Browse content similar to 26/10/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Welcome to the programme. Coming up to date, a committee in crisis, and | :00:26. | :00:31. | |
SNP MP withdraws after saying she was threatened by a Labour minister. | :00:31. | :00:35. | |
And keeping the country running during the wintry weather. And EU | :00:35. | :00:41. | |
leaders will meet later as doubts grow about a credible solution to | :00:41. | :00:45. | |
the euro-zone crisis. We're expecting a statement this | :00:45. | :00:48. | |
afternoon from the Labour Party after alleged comments made by Ian | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
Davidson, the chair of the Scottish Affairs Committee. It has emerged | :00:52. | :00:57. | |
last night that Dr A E Y to complain to the Speaker about his | :00:57. | :01:03. | |
conduct. Let's go and get the latest on the story, first, can you | :01:03. | :01:08. | |
update us with what has happened? These allegations were put to the | :01:08. | :01:13. | |
Speaker last night. Today, Labour whips in the Commons started an | :01:13. | :01:16. | |
investigation and we are told that they were treating this issue | :01:16. | :01:20. | |
seriously. We understand at least some of the member is, by Labour | :01:20. | :01:23. | |
members of the Scottish Affairs Committee, recalled to a meeting to | :01:23. | :01:27. | |
give their version of events last week to see if they could back up | :01:27. | :01:33. | |
the claims made by Dr White, the SNP member on the committee. She | :01:33. | :01:37. | |
has alleged that Mr Davidson last week during a private meeting of | :01:37. | :01:44. | |
the Scottish Affairs Committee said that she would get a doing if | :01:44. | :01:47. | |
deliberations will lead to the media. Nothing has been said | :01:47. | :01:52. | |
publicly so far by Mr Davidson, he is due to chair the latest | :01:52. | :01:57. | |
committee later today, had we have been told a short time ago by | :01:57. | :02:02. | |
Labour sources that we should anticipate an apology from Mr David | :02:02. | :02:08. | |
Santh, an apology for any offence caused to Dr White, but we are told | :02:08. | :02:11. | |
that he denies having made any threat. We hope to bring you some | :02:11. | :02:16. | |
of those pictures shortly. In the last 24 hours, we try to speak to | :02:16. | :02:20. | |
all of the committee members, we have spoken to half a dozen or so, | :02:20. | :02:25. | |
and most of them do not remember that phrase being used. What has | :02:25. | :02:31. | |
confirmed that they do remember the phrase being used. -- 1 has | :02:31. | :02:37. | |
confirmed. Today, the First Minister wades into the row. This | :02:37. | :02:40. | |
is 2011, men cannot make threatening remarks towards women. | :02:40. | :02:46. | |
Ordinary people know that, and if it applies to normal people, it | :02:46. | :02:50. | |
must apply to the chair of the select committee in the House of | :02:50. | :02:56. | |
Commons, and he should apologise and resign. I suppose supporters of | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
Mr Davidson had been trying to support them. The yes, Labour | :03:00. | :03:04. | |
supporters said that they believe that there is a smear campaign | :03:04. | :03:11. | |
going on against Ian Davidson. One member of the committee has said | :03:11. | :03:15. | |
that this has been our role orchestrated by the SNP, because | :03:15. | :03:20. | |
they dislike the idea of the Scottish affairs committee looking | :03:20. | :03:25. | |
at the independent referendum. Jim McGovern had this to say. I was | :03:25. | :03:28. | |
here at this committee, and the first session was in private, so I | :03:28. | :03:34. | |
cannot say what was said, but nothing intimidating, nothing | :03:34. | :03:39. | |
hostile was said by any member to any other member. So, not long | :03:39. | :03:44. | |
until we find out what will happen. We have been told to expect some | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
kind of apology from Ian Davidson. That has not come so far. We were | :03:49. | :03:55. | |
also told to expect a statement from Rosie Winterton, the Labour | :03:55. | :03:58. | |
chief whip, but we do not know if that will happen or if it would be | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
superseded by a statement from Mr Davidson. Whether he does or does | :04:03. | :04:06. | |
not apologise, whether he does or does not admit that that anything | :04:06. | :04:10. | |
was done wrong, Dr White has withdrawn for that committee and | :04:10. | :04:14. | |
last night, she said that she would not go back on to that committee | :04:14. | :04:20. | |
while Mr Davidson held that post. Thank you. | :04:20. | :04:23. | |
Enjoyed in the studio by a political commentator this | :04:23. | :04:28. | |
