Browse content similar to 15/09/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Overthrew warm welcome from Holyrood, where MSPs have been | :00:21. | :00:26. | |
talking rubbish, debating waste management, its impact on the | :00:26. | :00:32. | |
environment and the issue of social care. Which of either of those | :00:32. | :00:36. | |
topics will come up in questions to the First Minister? Let's cross to | :00:37. | :00:45. | |
the chamber and find out. Iain Gray is already on his feet. | :00:45. | :00:55. | |
:00:55. | :01:05. | ||
Will they listen, and drop his plan? No. LAUGHTER. I guess the | :01:05. | :01:08. | |
First Minister only listens to those who tell him what he wants to | :01:08. | :01:13. | |
hear, but it was very clear last week that one person he does listen | :01:13. | :01:22. | |
to is the voice of economic sanity as he called them, an economist. | :01:22. | :01:27. | |
The next day, the Economist was rare against economic nationalism, | :01:27. | :01:31. | |
warning against a race to the bottom on tax and imploring us, and | :01:31. | :01:38. | |
I quote, to "to leave behind the nationalist demons of our past ." | :01:38. | :01:43. | |
Surely the First Minister will take the advice of the Economist and | :01:43. | :01:53. | |
slay his own nationalist demons? saw the Labour press release last | :01:53. | :01:56. | |
Saturday morning, and I kindly assumed Iain Gray could have | :01:56. | :02:03. | |
nothing to do with such nonsense. To actually translate that quote, | :02:03. | :02:06. | |
even for the Labour Party's standards, is extraordinary. Let's | :02:06. | :02:12. | |
look at some of the people who back the SNP position on corporation tax. | :02:12. | :02:18. | |
Sir Tom Hunter, one of Scotland's most successful business people, | :02:18. | :02:23. | |
formerly a Major supporter, if I remember correctly, of the Scottish | :02:23. | :02:27. | |
Labour Party. I certainly don't hold that against him with his | :02:27. | :02:32. | |
substantial business record. Jim McCall, Scotland's currently most | :02:32. | :02:36. | |
successful business person. But I suppose the person I would quote | :02:36. | :02:42. | |
more than anyone else in terms of the firm support for the sensible | :02:42. | :02:50. | |
policies being pursued by this government is Wendy Alexander. Iain | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
Gray's predecessor. Can I quote from the committee which she | :02:54. | :03:01. | |
chaired the. The committee --"the committee's unanimous view is that | :03:01. | :03:05. | |
corporation tax should be a tool of UK government's regional policy and | :03:05. | :03:08. | |
should be available as an option for the Scottish government to use | :03:08. | :03:17. | |
also ." If only Iain Gray would follow the example of his | :03:17. | :03:24. | |
predecessor, Wendy Alexander. course, my predecessor Wendy | :03:24. | :03:27. | |
Alexander would happily make the point that she doesn't believe in a | :03:27. | :03:32. | |
race to the bottom for corporation tax at all. The point she made was | :03:32. | :03:39. | |
that if one part of the UK was given its, it would be a mistake | :03:39. | :03:49. | |
:03:49. | :03:53. | ||
for others not to. And as for the Economist, he was very clear that | :03:53. | :03:57. | |
the way forward in the future was fiscal integration, and not | :03:57. | :04:03. | |
economic nationalism. And yes, he was writing in the context of | :04:03. | :04:07. | |
Europe. Maybe is that why is the first -- the wider First Minister | :04:07. | :04:13. | |
thinks his views do not matter this week. Perhaps the First Minister | :04:13. | :04:19. | |
does not care about Europe any more. Because last week, the Cabinet | :04:19. | :04:21. | |
Secretary for External Affairs said we might not be in the European | :04:21. | :04:25. | |
Union at all if we were independent. So what about the First Minister? | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
Does he still believe in independence in Europe since his | :04:30. | :04:38. | |
cabinet secretary apparently does not? I know two people who believe | :04:38. | :04:43. | |
