Browse content similar to 26/04/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Hello and welcome to Politics Scotland. | :00:18. | :00:20. | |
Holyrood's Health and Sport Committee have accused the SFA | :00:21. | :00:23. | |
MSPs say their child protection policy is not working properly. | :00:24. | :00:35. | |
And here at Westminster, the final Prime Minister's Questions | :00:36. | :00:37. | |
before the election, as MPs well and truly put themselves | :00:38. | :00:40. | |
Now, there are a mere 43 days until the election on June 8th - | :00:41. | :00:52. | |
the Commons will wind down this week, ahead of six | :00:53. | :00:54. | |
To chew over this and other topics of the day, Kevin McKenna is here. | :00:55. | :01:08. | |
But first, here's a flavour of the last Prime Minister's | :01:09. | :01:11. | |
Questions before the country goes to the polls. | :01:12. | :01:13. | |
There were heated exchanges between the Prime Minister | :01:14. | :01:15. | |
and the Labour leader, with Theresa May suggesting | :01:16. | :01:17. | |
Mr Corbyn wasn't fit for leadership, and Jeremy Corbyn accusing | :01:18. | :01:19. | |
the Conservatives of being a government for the few. | :01:20. | :01:21. | |
I did note that the Shadow Home Secretary has been campaigning in | :01:22. | :01:26. | |
her own personal way, directing her supporters to a website, I Like | :01:27. | :01:36. | |
Corbyn, But... It says, how will he pay for all this? I heard he wants | :01:37. | :01:46. | |
to increase taxes. But... I heard he's a terrorist sympathiser. But... | :01:47. | :01:52. | |
Is attitudes about defence worry me. They are right to be worried. Unable | :01:53. | :01:59. | |
to defend our country, determined to raise tax on ordinary workers, no | :02:00. | :02:03. | |
plan to manage our economy. Even his own supporters know he's not fit to | :02:04. | :02:08. | |
run this country. Mr Speaker, my question was about the National | :02:09. | :02:13. | |
Health Service. Strong leadership is about standing up for the many, not | :02:14. | :02:22. | |
the few. But when it comes to the Prime Minister and the | :02:23. | :02:24. | |
Conservatives, they only look after the richest, not the rest. They are | :02:25. | :02:36. | |
strong against the weak and weak against the strong. Far from | :02:37. | :02:45. | |
building a strong economy, schools and our NHS are being cut, people | :02:46. | :02:50. | |
can't afford homes, millions can't make ends meet. That doesn't add up | :02:51. | :02:57. | |
to a stronger economy for anyone. Mr Speaker, the election is a choice | :02:58. | :03:03. | |
between a Conservative... Between a Conservative government for the few | :03:04. | :03:11. | |
and a Labour government that will stand up for ALL of our people. I | :03:12. | :03:18. | |
asked the Prime Minister a pretty simple question, yes or no. And the | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
Prime Minister failed to answer. So, pensioners right across this land | :03:23. | :03:28. | |
are right to conclude that this Tory Prime Minister plans to ditch the | :03:29. | :03:34. | |
triple lock on the state pension. Mr Speaker, too many women already face | :03:35. | :03:39. | |
pensions inequality, and the Tories now won't even guarantee the | :03:40. | :03:44. | |
pensions triple lock. And the only reason that they will not guarantee | :03:45. | :03:47. | |
it is because they want to cut pensions. Is not the message to | :03:48. | :03:53. | |
pensioners, you cannot trust this Prime Minister, you cannot trust the | :03:54. | :04:02. | |
Tories on your pension? I say to everybody, as I've just said, if you | :04:03. | :04:06. | |
want to know the party of government that has improved the lot of | :04:07. | :04:09. | |
pensioners across this country, it is the Conservative Party. And under | :04:10. | :04:16. | |
a Conservative element, those pensioner income is would continue | :04:17. | :04:19. | |
to increase. And he talks about inequality for women. It's the | :04:20. | :04:23. | |
change in the structure of the state pension introduced by this | :04:24. | :04:25. | |
government that is going to improve the lot of female pensioners in the | :04:26. | :04:31. | |
future, that is going to be much better for them. But one thing that | :04:32. | :04:36. | |
pensioners in Scotland will no, as other voters in Scotland will know, | :04:37. | :04:41. | |
is that if they believe in the union, there's only one way to vote, | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
and that's to vote Conservative. In the nine months at the Prime | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
Minister has held her office, she has closed the door on desperate | :04:50. | :04:55. | |
child refugees, she has ignored the plight of those suffering under the | :04:56. | :05:04. | |
crisis in health and social care, and she is responsible for the | :05:05. | :05:09. | |
shameful break clause. 20 years ago, she berated the Conservative Party | :05:10. | :05:12. | |
for being a nasty party. Her party has never been nastier. But the | :05:13. | :05:22. | |
legacy of this Parliament... The right honourable gentleman must be | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
heard! The legacy of this Parliament is the utter abject failure of Her | :05:28. | :05:35. | |
Majesty's official opposition to effectively hold our government to | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
account for any of this. Is it not time that Britain had a strong, | :05:40. | :05:44. | |
decent, new opposition? Prime Minister! Let me pick up on the | :05:45. | :05:51. | |
point he made about child refugees. This government has a proud record | :05:52. | :05:55. | |
on supporting refugees from Syria. We have been the second biggest | :05:56. | :05:59. | |
financial donor to the region, in order to support millions of | :06:00. | :06:02. | |
refugees and educate children, as I saw when I visited Jordan recently. | :06:03. | :06:07. | |
And of course, we have also supported some of the most | :06:08. | :06:10. | |
vulnerable refugees, including children, in bringing them here to | :06:11. | :06:13. | |
make a new life in the United Kingdom. Talks about a decent | :06:14. | :06:18. | |
opposition. I find it difficult to hear those words coming from his | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
mouth, given that his party has selected a candidate... | :06:24. | :06:31. | |
Well, let's head across to Westminster, with David Porter. | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
Just as you came to me, it started to shower. No comments about one | :06:37. | :06:45. | |
shower talking in another show! We will leave that! At the final PMQs | :06:46. | :06:50. | |
of this Parliament, and it was a marathon session, it went on for the | :06:51. | :06:56. | |
best part of an hour. As you would expect in the last one before an | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
election, there was perhaps not an awful lot of political policy but | :07:01. | :07:05. | |
there was an awful lot of rhetoric. It basically turned into a political | :07:06. | :07:09. | |
rally more than a political occasion. I think we got some | :07:10. | :07:12. | |
indication from all of the parties of the themes that they will want to | :07:13. | :07:17. | |
pursue. Was there anything new, David, at all? Angus Robertson, he | :07:18. | :07:24. | |
didn't really get an answer on his triple lock bastion, did he? No, he | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
didn't, and that's what struck me out of the whole 50 minutes or so. | :07:30. | :07:33. | |
He put a question to Theresa May about the so-called triple lock on | :07:34. | :07:40. | |
pensions, that's a rise of 2.5%, or the rise in inflation or earnings, | :07:41. | :07:44. | |
whichever is greater, and quite frankly, she sidestepped that | :07:45. | :07:47. | |
question and did not give a commit and on it. And in political terms, | :07:48. | :07:52. | |
that was probably the most significant thing which came out of | :07:53. | :07:57. | |
the 50 minutes or so. My apologies, we will leave you, it looks like | :07:58. | :08:05. | |
they'll now! It is, it is hail! Jeremy Corbyn, did he get anywhere? | :08:06. | :08:10. | |
He really wanted to focus on a number of issues. He went back to | :08:11. | :08:15. | |
his tactic of reading out questions that people had sent to him about | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