afternoon, thank you for joining us, an interesting story developing at | :04:28. | :04:33. | |
Westminster, if these comments are true, pretty ill judged. I think if | :04:34. | :04:38. | |
it is true, and I wasn't there, you were not there, it was a private | :04:38. | :04:40. | |
meeting, so we do not know, and clearly there are different | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
opinions from people that were at the committee, ever not judge if it | :04:45. | :04:50. | |
is true or not, but if that kind of language was used, politics has a | :04:50. | :04:55. | |
tendency to get into pretty chorus use of language sometimes against | :04:55. | :05:00. | |
political divides. If it is true, then there is a problem, because | :05:00. | :05:05. | |
politicians have had problems all over other areas of activities, | :05:05. | :05:08. | |
particularly Westminster with expenses and everything else, and | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
the public's tolerance for this kind of language and that kind of | :05:12. | :05:18. | |
treatment, again, if it is true, is very short now. Thank you. | :05:18. | :05:23. | |
More details on that story later in the programme. Now, it is bright | :05:23. | :05:28. | |
and sunny year, at least, and I do not want to depress you, but we | :05:28. | :05:34. | |
bassoon dip into those dreary, wintry times. Last year we saw | :05:35. | :05:40. | |
major transport chaos following the biggest snow falls in many years, | :05:40. | :05:43. | |
and the Transport Minister lost his job because of this. This year, | :05:43. | :05:47. | |
preparation is the key according to the Government, and the successor | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
of the Transport Secretary outlining his winter resilience | :05:51. | :05:56. | |
measures. We can cross now to our commentator in the chamber. | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
Thank you. Mr Brown is just about to speak Getty said that the winter | :06:00. | :06:06. | |
of last year was the coldest of many years, and he will update with | :06:06. | :06:11. | |
the latest measures on dealing with a new winter, hopefully not as bad | :06:11. | :06:15. | |
as before. We have the highest a matter preparation across the | :06:15. | :06:20. | |
public sector than ever before. Last year, everyone mucked in and | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
helped out, and that would be there if needed, but we need to be | :06:24. | :06:28. | |
prepared for more than just that. We need to be prepared as a | :06:28. | :06:34. | |
government and across all public sector agencies. On Monday, we | :06:34. | :06:36. | |
began our public information campaign for getting ready for | :06:36. | :06:39. | |
winter. Individuals and communities are stronger when they have | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
themselves and each other, and this year, we want to make it easier for | :06:43. | :06:49. | |
people to take their own action to prepare. Our first national | :06:49. | :06:52. | |
resilience campaign has been created in partnership with the Red | :06:52. | :06:57. | |
Cross and other organisations, but while there is a duty on statutory | :06:57. | :07:03. | |
organisations to respond, they cannot to everything. No matter how | :07:03. | :07:06. | |
prolong or severe the winter, there should be no surprise to us in | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
Scotland. We need everyone to be more resilient at places of work, | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
at home, in their car, and wherever they find themselves during the | :07:15. | :07:20. | |
winter. The range of activities and resources that make up this ready | :07:20. | :07:24. | |
for winter campaign coupled with the relaunch of our website this | :07:24. | :07:28. | |
week will have to raise awareness of the steps people can take and | :07:28. | :07:32. | |
the support available to people taking them. The Government has | :07:32. | :07:38. | |
significant measures to help people to heat their homes this winter | :07:38. | :07:42. | |
including �12.5 million announced recently to find insulation schemes | :07:42. | :07:50. | |
across Scotland. There is also an investment in the energy assistance | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
package and �2.5 million to help replace inefficient boilers and a | :07:54. | :08:01. | |
commitment to help the fuel poverty programme and carers. We also want | :08:01. | :08:05. | |
to deliver support for hard pressed homes that may face a difficult | :08:05. | :08:14. | |
winter. Over all, the energy assistance package has over 200,000 | :08:14. | :08:19. | |
houses getting help. We have delivered using measures to well | :08:19. | :08:24. | |