that, one is Iain Gray and the other is the Daily Telegraph. | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
Perhaps Iain Gray now sees the Daily Telegraph as the House | :04:47. | :04:53. | |
journal of the Labour Party in Scotland. For the second week... | :04:53. | :04:58. | |
Well, I don't know, I think the Daily Telegraph is friendlier to | :04:58. | :05:02. | |
the Conservatives in Scotland than it is currently two the | :05:02. | :05:06. | |
Conservatives in London, as far as I can determine. But I am quite | :05:06. | :05:09. | |
sure they can shift allegiance quite firmly to the Labour Party in | :05:09. | :05:14. | |
Scotland. For the second week in a row I have brought a copy of "your | :05:14. | :05:24. | |
Scotland, your voice ." To the chamber full stop one section | :05:24. | :05:27. | |
stated an independent Scotland would continue membership of the | :05:27. | :05:30. | |
European Union. Can we have a brief question and a brief answer, | :05:30. | :05:35. | |
please? The House journal of this chamber is the official record, and | :05:35. | :05:38. | |
that is where the Cabinet secretary said that an independent Scotland | :05:38. | :05:45. | |
perhaps did not need to be part of Europe. I didn't believe that could | :05:45. | :05:49. | |
be the Scottish government's position so we asked for all the | :05:49. | :05:52. | |
work undertaken by the SNP government on the case for | :05:53. | :05:55. | |
independence and I have it here: On business investment, three pages, | :05:56. | :06:01. | |
on joining the euro, two pages, on shedding the national debt, two and | :06:01. | :06:06. | |
a bit pages. Frankly, kids in modern studies write longer essays | :06:06. | :06:12. | |
and this and this is the case of looking at Scotland's future. On | :06:12. | :06:14. | |
the case for independence, when you scratch the surface, there is | :06:14. | :06:24. | |
:06:24. | :06:27. | ||
nothing there. First Minister. pages in this document! Obviously | :06:28. | :06:36. | |
too long and detailed for Iain Gray. LAUGHTER. I will have to send him | :06:36. | :06:41. | |
the summary. I know Iain Gray says hard things about the government | :06:41. | :06:46. | |
week-by-week in the chamber, but I don't think he means them. I will | :06:46. | :06:52. | |
tell you why that is. He used to sit next to Andy care who similarly | :06:52. | :06:57. | |
attacked the government in vehement terms. A few days ago, remember him, | :06:57. | :07:02. | |
he wrote in the Herald that people in the SNP are light more than the | :07:02. | :07:06. | |
Labour Party. I would argue that Alex Salmond is the foremost | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
politician, not just in Scotland but in the UK, he said."I spent a | :07:11. | :07:14. | |
lot of time with John Swinney over the years did to my financial brief | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
and have a great deal of time for him. He does a difficult job very | :07:19. | :07:25. | |
well and works incredibly hard ." I know that when Iain Gray is retired, | :07:25. | :07:35. | |
:07:35. | :07:37. | ||
he will be writing the same things. Question number two, Annabel Goldie. | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
Can the First Minister contain himself? Kick it is extraordinary | :07:41. | :07:48. | |
to watch such self satisfaction. Presiding officer, to ask the First | :07:48. | :07:52. | |
Minister when he will next meet the Prime Minister. No plans in the | :07:52. | :07:58. | |
near future. Last week, I asked the First Minister twice if he got his | :07:58. | :08:03. | |
way, what would be his personal preference on a currency, the | :08:03. | :08:06. | |
British pound or the euro? Twice he ducked the question and wouldn't | :08:06. | :08:13. | |
tell us, no doubt too embarrassed to say what his personal preference | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
is, and all we got was an endless stream of words on process. Let me | :08:17. | :08:21. | |
try again: Does he believe that, given what is happening at the | :08:21. | :08:26. | |
