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A very warm welcome to the Scottish Parliament, here at Holyrood. As we | :00:20. | :00:28. | |
go on air, the conservative UK manifesto is being launched in | :00:29. | :00:33. | |
Halifax. Perhaps some elements of that will filter through to the | :00:34. | :00:39. | |
exchanges here. The prime event today at Holyrood is questions to | :00:40. | :00:43. | |
the First Minister. Let's cross to the Chamber and my colleague, Nile | :00:44. | :00:49. | |
Gallagher. Yes, don't change the channel, stay with us for First | :00:50. | :00:56. | |
Minister's Questions. If you want to follow what is happening with the | :00:57. | :01:02. | |
Conservative manifesto launch, do like the MSP are doing and watch it | :01:03. | :01:09. | |
on your phone. What are the engagements for the Brit minister | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
today? I will be on the leaders debate, which of course Theresa May | :01:14. | :01:19. | |
is ducking. We don't have enough teachers in Scotland and given the | :01:20. | :01:22. | |
fact that all sides accept this, does the First Minister agree with | :01:23. | :01:25. | |
me that when young people here do choose teaching as a career we | :01:26. | :01:29. | |
should do everything we can to ensure that they stay? As we have | :01:30. | :01:36. | |
discussed before, Scotland in common with many other countries faces a | :01:37. | :01:40. | |
challenge in teacher recruitment. That is why we are increasing the | :01:41. | :01:45. | |
intake into initial teacher education, why the General teaching | :01:46. | :01:48. | |
Council is looking to encourage more people into teaching and look at | :01:49. | :01:54. | |
different routes into teaching. I suspect Ruth Davidson will ask next | :01:55. | :01:59. | |
about teach first. I am open-minded to looking at ideas about how we get | :02:00. | :02:03. | |
more young people into teaching but we have got to make sure that these | :02:04. | :02:08. | |
ideas work for Scottish education, so we will continue to do everything | :02:09. | :02:11. | |
we can to address the challenges we face. She raises the issue teach | :02:12. | :02:18. | |
first let's have a look at it. This week we learned that in the last | :02:19. | :02:22. | |
five years nearly 400 talented graduates have left Scotland to | :02:23. | :02:26. | |
teach elsewhere in the UK. That is because they were attracted by the | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
programme, very successful programme, which despite versions | :02:31. | :02:34. | |
operating in 40 countries around the world still has not been allowed to | :02:35. | :02:40. | |
step foot in Scotland. So that is 400 enthusiastic young teachers to | :02:41. | :02:43. | |
pupae in our schools but aren't because Nicola Sturgeon says so. We | :02:44. | :02:48. | |
have heard in recent days about the huge quality issues surrounding | :02:49. | :02:53. | |
teacher training here, given that, come the First Minister give me a | :02:54. | :02:56. | |
good reason why she is stopping new schemes like teach first but running | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
here in Scotland and seeing if they can improve matters? I have met with | :03:02. | :03:07. | |
teach first and discussed with them previously whether it would be | :03:08. | :03:12. | |
possible to adapt their schemes to adapt to Scottish education. When I | :03:13. | :03:22. | |
visited not long after I became First Minister as school in London | :03:23. | :03:25. | |
that had taken part in the London challenge, and we did look carefully | :03:26. | :03:30. | |
at the London challenge and incorporated some of its learning | :03:31. | :03:33. | |
into our own attainment challenge. The headteacher in that school was | :03:34. | :03:37. | |
sceptical about temp one. One thing she said at the time was that it was | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
in her view, and they appreciate there would be other views, but it | :03:43. | :03:47. | |
was quite short-term and it was a difficulty often in retaining those | :03:48. | :03:53. | |
teachers. We will continue to discuss with the teaching profession | :03:54. | :03:56. | |
and the local authorities how we make sure we get the brightest and | :03:57. | :04:01. | |
best teachers into our schools. The General teaching Council has been | :04:02. | :04:04. | |
looking at different ways of bringing young people into schools. | :04:05. | :04:09. | |
Ruth Davidson doesn't talk about the pasta graduates in Scotland who to | :04:10. | :04:14. | |
go into teaching. I want to encourage more of them to do so. We | :04:15. | :04:19. | |
will continue to look at all of these issues as we drive forward | :04:20. | :04:23. | |
with our determination to drive up standards in our schools and close | :04:24. | :04:27. | |
the attainment gap between the richest and poorest. In the | :04:28. | :04:32. | |
Amsterdam gave me a good reason why she won't let temp one work here, it | :04:33. | :04:38. | |
was I spoke to a woman in London but they haven't closed my mind to That | :04:39. | :04:43. | |
is exactly the first and so the First Minister give me in January | :04:44. | :04:51. | |
2016, almost 18 months ago. Is there it is -- is there a decision in our | :04:52. | :04:59. | |
future here? You have to question if the First Minister really | :05:00. | :05:02. | |
understands the problem that we face because we have 4,000 fewer teachers | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
than when she came to power. We aren't recruiting enough trainees to | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
fill the gaps. We have 16% of training places for English unfilled | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
and nearly a quarter for maths. She claims that her government is on top | :05:17. | :05:23. | |
of this. Let me ask this, if she is, what percentage of secondary schools | :05:24. | :05:27. | |
say that the lack of teachers is constraining the number of subjects | :05:28. | :05:33. | |
they can offer? I have been very clear about the challenges we face a | :05:34. | :05:37. | |
run teacher recruitment that is why John Swinney has been working with | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
the general teachers Council to look into how we get more teachers and | :05:42. | :05:45. | |
education but it is also why we have been increasing the intake into | :05:46. | :05:52. | |
initial teacher education. As I said in relation to temp one, we have had | :05:53. | :05:57. | |
initial discussions about whether that programme can be adapted for | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
the particular circumstances of our education. We will continue to look | :06:03. | :06:05. | |
at these issues in the round and drive forward the plans we are | :06:06. | :06:08. | |
taking forward. The national improvement framework, which is | :06:09. | :06:15. | |
already seeing reforms around school education, the attainment challenge, | :06:16. | :06:18. | |
the attainment fund, the people equity fund in particular which as | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
we speak is channelling resources into the hands of head teachers so | :06:24. | :06:27. | |
they can drive the improvements they want to see in their schools. While | :06:28. | :06:59. | |
we two-week Ruth Davidson gets up and asks about this, this government | :07:00. | :07:01. | |
will get on with taking the action that binds the solutions. What a lot | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
of waffle. I am pleased the First Minister thinks it is legitimate for | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
me to ask questions about our failing education system. I think it | :07:12. | :07:12. | |
is my duty to ask these questions. The question I asked was what | :07:13. | :07:14. | |
proportion of our schools our constrained in the lessons they can | :07:15. | :07:16. | |
teach, and the answer was 70%. That was the figure reported to the | :07:17. | :07:17. | |
education committee. 70% of schools that can't offer the pupils they | :07:18. | :07:22. | |