over 21,000 homes. Since last winter, the Government has been | :08:24. | :08:28. | |
preparing, planning and working to ensure we are as ready as we can be | :08:28. | :08:33. | |
to minimise the impact of severe weather. The winter weather review | :08:33. | :08:36. | |
group convened by the Scottish Government in the summer published | :08:36. | :08:42. | |
this report on Monday listing a series of actions taken across the | :08:42. | :08:46. | |
voluntary sectors and a range of services to improve resilience and | :08:46. | :08:49. | |
the critical national infrastructure. Just to give some | :08:49. | :08:55. | |
examples, the Met Office has, for example, improved the weather | :08:55. | :09:01. | |
Warning Service. We have invested �500,000 to launch online warnings, | :09:01. | :09:05. | |
a direct service, to improve services to the public with Updates | :09:05. | :09:09. | |
on various platforms. They have improved the operation of the | :09:09. | :09:12. | |
emergency arrangements by reviewing the experience of last winter and | :09:12. | :09:18. | |
that includes revising the staffing and training arrangements and for | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
developing sharing information between strategic quarter meeting | :09:21. | :09:28. | |
groups and the resilience room. Some disruption may still be | :09:28. | :09:33. | |
unavoidable, as severe weather hits. This can happen at any time and you | :09:33. | :09:39. | |
only need look at the M25 today to see evidence of that. How we | :09:39. | :09:42. | |
respond to those incidents and how quickly we can recover to them is | :09:42. | :09:46. | |
the issue, so we would like to highlight the key steps we have | :09:46. | :09:49. | |
taken in that regard. Transport Scotland has prepared for the | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
winter with additional equipment and improved information for people | :09:53. | :09:59. | |
on the move. From first November, 23 additional gritting machines | :09:59. | :10:03. | |
will patrol the major routes ahead of him during the peak hours and | :10:03. | :10:08. | |
when there was a risk of snow and I see conditions and in snowstorms. | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
Specialist equipment, an ice- breaker, footways snow blowers and | :10:13. | :10:22. | |
ploughs are been given increased capability. As of a first November, | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
there would be more salt Stockton Scotland than was used during all | :10:26. | :10:36. | |
:10:36. | :10:37. | ||
of last winter. -- stocked in Scotland. We also have 70,000 | :10:38. | :10:42. | |
litres of the answers that would work in the serious conditions of | :10:42. | :10:52. | |
:10:52. | :11:01. | ||
below 70 degrees are freezing. -- de-icers. There will be more | :11:01. | :11:06. | |
traffic and travel bulletins which will increase in frequency during | :11:06. | :11:11. | |
extreme weather and will be available on computers and | :11:11. | :11:15. | |
automated devices and any customer care helpline. We have also set up | :11:15. | :11:25. | |
the voluntary institutional alliance where there will be an | :11:25. | :11:31. | |
increase in supplies of winter tyres. We have worked very hard | :11:31. | :11:34. | |
with the police and frayed partners to develop procedures for the | :11:35. | :11:38. | |
proactive management of Hege GPs and other vehicles in severe | :11:38. | :11:48. | |
:11:48. | :11:51. | ||
weather conditions. -- HGVs. There will be also a service where lorry | :11:51. | :11:54. | |
drivers can inform of issues on the motorway networks. A similar | :11:54. | :12:01. | |
service will also be developed and other operators. We have secured | :12:01. | :12:05. | |
�2.2 million of a package of investment by its first Scotland | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
rail for winter improvements and this includes modification to | :12:08. | :12:15. | |
trains and beating the more alive full -- and making them more | :12:15. | :12:19. | |
reliable. There will be more gritting four platforms and car | :12:19. | :12:28. | |
parks and we will be taking the eyes of carriages and tunnels and | :12:28. | :12:35. | |
high-pressure hot water equipment to remove ice from the Eagles. | :12:35. | :12:42. | |
Network Rail has enhanced their structures by using remote | :12:42. | :12:46. | |
monitoring of point teachers and providing protective blankets on | :12:46. | :12:52. | |
rural lines. -- point heaters. There will be more 4X4 vehicles for | :12:52. | :12:58. | |
maintenance staff which will help people in getting to work during | :12:58. | :13:04. | |
times of severe weather. Network Rail has taken action to Richard | :13:04. | :13:12. | |
Bacon do this. For clarity, will he clarified the measures taken by | :13:12. | :13:15. | |