moment, an independent Scotland should join the euro-zone? First | :08:26. | :08:31. | |
Minister. The position is as I set out last week. I am sorry I have to | :08:31. | :08:37. | |
keep reading out... I assumed Annabel Goldie would, over the | :08:37. | :08:41. | |
cause of the last seven days, take the opportunity to actually read | :08:41. | :08:45. | |
the document Iain Gray haven't read, but the position this week of the | :08:45. | :08:49. | |
Scottish government is exactly the same as last week -- Iain Gray has | :08:49. | :08:59. | |
:08:59. | :08:59. | ||
not read. When he talks about himself you cannot shut him up, but | :08:59. | :09:08. | |
he is asked a serious question, and he is uncharacteristically coy. It | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
overwhelms them. Everybody listening knows the First Minister | :09:12. | :09:15. | |
is not answering the question because he is squirming and | :09:15. | :09:21. | |
embarrassed and will not admit his preference. It is pathetic. What a | :09:21. | :09:27. | |
contrast with his colleague, MEP Alan Smith, who was asked the same | :09:27. | :09:30. | |
question on Radio Scotland this morning, about whether he believed | :09:30. | :09:36. | |
an independent Scotland should join the euro, to which he replied, "I | :09:36. | :09:40. | |
do, and the euro will emerge stronger from this, the SNP's | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
position on the euro has been robust and intellectually sound | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
throughout ." So if the First Minister's MEP colleague can come | :09:47. | :09:52. | |
clean, why can't Alex Salmond come clean? Why does he not just admit | :09:52. | :09:57. | |
that he wants the euro? First Minister. I heard the interview | :09:57. | :10:02. | |
this morning, and the MEP said exactly what is in this document, | :10:02. | :10:05. | |
that Scotland would continue to operate through the Stirling system | :10:05. | :10:09. | |
and to a decision to join the euro by the people of Scotland in a | :10:09. | :10:12. | |
referendum when the economic conditions are right. I think that | :10:12. | :10:17. | |
is a robust position. I think it is a robust position because it is | :10:17. | :10:22. | |
remarkably similar to another political party's position. A quote | :10:22. | :10:27. | |
from page 67 of the Liberal Democrat manifesto from last | :10:27. | :10:30. | |
year:"we believe it is in Britain's long-term interest to be part of | :10:30. | :10:35. | |
the euro and Britain should only joined when the conditions are | :10:35. | :10:38. | |
right and it is supported by the position -- people of Britain in a | :10:38. | :10:42. | |
referendum ." I find it extraordinary that Annabel Goldie | :10:42. | :10:47. | |
should come here when she is in alliance with another party at | :10:47. | :10:51. | |
Westminster, and attack a policy which seems to be extraordinary | :10:51. | :10:58. | |
summer to the policy of the Liberal Democrats. I would have said the | :10:59. | :11:02. | |
consistency of this government on the issue, it is a model of | :11:02. | :11:06. | |
consistency compared to the Liberal Party's deep divisions. -- | :11:06. | :11:13. | |
extraordinarily similar to the policy of the Liberal Democrats. I | :11:13. | :11:17. | |
don't know if Annabel Goldie supports her own party is part of | :11:17. | :11:20. | |
the Coalition or the Liberal Democrats part, but until they have | :11:20. | :11:24. | |
resolved that particular difficulty, it will be difficult to attack the | :11:24. | :11:31. | |
consistency of the SNP's position. As I said to Annabel Goldie, I note | :11:31. | :11:35. | |
the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government were proposing | :11:35. | :11:38. | |
legislation on sell-by dates today. I don't think that was any specific | :11:38. | :11:46. | |
reference to the sell-by date of the Scottish Conservative Party. | :11:46. | :11:49. | |
Constituency supplementary, Christine Grahame. Thank you, | :11:49. | :11:56. | |
presiding officer. Does the First Minister share my concern that the | :11:56. | :12:01. | |