want to because her government has not recruited the teachers. Instead | :07:23. | :07:26. | |
of facing this crisis, what do we get? This week we have seen | :07:27. | :07:30. | |
backslapping of ten years in power while education has been getting | :07:31. | :07:35. | |
worst. This is a First Minister who has provided over a teacher | :07:36. | :07:39. | |
recruitment crisis, who has fallen asleep at the wheel on education. | :07:40. | :07:45. | |
His response to bad test results is to take Scotland out of the tests. | :07:46. | :07:53. | |
And knocks back ideas like temp one that she can't explain apart from | :07:54. | :07:56. | |
some woman in London she has stopped too. Isn't it time that we had a | :07:57. | :08:01. | |
First Minister in charge who does something about all of the mistakes, | :08:02. | :08:07. | |
doesn't just admit them? The International summit of teaching | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
experts that the Deputy First Minister attended just before Easter | :08:12. | :08:14. | |
recognised there were teacher recruitment challenges across the | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
world. Ruth Davidson to suggest this is a problem unique to Scotland I | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
think is unfortunate. I think it is unfortunate that we two-week she | :08:25. | :08:28. | |
stands up here and rightly points to areas where we need to improve but | :08:29. | :08:34. | |
repeatedly fails to talk about the improvements we are seeing in | :08:35. | :08:38. | |
Scottish education. The fact that in our schools are young people are | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
coming out with record high passes, record advanced higher passes. We | :08:44. | :08:49. | |
have more young people achieving national five qualifications. We are | :08:50. | :09:01. | |
starting to see on a number of indicators the beginning of the | :09:02. | :09:05. | |
closing of the gap between the richest and poorest. I am the first | :09:06. | :09:10. | |
to admit there is much more to do, but Ruth Davidson should stop doing | :09:11. | :09:13. | |
a disservice to teachers and pupils across this country... By using | :09:14. | :09:21. | |
terms like a failing education system. We do not have a failing | :09:22. | :09:26. | |
education system in Scotland and Ruth Davidson should be ashamed | :09:27. | :09:37. | |
standing up here suggesting we do. Questionable to. What engagement she | :09:38. | :09:40. | |
has planned for the rest of the week. | :09:41. | :09:44. | |
Engagements to take forward the Programme for Government in | :09:45. | :09:47. | |
Scotland. Yesterday, the First Minister and I've met with Brendan | :09:48. | :09:51. | |
Cox, the husband of Jo Cox and at that meeting the First Minister | :09:52. | :09:54. | |
rightly agreed that there is no place for abuse of any kind in our | :09:55. | :10:00. | |
political debate. A few weeks ago a prominent Internet bloggers said of | :10:01. | :10:05. | |
Oliver Mundell, a member of this Parliament, that he is the sort of | :10:06. | :10:12. | |
public speaker who made you wish that his dad had embraced his | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
homosexuality is sooner. There is no place in society for homophobia like | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
this, which he agree with me? Of course I do. For Kezia Dugdale to | :10:23. | :10:28. | |
get up here and suggest in any way shape or form that I would condone | :10:29. | :10:34. | |
homophobia I think is deeply unfortunate. It was the kind of | :10:35. | :10:40. | |
issue we were all discussing with Brendan Cox yesterday, all of us | :10:41. | :10:43. | |
should make very clear that that kind of language, any form of abuse | :10:44. | :10:51. | |
of any minority or any politician of that nature is completely | :10:52. | :10:57. | |
unacceptable. I see a abuse on a daily basis being hurled at me, at | :10:58. | :11:02. | |
my colleagues, people on my side of the political spectrum and I don't | :11:03. | :11:08. | |
hold Kezia Dugdale personally responsible for that, so we should | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
all join together and save that that kind of abuse is unacceptable and at | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
least have this as an issue on which we have consensus and not division. | :11:18. | :11:26. | |
I very much welcome that response from the First Minister. Of course, | :11:27. | :11:30. | |
this was a remark posted on Twitter by Stuart Campbell, who writes for | :11:31. | :11:35. | |
the website wins over Scotland. In the Daily Record I call but Mr | :11:36. | :11:39. | |
Campbell for his homophobic comments. People should listen to | :11:40. | :11:42. | |
this if they are serious about tackling homophobia and abuse in all | :11:43. | :11:48. | |
of its forms. Mr Campbell has written to me through his lawyer to | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
demand a ?10,000 payment for, and they could, damage to reputation. | :11:54. | :11:58. | |
Presiding Officer, I stand firmly by my comments, I have never quite tied | :11:59. | :12:02. | |
to believe and I will not start today. There is a catalogue of | :12:03. | :12:10. | |
evidence that demonstrates the file that Stuart Campbell thinks is | :12:11. | :12:16. | |
acceptable. Given that we are in the general election campaign, will the | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
First Minister today condemned wins over Scotland and anyone else who | :12:22. | :12:30. | |
poisons political debate in our country? I just have condemned | :12:31. | :12:31. | |
anybody he indulges in that kind of language or abuse. I am not | :12:32. | :12:35. | |
responsible for Stuart Campbell any more than Kezia Dugdale is | :12:36. | :12:38. | |
responsible for people who hurl abuse at me in the name of being a | :12:39. | :12:45. | |
supporter of the Labour Party. Let's cut to the chase about what is going | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
on here. Kezia Dugdale is asking me about this today because she hopes | :12:51. | :12:54. | |
it means I won't be able to remind her that her colleagues in Aberdeen | :12:55. | :13:00. | |
yesterday voted for a Tory Administration there. What we are | :13:01. | :13:07. | |
seeing here today is a bit of a political smoke screen. Let me put | :13:08. | :13:10. | |
it beyond any doubt, I condemn anybody who hurls abuse on social | :13:11. | :13:15. | |
media or anywhere else and all of us should do that. The abuse I see | :13:16. | :13:20. | |
directed at me on a daily basis would make somebody's carer Carol, | :13:21. | :13:32. | |
and some of it does come from people professing to be supporters of Kezia | :13:33. | :13:38. | |
Dugdale's party. I do not alter personally responsible for that and | :13:39. | :13:44. | |
I think we should accept that there are people out there and we should | :13:45. | :13:47. | |
all united in condemning it. APPLAUSE. When my colleagues do | :13:48. | :13:50. | |
something I disagree with I take action. I am asking the First | :13:51. | :13:52. | |
Minister to do the same stop the A few SNP politicians have called | :13:53. | :14:25. | |
him out. 44% of SNP MSPs and 50% of SNP MPs have actively encouraged him | :14:26. | :14:31. | |
along. I have the list here. It includes ten government ministers. | :14:32. | :14:37. | |
The Finance Secretary. The Justice Secretary and the Transport | :14:38. | :14:46. | |
Minister. As leaders we have a duty to stand up when it becomes an | :14:47. | :14:50. | |
outlet for aggression, intolerance and hatred. I want to have the First | :14:51. | :14:55. | |
Minister act clearly yes or no question. Will she today order her | :14:56. | :15:01. | |
politicians and her own ministers to denounce and shun wings over | :15:02. | :15:09. | |
Scotland once and for all? APPLAUSE. I've follow thousands of people on | :15:10. | :15:15. | |
twitter and I am followed by hundreds of thousands of people on | :15:16. | :15:20. | |
twitter. Is Kezia Dugdale really trying to say, if I was to go | :15:21. | :15:27. | |