Scotland rail and Network Rail are measures being taken at their hand | :13:15. | :13:20. | |
and does not involve change to the franchise conditions for a formal | :13:20. | :13:25. | |
legal associations between Scottish Government and those conditions? | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
There has been a strong collaboration between all agencies, | :13:29. | :13:34. | |
but these 2.2 million pound investments are investments made by | :13:34. | :13:39. | |
a Network Rail, Scottish rail, and there is other developments going | :13:39. | :13:44. | |
on that will help would resilience. It is all done at Network Rail's | :13:44. | :13:48. | |
own hand. The rail industry recognises the importance of | :13:48. | :13:51. | |
accurate and timely information and we're working with the rail | :13:51. | :13:54. | |
regulator to raise the bar on the quality of passenger information | :13:54. | :13:59. | |
which was an issue last year. Network Rail and in conjunction | :13:59. | :14:04. | |
with rail freight hauliers well maintained year Ruth for critical | :14:04. | :14:14. | |
movements insuring critical supplier of food and fuel by rail. | :14:14. | :14:24. | |
-- will maintain transport routes for critical movement. They are | :14:24. | :14:30. | |
investing in new equipment which we hope to see in the airports also | :14:30. | :14:36. | |
shortly. I met with the previous managing director of Edinburgh | :14:36. | :14:39. | |
Airport and they have the same issue that the Scottish Government | :14:39. | :14:43. | |
and others had, would be to invest in new capital equipment which may | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
not be used, and can attract criticism for that, or to make sure | :14:47. | :14:50. | |
that they have enough resilience, and they have taken the latter | :14:50. | :14:55. | |
course, had a right to do that. We have been speaking with the ports | :14:55. | :15:00. | |
across Scotland to make sure they can play a key role. Which they did | :15:00. | :15:04. | |
last winter. They have invested in any maintenance and purchased | :15:04. | :15:09. | |
equipment to make sure that they can complete those roles, such as | :15:09. | :15:13. | |
shipping strategic sought supplies and a ferry links to communities | :15:13. | :15:23. | |
:15:23. | :15:23. | ||
that may have as much sought stock as was needed last year. I have a | :15:23. | :15:28. | |
role in relation to transport, but winter resilience does not respect | :15:28. | :15:32. | |
portfolio boundaries, so we will continue services to those that | :15:32. | :15:35. | |
need them most and this needs to be the top priority, and this year, | :15:35. | :15:39. | |
we're working with care providers to make sure that those that are in | :15:39. | :15:41. | |
need are brought quickly to the attention of those that require | :15:41. | :15:45. | |
assistance, so we are developing in consultation with resilience | :15:45. | :15:50. | |
Partners, a protocol to our climb steps that service providers should | :15:50. | :15:54. | |
follow when considering people at risk. Especially those at risk of | :15:54. | :15:58. | |
being cut off from electricity or gas for of running out of heating | :15:58. | :16:03. | |
oil. This will direct activity primarily at a local level but will | :16:03. | :16:12. | |
also inform or wider Scottish Many sectors played a vital role in | :16:12. | :16:16. | |
keeping community is running last year, for example mountain rescue | :16:16. | :16:24. | |
teams and the Army helping to reach people cut off by snow. Land-Rover | :16:24. | :16:30. | |
also or allowed the Red Cross to borrow some vehicles. We need | :16:30. | :16:33. | |
neighbours to check up on the vulnerable as well. We will | :16:33. | :16:38. | |
continue to support those partnerships where possible. We | :16:38. | :16:43. | |
have developed a national directory of third sector organisations | :16:43. | :16:47. | |
capable of us -- capable of providing help and support in these | :16:47. | :16:57. | |
conditions. In relation to making sure that MSPs are kept up to date, | :16:57. | :17:00. | |
Transport Scotland are writing out today to invite all MSPs to a | :17:00. | :17:05. | |
presentation to be given by representatives of the trunk road | :17:05. | :17:13. | |
operating companies on Wednesday. Transport Scotland has worked | :17:13. | :17:20. | |
closely with operating companies to make sure they are prepared. It is | :17:20. | :17:23. | |
impressive the amount of work that has been done on the lessons that | :17:23. | :17:27. | |
have been learned since last year in relation to -- in relation to | :17:27. | :17:33. | |
the trunk road operating companies in particular. At the time of | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