the Health Service, about their earnings, housing and education. But | :08:20. | :08:23. | |
quite frankly, he was not going to get Theresa May to give her | :08:24. | :08:27. | |
Conservative manifesto before she's ready. Cover up and we will see you | :08:28. | :08:31. | |
before the end of the programme! Joining me in the studio | :08:32. | :08:34. | |
today is the political Are you infused about any of this? I | :08:35. | :08:48. | |
am kind of in the media bubble, so, of course! Airing ideas that we | :08:49. | :08:55. | |
should all care about, what is not to like? What have you made of it so | :08:56. | :09:02. | |
far? Let me ask you this - do you think the things of this election | :09:03. | :09:05. | |
are really going to be what the pundits are saying? Everyone saying | :09:06. | :09:13. | |
it's going to be about Brexit and independence, is it really going to | :09:14. | :09:17. | |
be about either of these things? No. Clearly, Jeremy Corbyn is trying to | :09:18. | :09:22. | |
shift the debate, we saw this in Westminster today, onto the | :09:23. | :09:27. | |
traditional areas that he is more comfortable with and which once upon | :09:28. | :09:32. | |
a time the Labour Party were more comfortable with - representing the | :09:33. | :09:36. | |
many rather than the few, standing up for poor, disadvantaged | :09:37. | :09:39. | |
communities against a hard right government rich wants to, as he | :09:40. | :09:43. | |
said, represent if you instead of the many. And there wasn't much talk | :09:44. | :09:50. | |
of Brexit. Do you think that he's done...? Keir Starmer yesterday | :09:51. | :09:56. | |
outlined their policy on Brexit, and people are saying, intellectually it | :09:57. | :09:59. | |
might be fine, but politically, it is not clear enough to answer | :10:00. | :10:05. | |
questions like, are you in favour of staying in the single market, Labour | :10:06. | :10:12. | |
Party? I thought Keir Starmer yesterday was pretty clear. I know | :10:13. | :10:16. | |
there had been some criticism of Labour before it on their Brexit | :10:17. | :10:21. | |
strategy. But it was only a few weeks ago that they said it wanted | :10:22. | :10:27. | |
to adhere to the democratic will of the people, as expressed in June | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
last year. They then criticised Theresa May for the sort of hard | :10:32. | :10:38. | |
Brexit deal that she appeared to be moving towards. And now, at the | :10:39. | :10:42. | |
start of the general election, they have their alternative strategy, | :10:43. | :10:50. | |
which is including things like giving leave to European immigrants | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
to stay, which was a big issue... My point is, if you then say to Labour, | :10:56. | :11:00. | |
are you in favour of staying in the single market? I'm still not | :11:01. | :11:02. | |
entirely clear what their answer would be? I'm not, either. | :11:03. | :11:09. | |
Personally, I would have liked to have seen them go a little bit more | :11:10. | :11:13. | |
gung ho. Sorry to cut you off, we will be back with you. For David | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
Porter's own protection, he has now got a raincoat on! Let's let him | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
speak to some MPs before Armageddon comes! Thank you very much. Let me | :11:23. | :11:39. | |
introduce you to my guests, representing the SNP, the Liberal | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
Democrats Labour and the Conservatives. It was a question | :11:44. | :11:49. | |
from Angus Robertson of the SNP about guaranteeing the triple lock | :11:50. | :11:54. | |
on pensions, and Louisa May sidestepped it. Is this the | :11:55. | :11:57. | |
Conservatives preparing for the great British public for the lack of | :11:58. | :12:03. | |
the triple lock on pensions? We will have to wait until the manifesto | :12:04. | :12:06. | |
comes out. Over the last seven years, the Conservatives have done a | :12:07. | :12:09. | |
lot for pensioners. The basic pension has gone up, increasing the | :12:10. | :12:14. | |
standard of living for pensioners right across the country. It has to | :12:15. | :12:18. | |
be about islands across the generations, and that's the | :12:19. | :12:21. | |
important thing that we will be talking about in the election. -- | :12:22. | :12:27. | |
has to be about Allens across the generations. -- has to be about | :12:28. | :12:41. | |
balance. Is it true that they have actually done pretty well, | :12:42. | :12:43. | |
pensioners, over the last seven years? Yes, but they needed to. It | :12:44. | :12:49. | |
was deliberate was introduced by the coalition to protect pensioners, and | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
also to help catch up from the years when pensions did not keep pace with | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
earnings or inflation. I don't think that bore itself out. In fact the | :13:00. | :13:04. | |
tax threshold is now lower than it is for people below pensionable age. | :13:05. | :13:09. | |
So actually, it's moving against pensioners now. Abandoning the | :13:10. | :13:13. | |
triple lock would be a very ad signal, frankly, and I think it | :13:14. | :13:16. | |
should at least stay until 2020. There is not much which could unite | :13:17. | :13:23. | |
you and the SNP, but both of you believe the triple lock should stay | :13:24. | :13:27. | |
- what would you say to those youngsters who say, pensioners have | :13:28. | :13:30. | |
had it good, we are struggling to get by, the hats it is time that the | :13:31. | :13:35. | |
younger segment of society should have a bigger share of the cake? I | :13:36. | :13:40. | |
would have to wait, as you rightly say, for our manifesto to come out. | :13:41. | :13:45. | |
I can guarantee you, on behalf of the Labour Party, that when a Labour | :13:46. | :13:49. | |
government is elected, we will keep the triple lock. And since this is a | :13:50. | :13:54. | |
fight between the Tories and ourselves, no-one else can form a | :13:55. | :13:59. | |
government in Westminster, in fact Deirdre's leader is not even | :14:00. | :14:01. | |
standing for Westminster, then the only way for tension is to ensure | :14:02. | :14:06. | |
they get the triple lock is to vote Labour. As far as younger people are | :14:07. | :14:11. | |
concerned, we are the party that introduced child tax credit and | :14:12. | :14:14. | |
family tax credit, which have been a huge help for younger people. So, | :14:15. | :14:19. | |
you are agreeing with Labour on this one? I think George's suggestion | :14:20. | :14:24. | |
that we're going to be in government is pretty fanciful. Frankly, the way | :14:25. | :14:32. | |
things are going at the moment for Labour, it's just not going to | :14:33. | :14:36. | |
happen. We have had the work done by Ian Blackford, showing everyone, we | :14:37. | :14:43. | |
are very concerned about pensions in Westminster and we will be fighting | :14:44. | :14:45. | |
really hard for the triple lock to be maintained. But Mhairi Black was | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
on the committee which recommended the triple lock should be abandoned. | :14:51. | :14:58. | |
George Chaloner I don't understand! John, it seems pretty obvious from | :14:59. | :15:03. | |
what your leader is saying that she wants this to be an election purely | :15:04. | :15:11. | |
and simply about briefings, about Brexit and leadership? It's | :15:12. | :15:14. | |
certainly about leadership, and at the end of the day, this country | :15:15. | :15:18. | |
will have a choice between Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn as Prime | :15:19. | :15:21. | |
Minister. It is also about economic competence, who do you think can run | :15:22. | :15:25. | |
this country and its economy properly? We have started to see a | :15:26. | :15:31. | |
little bit of the flavour of the coalition of chaos which would | :15:32. | :15:35. | |
ensure, should Jeremy Corbyn have to end up in a coalition with my | :15:36. | :15:40. | |
colleague standing beside me. So I think it is a very, very | :15:41. | :15:43. | |
straightforward choice. Theresa May, strong, stable Prime Minister, | :15:44. | :15:46. | |
strong majority, leading this country... This is the strongly do | :15:47. | :15:52. | |
ship that got the country in the mess it is in, lost the Prime | :15:53. | :15:56. | |