South of Scotland, not withstanding it doesn't receive as TB, is not on | :12:01. | :12:08. | |
the eligibility list by Jeremy Hunt for local TV considerations. Can | :12:08. | :12:10. | |
the First Minister advise what the government, if it is in | :12:10. | :12:14. | |
communications with the Department of Culture and Media at Westminster, | :12:14. | :12:24. | |
:12:24. | :12:25. | ||
about this? I tank Christine for the information and there will | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
write to her. This is a serious issue which is deeply felt in her | :12:29. | :12:36. | |
constituency. Willie Rennie. What issues will be discussed at the | :12:36. | :12:42. | |
next meeting of the Cabinet? next meeting of the Cabinet will | :12:42. | :12:47. | |
discuss an extraordinary letter, a threatening letter Mr Swinney has | :12:47. | :12:52. | |
received from Danny Alexander. In response to what I thought was a | :12:52. | :12:57. | |
reasonable request for the UK Government to consider delaying the | :12:57. | :13:01. | |
onset of increased pension contributions in the public sector | :13:01. | :13:04. | |
until after the period of pay freeze is over, we received the | :13:04. | :13:13. | |
following reply: "if you decide not to take forward these changes, the | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
Treasury will need to make corresponding adjustments to your | :13:16. | :13:22. | |
budget. I would have to reduce the Scottish government's budget by | :13:22. | :13:27. | |
�8.4 million for every month's delay." you can call that letter | :13:27. | :13:36. | |
many things but it seems to me neither liberal nor democratic. | :13:36. | :13:39. | |
Willie Rennie. Before the summer, the Scottish government said the | :13:39. | :13:42. | |
Supreme Court were ambulance chasers, only visited Scotland for | :13:42. | :13:47. | |
the Edinburgh Festival, and that a court in another land -- were a | :13:47. | :13:52. | |
court in another land. Yesterday, an expert group's conclusion was | :13:52. | :13:55. | |
welcomed that the Supreme Court has a role to play in Scotland and is | :13:55. | :14:01. | |
well qualified to do that. Has he dropped his threat to cut the | :14:01. | :14:11. | |
:14:11. | :14:12. | ||
cord's money? First Minister. welcomed the report. Within these | :14:12. | :14:17. | |
arrangements, two significant proposals have been brought forward, | :14:17. | :14:21. | |
firstly that the Supreme Court should any become involved as is | :14:21. | :14:26. | |
the case under English jurisdiction, if given leave by the Court of | :14:26. | :14:30. | |
Session to appeal, and secondly that those appeals should be on | :14:30. | :14:34. | |
Points of human rights law, and should not affect the disposal the | :14:34. | :14:38. | |
court makes in Scotland. I think within the context of the current | :14:38. | :14:42. | |
constitutional arrangements, these are substantial steps forward. I | :14:42. | :14:46. | |
know Willie Rennie would have noted Lord McCluskey's contribution to | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
the recent debate in the House of Lords and his critique of the | :14:50. | :14:54. | |
amendments coming forward from Jim Wallace, Lord Wallace, to the | :14:54. | :14:59. | |
Scotland Bill. I hope Lord McCluskey and his committee have | :14:59. | :15:02. | |
announced that this government can see the importance of maintaining | :15:02. | :15:07. | |
the integrity of the criminal law system of Scotland. That is | :15:07. | :15:15. | |
certainly a different tone, the inflammatory term, but the First | :15:15. | :15:18. | |
Minister and the Justice Secretary adopted before recess. But the | :15:18. | :15:24. | |
First Minister was at it again yesterday. That is why Lord Steel | :15:24. | :15:29. | |
resigned from the presiding officer's panel. The Review | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
supports the Supreme Court. It wants to widen access, and it says | :15:33. | :15:38. | |
it is particularly qualified to do the job. We saw in the summer, the | :15:38. | :15:44. | |