severe economic challenges, we have to demonstrate that the | :17:36. | :17:40. | |
infrastructure and services of Scotland are ready to withstand | :17:40. | :17:46. | |
severe winter weather. Whether can affect people's personal plans, but | :17:46. | :17:53. | |
it can also have a major impact on the economy. We believe in the | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
preparations that we have made. We believe the people of Scotland are | :17:57. | :18:00. | |
ready for this winter and they have taken heed of the idea that we | :18:00. | :18:05. | |
should call for the best but plan for the worst in terms of severe | :18:05. | :18:09. | |
weather. Are ready and capable Scotland is the kind of Scotland | :18:09. | :18:13. | |
that we'll want to see. In that regard, I am happy to move the | :18:13. | :18:18. | |
notion in my name. Now some breaking news. The chairman of the | :18:19. | :18:25. | |
Scottish Affairs Committee, Ian Davidson, who is at the centre of | :18:25. | :18:35. | |
:18:35. | :18:38. | ||
allegations of bullying, has issued an apology but has denied bullying. | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
You are watching Politics Scotland from the BBC. Still to come on the | :18:41. | :18:49. | |
programme: We will reach out with in our communities, door by door, | :18:49. | :18:55. | |
street by street, in the most unprecedented campaign of | :18:55. | :18:59. | |
mobilisation and communication by the SNP and in the history of | :18:59. | :19:03. | |
Scottish politics. The SNP referendum campaign is on a | :19:03. | :19:06. | |
roll, but when is it actually taking place and what will the | :19:06. | :19:07. | |
questions be? But first, Holyrood's Finance | :19:07. | :19:10. | |
Committee has been hearing calls for a review into universal | :19:10. | :19:15. | |
benefits, such as the council tax freeze and prescription charges. | :19:15. | :19:18. | |
One witness said no policy should be protected until all the costs | :19:18. | :19:21. | |
and benefits had been fully analysed. Our Political Reporter | :19:21. | :19:31. | |
:19:31. | :19:33. | ||
Sarah Paterson sat through a rather bleak financial morning. | :19:33. | :19:35. | |
Particularly for Professor Armstrong, you have spoken about | :19:35. | :19:41. | |
the risks associated with and non- domestic rates in particular for | :19:41. | :19:44. | |
local government, that they would be more dependent on that. You have | :19:44. | :19:48. | |
said that it will be quite risky because the grant would be | :19:48. | :19:52. | |
determined on that. But that is not true. The Scottish Government | :19:52. | :19:56. | |
guarantee the figures outlined in the settlement to local government | :19:56. | :20:00. | |
and have always traditionally met the short fall in non-domestic | :20:00. | :20:06. | |
rates. Yes, there is an element of the budget that is not clear as to | :20:06. | :20:12. | |
whether or not the local government settlements that are run the budget | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
lines in the departmental budget lines are covered under the same | :20:16. | :20:24. | |
arrangement. But the budget itself is at risk. If non-domestic rates | :20:24. | :20:27. | |
income does not come in at the levels forecast. That is what we | :20:27. | :20:34. | |
are flagging up. That level of increase well above the rate of | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
inflation, if it does not happen, the overall budget is at risk. | :20:38. | :20:44. | |
would be the same for the Chancellor in England as well? | :20:44. | :20:48. | |
Absolutely. We know that the expectation for economic growth at | :20:48. | :20:54. | |
UK level is significantly lower than was forecast in the Budget in | :20:54. | :20:57. | |
March. We're awaiting the pre- Budget statement in November, which | :20:57. | :21:01. | |
is to say whether or not as a consequence of additional payments | :21:01. | :21:10. | |
to benefits means that we would be facing addition will cuts. And then | :21:10. | :21:19. | |
the issue of free benefits, like the council tax freeze and free | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
prescriptions. Do you think Government will be forced to | :21:23. | :21:28. | |
address these issues through financial restrain its? When one | :21:28. | :21:32. | |
looks that universal benefits, there was some excellent work done | :21:32. | :21:42. | |
on universality verses selectivity. A number of the universal benefits | :21:42. | :21:49. | |
are regressive and those on a higher income tend to benefit | :21:49. | :21:55. | |
disproportionately. I would suggest again that these issues should be | :21:55. | :22:00. | |
visited again, as to whether they stand up to scrutiny. I don't want | :22:00. | :22:04. | |