Minister, lost the referendum, and is now having a general election. In | :15:57. | :16:01. | |
Scotland, the majority of people don't want independence, they want | :16:02. | :16:06. | |
to stay in the UK. The majority of people don't want to leave the EU | :16:07. | :16:09. | |
come of it wants to stay. The only party that offers them that is the | :16:10. | :16:12. | |
Labatts. The Liberal Democrats are offering the best choice for those | :16:13. | :16:19. | |
people. All the opinion polls would indicate that people may support | :16:20. | :16:26. | |
some of Jeremy Corbyn's policies, but they don't see him as a | :16:27. | :16:30. | |
potential Prime Minister? I would have thought even you would have | :16:31. | :16:33. | |
understood that opinion polls are not to be relied on any more. What | :16:34. | :16:38. | |
really worries me is, I can understand why John Stephenson is | :16:39. | :16:41. | |
saying, this is what is going to be the outcome of the election. But I | :16:42. | :16:46. | |
am surprised at Deirdre. We've still got nearly six weeks to go, and | :16:47. | :16:49. | |
people have got to make up their minds. With got Theresa May frighten | :16:50. | :16:56. | |
to go out and meet the people, and journey Corbyn, who is meeting | :16:57. | :17:01. | |
thousands of them, and the more they see him and get to know him, the | :17:02. | :17:05. | |
more they like him and we'll see him as a caring, compassionate Prime | :17:06. | :17:08. | |
Minister, instead of the hardness that we're getting from the reason | :17:09. | :17:12. | |
may. That sounds lovely, George, but think the news has just come out of | :17:13. | :17:19. | |
that if Mrs May is not taking part in the TV debates, he won't, either. | :17:20. | :17:24. | |
This is the politics of the kindergarten. The people have the | :17:25. | :17:27. | |
right to hear the policies of the leaders and get the chance to vote | :17:28. | :17:32. | |
accordingly. Neither of the leaders I a patch on Nicola Sturgeon, and | :17:33. | :17:40. | |
Angus Robertson also showed real leadership today when he skewered | :17:41. | :17:43. | |
the Prime Minister about the triple lock. You have taken my question | :17:44. | :17:48. | |
about the TV debates. John Stevenson, should there be a TV | :17:49. | :17:56. | |
debate with the four leaders who are seeking to be represented at This | :17:57. | :18:01. | |
Place after the election? I actually think it should be down to the two, | :18:02. | :18:05. | |
Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn, which is what this election is really | :18:06. | :18:10. | |
about. In terms of debate, Theresa May will meet people as she goes up | :18:11. | :18:13. | |
and down the country. There will be debates in the regular places. And | :18:14. | :18:18. | |
I'm sure there will be interviews with people like yourself. So there | :18:19. | :18:22. | |
will be plenty of opportunity to see what Theresa May is bring this | :18:23. | :18:25. | |
country, and it is quite clear that she is offering stability and strong | :18:26. | :18:28. | |
leadership, something the Labour Party... I think she wants a 1-party | :18:29. | :18:33. | |
state. She has talked about saboteurs, anybody against her is an | :18:34. | :18:37. | |
enemy of the state, enemy of democracy. She is dangerous for the | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
country. That's why thousands of people are joining the Liberal | :18:42. | :18:45. | |
Democrats every day, and that's why people are recognising that the only | :18:46. | :18:49. | |
UK and stop a hard Brexit is to vote Liberal Democrat. And people will do | :18:50. | :18:53. | |
it in numbers. Your leader now says he doesn't want to go into a certain | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
type of TV debate, you in favour of them? Yes, I am strongly in favour | :18:59. | :19:03. | |
of them. You in the media pushed David Cameron into it and I think | :19:04. | :19:07. | |
you should do that again with Theresa May and have all the leaders | :19:08. | :19:11. | |
there. This is an important election, people need to know what | :19:12. | :19:14. | |
each of the parties is standing for. I think that's Theresa May is afraid | :19:15. | :19:18. | |
because she knows that once her record is under scrutiny, she's | :19:19. | :19:23. | |
going to go down and down and down. I agree with you there, George! If | :19:24. | :19:29. | |
you want a TV debate, who should take part in it, should it be your | :19:30. | :19:36. | |
leader, or should it be good? It has not been decided yet. But what is | :19:37. | :19:40. | |
clear is that Theresa May is running scared of any kind of challenge to | :19:41. | :19:48. | |
the policies that she is promoting. It is really quite frightening | :19:49. | :19:52. | |
watching her hold rallies, when nobody is allowed to ask questions. | :19:53. | :19:59. | |
She doesn't hold press conferences. She's just running away and backing | :20:00. | :20:06. | |
away and running scared. All of you, thank you very much. Gordon, we have | :20:07. | :20:13. | |
heard an awful lot and we will hear an awful lot more about the | :20:14. | :20:16. | |
coalition of chaos. We this afternoon have had the coalition of | :20:17. | :20:23. | |
the brollies. And they will all say to you that sun shines on the | :20:24. | :20:28. | |
righteous! I will never make jibes about the weather in London again! | :20:29. | :20:30. | |
Well, not until next week! The Scottish FA says it refutes | :20:31. | :20:36. | |
allegations that it has been complacent in regard | :20:37. | :20:38. | |
to its child protection procedures. A report by Holyrood's Health | :20:39. | :20:40. | |
and Sport Committee says the governing body needs to do more | :20:41. | :20:42. | |
to make sure youth coaches Our senior football reporter | :20:43. | :20:45. | |
Chris McLaughlin joins us live. Chris, remind us of | :20:46. | :20:49. | |
the background to this. Well, the committee, | :20:50. | :20:52. | |
chaired by MSP Neil Findlay, has been taking evidence for months | :20:53. | :20:56. | |
from senior figures It follows a BBC Scotland | :20:57. | :21:00. | |
investigation that uncovered a shortfall in youth coaches | :21:01. | :21:07. | |
who have the full background checks. The final report is fairly damning, | :21:08. | :21:11. | |
especially in relation to football. It says the Scottish Youth Football | :21:12. | :21:14. | |
Association misled members over just It said the Scottish FA | :21:15. | :21:17. | |
was ultimately responsible Today, the SFA said this | :21:18. | :21:21. | |
was an issue for the SYFA. Now, as I said earlier, | :21:22. | :21:27. | |
this is not just a football issue. Our investigation at the start | :21:28. | :21:54. | |
of the year highlighted issues and shortfalls | :21:55. | :21:59. | |
with many other sports. The committee bis keen for more | :22:00. | :22:06. | |
to be done across the board. Football authorities, sporting | :22:07. | :22:15. | |
authorities across the board, and government, need to address the key | :22:16. | :22:18. | |
points that have been raised in our report. We won't just hand the | :22:19. | :22:22. | |
report over and that will be the end of attrition will be looking for | :22:23. | :22:27. | |
reports back from the various organisations on how they are | :22:28. | :22:29. | |
addressing the recommendations that we have put forward. | :22:30. | :22:32. | |
They say, in their view, the current system is simply not working. | :22:33. | :22:37. | |
The Scottish Government say a review is under way. | :22:38. | :22:41. | |
Meaning what? As far as they are concerned, the review is under way. | :22:42. | :22:52. | |
They're hoping to tighten things in 2019. | :22:53. | :22:53. | |
The committee say it should be done sooner. | :22:54. | :22:55. | |
One of the recommendations is that these checks become mandatory. | :22:56. | :22:58. | |
At the moment, it's simply an avenue open to sports | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
organisations, although Sport Scotland insist on it. | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
What do you think of this whole situation? What was revealed by mark | :23:09. | :23:22. | |
daily's report on the BBC earlier this month was something that many | :23:23. | :23:27. | |
of us who are for all supporters and who participated in tension | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
football, junior football, felt was inevitable. I find it frankly | :23:33. | :23:39. | |