through Kezia Dugdale's tweets or members of her group or her party, | :15:28. | :15:33. | |
and I came up with tweets that were somehow unsavoury in some way, is | :15:34. | :15:36. | |
she really saying that she would hold herself personally responsible | :15:37. | :15:41. | |
for that? This is absolutely ridiculous. I am unequivocally, | :15:42. | :15:50. | |
condemn abuse of any kind. I have a list here of abuse that has been | :15:51. | :15:57. | |
hurled by many people who are not a Tory councillors in Scotland. I have | :15:58. | :16:07. | |
had abuse from people who have been members of the Labour Party, I have | :16:08. | :16:17. | |
been called a fascist and a Nazi, or my party has by Ian Smart, who was a | :16:18. | :16:19. | |
senior member of the Labour Party and they didn't hold Kezia Dugdale | :16:20. | :16:20. | |
responsible. Let's cut to the chase here. This is a smoke screen being | :16:21. | :16:24. | |
erected by Kezia Dugdale today. Because her party is in disarray, it | :16:25. | :16:32. | |
is in Civil War, it is in meltdown and as leader of the party, she is | :16:33. | :16:37. | |
directing this at me to hide one simple fact, as leader of the | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
Scottish Labour Party, she is not in control of the room party because | :16:42. | :16:46. | |
she can't stop councillors going into coalition with Tories up and | :16:47. | :16:50. | |
down the country. That is why she is asking about this today as a smoke | :16:51. | :16:53. | |
screen to protect yourself against the State of a room party. | :16:54. | :17:02. | |
Some constituency questions. Thank you. I wonder if the First Minister | :17:03. | :17:11. | |
would join me in welcoming the Government's victory against the | :17:12. | :17:14. | |
judgment blocking the development of offshore wind farms, a victory that | :17:15. | :17:21. | |
is good news for Scotland and the climate change and jobs front and | :17:22. | :17:24. | |
would she encouraged the RSPB who instigated the original action to | :17:25. | :17:28. | |
accept the appeal decision and resolve the concerns by working with | :17:29. | :17:33. | |
the developers on, for example, the sympathetic sighting of wind | :17:34. | :17:38. | |
turbines? I do very much welcome the judgment. I think the development of | :17:39. | :17:44. | |
offshore wind is important, not just for environmental reasons, but also | :17:45. | :17:48. | |
economic development Scotland and I hope this means these developments | :17:49. | :17:54. | |
can continue. What happens now is a decision for the RSPB. I hope we | :17:55. | :17:59. | |
will see an end to the court action. I would also say and I hope the RSPB | :18:00. | :18:04. | |
will listen to this because protecting the environment is really | :18:05. | :18:08. | |
important and I know they have legitimate concerns about this so I | :18:09. | :18:12. | |
would want to say very clearly to them and others that we want to make | :18:13. | :18:16. | |
sure we work in a way to allow the development of offshore wind for the | :18:17. | :18:20. | |
benefits it brings but does so with the protection of the environment | :18:21. | :18:24. | |
very much paramount. I hope we can move forward on that basis. Thank | :18:25. | :18:29. | |
you, Presiding Officer. The first Mr may be aware that an estate agency | :18:30. | :18:34. | |
based in Edinburgh is demanding a buyer's premium fee. If prospective | :18:35. | :18:41. | |
buyers do not agree to pay it, the property is offered to the next | :18:42. | :18:44. | |
bidder who can pay it. The constituent spent 12 years saving | :18:45. | :18:48. | |
for his first flat and is now expected to pay a fee of over ?2000. | :18:49. | :18:57. | |
Does she agree it is an example of unscrupulous practice and will her | :18:58. | :19:03. | |
government look into this issue and assessed the legality of the | :19:04. | :19:08. | |
practice? Does the First Minister agree that the subject matter of the | :19:09. | :19:12. | |
estate agents act should be devolved so that this parliament has the full | :19:13. | :19:18. | |
powers over matters relating to the acquisition of land and property? I | :19:19. | :19:22. | |
am happy to look into this matter. I agree these powers should be | :19:23. | :19:27. | |
devolved. The regulation of estate agents is currently covered by | :19:28. | :19:34. | |
consumer protection in the Scotland Act. I absolutely agree that fees | :19:35. | :19:39. | |
charged by estate agents should be completely transparent and I'm | :19:40. | :19:44. | |
stunned the Scottish Government has recently received one complaint | :19:45. | :19:53. | |
about a buyer's premium -- I understand. I will write to the | :19:54. | :20:00. | |
member on this matter. The NHS Grampian this week announced it can | :20:01. | :20:03. | |
no longer guarantees surgery within 12 weeks of diagnosis. It is not in | :20:04. | :20:09. | |
a position to meet the targets she has set. Will her government step up | :20:10. | :20:14. | |
and provide them with the funding it should receive under the | :20:15. | :20:19. | |
Government's own formula, a formula which is now nearly ten years old | :20:20. | :20:25. | |
and has still not been delivered? We have moved health boards closer to | :20:26. | :20:29. | |
parity, as it is called, than was the case when we took office and | :20:30. | :20:35. | |
under the formula we continue to do that. On the specific issue raised, | :20:36. | :20:40. | |
we are clear with all health boards that patiently waiting for treatment | :20:41. | :20:44. | |
such as elective surgery must be seen as seen as quickly as possible | :20:45. | :20:49. | |
and it is important patients with the highest clinical priorities such | :20:50. | :20:53. | |
as cancer patients are seen extremely quickly. We are investing | :20:54. | :20:57. | |
additional resources and we have been working with NHS prank in -- | :20:58. | :21:06. | |
NHS prank which we will announce soon to help build up capacity to | :21:07. | :21:12. | |
make sure all patients are treated in a timely fashion. We see waiting | :21:13. | :21:16. | |
times now lower than they were when this government took office but we | :21:17. | :21:20. | |
also see demand on the health service continuing to rise, mainly | :21:21. | :21:24. | |
due to the ageing population. We must continue to work with health | :21:25. | :21:28. | |
boards and make sure they have the required resources to continue to | :21:29. | :21:30. | |
deliver the standard of service patients deserve. My constituent | :21:31. | :21:42. | |
Doctor who lives with his wife and two children is going to be deported | :21:43. | :21:48. | |
on the 11th of June. The Glasgow University lecturer has recently | :21:49. | :21:52. | |
been awarded ?1.32 million research grant from the UK Government which | :21:53. | :21:58. | |
employs a further three people. The Home Office has repeatedly given him | :21:59. | :22:02. | |
the wrong information which has led to this personal crisis. A Canadian | :22:03. | :22:10. | |
national, his wife qualifies for UK citizenship and one of his children | :22:11. | :22:14. | |
was born in the UK. Would the First Minister intervene in this case to | :22:15. | :22:20. | |
assist allowing the doctor to remain here in Scotland and continue his | :22:21. | :22:31. | |
valuable work? Obviously, I do not know the details of the case, but I | :22:32. | :22:37. | |
would be very happy to look into the detail and see if there is anything | :22:38. | :22:40. | |
the Scottish Government can do to appeal to the Home Office to see | :22:41. | :22:45. | |
sense, if indeed that is what is required. I think the case he has | :22:46. | :22:48. | |
outlined in terms of the details is shared with the Chamber today do | :22:49. | :22:56. | |
seem to illustrate the complete wrong-headedness of the UK | :22:57. | :22:57. | |
Government's approach to immigration. We see today as the | :22:58. | :23:04. | |
Tories publish the manifesto a recommitment to an immigration | :23:05. | :23:09. | |
target that they know is not deliverable but they know that in | :23:10. | :23:12. | |
the process of trying to deliver the target they will do and hull damage | :23:13. | :23:16. | |