people to wait until there for us because the budget is 10% less than | :22:04. | :22:10. | |
we think, I won that to be done openly over the coming months so | :22:10. | :22:17. | |
they can be an informed debate -- I want. And whether funds can been | :22:17. | :22:21. | |
released to other essential activities which are high priority | :22:21. | :22:24. | |
in terms of the impact on the Scottish economy and Scottish | :22:24. | :22:33. | |
society in these difficult times. am joined by Alf Young. Is it time | :22:33. | :22:38. | |
to have a look at these so-called free benefits? Who did come with a | :22:38. | :22:42. | |
big cost for their down the line? think the problem with some of them | :22:42. | :22:49. | |
is that they are not prescribed in the sense that, if I use a free bus | :22:49. | :22:54. | |
pass too often, the cost should go up. There has been an escalation in | :22:54. | :22:59. | |
costs in some of these benefits. For some of these benefits like the | :23:00. | :23:04. | |
prescription charges and bus travel, it is not just that they're helping | :23:04. | :23:11. | |
needy people, they are also taking those who are better off out of | :23:11. | :23:17. | |
having to pay. As the budget going forward get squeeze and is subject | :23:17. | :23:20. | |
to all sorts of other pressures because of the kind of economic | :23:20. | :23:26. | |
times we live them, I think there is a case certainly for looking at | :23:26. | :23:31. | |
what looked like good ideas in the time of plenty, but they may be | :23:31. | :23:36. | |
look like less good ideas during difficult time is. The Independent | :23:36. | :23:41. | |
budget review was warning the Finance Secretary about the cost of | :23:41. | :23:46. | |
these policies. Has John Swinney taken this on board? I am not sure | :23:46. | :23:50. | |
they have yet. I think the feel quite proud in terms of what they | :23:50. | :23:55. | |
did with bridge tolls and the free travels -- the free travel scheme | :23:55. | :24:01. | |
and free prescriptions. Two start unravelling that as quickly as this, | :24:01. | :24:06. | |
particularly in a time when they're trying to win a vote on | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
independence, I think it would be difficult for them to go back on it | :24:10. | :24:15. | |
now. I think they will try to stick with it, if they can. A lot of | :24:15. | :24:20. | |
people in England complain about -- complain about these so-called free | :24:20. | :24:26. | |
benefits, but it is up to the Government as to where the allocate | :24:26. | :24:31. | |
their funding. Other things get less of the pot as an inevitable | :24:31. | :24:36. | |
consequence, but the Government made these choices. I think they | :24:36. | :24:44. | |
will find it difficult to move away from these policies so quickly, | :24:44. | :24:47. | |
especially as they're trying to persuade Scottish be able to vote | :24:47. | :24:55. | |
for independence. Where do Scott not receive funding where we are | :24:55. | :24:59. | |
receiving in free buses and free prescriptions? Where are the hidden | :24:59. | :25:04. | |
costs, perhaps? One as the things that was coming up in the | :25:04. | :25:09. | |
conversation with the witnesses during the committee is in this | :25:09. | :25:13. | |
whole area of local government funding. In terms of their | :25:13. | :25:17. | |
settlement, there is a squeeze there and there are some elements | :25:17. | :25:22. | |
of their funding, like the revenues from domestic rates and how the us | :25:22. | :25:29. | |
are allocated. But if the numbers go wrong this way are that and | :25:29. | :25:36. | |
people are not paying their rates, if the inflation projections on | :25:36. | :25:39. | |
rates proved to be wrong, then there is a further short fall in | :25:39. | :25:46. | |
the budget. There will be some shrinkage there. Some of the | :25:46. | :25:49. | |
services that people expect to have from their local authorities might | :25:49. | :25:56. | |
be trained in ways that people don't really like. Public toilets | :25:56. | :26:00. | |
are shouting, for example. If it went further, people might find it | :26:00. | :26:05. | |
to be something which is unacceptable. Thank you. | :26:05. | :26:07. | |
The past weekend's SNP conference was hailed as the most successful | :26:07. | :26:10. | |
yet by supporters. Delegates congratulated each other on their | :26:10. | :26:14. | |
historic win and wasted no time in getting on board the campaign for | :26:14. | :26:16. | |
the independence referendum. But what form will the referendum take | :26:16. | :26:22. | |
and could the SNP be on a risky path with a second question? Our | :26:22. | :26:24. | |
Political Correspondent Raymond Buchanan took a walk around the | :26:24. | :26:34. | |