astonishing that there isn't any mandatory measures in place. I find | :23:40. | :23:44. | |
it almost as astonishing as the SFA, as we saw there, completely dodging | :23:45. | :23:53. | |
their responsibility by blaming the Scottish Youth Football Association. | :23:54. | :23:57. | |
It is not just aiming the Scottish Youth Football Association, it's the | :23:58. | :24:01. | |
tone of it, saying that these are simply Neil Findlay's personal | :24:02. | :24:05. | |
opinions, by saying, you should know about devolution, you are in the | :24:06. | :24:08. | |
Scottish Parliament. The whole tone of it, it is not just dismissive, it | :24:09. | :24:14. | |
is almost hostile? It is completely irresponsible and it fails | :24:15. | :24:20. | |
deliberately to acknowledge and recognise the special place that the | :24:21. | :24:24. | |
game of football has in Scotland, and it's unique and ongoing and | :24:25. | :24:28. | |
everlasting attraction to especially, not exclusively but | :24:29. | :24:33. | |
especially, working-class children, the desperation of parents and | :24:34. | :24:37. | |
families for their children, cousins, friends, schoolmates, to | :24:38. | :24:42. | |
get again, to get on, to be signed for the big clubs in Scotland all | :24:43. | :24:48. | |
applaud. This, to them, for generations, has been a way of being | :24:49. | :24:52. | |
lifted out of poverty and making something of themselves. -- or | :24:53. | :24:56. | |
abroad. Given everything that has happened in the past we've decades | :24:57. | :25:01. | |
now, I would imagine a lot of parents might be quite surprised to | :25:02. | :25:05. | |
know that there are no mandatory checks on football coaches at youth | :25:06. | :25:13. | |
level? Yeah. The sport at that level, let's be frank here, attracts | :25:14. | :25:21. | |
a certain type of individual, who may have predatory instincts towards | :25:22. | :25:28. | |
relationships with young people. And for generations, football clubs have | :25:29. | :25:35. | |
allowed an assortment of these characters, both high and low, to | :25:36. | :25:42. | |
walk in, have unfettered access to, let's face it, vulnerable children | :25:43. | :25:49. | |
at the age of ten, 11, 12, 13. As Mark, in his investigation earlier | :25:50. | :25:54. | |
this month showed, or at the very least hinted at, there were several | :25:55. | :26:03. | |
instances where there had been whistle-blowing, and they weren't | :26:04. | :26:08. | |
properly at the pond. This affected the top clubs in Scotland as well as | :26:09. | :26:13. | |
in the UK. In fact, although Mark Daly didn't actually say it, it all | :26:14. | :26:20. | |
pointed towards a ring of adults who were exchanging contact... One final | :26:21. | :26:24. | |
point, does the tenor of that statement give you much confidence? | :26:25. | :26:28. | |
No. And I would expect that the Scottish Government might actually | :26:29. | :26:34. | |
want to invite the SFA to enlarge upon those comments. Kevin, we will | :26:35. | :26:36. | |
be back with you later on. Now, Controversial plans to shut | :26:37. | :26:40. | |
Jobcentre Plus offices in Glasgow would not provide an adequate | :26:41. | :26:42. | |
service, according The Scottish Affairs Committee said | :26:43. | :26:44. | |
the proposals "showed Committee chair Pete Wishart told us | :26:45. | :26:49. | |
the service should be We have very vulnerable users who | :26:50. | :27:02. | |
need to access these services. In this crazy structural | :27:03. | :27:04. | |
reorganisation, some people will have to travel for hours in order to | :27:05. | :27:07. | |
access services, and some of these are amongst the most vulnerable | :27:08. | :27:11. | |
members of society. We should be making services easier for people to | :27:12. | :27:13. | |
access, not more difficult. Now, the Department for Work | :27:14. | :27:17. | |
and Pensions announced in December that eight of the 16 offices | :27:18. | :27:20. | |
in Glasgow were to be closed. It said 80% of job-seeker's | :27:21. | :27:23. | |
Allowance claims Ian Pope of the Public | :27:24. | :27:24. | |
and Commercial Services Union says that not everyone has access | :27:25. | :27:28. | |
to the internet. The department are now encouraging | :27:29. | :27:36. | |
benefit claimants to go online more. I think the figure was seven out of | :27:37. | :27:40. | |
ten claimants in poor areas of Glasgow have no access to computers | :27:41. | :27:46. | |
and digital technology. Until that happens, that argument does not add | :27:47. | :27:47. | |
up. Well, let's have a look at how | :27:48. | :27:52. | |
local employment services Dr Jim McCormick is the Scotland | :27:53. | :27:54. | |
Director of the Joseph Now your organisation has | :27:55. | :28:01. | |
been reviewing how local services can be improved, | :28:02. | :28:04. | |
what could Jobcentres do better? Is it the fact of how many have | :28:05. | :28:10. | |
closed, or is it the fact of what they are therefore in the first | :28:11. | :28:14. | |
place? The job of the implement serviced should be to help people | :28:15. | :28:17. | |
get into jobs and then progress into better paying jobs. How we go about | :28:18. | :28:23. | |
that, here is an opportunity to rethink that. In Glasgow and other | :28:24. | :28:27. | |
parts of Scotland, what matters is that we make it as easy as possible | :28:28. | :28:31. | |
to access high quality guidance. Not just having a digital way of | :28:32. | :28:35. | |
accessing benefit claims. And that might mean we need to keep open some | :28:36. | :28:39. | |
of these Jobcentres, it might mean that we should be working work | :28:40. | :28:44. | |
coaches alongside housing offices or local governor to offices. The last | :28:45. | :28:47. | |
thing we should be doing probably would be centralising, and making it | :28:48. | :28:51. | |
harder for people to access the advice and guidance that they need. | :28:52. | :28:56. | |
But do these Jobcentres, to put it bluntly, actually find people jobs? | :28:57. | :29:01. | |
The outcomes are variable. What is quite interesting is, the people who | :29:02. | :29:07. | |
are required to turn up at a Jobcentre as a condition of getting | :29:08. | :29:15. | |
benefit, that is changing. We have more people with limited English. In | :29:16. | :29:20. | |
future, more people who are in work will be expected to increase their | :29:21. | :29:23. | |
hours and earnings. So that changes the nature of what the employment | :29:24. | :29:27. | |
centre is there to do. I think it means that we have to get better at | :29:28. | :29:33. | |
co-locating at places where people naturally go to, rather than trying | :29:34. | :29:40. | |
to... What sort of places? It would be housing offices, local governor | :29:41. | :29:44. | |
offices... I just wonder if there is a case for, you know, there is an | :29:45. | :29:52. | |
increasing problem of people being outside the Labour market, and lots | :29:53. | :29:59. | |
of people in certain areas of Scotland, sometimes generations, who | :30:00. | :30:02. | |
have not had a job. If you want to intervene in that, and it was | :30:03. | :30:07. | |
interesting what you said about coaching, you would have to possibly | :30:08. | :30:13. | |
spend a lot of money, but almost mentor people into getting a job, | :30:14. | :30:16. | |
rather than turning up at an office to get one? For the bulk of people | :30:17. | :30:22. | |
who are on GSA in Scotland, within 6-1 I'm months, the majority will be | :30:23. | :30:25. | |
back in work. But it is the others... -- within 6-9 months. | :30:26. | :30:38. | |
Coaching I think requires an element of face-to-face support. But not | :30:39. | :30:45. | |
necessarily in a job office? The issue is, how do we make it as | :30:46. | :30:51. | |
accessible as possible. And we are currently supporting some work in | :30:52. | :30:55. | |
Parkhead in Glasgow which looks at what happens when you wrap around | :30:56. | :31:01. | |
work coaches, GPs' surgeries, money advice, if you can stabilise | :31:02. | :31:05. | |
people's financial situation, make it possible for them to think about | :31:06. | :31:09. | |
realistically getting into work, or how to improve their skills, you get | :31:10. | :31:15. | |
much better outcomes. So, we should be decentralising support, making it | :31:16. | :31:20. | |
more face-to-face... Point you were making about it being a condition of | :31:21. | :31:25. | |