to not just the Scottish economy but the UK economy as a whole -- untold | :23:17. | :23:22. | |
damage. Today they are publishing proposals to increase the amount of | :23:23. | :23:25. | |
money employers have to pay if they wanted employee skilled migrants | :23:26. | :23:32. | |
from outside of the EU. As the BMA have pointed out, it includes | :23:33. | :23:36. | |
doctors and nurses and other people working in our health service. Not | :23:37. | :23:39. | |
only will we make it harder to recruit people into the health | :23:40. | :23:44. | |
service, harder perhaps to recruit people into the teaching profession | :23:45. | :23:49. | |
from outside this country, but we will also charge our public services | :23:50. | :23:52. | |
when they are trying to do so. This really sums up the fact that the UK | :23:53. | :23:59. | |
are pursuing an immigration policy damaging to the economy of the | :24:00. | :24:03. | |
country and of course they are trying... They are doing it as they | :24:04. | :24:07. | |
are increasingly morphing into Ukip and that I think makes it all the | :24:08. | :24:12. | |
more important that after this general election there are strong | :24:13. | :24:15. | |
voices standing up to the Tories and making sure Scotland's interests in | :24:16. | :24:19. | |
this and so many other areas are properly protected. Patrick Harvie. | :24:20. | :24:30. | |
When will the Cabinet next meet? Tuesday. A few days ago, the Prime | :24:31. | :24:38. | |
Minister showed how hugely in touch she is with the priorities of the | :24:39. | :24:43. | |
country by declaring that she has always supported fox hunting and | :24:44. | :24:47. | |
maintains a commitment to its reintroduction. Today the | :24:48. | :24:49. | |
Conservative manifesto promises a step backwards in the introducing | :24:50. | :24:56. | |
this cruel and barbaric act to parts of these islands. It was also | :24:57. | :24:59. | |
revealed one of Ruth Davidson's former colleagues who resigned is a | :25:00. | :25:18. | |
member of a fox hunting club in Scotland claiming it was part of her | :25:19. | :25:19. | |
way of life. An estimated 800 foxes are killed by hunts each year in | :25:20. | :25:20. | |
Scotland. Many are killed by hounds rather than being shot, in clear | :25:21. | :25:21. | |
breach of the act. The First Minister will be aware of the huge | :25:22. | :25:24. | |
amount of anger and concern there is among members of the public about | :25:25. | :25:28. | |
this issue. Does she agree with those members of the public who are | :25:29. | :25:33. | |
contacting all parties to demand a ban on this brutal act? The sheer | :25:34. | :25:39. | |
agree with her own party leader at Westminster who says he totally | :25:40. | :25:41. | |
opposes fox hunting and if she does, will the law in Scotland totally | :25:42. | :25:48. | |
oppose fox hunting? Before I come onto the position of the Scottish | :25:49. | :25:51. | |
Government, I think it says a lot about the priorities of Theresa May | :25:52. | :25:55. | |
and the Tories when they go out of their way to deny parliament any say | :25:56. | :25:59. | |
over the hugely important issues associated with exit and yet they | :26:00. | :26:04. | |
are committed to giving Parliament a free vote on Read reviews in fox | :26:05. | :26:10. | |
hunting -- associated with Brexit. They have got completely the wrong | :26:11. | :26:17. | |
priorities. Obviously, when David Cameron was talking about this | :26:18. | :26:20. | |
previously, it raised an issue about the differences between the law in | :26:21. | :26:24. | |
England and in Scotland and at that point, we committed to looking at | :26:25. | :26:28. | |
loopholes in the Scottish law, Patrick Harvie will be aware, we | :26:29. | :26:34. | |
have had people look at this in detail and we are considering the | :26:35. | :26:38. | |
recommendations and considering whether changes in the law required. | :26:39. | :26:42. | |
I do understand the concerns of the people who are writing to us, as I | :26:43. | :26:47. | |
have always been an opponent of fox hunting and I remain an opponent of | :26:48. | :26:51. | |
fox hunting and we need to make sure the operation of the law in Scotland | :26:52. | :26:54. | |
is appropriate and that is what the process is intended to ensure. I | :26:55. | :27:02. | |
think the very many people contacting politicians at the moment | :27:03. | :27:05. | |
on this issue will want to clear up the answer about what is proposed in | :27:06. | :27:10. | |
Scotland. The review was welcome but it followed a very narrow remit, | :27:11. | :27:15. | |
defined by the Scottish Government which specifically excluded | :27:16. | :27:20. | |
consideration of a full ban and indeed his Lordship himself said | :27:21. | :27:27. | |
that he always had in notion that there must be a way of preserving | :27:28. | :27:32. | |
fox hunting and said that he was not minded to abolish fox hunting but to | :27:33. | :27:36. | |
find a way of maintaining it. Whilst some of the proposals may go beyond | :27:37. | :27:41. | |
the status quo, they would be tantamount to proposing the Scottish | :27:42. | :27:47. | |
Government endorses a form of regulated fox hunting. If the | :27:48. | :27:51. | |
Scottish Government means to consult openly on this issue, can the First | :27:52. | :27:55. | |
Minister confirmed the consultation will include consideration of a | :27:56. | :28:02. | |
complete ban on mounted fox hunting in Scotland customer failing that, | :28:03. | :28:20. | |
removing the exemption in the act that allows flushing foxes to guns | :28:21. | :28:20. | |
given the significant evidence this is used as a decoy for traditional | :28:21. | :28:22. | |
brutal and barbaric fox hunting? While I understand the concerns | :28:23. | :28:22. | |
people are expecting and share some of the concerns, I think Patrick | :28:23. | :28:26. | |
Harvie Miss characterises the position of the Scottish Government. | :28:27. | :28:29. | |
The exemptions in the current laws are exemptions that were debated and | :28:30. | :28:33. | |
agreed by this Parliament, I appreciate before I think Patrick | :28:34. | :28:38. | |
Harvie was a member. There was a member 's Bill brought forward and | :28:39. | :28:44. | |
these issues were fully debated at that time. There have been concerns | :28:45. | :28:51. | |
raised about what I am describing as loopholes and whether we need to | :28:52. | :28:54. | |
tighten the law further. We have embarked on a process. We have had | :28:55. | :29:01. | |
the Lord look at this in detail. We are now consulting on what the Lord | :29:02. | :29:07. | |
has said and given it is a live consultation, we should allow it to | :29:08. | :29:10. | |
take its course. If Patrick Harvie wants to consult to the | :29:11. | :29:16. | |
consultation, if he has, I apologise, but if he has not he can | :29:17. | :29:21. | |
consult and argue for it to go further. We should go forward with | :29:22. | :29:25. | |
this process and that is the right thing to do. Be under no doubt at | :29:26. | :29:31. | |
all, this government opposes fox hunting and that is the position we | :29:32. | :29:35. | |
have long taken and a position we continue to take. | :29:36. | :29:40. | |
What issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet? Matters | :29:41. | :29:46. | |
of importance to the people of Scotland. Children in Lothian waited | :29:47. | :29:52. | |
666 days to get important mental health treatment. For anyone, that | :29:53. | :29:57. | |
must feel like a lifetime. For a person so young, that must feel like | :29:58. | :30:02. | |
eternity. Why are waiting times so bad when the First Minister said it | :30:03. | :30:07. | |
would be a priority? It is a priority and is Willie Rennie nose, | :30:08. | :30:11. | |
and I should say that there are still some long waits for mental | :30:12. | :30:13. | |
health treatment that are acceptable, but we are making | :30:14. | :30:18. | |
progress in bringing waiting times down. -- that are unacceptable. We | :30:19. | :30:24. | |
have seen the number of people working in these services increase | :30:25. | :30:30. | |