First Minister's toxic mix of prejudice and nationalism. Will he | :15:44. | :15:49. | |
agree that that has no place in the future, and will he change his | :15:49. | :15:59. | |
:15:59. | :16:02. | ||
I have to say that somebody who talks about a toxic mix of | :16:02. | :16:06. | |
prejudice is hardly in a position to complain about other people's | :16:06. | :16:11. | |
language. If that description were to be applied to anything I think | :16:11. | :16:16. | |
public sector workers watching this broadcast today might apply it to | :16:16. | :16:23. | |
the letter of Danny Alexander and find that attitude of huge | :16:23. | :16:26. | |
importance and subscribe his political party to even lower | :16:26. | :16:34. | |
support than it has now. Question number four. To as the First | :16:34. | :16:37. | |
Minister what recent discussions the Scottish Government has had | :16:37. | :16:41. | |
with the UK Government regarding change to the tax regime for a | :16:41. | :16:48. | |
North Sea oil and gas? That industry supports 200,000 jobs and | :16:48. | :16:56. | |
is expected to raise billions in tax revenue for the UK Exchequer | :16:56. | :16:59. | |
this year. The Chancellor's decision to increase the | :16:59. | :17:03. | |
supplementary charge has damaged investor confidence and means that | :17:03. | :17:09. | |
a number of marginal fields are no longer financially viable. There is | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
a statutory consultation period on any future changes to the North Sea | :17:13. | :17:18. | |
fiscal regime which would restore much-needed confidence, that would | :17:18. | :17:22. | |
insure concerns about future reforms could be identified and | :17:22. | :17:30. | |
discussed before being implemented. I find the First Minister for his | :17:30. | :17:37. | |
answer. Does he agreed with me that the Prime Minister's comments | :17:37. | :17:40. | |
yesterday branding the 68 % of Scots to believe North Sea oil | :17:40. | :17:45. | |
revenue should be allocated to Scotland as stupid, were | :17:45. | :17:49. | |
disgraceful comments? With the Prime Minister's disparaging | :17:49. | :17:58. | |
comments not be better reserved for his ministers. They have caused an | :17:58. | :18:05. | |
immense amount of grief to the industry and those who work in it. | :18:05. | :18:09. | |
I am not certain why a on the Labour benches there was the | :18:09. | :18:15. | |
reaction there was given that my understanding was that Labour MPs | :18:15. | :18:21. | |
in Aberdeen agreed exactly with the point of view that was being put | :18:21. | :18:26. | |
forward by Kevin Stewart. I thought the Prime Minister's comments were | :18:26. | :18:31. | |
misguided. They came on the same day of the press launch of the | :18:31. | :18:39. | |
official history of North Sea oil. One of the findings in that the | :18:39. | :18:44. | |
official history is that the wealth and potential and benefits and | :18:44. | :18:49. | |
revenues from North Sea oil were consistently downplayed by | :18:49. | :18:54. | |
successive Labour and Conservative regimes. Despite the Prime | :18:54. | :19:00. | |
Minister's arrogance yesterday in describing the 68 % of Scots who | :19:00. | :19:04. | |
believe, in my view quite reasonably, that after �300 billion | :19:04. | :19:09. | |
of revenues have flown from Scotland to London, perhaps it is | :19:09. | :19:15. | |
time for Scotland to get a turn in enjoying the wealth of its own | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
national resources. Instead of that it is part of the consistent | :19:19. | :19:23. | |
pattern of the Conservative and Labour parties trying to mislead | :19:23. | :19:26. | |
the Scottish people about the wealth and strength of their own | :19:27. | :19:33. | |
resources. It changes in the tax regime for oil and gas are so | :19:33. | :19:37. | |
important to require a statutory consultation period, does the same | :19:37. | :19:43. | |
principle applied to other fiscal changes? If so, it does the First | :19:43. | :19:47. | |