benefit, surely in this day and age, it should be easy enough digitally, | :31:26. | :31:30. | |
so, let's take your example, you have a GPs' surgery which is | :31:31. | :31:33. | |
combining all of these things, or something next door to a GPs' | :31:34. | :31:37. | |
surgery, some digital way of saying, that counts, for example? | :31:38. | :31:43. | |
What coaches have quite a hard job to do but also quite a lot of | :31:44. | :31:47. | |
discretion, so these things can happen already, it varies, if you | :31:48. | :31:51. | |
look at the sanction reigns Donna Grits a couple of years in Scotland | :31:52. | :31:56. | |
the rates in sanctions shows you how important the local culture is in | :31:57. | :31:59. | |
job centres. What really matters here is we have a focus on the | :32:00. | :32:05. | |
outcomes, getting more people into work, reducing barriers. We may have | :32:06. | :32:08. | |
to help people into voluntary work as a first step where it is | :32:09. | :32:13. | |
appropriate and with fluctuating conditions, for example. Not | :32:14. | :32:16. | |
forgetting people in low paid jobs needing to increase their hours or | :32:17. | :32:19. | |
improve skills. The job is getting harder for the employment service | :32:20. | :32:22. | |
and we need to get more sophisticated as to how we deliver | :32:23. | :32:26. | |
it locally. From what you were saying, how many job centres they | :32:27. | :32:30. | |
are and where they are is actually secondary to perhaps a more | :32:31. | :32:33. | |
imaginative way of doing these things, which is what you seem to be | :32:34. | :32:37. | |
suggesting. I think there is an opportunity with the election to | :32:38. | :32:40. | |
press pause on these ideas, to longer term and think about what's | :32:41. | :32:44. | |
the best way to deliver a really important service in lots of | :32:45. | :32:49. | |
different parts of the country. We will still need physical job | :32:50. | :32:50. | |
centres, but whether those are shared with other public services is | :32:51. | :32:56. | |
up for grabs. I think we should go further in that direction. What is | :32:57. | :32:59. | |
important is people have face to face advice as well as the support | :33:00. | :33:03. | |
if they can use it at the right time. Thank you very much indeed. | :33:04. | :33:07. | |
MSPs have voted to condemn the changes to child tax credits. | :33:08. | :33:10. | |
They're calling for the UK Government to remove | :33:11. | :33:12. | |
the two-child cap and scrap the so-called rape clause. | :33:13. | :33:14. | |
In a debate at Holyrood yesterday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon | :33:15. | :33:17. | |
described the exemption as "abhorrent". | :33:18. | :33:22. | |
But the Conservatives said Nicola Sturgeon had the power | :33:23. | :33:24. | |
I think, while I oppose many of these benefit cuts, I think this one | :33:25. | :33:33. | |
in particular and the rape clause that flows from it is definitely | :33:34. | :33:37. | |
going too far in the wrong direction. But it is the sort of | :33:38. | :33:41. | |
policy we have come to expect from this government. But the | :33:42. | :33:45. | |
implications of this policy, as the rape clause so vividly illustrates, | :33:46. | :33:51. | |
are truly apparent. The very need to provide an exemption from the two | :33:52. | :33:55. | |
child cap for women who have been raped shows the callousness of these | :33:56. | :33:59. | |
cuts in the first place. No woman anywhere should have to prove that | :34:00. | :34:03. | |
she has been raped in order to get tax credits for her child. And I | :34:04. | :34:10. | |
can't believe that in 2017 I am having to stand up in the Scottish | :34:11. | :34:13. | |
Parliament and make that argument. APPLAUSE | :34:14. | :34:22. | |
But this policy isn't just immoral, although it definitely is, it's also | :34:23. | :34:29. | |
unworkable in practice. The proposal for third-party verification puts an | :34:30. | :34:33. | |
unacceptable burden on health workers, crisis centres and | :34:34. | :34:39. | |
officials from the Department for Work and Pensions. Rape Crisis | :34:40. | :34:42. | |
Scotland, Scotland's women's aid and many others have refused to collude | :34:43. | :34:46. | |
with this clause, quite rightly. That is one of the reasons why | :34:47. | :34:51. | |
although it has passed into law, no one in the UK Government is able to | :34:52. | :34:55. | |
explain how it will work in practice. I'm sorry to say that on | :34:56. | :34:58. | |
this issue to many people have not been clear with the facts. I've | :34:59. | :35:03. | |
heard members of this chamber say on television that women must complete | :35:04. | :35:06. | |
an eight page form in order to receive this exemption, and this is | :35:07. | :35:12. | |
simply not correct. The third-party professionals... SPEAKER: Order | :35:13. | :35:21. | |
force of the member is not taking interventions. Ms Davidson. | :35:22. | :35:28. | |
It is important that we are not wilfully misrepresenting the process | :35:29. | :35:32. | |
here causing fear and alarm. So let me outline this again. Let me | :35:33. | :35:37. | |
outline it to the chamber once again. The woman writes her name and | :35:38. | :35:42. | |
a third-party professional who is helping the mother is asked to set | :35:43. | :35:45. | |
up the rest and this third-party model already exists in the benefit | :35:46. | :35:51. | |
system to support victims of domestic violence. | :35:52. | :35:53. | |
Powers over welfare and the taxation to pay for decisions were demanded | :35:54. | :35:58. | |
and transferred precisely so that devolved Scottish governments could | :35:59. | :36:04. | |
make different choices. For my own part I will continue to | :36:05. | :36:07. | |
monitor the way in which this works on the ground. | :36:08. | :36:12. | |
And the First Minister and her ministers use strong words like | :36:13. | :36:16. | |
shameful and she has the power to act and if she chooses strong words | :36:17. | :36:19. | |
but chooses not to act then that would indeed be shameful. | :36:20. | :36:23. | |
So we will continue to monitor this and I will move the amendment that | :36:24. | :36:28. | |
is in my name. For ten years the Tory government at Westminster has | :36:29. | :36:32. | |
slashed our valued social security system in a deliberate act of | :36:33. | :36:36. | |
sabotage and the question I would put it Ruth Davidson, if she had | :36:37. | :36:40. | |
bothered to take any interventions, is a question of judgment. Tell us | :36:41. | :36:43. | |
why rape victims have to pay the price of the deficit while you give | :36:44. | :36:46. | |
tax cuts to the richest people in our society. Ruth Davidson in a | :36:47. | :36:54. | |
desperate defence of the indefensible asks that we look at | :36:55. | :37:02. | |
welfare reform in the round. Let's, of the ?26 billion of cuts that | :37:03. | :37:07. | |
would have been implement it between 2010 and 2020, 80 6% will have been | :37:08. | :37:11. | |
taken from women's incomes. That's the context in which we debate this | :37:12. | :37:17. | |
today. A policy necessity whereby women must actively prove to an | :37:18. | :37:20. | |
employee of the state or a third-party that they been raped, | :37:21. | :37:24. | |
such policy has no place in civilised society. | :37:25. | :37:26. | |
Well let's cross to Holyrood now where I'm joined by some MSPs. | :37:27. | :37:33. | |
This week we have Jenny Gilruth from the SNP, | :37:34. | :37:35. | |
Bryan Waddle for the Scottish Conservatives. | :37:36. | :37:42. | |
it's Daniel Johnson, for the Scottish Greens we're joined | :37:43. | :37:46. | |
by Ross Greer and Alex Cole-Hamilton is from the Scottish Lib Dems. | :37:47. | :37:49. | |
When I talked to Jackson Carlo about this at the weekend he defended this | :37:50. | :37:57. | |
policy on two children but said the rape clause was, as he described it, | :37:58. | :38:01. | |
awkward. If it's that awkward why and you either say as the Scottish | :38:02. | :38:04. | |
Conservatives that you want the policy reversed and you want the cap | :38:05. | :38:09. | |
abolished, and start lobbying Theresa May's government to do that? | :38:10. | :38:14. | |
There is a genuine debate to be had here and a genuine debate around | :38:15. | :38:18. | |
Child tax credit is one that should be had in the Parliament and union | :38:19. | :38:22. | |