as well. This is a priority and they know it is a priority not just for | :30:31. | :30:33. | |
this government before parties across the chamber and we will | :30:34. | :30:38. | |
continue to bring forward the investment and other actions | :30:39. | :30:40. | |
required to make sure that all young people coming forward for mental | :30:41. | :30:44. | |
health treatment get that treatment and in a timely way. This is true of | :30:45. | :30:51. | |
many of the challenges we grapple with the health service, but it is | :30:52. | :30:55. | |
particularly true here, that we have vastly increased demand for mental | :30:56. | :30:58. | |
health services, which is something we should think of as a good thing | :30:59. | :31:03. | |
because it means the stigma is reducing, but it does mean we need | :31:04. | :31:06. | |
to equip the services to deal with that. We are seeing improvement in | :31:07. | :31:11. | |
waiting times and investment and the numbers working in mental health | :31:12. | :31:15. | |
services and we will make sure that improvement continues. We have heard | :31:16. | :31:21. | |
that all before. I will cope what you said last year. And I has to | :31:22. | :31:26. | |
First Minister she told me this. This is one of the most serious | :31:27. | :31:32. | |
issues we face as a society. When we discussed this suit your budget | :31:33. | :31:36. | |
process, we discovered that the government was much further behind | :31:37. | :31:40. | |
than even we had feared. Children in Lothian are not alone. In the ten | :31:41. | :31:45. | |
tier of her government, the weight in the Highlands the 623 days. In | :31:46. | :31:52. | |
Fife, 611 days, in Grampian it is a year. The government published | :31:53. | :32:00. | |
independent legislation in weeks but it took 15 months to get round to | :32:01. | :32:05. | |
the mental health strategy. These children deserve better from this | :32:06. | :32:09. | |
government and First Minister. Will those children still be waiting as | :32:10. | :32:12. | |
long next year or is she going to do something different? Willie Rennie | :32:13. | :32:19. | |
is completely mischaracterising the position of the government. The | :32:20. | :32:26. | |
facts speak for themselves. I recognise the challenge of improving | :32:27. | :32:31. | |
services. That is why the workforce has increased by just under 50% | :32:32. | :32:38. | |
under this government, spending on mental health has increased by 42%. | :32:39. | :32:43. | |
In this year alone, spending will increase to ?1 billion for the first | :32:44. | :32:50. | |
time and we continue to take steps to ensure that mental health | :32:51. | :32:53. | |
services get an increasing share of the overall help budget. There are, | :32:54. | :33:05. | |
although we are seeing waiting times reduced generally, there are some | :33:06. | :33:10. | |
long waits which we are seeking to tackle, but to put that in context | :33:11. | :33:16. | |
there is now 82.5% seen within 18 weeks, which is a 3.5% increase from | :33:17. | :33:23. | |
the last quarter. I don't pretend that we don't still have work to do | :33:24. | :33:27. | |
here, it is a feature of the increasing demand we are seeing, but | :33:28. | :33:32. | |
the investment, the workforce and the progress in reducing waiting | :33:33. | :33:39. | |
times is also there to see. Our mental health strategy contains a | :33:40. | :33:43. | |
range of actions that focus rightly on the prevention and early | :33:44. | :33:46. | |
intervention to meet the mental health needs of children and young | :33:47. | :33:51. | |
people and to step in and promptly when they develop, so for example a | :33:52. | :34:01. | |
review of Pastoral services and referrals. Willie Rennie is right to | :34:02. | :34:06. | |
say this is a challenge that we need to address, but he is wrong to say | :34:07. | :34:10. | |
we are not taking the action to address it because we definitely | :34:11. | :34:17. | |
are. A couple of supplementary is. Joan McAlpine. No? Today the Israeli | :34:18. | :34:30. | |
ambassador is in the Scottish parliament. Will the first | :34:31. | :34:35. | |
representative or a representative of the government meeting him? If | :34:36. | :34:40. | |
so, could they deliver alive message that after 50 years of Palestinian | :34:41. | :34:44. | |
oppression that the illegal occupation of the West Bank must | :34:45. | :34:49. | |
end? That the illegal expansion of settlements must end? That the | :34:50. | :34:54. | |
illegal seas on Gaza must end? And they must allow free access of food, | :34:55. | :35:00. | |
medicines and supplies into the Gaza Strip. And that he understands that | :35:01. | :35:05. | |
without justice, without the quality and without freedom, there can never | :35:06. | :35:09. | |
be peace. APPLAUSE. Fiona Hyslop will meet the | :35:10. | :35:17. | |
Israeli ambassador later today and she will deliver our behalf of the | :35:18. | :35:22. | |
Scottish Government a strong message on justice for Palestine and for | :35:23. | :35:26. | |
Palestinians covering the very issues that he raises. This | :35:27. | :35:31. | |
government has been clear in our support for people in Gaza and the | :35:32. | :35:34. | |
range of injustices -- injustices that they suffer. I have led to | :35:35. | :35:42. | |
bathe in this chamber about Gaza in the past and ultimately we remain | :35:43. | :35:49. | |
committed to the two state solution in Palestine, so that message will | :35:50. | :35:53. | |
be delivered strongly of behalf of the Scottish Government by Fiona | :35:54. | :36:01. | |
Hyslop today. Given the actions of the Labour council group in Aberdeen | :36:02. | :36:06. | |
and reports of two further deals between Labour and Conservatives, | :36:07. | :36:09. | |
does the First Minister agreed that the clear message to voters is that | :36:10. | :36:12. | |
if you vote Labour you will get Tory? In large part of the countries | :36:13. | :36:22. | |
it certainly seems to be the case. This is a serious point. Labour | :36:23. | :36:26. | |
votes in Aberdeen yesterday were used to put the Tories into | :36:27. | :36:32. | |
administration. That should say something to everybody who might be | :36:33. | :36:35. | |
considering voting Labour in the future, that if you vote Labour at | :36:36. | :36:40. | |
you often get Labour, you get the Tories. That is the reality. Perhaps | :36:41. | :36:48. | |
Kezia Dugdale will want to take the opportunity of just making it clear | :36:49. | :36:55. | |
that the suspensions of the Aberdeen councillors yesterday will | :36:56. | :36:58. | |
miraculously be waved away after the 8th of June. So perhaps at the first | :36:59. | :37:04. | |
opportunity Kezia Dugdale Cattell is that because I expect this and is | :37:05. | :37:08. | |
the general election is out of the way we will see these Labour Tory | :37:09. | :37:12. | |
coalition is taking affect all over the country and I think that says | :37:13. | :37:16. | |
everything we need to know about Labour and the Tories and the | :37:17. | :37:21. | |
alliance between the two of them. Sandra White. Can I has to First | :37:22. | :37:29. | |
Minister what action the Scottish Government is taken to tackle | :37:30. | :37:31. | |
homelessness in Glasgow and across the country? The Scottish Government | :37:32. | :37:36. | |
has ensured that homeless people in Scotland have some of the strongest | :37:37. | :37:39. | |
housing rights anywhere in the world. Our focus on the prevention | :37:40. | :37:45. | |
of homelessness has led to consistent falls in homelessness | :37:46. | :37:50. | |
applications including in Glasgow. There is more to do to address rough | :37:51. | :37:54. | |
sleeping. Providing a home is not the only support that vulnerable | :37:55. | :38:00. | |
people need. That is why our current priorities include strengthening the | :38:01. | :38:04. | |
development of approaches like housing first, piloted in Glasgow, | :38:05. | :38:09. | |
which provides permanent accommodation alongside intensive | :38:10. | :38:12. | |
peer support to help people with complex needs sustained their | :38:13. | :38:18. | |