Minister now regret the hasty abolition of transitional relief on | :19:47. | :19:53. | |
non-domestic rates? I think most reasonable people would say the | :19:53. | :19:58. | |
offer of domestic rates is the best in these islands by far. 80,000 | :19:58. | :20:03. | |
businesses benefit from the small business bonus scheme. I think one | :20:03. | :20:07. | |
of the reasons the Labour Party performed so desperately poorly in | :20:07. | :20:11. | |
the recent election, particularly in the north-east of Scotland, is | :20:11. | :20:16. | |
that people looked at Labour candidates and could see no | :20:16. | :20:20. | |
assurance or guarantee that the enormous benefit to business would | :20:20. | :20:24. | |
continue if the misfortune of a Labour administration had come to | :20:24. | :20:33. | |
pass. Fortunately, for Scotland, that misfortune was avoided. To as | :20:33. | :20:37. | |
the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is | :20:37. | :20:40. | |
on an independent Scotland joining the European free-trade | :20:40. | :20:49. | |
association? For the second week in and all and for the third time in | :20:49. | :20:57. | |
this very Question Time, I refer to You're Scotland You're Boyce will | :20:58. | :21:01. | |
stop I stated an independent Scotland would continue membership | :21:01. | :21:11. | |
:21:11. | :21:13. | ||
of the European Union. -- Voice. Isn't it time he reflected on the | :21:13. | :21:18. | |
confusion he and his party are actually in it? In the past week we | :21:18. | :21:24. | |
have heard three different SNP policy positions on Europe from the | :21:24. | :21:30. | |
First Minister, and any p, and the cabinet secretary. So confusing is | :21:30. | :21:34. | |
their position that last week SNP backbenchers seemed to be debating | :21:34. | :21:44. | |
:21:44. | :21:48. | ||
a motion that miss his lob had chosen not to table. -- Hyslop. | :21:48. | :21:53. | |
Given the events of the past week, I have to ask, is he sure his party | :21:53. | :22:01. | |
has a policy on this? Sorry, I was somewhere else as that question | :22:01. | :22:11. | |
:22:11. | :22:12. | ||
went on! The record will short that we were going through many | :22:13. | :22:17. | |
alleyways and byways. I was trying to work out where this motion was | :22:17. | :22:24. | |
meant to be. And I commend two things to Patricia Ferguson. | :22:24. | :22:28. | |
Firstly, look back at the record from last week, I have it here. | :22:28. | :22:38. | |
Many reasonable people would not take the interpretation of Fiona | :22:38. | :22:48. | |
:22:48. | :22:48. | ||
Hyslop's reply to Margo MacDonald. My second piece of advice is that | :22:48. | :22:53. | |
which I gave to her current party leader, please do not take the | :22:53. | :23:01. | |
Daily Telegraph as the Bible for reporting on parliamentary debates. | :23:01. | :23:04. | |
Has the First Minister received any response from the UK Government | :23:04. | :23:09. | |
over its request for an automatic right to representation in EU | :23:09. | :23:14. | |
negotiations to be included in the Scotland Bill? Certainly not a | :23:14. | :23:19. | |
positive response, as yet. I think that should be included and I will | :23:19. | :23:25. | |
tell you why, we were given a commitment, and understanding by | :23:25. | :23:29. | |
the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary, immediately after last | :23:29. | :23:34. | |
year's General Election. All the mistakes which had been made in the | :23:34. | :23:40. | |
past excluding ministers from Scotland were parts of the past. | :23:40. | :23:44. | |
The new respect relationship would ensure that would not happen in | :23:44. | :23:49. | |
future. William Gage even sent a letter around other ministers. Then | :23:49. | :23:55. | |
we found, in a matter of months, that instruction, that request, | :23:55. | :24:00. | |
that reasonable suggestion from the Foreign Secretary was blithely | :24:00. | :24:07. | |
ignored by successive UK Government departments. S even the Prime | :24:07. | :24:10. | |
Minister and Foreign Secretary cannot persuade UK Government | :24:10. | :24:17. | |