yesterday's debate detracted from that. What disappoints me is the | :38:23. | :38:29. | |
comment has been called a rape clause, it is not a rape clause, | :38:30. | :38:33. | |
it's an exemption clause. By approaching it in this way the way | :38:34. | :38:36. | |
the chamber did yesterday was a detraction from what should be a | :38:37. | :38:39. | |
proper debate and a real debate that should be had. You are not answering | :38:40. | :38:47. | |
my fundamental point. Any policy, no matter how justifiable otherwise, | :38:48. | :38:50. | |
which ends up requiring the sort of tests for women who have been raped, | :38:51. | :38:54. | |
is a very bad policy that no one should have come up with place. | :38:55. | :38:59. | |
Again, I will say to you, there is a debate to be had here around and | :39:00. | :39:03. | |
Limitation of a policy. But I still come back to the fact that there is | :39:04. | :39:06. | |
a debate to be had around tax credit. There are two polarised | :39:07. | :39:13. | |
views. You can go from anywhere from nothing to everyone. That debate | :39:14. | :39:16. | |
should be had. If we are going to have a debate around how it isn't | :39:17. | :39:19. | |
limited, if we are going to debate how we are going to implement it | :39:20. | :39:23. | |
with women who have gone through this horrendous ordeal, that is a | :39:24. | :39:27. | |
legitimate debate. But to me yesterday's debate just took away | :39:28. | :39:31. | |
from where the real quality of debate should be. When you say it is | :39:32. | :39:35. | |
a legitimate debate, are you suggesting that at least you | :39:36. | :39:38. | |
personally, if not the Scottish Conservatives, would oppose the | :39:39. | :39:43. | |
so-called rape clause? It is an exemption, it is not a rape clause. | :39:44. | :39:49. | |
If we are going to cap child tax credit you need to have an | :39:50. | :39:53. | |
exemption. That is a debate so the debate should not be around the | :39:54. | :39:56. | |
so-called rape clause or exemption clause, the debate should be around | :39:57. | :40:03. | |
the two-child tax credit. Is not just about what the SNP should do, | :40:04. | :40:06. | |
if you feel strongly about it you should be opposing your own | :40:07. | :40:10. | |
government in London. I didn't say I was strongly against it, I said we | :40:11. | :40:13. | |
should have debate in the chamber about the two-child tax credit. We | :40:14. | :40:19. | |
didn't have a debate about it, we had a debate about what the SNP are | :40:20. | :40:22. | |
calling a rape clause and that's the wrong thing, a detracted from the | :40:23. | :40:26. | |
real debate. Jenny Gilruth, can we swing around to you. I haven't asked | :40:27. | :40:32. | |
question yet. The question is, it's within the power of the Scottish | :40:33. | :40:37. | |
Government simply to not implement the two-child cap in Scotland, so | :40:38. | :40:42. | |
why not do that? It is not the job of the Scottish Government to | :40:43. | :40:45. | |
mitigate against Tory austerity. I'm sorry, it is the job, you did that | :40:46. | :40:51. | |
on the bedroom tax so why not on this? What you saw yesterday was the | :40:52. | :40:54. | |
Parliament coming together and the Tories are on the back foot on this, | :40:55. | :40:58. | |
the whole parliament has come together against this barbaric | :40:59. | :41:01. | |
clause. You talked about a debate, we didn't have a debate, none of the | :41:02. | :41:05. | |
Tories took interventions, they were a message and toed the party line | :41:06. | :41:08. | |
but none of them could look as in the face. They were clearly | :41:09. | :41:11. | |
embarrassed and it was an appalling date for the Parliament and not a | :41:12. | :41:20. | |
good day for democracy in Scotland either. There was no attempt to | :41:21. | :41:22. | |
argue back. You still haven't answered, guided my question -- | :41:23. | :41:28. | |
answered my question. It is not the job of the SNP to mitigate Tory | :41:29. | :41:32. | |
policies. If you are that opposed you simply won't implement it. | :41:33. | :41:36. | |
Yesterday was an opportunity for the Conservative Party to stand up and | :41:37. | :41:40. | |
be counted and say it was not in the name. What about you? It was not an | :41:41. | :41:44. | |
opportunity for the Scottish Government to legislate, it was a | :41:45. | :41:48. | |
chance to unify against Tory austerity being imposed upon us. You | :41:49. | :41:51. | |
haven't answered my question, if you feel that strongly, and you are not | :41:52. | :41:55. | |
trying to score political points, don't implement the policy, you have | :41:56. | :41:58. | |
the powerful top that is not what the debate was about yesterday. Do | :41:59. | :42:03. | |
you think the Scottish Government should refuse to implement the | :42:04. | :42:06. | |
policy? That is up to the Scottish Government. What do you think? | :42:07. | :42:09. | |
Yellow Medinah post to it and my party has made our position clear. | :42:10. | :42:13. | |
You think it should not be implemented? -- I'm opposed to it. | :42:14. | :42:23. | |
It is abhorrent. I presume labour is against not just the so-called rape | :42:24. | :42:27. | |
clause, but against the policy per se. It is a terrible policy. The | :42:28. | :42:34. | |
arbitrariness of the two-child rule on child credits is wrong, the rape | :42:35. | :42:39. | |
clause amplifies what is a sorry situation and I think the Tories' | :42:40. | :42:43. | |
position is really sorry. They tried to hide behind differences in | :42:44. | :42:47. | |
meaning and words but the reality is that people who have been through an | :42:48. | :42:53. | |
horrendous ordeal are having to self identify and nominate a bit of paper | :42:54. | :42:58. | |
bureaucracy. It is horrific. The other side of this is if you are | :42:59. | :43:01. | |
going to reform the welfare system at all, and for example, although he | :43:02. | :43:04. | |
didn't get round to doing much about it, Tony Blair was almost always | :43:05. | :43:08. | |
vary in favour of the last Labour government but one doing that. There | :43:09. | :43:15. | |
will be different difficult issues to address. Have you no sympathy | :43:16. | :43:18. | |
with the position of the Conservative government that, OK, | :43:19. | :43:21. | |
you have criticised specific measure, but almost anything you do | :43:22. | :43:26. | |
to reform the welfare system, issues like this arise? They don't have to | :43:27. | :43:30. | |
rise like this. Tax credits were the creation of the Labour government, | :43:31. | :43:34. | |
they were about making work pay. They are a real achievement and we | :43:35. | :43:38. | |
are seeing it dismantled by this Tory government in the most | :43:39. | :43:41. | |
heartless and cruel way. I think the rape clause just exemplifies that. | :43:42. | :43:46. | |
Ross Greer, is that the side of your head? It is the side of your head | :43:47. | :43:50. | |
icy. Do you think the Scottish Government should do what I | :43:51. | :43:53. | |
suggested to Jenny Gilruth, they should do if they are being honest | :43:54. | :43:56. | |
in their rhetoric, and not implement it? It is two different things, | :43:57. | :44:00. | |
mitigating and not implementing, we should look at how we can mitigate | :44:01. | :44:05. | |
it in Scotland but Jenny was correct in saying the Scottish Parliament | :44:06. | :44:09. | |
doesn't just exist to act as a last line of defence against terrible | :44:10. | :44:12. | |
Conservative polities in Westminster, it's about making | :44:13. | :44:16. | |
people's lives better and not fighting a rearguard action against | :44:17. | :44:23. | |
something like the rape clause. You keep saying it is not the Scottish | :44:24. | :44:27. | |
Parliament's job to mitigate Tory cuts. Matzoh people in Scotland and | :44:28. | :44:30. | |
England will agree with what the Conservative government is doing -- | :44:31. | :44:35. | |
a lot of people. You are mocking that, they genuinely do. It is | :44:36. | :44:40. | |
horrific and if anyone agrees that the victims of rape should give | :44:41. | :44:42. | |
anonymity for a bit of paperwork they are defending a horrific | :44:43. | :44:46. | |
policy. The Scottish Parliament will have control over 50% of Social | :44:47. | :44:50. | |
Security, not the whole welfare system. Any money that we spend on | :44:51. | :44:55. | |
that comes out of another budget -- 15%. This is a perfect policy from | :44:56. | :44:59. | |