accommodation. I thank the First Minister for that supply and the | :38:19. | :38:21. | |
support of homeless people in Glasgow. I want to say to everyone, | :38:22. | :38:28. | |
I'm sure we all think it is unacceptable that in the country as | :38:29. | :38:32. | |
rich as Scotland should have anybody dying on the streets because of | :38:33. | :38:37. | |
homelessness. Does she share my deep concern is that homelessness will be | :38:38. | :38:40. | |
made worse in Glasgow and the rest of Scotland with the move to | :38:41. | :38:44. | |
Universal Credit, delays in payments, and the UK Government's | :38:45. | :38:48. | |
welfare changes will put more people at risk of being homeless and this | :38:49. | :38:56. | |
is unacceptable? Yes, I do. Let me just underline how important it is | :38:57. | :38:59. | |
to this government to continue to tackle homelessness and rough | :39:00. | :39:04. | |
sleeping. I know that is a key priority of what they hope will be | :39:05. | :39:08. | |
the new administration of Glasgow City Council by the end of today and | :39:09. | :39:14. | |
we will work with them to make sure we don't have a position where | :39:15. | :39:18. | |
people are sleeping rough and anybody is facing the prospect of | :39:19. | :39:22. | |
dying on the streets of our country. That is an unacceptable situation | :39:23. | :39:26. | |
and I will not let that happen in our country. On benefit changes, | :39:27. | :39:32. | |
this is an important point. I was in Inverness last week visiting a | :39:33. | :39:34. | |
foodbank and talking to people who work front line with benefit | :39:35. | :39:39. | |
applicants in Inverness. The reason Inverness is important is because it | :39:40. | :39:44. | |
is a part of Scotland would Universal Credit has already been | :39:45. | :39:47. | |
ruled out. The experience there should send shivers up our spines at | :39:48. | :39:55. | |
the thought of Universal Credit being rolled out more widely, | :39:56. | :39:57. | |
because their experiences of people's benefits being hugely | :39:58. | :40:03. | |
delayed, people not getting the money they are entitled to on time, | :40:04. | :40:07. | |
not getting all of the money they are entitled to. People have fallen | :40:08. | :40:11. | |
into rent arrears, into debt, all through no fault of their own. Many | :40:12. | :40:22. | |
of the people who are finding themselves in these positions are | :40:23. | :40:26. | |
people who are working. They are working hard to try to support their | :40:27. | :40:30. | |
families and are being treated in this way by a Conservative | :40:31. | :40:34. | |
government that is ruling out these benefit changes that are not fit for | :40:35. | :40:38. | |
purpose. I think the roll-out of Universal Credit should be halted | :40:39. | :40:42. | |
until the Tories can assure everybody that they have got it | :40:43. | :40:46. | |
right because the price of not doing that and carrying all is to plunge | :40:47. | :40:51. | |
many more people into misery and potential homelessness. That would | :40:52. | :41:00. | |
be unforgivable. Anywhere else. In April, third sector organisations | :41:01. | :41:03. | |
emphasise the need once again for the Scottish Government to develop a | :41:04. | :41:07. | |
new national homelessness strategy. Will the First Minister listen to | :41:08. | :41:11. | |
their concerns and commit government to developing the strategy? We will | :41:12. | :41:17. | |
continue to work with organisations like shelter to ensure that we have | :41:18. | :41:22. | |
the right tactical policies in place to back up those strategies. We have | :41:23. | :41:28. | |
some of the strongest rights for homeless people in Scotland and we | :41:29. | :41:32. | |
have seen consistent falls in homelessness applications, but we do | :41:33. | :41:36. | |
know we have to keep making Gress and we have an issue around rough | :41:37. | :41:42. | |
sleeping. I would repeat the point I have just made, particularly to a | :41:43. | :41:45. | |
Conservative member of this Parliament, any strategy we have on | :41:46. | :41:50. | |
homelessness or tackling poverty and lifting people out of poverty is | :41:51. | :41:53. | |
going to continue to be undermined as long as we have a Conservative | :41:54. | :41:57. | |
government at Westminster that is intent on driving more and more | :41:58. | :42:02. | |
people into poverty by cruel and callous Social Security cuts, so | :42:03. | :42:06. | |
either to the question back to the Tories. By have detailed your bosses | :42:07. | :42:10. | |
in London does not penalise and the poor and work with us to help them | :42:11. | :42:20. | |
instead? Colleen McNeill. There is anecdotal evidence at least | :42:21. | :42:24. | |
that rough sleeping is increasing in Scotland. Most people you talk to | :42:25. | :42:28. | |
save the noise see more people sleeping in doorways. Few things are | :42:29. | :42:36. | |
more shocking than people dying from called or hunger on the streets of | :42:37. | :42:39. | |
Scotland. I know there are many reasons why this might be the case. | :42:40. | :42:49. | |
I urge you to review the current strategy on housing and rough | :42:50. | :42:54. | |
sleeping. To review the fact that Google authorities may need more | :42:55. | :42:59. | |
resources to take this autumn, to review the fact that although the | :43:00. | :43:03. | |
figures may not there at their side, that the evidence is strong enough | :43:04. | :43:08. | |
to review the strategy that we currently have. I know that the | :43:09. | :43:11. | |
First Minister has already agreed to look at some of the issues I raised | :43:12. | :43:18. | |
last time, housing first, I know she is committed to this, but in all | :43:19. | :43:21. | |
seriousness when you have have had deaths as we have seen on the | :43:22. | :43:25. | |
streets of Glasgow, is it not time to have another look at the strategy | :43:26. | :43:31. | |
that you currently have? Indeed it wouldn't be, which is why we are | :43:32. | :43:35. | |
taking action to help councils deal with these issues. In terms of the | :43:36. | :43:39. | |
statistics around rough sleeping, and I will cite the statistics of | :43:40. | :43:43. | |
the degree of caution because many of us would think there has been | :43:44. | :43:49. | |
under reporting. The statistics do not show an increase over the past | :43:50. | :43:53. | |
three years, they show a steady state. I do not underestimate the | :43:54. | :44:00. | |
fact that there may be an under reporting in the statistics. We are | :44:01. | :44:05. | |
already taking action to strengthen the homelessness prevention strategy | :44:06. | :44:09. | |
group so we have the right strategic direction, but we are also taking | :44:10. | :44:14. | |
practical action, funding a post in Glasgow City Council's access team | :44:15. | :44:19. | |
for example, to make sure we are improving the liaison between the | :44:20. | :44:22. | |
council and housing associations and the other looking to see the housing | :44:23. | :44:26. | |
options approach that has been piloted in Glasgow extended. This is | :44:27. | :44:33. | |
something that's the moderator of the Church of Scotland came in to | :44:34. | :44:37. | |
see me a year ago, that the housing options approach is important | :44:38. | :44:40. | |
because it does recognise that often particularly for a vulnerable | :44:41. | :44:46. | |
person, sorry the housing first approach, particularly for a | :44:47. | :44:49. | |
vulnerable person, you need to provide more than accommodation, it | :44:50. | :44:53. | |
is the support around that. We will continue to work with councils to | :44:54. | :44:56. | |
make sure we are actively addressing these issues and will continue to do | :44:57. | :45:03. | |
so. Question six. To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish | :45:04. | :45:07. | |
Government is taking in response to the Scottish mutual Consortium | :45:08. | :45:09. | |
report indicating that the shop vacancy rate rose? We have taken | :45:10. | :45:18. | |
significant steps to help the retail sector. Our town centre first | :45:19. | :45:22. | |
