and brings in spending cuts, | :39:29. | :39:33. | |
the fiscal cliff at the beginning of next year, what that could mean | :39:33. | :39:37. | |
for the American economy and any knock-on effects it could have for | :39:37. | :39:40. | |
the recovery in this country. think it is widely regarded Mr | :39:40. | :39:45. | |
Cameron has a good relationship with Mr Obama. He is going to be | :39:45. | :39:48. | |
meeting Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, this evening for budget | :39:48. | :39:53. | |
talks at Downing Street over this controversial EU budget? Yes, you | :39:53. | :39:56. | |
mentioned David Cameron and you mentioned President Obama, normally | :39:56. | :39:59. | |
you would think a Conservative-led administration would have been | :39:59. | :40:03. | |
rooting for the Republicans. That didn't happen. David Cameron has a | :40:03. | :40:09. | |
good working relationship. It is noticeable you talk to Conservative | :40:09. | :40:11. | |
MPs privately, the majority are very content with what has happened | :40:11. | :40:15. | |
in the United States. Probably what they will be less content with is | :40:15. | :40:18. | |
the dinner that David Cameron will be having with Angela Merkel | :40:18. | :40:23. | |
tonight where they are discussing that thorny issue of the EU budget. | :40:23. | :40:26. | |
Those negotiations are starting. There will be a summit in Brussels | :40:26. | :40:30. | |
later this month. Remember, last week, David Cameron said that he | :40:30. | :40:34. | |
wanted a situation where there was no real terms increase in the | :40:34. | :40:39. | |
budget. It would go up with line with inflation. MPs then voted for | :40:39. | :40:44. | |
a real terms cut in the amount that Britain puts into the EU coffers. | :40:44. | :40:48. | |
So he will be dining with Angela Merkel tonight and he will be | :40:48. | :40:53. | |
saying, "The House of Commons wants the situation whereby the amount | :40:53. | :40:58. | |
Britain pays in is going to be reduced." He will find that a very | :40:58. | :41:02. | |
difficult sell to Angela Merkel. She will say that in principle she | :41:02. | :41:06. | |
can see that no-one wants to pay any more, but they will have to put | :41:06. | :41:10. | |
more into the coffers. It is I think politically going to be very | :41:10. | :41:13. | |
difficult this month for David Cameron, although on a personal | :41:13. | :41:17. | |
level he gets on with Angela Merkel, they are coming at this issue from | :41:18. | :41:21. | |
different sides. Thank you very much. | :41:21. | :41:26. | |
Let's have a final chat with our commentator, Hamish Macdonell. | :41:26. | :41:29. | |
Let's go back to something we were covering earlier in the programme, | :41:29. | :41:36. | |
a few minutes ago, the debate at Holyrood and Scotland's | :41:36. | :41:44. | |
relationship with Malawi. It is interesting that there is that side | :41:44. | :41:49. | |
angle to world affairs? When this whole relationship started, or the | :41:49. | :41:52. | |
modern relationship started under Jack McConnell, it was very | :41:52. | :41:57. | |
controversial for the Scottish Executive to start a fund to invest | :41:57. | :42:01. | |
in what was aid to a foreign country. That was seen as being | :42:01. | :42:05. | |
outside the responsibilities of the Scottish Executive. I went to | :42:05. | :42:08. | |
Malawi in 2004 with Jack McConnell to see where some of this money was | :42:08. | :42:13. | |
being spent and see how the Scottish Executive's resources were | :42:13. | :42:16. | |
being put to use. It is very encouraging when you go there. I | :42:16. | :42:20. | |
think it is a very good thing for a small regional country like | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
Scotland, that has a smallish budget, to just focus on one area | :42:24. | :42:30. | |
and one area where it has a very long-standing relationship trying | :42:30. | :42:33. | |
to affect a big change in that one place rather than spreading the | :42:33. | :42:36. | |
money very widely among other places. That whole principle has | :42:36. | :42:41. | |
been accepted now. We saw that in the debate. I think that a lot of | :42:41. | :42:46. | |
MSPs have seen how good the work is that has been done in Malawi. | :42:46. | :42:50. | |
there ten years ago and the relationship with Scotland is | :42:50. | :42:54. | |
extremely close. I suppose it gives Humza Yousaf, it is a great | :42:54. | :42:58. | |
platform for him to be able to talk about that close relationship? | :42:58. | :43:01. | |
There is the politics involved there as well. It is very good for | :43:01. | :43:05. | |
the Scottish Government to have someone who can call themselves | :43:05. | :43:14. | |
external affairs minister and to spread the message across the world. | :43:15. | :43:19. | |
It gives them a platform. They do have to be careful about keeping an | :43:19. | :43:24. | |
eye on those budgets? They do. They are ringfenced. They go to | :43:24. | :43:29. | |
charities, usually Scots charities working in Malawi. OK. Thank you | :43:29. | :43:35. | |
very much. Good luck for Movember! That's all we have time for just | :43:35. | :43:39. |