the Tories that will give up anonymity for rape victims and if | :45:00. | :45:05. | |
they still live with the rapist they cannot get out of this. Brian is | :45:06. | :45:12. | |
waffling about something else. The two-child child tax credit. If you | :45:13. | :45:15. | |
look at countries where there are Tambe policies, China, Iran and the | :45:16. | :45:21. | |
UK, do we want to be on that list? -- two-child policies. It is | :45:22. | :45:27. | |
disgraceful from the Conservatives. Alex Cole-Hamilton, and then we will | :45:28. | :45:31. | |
move on. You were in government with the Conservatives. Is this one of | :45:32. | :45:35. | |
the things you think you would have stop them doing? We did stop them | :45:36. | :45:38. | |
doing this, that is the untold story of coalition, all of the things that | :45:39. | :45:42. | |
didn't make it to the statute book thanks to the intervention of the | :45:43. | :45:45. | |
Liberal Democrats blocking ideological changes to things like | :45:46. | :45:48. | |
the child tax credit system that the Tories wanted to introduce and the | :45:49. | :45:52. | |
two-child cap came up under our coalition regime and we stopped it | :45:53. | :45:56. | |
because it is barbaric. You don't make social policy based on an | :45:57. | :45:59. | |
upward limit to the child-bearing because inevitably if you did then | :46:00. | :46:03. | |
by necessity you would have a precondition that was an exemption | :46:04. | :46:07. | |
of rape clause. If you have a policy that leads you to then have women | :46:08. | :46:12. | |
prove to you either to an employee of the state or a third party that | :46:13. | :46:16. | |
they were raped such a policy has no place in our society. This is now | :46:17. | :46:21. | |
law, right? It is coming in, yes, as it is, in April. I think Jenny | :46:22. | :46:26. | |
Gilruth should take a stand and do what they can to mitigate it. It is | :46:27. | :46:30. | |
interesting the Scottish Government choose to call in Westminster to | :46:31. | :46:35. | |
stop it. But yes this is further evidence of the Scottish Government | :46:36. | :46:38. | |
being unwilling to use the powers that it and other parties have | :46:39. | :46:41. | |
fought hard fought for the introduction of further devolution | :46:42. | :46:45. | |
to the Scottish Parliament. Daniel Johnson, do you think the Scottish | :46:46. | :46:48. | |
Government should intervene to stop this happening appear? Well, look, | :46:49. | :46:52. | |
first and foremost, we have to look at just how cruel this policy is. | :46:53. | :46:58. | |
But absolutely, the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament | :46:59. | :47:01. | |
as the powers, we fought hard for those powers so we can make | :47:02. | :47:05. | |
different decisions. Standing on the sidelines wringing your hands and | :47:06. | :47:08. | |
saying isn't the Tory government awful and doing nothing about it is | :47:09. | :47:12. | |
frankly reckless. Luck, I know this is a serious issue and feelings are | :47:13. | :47:19. | |
running very high. This is about to go into law and it must have been in | :47:20. | :47:22. | |
the process of going through four weeks if not months now. It does | :47:23. | :47:26. | |
seem slightly odd it has only become a huge issue now there is a general | :47:27. | :47:31. | |
election being called. I don't think that's fair, it has been an issue | :47:32. | :47:41. | |
for months. Other as MPs have been taking -- MSPs have been taking it | :47:42. | :47:46. | |
up. MSPs have been talking about this. Brian Whittle, it's my fault. | :47:47. | :47:54. | |
All I will say is your point, it's interesting this has been in statute | :47:55. | :47:58. | |
for over 18 months and it is only now coming to the fore. I don't know | :47:59. | :48:03. | |
what is different now to the last 18 months but all I can think of is | :48:04. | :48:07. | |
there happens to be an election. Jenny Gilruth, what about that | :48:08. | :48:12. | |
point? There has been campaigning on this issue for two years and it has | :48:13. | :48:16. | |
been a huge issue for my party nationally, while you might think it | :48:17. | :48:19. | |
is a defining issue in the election you might be correct but we are | :48:20. | :48:22. | |
aware we are. We were told by one of Brian's bosses this is not the time | :48:23. | :48:26. | |
and now it is the time so it is becoming a defining issue for the | :48:27. | :48:28. | |
Conservatives but it has been an issue for my party for years now. | :48:29. | :48:34. | |
Why didn't we have a debate then? We are running out of time, let's have | :48:35. | :48:38. | |
a quick whip round of how many seats you think you will win in the | :48:39. | :48:40. | |
election. LAUGHTER | :48:41. | :48:45. | |
Let's start with you, Brian Whittle. Well, let's put it this way, I've | :48:46. | :48:50. | |
looked at polls over the last couple of years and none have been correct | :48:51. | :48:53. | |
so there is a lot of water to go under the bridge but I am confident | :48:54. | :48:56. | |
we will have a lot more MPs in Parliament that we currently have. | :48:57. | :49:01. | |
You think you are going to win in the UK. But are you confident of | :49:02. | :49:06. | |
having more MPs in Scotland? Yes, I am. Jenny Gilruth, are you going to | :49:07. | :49:14. | |
have 59? Yes, let's hope so, 59, every seat. Is that a forecast or | :49:15. | :49:18. | |
just wishful thinking? We will be fighting hard in every constituency. | :49:19. | :49:24. | |
It is wishful thinking? That is not what I said. Daniel Johnson, one | :49:25. | :49:29. | |
would be good for you. I'm confident we will hold all of the seats we | :49:30. | :49:33. | |
currently hold. Are you really that confident? I am and we have to work | :49:34. | :49:38. | |
hard but Ian Murray is a fantastic MP and I'm quite confident that if | :49:39. | :49:42. | |
we do the work we need to do and we will hold the seat for him and we | :49:43. | :49:46. | |
may surprise with gains. Gain or gains? I used the plural, I always | :49:47. | :49:54. | |
an optimistic person. Ross Greer, there has been some talk, in fact, | :49:55. | :49:57. | |
from some of your leading people about... I mean, you haven't got any | :49:58. | :50:03. | |
seats but the idea is you might in areas for example David Mundell's | :50:04. | :50:08. | |
seat, not stand a Green candidate. Is that something you would be in | :50:09. | :50:11. | |
favour of Orchard the Greens make the effort? That is something for | :50:12. | :50:16. | |
local branches to decide, I don't live in Dumfries, Clydesdale and to | :50:17. | :50:19. | |
Easdale, so I don't have a right to tell them whether to stand in the | :50:20. | :50:24. | |
area. Do the Greens have a policy as to how many seats you will contest? | :50:25. | :50:29. | |
Isn't that a green policy? No, it is each individual branch making the | :50:30. | :50:31. | |
decision whether to stand and wait to stand, for a Democratic Party | :50:32. | :50:36. | |
that is perfectly normal. The next week will be focused on electing | :50:37. | :50:39. | |
green councils. Pretend you live in that part of the world and give us | :50:40. | :50:44. | |
your opinion. My branch convener in Dumfries may be watching and for me | :50:45. | :50:49. | |
to tell her what she should be doing is not right. I don't think I've | :50:50. | :50:54. | |
ever heard a political party say it would be disrespectful to comment on | :50:55. | :50:58. | |
whether they should stand in the seats at a general election. It's | :50:59. | :51:04. | |
extraordinary. Yeah... Thanks, Jenny. It is for local branches to | :51:05. | :51:08. | |
decide, we will stand across the country, I don't know how many seats | :51:09. | :51:11. | |
and where the seats are, again, I will repeat it is for the local | :51:12. | :51:15. | |
branches to decide. You asked how many seats, I suspect there will be | :51:16. | :51:21. | |
more than one green MP in Parliament by the 9th of June. More than one | :51:22. | :51:32. | |
Scottish one? I will take that as a no. How many digits for the Liberal | :51:33. | :51:36. | |
Democrats? We will grow in this election, look at my face, this is a | :51:37. | :51:40. | |
momentum election for us and why? We are standing in ground occupied by | :51:41. | :51:43. | |
the majority of Scottish people who want to see Scotland are strong at | :51:44. | :51:47. | |
the heart of the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom strong at the | :51:48. | :51:50. | |