departments, even on an issue like fishing for example, there are some | :24:17. | :24:20. | |
70% of the quarter hour remaining in UK hands which lies in Scottish | :24:20. | :24:28. | |
waters. Even an issue like fishing where Mr Loch Tay knows more than | :24:28. | :24:37. | |
any UK minister, even on that issue we were denied given the | :24:37. | :24:44. | |
circumstances of the Labour Party and now the Liberal/conservative | :24:44. | :24:52. | |
coalition, I see no effort to protect Scotland's rights of access. | :24:52. | :24:57. | |
It would be a lot simpler if Scotland where an independent | :24:57. | :25:03. | |
country within the European Union! While I agree that last week the | :25:03. | :25:06. | |
minister was quite correct to say the decision in relation to Europe | :25:06. | :25:10. | |
would be taken on the decisions of the day, I wonder if he would say | :25:11. | :25:16. | |
with reference to the conditions of the day now, the contemporary | :25:16. | :25:20. | |
conditions, given the openly expressed determination of | :25:20. | :25:24. | |
Chancellor Merkel, President Sarkozy, and the commission, to | :25:24. | :25:28. | |
form a single economic Government eliminating the sovereignty of | :25:28. | :25:38. | |
:25:38. | :25:38. | ||
member states. Isn't that a better bet for genuine Scottish | :25:38. | :25:42. | |
Independence than the Franco model for the future of the EU which | :25:42. | :25:47. | |
appears to be developing now? thigh followed through the logic of | :25:47. | :25:51. | |
Margo MacDonald's position that would be that Britain could not be | :25:51. | :26:00. | |
an independent country within the European Union. Just for the sake | :26:00. | :26:04. | |
of argument, and given the occasional difficulty that Margo | :26:04. | :26:09. | |
MacDonald can offer to Government ministers to answer her questions | :26:09. | :26:13. | |
honestly, can I say the policy of the SNP Government is that an | :26:13. | :26:18. | |
independent Scotland would continue membership of the European Union. | :26:18. | :26:22. | |
Can I ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government is helping | :26:22. | :26:29. | |
the expansion of the Scotch whisky industry? During the first half of | :26:29. | :26:37. | |
2011 whisky exports are up by 22%. During 20 elegant they have | :26:37. | :26:47. | |
:26:47. | :26:50. | ||
contributed to 0.3 �6 billion to the economy. -- during 2011. -- | :26:50. | :27:00. | |
:27:00. | :27:10. | ||
2.36 billion. Whisky exports to China are now up 30%. I thank the | :27:10. | :27:15. | |
First Minister for his response. He should have included the UK | :27:15. | :27:19. | |
Government in those who were responsible for the deal with China. | :27:19. | :27:24. | |
Is it not ironic that while this is happening the industry remains | :27:24. | :27:28. | |
concerned that foreign countries to which we export, who may look for | :27:28. | :27:33. | |
excuses to impose trade barriers, will use minimum pricing as an | :27:33. | :27:38. | |
excuse. Banai as the First Minister how the Scottish Government will | :27:38. | :27:44. | |
clear the issue of legality of minimum pricing policy but Brussels, | :27:44. | :27:49. | |
before the bill is introduced, given the European Court long- | :27:49. | :27:55. | |
standing rulings against minimum pricing in the past? My mum pricing | :27:55. | :27:58. | |
could never be used as a justification for illegal | :27:59. | :28:04. | |
discrimination. I am not the only person in Scotland to believe that, | :28:04. | :28:08. | |
it is agreed on by the Liberal Democrats. I saw a good | :28:08. | :28:15. | |
contribution to the official report from Jackson Carlow. I find myself | :28:15. | :28:23. | |
reluctantly agreeing with Iain Duncan Smith will stop he has | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
publicly backed alcohol minimum pricing, I believe we should | :28:27. | :28:32. | |
respect the United and clear view of the health community, police and | :28:32. | :28:38. | |
wider Scottish public and back the Government's policy. Now we come to | :28:38. | :28:48. |