principle and our town centre action plan is designed to tackle key | :45:23. | :45:26. | |
issues such as empty shops and improve the vibrancy of our town | :45:27. | :45:32. | |
centres. We have a highly competitive business tax | :45:33. | :45:37. | |
environment, have lifted 100,000... We have lifted 100,000 properties in | :45:38. | :45:41. | |
Scotland out of nondomestic rates altogether. I will add for the | :45:42. | :45:48. | |
benefit of the record, that the Conservatives voted against 100,000 | :45:49. | :45:54. | |
businesses being taken out of business rates. We have also funded | :45:55. | :45:58. | |
relief for two thirds of retail properties. We have given Google | :45:59. | :46:03. | |
authorities the power to further reduce rates. It is important to | :46:04. | :46:06. | |
note that the shop vacancy rate in Scotland is lower now than it was in | :46:07. | :46:11. | |
2015 and remains lower than that of the UK but we continue to want to do | :46:12. | :46:15. | |
more to support the retail sector and get shops in our town centres | :46:16. | :46:18. | |
occupied and providing services to the public. | :46:19. | :46:23. | |
Shop vacancies are up while productivity growth in retail is | :46:24. | :46:31. | |
slower than the rest of the UK. This is evidence this Scottish | :46:32. | :46:35. | |
Government's economic policies are failing. With the business rate | :46:36. | :46:39. | |
revolution hitting Scotland hard, the Government needs to get back to | :46:40. | :46:44. | |
the day job of focusing on the economy or it will be the Scottish | :46:45. | :46:49. | |
retail sector paying the price. We have seen an increase from January | :46:50. | :46:57. | |
this year to April from 9% up to 9.2% in terms of the vacancy rate. | :46:58. | :47:04. | |
In 2015, the vacancy rate was 10.6%. It is lower now than it was then. | :47:05. | :47:09. | |
The Scottish Retail Consortium report highlighted that footfall in | :47:10. | :47:13. | |
Scotland's high streets and retail parks grew by 3.2%. The third | :47:14. | :47:19. | |
fastest growth rate of all of the UK's nations and regions and the | :47:20. | :47:25. | |
fastest growth in Scotland since July, 2014. A few facts to perhaps | :47:26. | :47:31. | |
correct some of the mischaracterisations at the heart of | :47:32. | :47:36. | |
the question. The member sites the wider economic performance in | :47:37. | :47:40. | |
Scotland and we, like other parts of the UK, have work to do to get the | :47:41. | :47:44. | |
economy growing faster, something not helped by the extreme Brexit the | :47:45. | :47:51. | |
Tories are pursuing. Yesterday we saw unemployment again fall below | :47:52. | :47:55. | |
the UK average up we saw employment in Scotland increase, we thought | :47:56. | :48:00. | |
productivity growth in Scotland around 7% over the last few years, | :48:01. | :48:04. | |
completely stagnant in the rest of the UK. We will get on with the hard | :48:05. | :48:10. | |
work of supporting our economy and unfortunately we face a Tory | :48:11. | :48:13. | |
government in Westminster that appears intent through extreme | :48:14. | :48:17. | |
Brexit in undermining our economy. That is the reality. That concludes | :48:18. | :48:25. | |
First Minister's Questions. The conclusion of questions to the First | :48:26. | :48:29. | |
Minister including the exchanges about Brexit and the UK general | :48:30. | :48:34. | |
election. The Tory manifesto here, section on Scotland, talking about | :48:35. | :48:37. | |
our precious union, saying in the past, Conservative governments, UK | :48:38. | :48:44. | |
Governments, they have forgotten the devolved nations. Saying there | :48:45. | :48:51. | |
should be no independence referendum, no further independence | :48:52. | :48:55. | |
referendum until Brexit is signed and settled. Time to pull together, | :48:56. | :48:59. | |
not a part. Joined by a couple of chums, Robbie Dinwoodie, the Tory | :49:00. | :49:05. | |
manifesto, it will be of interest...? I am guessing this is | :49:06. | :49:11. | |
the biggest sign yet that Conservatives are very confident of | :49:12. | :49:14. | |
a big victory next month because traditionally all parties have been | :49:15. | :49:19. | |
very wary of any move that could offend the grey vote because... | :49:20. | :49:28. | |
Means testing winter fuel payment, scaling down slightly the triple | :49:29. | :49:32. | |
lock on pensions? It could be presented as quite anti-pensioner | :49:33. | :49:37. | |
and it is rare for parties to be brave enough to do that and I think | :49:38. | :49:40. | |
they must think they have got the election in the bag. Ruth Davidson | :49:41. | :49:46. | |
going by there with the Conservative perspective on the union, the points | :49:47. | :49:51. | |
I raised, no independence referendum, not forever, but not now | :49:52. | :49:55. | |
and not now for the for Siebel future. She wants Brexit sorted | :49:56. | :50:01. | |
first. -- the foreseeable future. At least not until after Brexit which | :50:02. | :50:07. | |
is pretty much what we expected. No surprise. We thought it would be | :50:08. | :50:11. | |
confirmed in a manifesto. Not putting a timetable on it, not until | :50:12. | :50:19. | |
Brexit is done and dusted. Questions on the Scottish Government's record, | :50:20. | :50:24. | |
Nicola Sturgeon repeatedly saying, it is legitimate to raise these, she | :50:25. | :50:29. | |
did not seem happy they were raised, did she? It has become a regular | :50:30. | :50:34. | |
rhythm, you get the Government's existing record on an area, | :50:35. | :50:38. | |
education, teacher numbers in particular, Ruth Davidson went on | :50:39. | :50:44. | |
that. The reply generally is, we are moving in the right direction, | :50:45. | :50:48. | |
taking action, has not come through. Then the quite stinging response | :50:49. | :50:53. | |
from Ruth Davidson that it was just a lot of waffle and she is asleep at | :50:54. | :50:57. | |
the wheel. White vigorous exchanges. Let us talk to... Kezia Dugdale has | :50:58. | :51:06. | |
just walked past. She was on about social media, the impact. Nicola | :51:07. | :51:10. | |
Sturgeon felt it was a bit of a red herring. It was odd, Kezia Dugdale | :51:11. | :51:18. | |
was upset about a particular blogger... She was upset. Cannot say | :51:19. | :51:25. | |
too much. She was upset. It was odd because she was obviously holding | :51:26. | :51:30. | |
Nicola Sturgeon to account for this and Nicola Sturgeon had quite an | :51:31. | :51:33. | |
easy defence of saying, it is nothing to do with me. Nicola | :51:34. | :51:41. | |
Sturgeon looked genuinely puzzled, there is always spin, but she looked | :51:42. | :51:45. | |
genuinely surprised. Nicola Sturgeon had the answer, I have been insulted | :51:46. | :51:50. | |
by lots of people including people from the Labour Party. I do not hold | :51:51. | :51:55. | |
you personally responsible. Why are you holding me responsible for this? | :51:56. | :52:02. | |
Robbie? This incident happened about a month ago on social media and I | :52:03. | :52:05. | |
think Nicola Sturgeon felt bringing it up today was to distract from | :52:06. | :52:09. | |
some other matters affecting the Labour Party which we will come to | :52:10. | :52:15. | |
in due course. Fox hunting, Patrick Harvie. Back to the beginnings of | :52:16. | :52:18. | |
the parliament, he seemed to feel there was a real concern. Quite odd | :52:19. | :52:22. | |
in a way because obviously it allowed Nicola Sturgeon and into | :52:23. | :52:29. | |
attack trees in May and say she is completely out of touch Test and in | :52:30. | :52:37. | |
two Theresa May. -- and into the reason may. Mental health, the | :52:38. | :52:45. | |
crisis among young people in particular, the length of time they | :52:46. | :52:49. | |
are waiting to get treatment and help. Again, very similar answer | :52:50. | :52:54. | |
from Nicola Sturgeon, we are throwing money at it, it will come | :52:55. | :53:00. | |
down. Willie Rennie is not happy it is happening fast enough. Hang on, a | :53:01. | :53:06. | |
bit more from you in a moment. In those exchanges with Kezia Dugdale, | :53:07. | :53:09. | |