heart of Europe. We are the only party going into the general | :51:51. | :51:52. | |
election promising that mandate and we expect to grow in big numbers and | :51:53. | :51:58. | |
Chris Turner in strength in Scotland and the rest of the UK. This is a | :51:59. | :52:06. | |
great opportunity for us -- -- big numbers in Scotland and across the | :52:07. | :52:10. | |
UK. What sort of number do you think is realistic for the Liberal | :52:11. | :52:16. | |
Democrats. People think you could do well. There is talk of it in the | :52:17. | :52:19. | |
south-west which I think was a pretty Brexit area but some of the | :52:20. | :52:25. | |
Tories who wipe you out last time seemed to be frightened. What sort | :52:26. | :52:29. | |
of figure are you looking at? We got an opinion poll today that borders | :52:30. | :52:32. | |
on 14% across the United Kingdom and the last time we did that we had 57 | :52:33. | :52:40. | |
MPs. We have gained 30 by-election victories in council by-elections | :52:41. | :52:42. | |
around the British Isles including in Scotland since May last year and | :52:43. | :52:45. | |
our membership has gone up to over 100000 and we have drawn in ?1.6 | :52:46. | :52:53. | |
million worth of cash donations in the last four days. Will Liberal | :52:54. | :52:56. | |
Democrat candidates refrain from making personal promises on tuition | :52:57. | :52:59. | |
fees? LAUGHTER | :53:00. | :53:03. | |
That is highly likely, yes. The shot our viewers have all been waiting | :53:04. | :53:07. | |
for, there you are, all of you looking wonderful standing together. | :53:08. | :53:08. | |
Thank you for joining us. Is there going to be an excitement | :53:09. | :53:15. | |
in the election campaign, do you think? In Scotland, I think there is | :53:16. | :53:22. | |
the potential for it to ignite, more so than in England, because we have | :53:23. | :53:30. | |
the constitutional question which is still dominating and providing the | :53:31. | :53:35. | |
framework for how politics is being conducted and we are still living | :53:36. | :53:38. | |
through that. We're living through this period starting in 2011 when | :53:39. | :53:44. | |
the SNP won an unexpected majority and it is still to settle down. Many | :53:45. | :53:49. | |
of the political issues are being seen through the prism of the | :53:50. | :53:55. | |
Constitution. Do you think Labour... Everyone has said how dismal | :53:56. | :54:00. | |
Labour's prospects are but we haven't even started the campaign | :54:01. | :54:05. | |
yet. Do you think either nationally that Corbyn could perhaps do a bit | :54:06. | :54:08. | |
better than everyone is saying, or up in Scotland, that they could | :54:09. | :54:13. | |
break through everything being seen in terms of the Constitution and | :54:14. | :54:16. | |
make an impact? I think personally speaking Jeremy Corbyn has made | :54:17. | :54:22. | |
quite a solid start, albeit it is early days, to the general election | :54:23. | :54:27. | |
campaign. I suspect a lot of that is rooted in the fact that he enjoys | :54:28. | :54:32. | |
the freedom to be outward facing and not worry about the knives going | :54:33. | :54:37. | |
into his back from his own party. One view is this general election | :54:38. | :54:41. | |
campaign is more his kind of thing than, say, Prime Minister's | :54:42. | :54:44. | |
Questions. Yes and he doesn't have to worry about the people in his own | :54:45. | :54:50. | |
party who are some of his stiffest enemies. Because they will have to | :54:51. | :54:54. | |
gather round. Yes, and in Scotland it's different. One of the papers | :54:55. | :54:58. | |
this morning, I think it was the Herald, predicting via various | :54:59. | :55:06. | |
political academics there will be a complete meltdown for Labour in | :55:07. | :55:10. | |
Glasgow with as low as 15%, the Tories and 25 and the SNP on 50 odd | :55:11. | :55:14. | |
and the other three local authority areas that they control could go | :55:15. | :55:21. | |
too. If that happens I really fear for Labour on June the 8th in | :55:22. | :55:26. | |
Scotland. They have one MP at the moment and it's not fanciful to save | :55:27. | :55:32. | |
a maybe, for the first time ever I think, have no MPs in Scotland on | :55:33. | :55:36. | |
June the 9th. The first time since before the formation of the Labour | :55:37. | :55:37. | |
representation. So Westminster is preparing to break | :55:38. | :55:39. | |
up ahead of the general election - a final word from our correspondent | :55:40. | :55:42. | |
David Porter. What is the mood there, David? The | :55:43. | :55:51. | |
overriding mood, Gordon, is let's get on with it. We had the surprise | :55:52. | :55:55. | |
announcement last week we were having the general election which | :55:56. | :55:58. | |
quite frankly took the vast majority of people by surprise. We then had | :55:59. | :56:02. | |
the procedure of actually allowing Theresa May to call a general | :56:03. | :56:07. | |
election early. Today, if you like, has been sort of the last rites of | :56:08. | :56:12. | |
this Parliament, the last hurrah of this parliament with Prime | :56:13. | :56:16. | |
Minister's Question Time. But the overwhelming view of most MPs and | :56:17. | :56:20. | |
those who are part of the various political machines down here at | :56:21. | :56:24. | |
Westminster is let's get on with things now, let's concentrate on it. | :56:25. | :56:28. | |
You were discussing with Kevin a moment ago the local elections next | :56:29. | :56:33. | |
week. Normally local elections pale into insignificance. But I think | :56:34. | :56:36. | |
because they will be coming in effect just a month or so before the | :56:37. | :56:40. | |
general election, people will be watching them very closely. | :56:41. | :56:43. | |
Certainly the parties will be, and certainly they will be in Scotland. | :56:44. | :56:47. | |
They will be looking at the way votes have been cast, not opinion | :56:48. | :56:54. | |
polls, the way votes have been cast and tailor their campaigns | :56:55. | :56:56. | |
accordingly. Certainly the Scottish MPs I've been speaking to have all | :56:57. | :57:00. | |
said they will be looking very carefully at what happens on May the | :57:01. | :57:05. | |
4th. That is not an opinion poll, that is a real poll where people | :57:06. | :57:09. | |
vote and I think inevitably, as far as the local elections go, people | :57:10. | :57:13. | |
will probably be voting on general election issues. All right, thanks, | :57:14. | :57:19. | |
David. It is important, you refer to it already, Kevin. I heard at the | :57:20. | :57:25. | |
weekend that pretty much the same thing, therefore it must be true, | :57:26. | :57:29. | |
that you are going to have a real poll rather than an opinion poll on | :57:30. | :57:33. | |
May the 4th. If that does happen to the Labour Party, it is almost base | :57:34. | :57:38. | |
camp for them. If the SNP were to take Glasgow, | :57:39. | :57:45. | |
which is one of their top desires for several years now, then with | :57:46. | :57:53. | |
just over a month still to go between May the 4th and June the | :57:54. | :57:57. | |
8th, who knows what sort of momentum that would then give the SNP | :57:58. | :58:06. | |
campaign? It's the momentum of the victorious, it will give them | :58:07. | :58:10. | |
confidence, it will give some individuals confidence, and people | :58:11. | :58:13. | |
like to be associated with winners. What about the Tories? Are they | :58:14. | :58:17. | |
expected to do well? If they get anywhere near what Professor Curtis | :58:18. | :58:23. | |
and his fellows have been saying, which is that they will be up to ten | :58:24. | :58:27. | |
points ahead of Labour in Glasgow, then they will be cock-a-hoop. But | :58:28. | :58:33. | |
remember, in Holyrood, most of the MSPs are thereby virtually of the | :58:34. | :58:41. | |
list and most were overwhelmingly rejected by the voters. They will | :58:42. | :58:42. | |
not have that luxury this time. We will have to leave it there, | :58:43. | :58:45. | |
Kevin. Tune in tomorrow for First | :58:46. | :58:48. | |
Minister's Questions at midday. I'll be back on Sunday with Sunday | :58:49. | :58:52. | |
Politics Scotland - join us then. this super-sized hospital has been | :58:53. | :58:55. | |
transforming lives in Scotland. There's nowhere else in Scotland | :58:56. | :59:08. | |
that could have done | :59:09. | :59:17. |