Nicola Sturgeon suggesting it was a bit of a blind to avoid the Chamber | :53:10. | :53:15. | |
talking about Aberdeen where the local label councillors have been | :53:16. | :53:19. | |
suspended by the party at Scottish lashed low-level -- Labour | :53:20. | :53:26. | |
councillors have been suspended by the party at Scottish national | :53:27. | :53:31. | |
level. Professor John Curtice put it in context for us. We have to | :53:32. | :53:35. | |
remember that in all of the mainland councils in Scotland, we ended up | :53:36. | :53:39. | |
with no party in overall control and therefore they need to be | :53:40. | :53:43. | |
understandings or deals to sort out who will run the administration. | :53:44. | :53:47. | |
There are a lot of councils in Scotland were basically either the | :53:48. | :53:54. | |
Conservatives... They have to come to an understanding. The truth is, | :53:55. | :53:57. | |
these parties are wanting to draw red lines, saying, no, we are not | :53:58. | :54:03. | |
willing to do a deal with the Conservatives, or the SNP, as a | :54:04. | :54:08. | |
result, probably on quite a lot of councils, forming administrations | :54:09. | :54:11. | |
will be difficult and it is not made easier by the fact we are in the mix | :54:12. | :54:15. | |
of febrile atmosphere of a general election. We expect these decisions | :54:16. | :54:24. | |
be put off. The truth is, the Labour Party in particular often finds | :54:25. | :54:28. | |
itself the third-largest party on a council and in effect the party that | :54:29. | :54:32. | |
can decide whether it is the Conservatives are allowed to run the | :54:33. | :54:36. | |
council or the SNP. They will find themselves with some pretty tough | :54:37. | :54:39. | |
but potentially important choices in the coming weeks. The polls, | :54:40. | :54:45. | |
anything shaping up either UK tutor Michael Scotland? What seems pretty | :54:46. | :54:50. | |
clear in Scotland is it will be tougher fight for the SNP than two | :54:51. | :54:56. | |
years ago -- anything shaping up in the UK or Scotland? Much brighter | :54:57. | :54:59. | |
for the Conservatives north of the border than two years ago. Perhaps | :55:00. | :55:05. | |
running as high as 30%. Certainly in the high 20s. Meanwhile, another | :55:06. | :55:08. | |
difficult election for the Labour Party with its support falling below | :55:09. | :55:12. | |
the record low it recorded two years ago. Therefore, in effect, we are | :55:13. | :55:27. | |
talking about, how many seats can the SNP hang onto? The Conservatives | :55:28. | :55:31. | |
have hoped for picking up some. Maybe half a dozen, meanwhile, there | :55:32. | :55:42. | |
are odd constituencies, like Edinburgh South, Edinburgh West, | :55:43. | :55:43. | |
where Labour and the Lib Dems still have hope. It is a question probably | :55:44. | :55:46. | |
of how much of the SNP dominance of Scottish representation. We are | :55:47. | :55:46. | |
still expecting for Scotland's representation at Westminster to be | :55:47. | :55:49. | |
predominantly SNP. Manifesto is emerging, UK and soon Scottish, does | :55:50. | :55:53. | |
that shaped the campaign or is it done? In a sense, they are coming | :55:54. | :55:58. | |
out in the middle of the campaign were often the parties have told us | :55:59. | :56:01. | |
a lot of what they are for and against already. I am not sure in | :56:02. | :56:05. | |
truth the manifestos will make that much difference. Manifestos often | :56:06. | :56:10. | |
make more difference after an election. They become the bible by | :56:11. | :56:14. | |
which they get judged. People like you read them and they say, hang on, | :56:15. | :56:19. | |
you said six months ago you would do this and you are doing is an | :56:20. | :56:29. | |
indifferent. They become a benchmark by which whoever wins gets to be | :56:30. | :56:34. | |
judged when they are in office. That is probably a much more important | :56:35. | :56:41. | |
role than influencing voters between now and the 8th of June. Professor | :56:42. | :56:42. | |
John Curtice talking about manifestos and the row in Aberdeen. | :56:43. | :56:45. | |
You can see why the Labour Party has decided to take the tough action. | :56:46. | :56:47. | |
Since the referendum campaign when they sided with the Tories, they | :56:48. | :56:52. | |
suffered for that. They are continuing to suffer for that. Mixed | :56:53. | :56:56. | |
messages here. At Westminster, standing on an identical platform, | :56:57. | :57:11. | |
it puts them squarely against the Tories. That has become... They are | :57:12. | :57:13. | |
trying to slap down the Labour councillors in Aberdeen. Kezia | :57:14. | :57:14. | |
Dugdale says it is not about Aberdeen, not about that, it is | :57:15. | :57:18. | |
about Labour's values. One of the difficulties is that in advance they | :57:19. | :57:21. | |
did not say no deal with the Tories, they said no deals that result in | :57:22. | :57:27. | |
austerity. Yes, it was kind of understood that probably meant the | :57:28. | :57:31. | |
Tories because they would be the party associated with austerity. In | :57:32. | :57:34. | |
Aberdeen, they said ahead of the deal, they did not want the deal to | :57:35. | :57:37. | |
go ahead. They also said any deals had to be approved nationally by the | :57:38. | :57:42. | |
executive and that deal was vetoed yesterday and they were given an | :57:43. | :57:46. | |
ultimatum to drop the deal or be suspended. How does it look for | :57:47. | :57:51. | |
Labour? They can present this and I am sure they will as standing tough | :57:52. | :57:55. | |
against any accommodation with the Tories, is there another side? The | :57:56. | :58:00. | |
fact it has been allowed to happen, they should have been more forceful | :58:01. | :58:06. | |
in advance of local government elections, saying, Labour will not | :58:07. | :58:07. | |
go into coalition with the Tories because they are the party of the | :58:08. | :58:10. | |
Westminster government and inflicting austerity. Instead, as | :58:11. | :58:14. | |
you say, they kept it vague, it seemed to be the intention, they | :58:15. | :58:18. | |
should have been explicit and distanced themselves from the Tories | :58:19. | :58:21. | |
months ago. Perhaps they can resolve that issue or perhaps not, we will | :58:22. | :58:27. | |
see. The main UK manifestos have come out, the Scottish ones starting | :58:28. | :58:32. | |
to emerge. The next phase. Yes, although it is always strange | :58:33. | :58:36. | |
because it is the UK election so the UK manifestos stand and it is really | :58:37. | :58:41. | |
only the SNP that has the full manifesto in Scotland for the UK | :58:42. | :58:47. | |
election. Otherwise it is what has ready come out from the Lib Dems, | :58:48. | :58:51. | |
Labour and the Conservatives, with bits that apply to Scotland and bits | :58:52. | :58:57. | |
which do not. Briefly, it has been so short since the last UK election? | :58:58. | :59:03. | |
You did have this dramatic week of the Labour manifesto, a manifesto | :59:04. | :59:06. | |
including quite a lot of things which have been said. Thank you very | :59:07. | :59:13. | |
much indeed, the UK manifestos will be covered on the BBC. We will bring | :59:14. | :59:17. | |
you all of the details of the Scottish manifestos as they emerge, | :59:18. | :59:21. | |
all of the detail and far more from the election campaign. Big event | :59:22. | :59:24. | |
tomorrow, the play-offs. I will be watching. | :59:25. | :59:29. | |
With the general election approaching, | :59:30. | :59:31. | |
with the leaders from six Scottish political parties going | :59:32. | :59:35. | |
head-to-head before you, the voters, in the Scottish Leaders' Debate. | :59:36. | :59:43. | |
A bunch of boys fae Baillieston, Bellshill and Saltcoats | :59:44. | :59:44. | |
It would be the greatest night of their lives... | :59:45. | :59:48. | |
the night when Celtic Football Club captured the hearts of Europe... | :59:49. | :59:51. | |
They were like brothers. I loved them. Absolutely loved them. | :59:52. | :59:56. | |
A bunch of boys fae Baillieston, Bellshill and Saltcoats | :59:57. | :00:00. |