conference centre in Inverness. Even Court Theatre is some place. | :26:34. | :26:42. | |
This is the main auditorium where the conference is taking place. The | :26:42. | :26:47. | |
pantomime is coming up soon. There is also a cinema where so many | :26:47. | :26:54. | |
different stories are told. When parties are in government, normally | :26:54. | :27:04. | |
:27:04. | :27:05. | ||
the use the conference to make policy announcement, but this party | :27:05. | :27:10. | |
was celebrating their election when and looking forward to the | :27:10. | :27:15. | |
independence referendum. By the time we get to the next Scottish | :27:15. | :27:21. | |
Parliament elections in 2016, we will have had the chance to realise | :27:21. | :27:26. | |
the dream of generations of nationalists throughout their | :27:26. | :27:32. | |
history of Scotland. Delegate, I believe that we will win the | :27:32. | :27:39. | |
independence referendum. APPLAUSE And we shall prevail, | :27:39. | :27:45. | |
because we share a vision. A vision of a land without boundaries and | :27:45. | :27:54. | |
where people are unlimited to be free. No limits for Scotland. | :27:54. | :28:01. | |
APPLAUSE It should be no surprise that the party of independence | :28:01. | :28:11. | |
favours independence. But what kind of independence? | :28:11. | :28:14. | |
United Kingdom will be a country bridge has the same head of state, | :28:14. | :28:23. | |
her Majesty the Queen, and Scotland will be an independent country. | :28:23. | :28:28. | |
Even if we keep the Queen, the SNP favour the Euro, don't they? | :28:28. | :28:37. | |
would not see that as an early priority. It would be dependent on | :28:37. | :28:45. | |
economic circumstances. Want all this talk up Britishness damage | :28:45. | :28:52. | |
Scottishness? Apparently we are over the hang-ups of the past. | :28:52. | :29:00. | |
continuing British a -- British identity poses no threat to | :29:00. | :29:05. | |
people's sense of Scottishness. The complexities of past and present | :29:05. | :29:12. | |
experience that continue to add to Scottish identity and to its | :29:12. | :29:21. | |
richness and diversity. It looks like the time is right for the SNP | :29:21. | :29:26. | |
to embrace a new kind of Unionism, just without the politics. It may | :29:26. | :29:30. | |
be that there are a whole series of areas where we continue to pull our | :29:30. | :29:35. | |
interests both with our neighbours and friends in the silence, but | :29:35. | :29:39. | |
elsewhere in Europe and the world. The key thing is that a Parliament | :29:39. | :29:44. | |
can make whatever decisions it likes. But the party have an | :29:44. | :29:49. | |
insurance option. It is a second referendum question advocating more | :29:49. | :29:58. | |
powers for Holyrood. But some are worried that that risks what was | :29:58. | :30:03. | |
once as simple independence message for. The primary message should be | :30:03. | :30:12. | |
to take people by the hand and sure that independence is unambiguous. | :30:12. | :30:16. | |
The Independent's campaign has started, but the final act will be | :30:16. | :30:22. | |
some time away. Sit back and prepare for a long wait before | :30:22. | :30:28. | |
Scotland's constitutional future is finally decided. | :30:28. | :30:31. | |
I am now joined by the SNP's Derek MacKay from the Garden Lobby at | :30:31. | :30:37. | |
Holyrood. Moving Scotland forward was the main theme of the | :30:37. | :30:40. | |
conference there. We are no further forward in knowing anything about | :30:40. | :30:44. | |
the referendum, apart from Alex Salmond perhaps indicating that a | :30:44. | :30:54. | |
:30:54. | :30:54. | ||
We are further forward, our vision for independence is outlined. We | :30:54. | :30:58. | |
have showcased what independence can do for this country, making us | :30:58. | :31:04. | |
healthier, the stronger, and a more compassionate country, so the | :31:04. | :31:08. | |
debate is very positive and constructive and Scotland. We have | :31:08. | :31:16. | |
the vision, but how do we get there? We have already circulated | :31:16. | :31:21. | |
of White Paper on independence and the process involved. The option of | :31:21. | :31:25. | |
a multi-option referendum has been discussed in the last number of | :31:25. | :31:33. | |
years. There is nothing new in that. People can present a solution. We | :31:33. | :31:38. | |
will campaign for independence and a yes, no questions are the people | :31:38. | :31:45. | |
of Scotland can assert their view. I do not think that you're | :31:45. | :31:49. | |
campaigning nicely, according to what was said in that package, the | :31:50. | :31:53. | |
aim should be to campaign unambiguously, are you not muddying | :31:53. | :32:01. | |
the Walter Smith a multi-option referendum question? No, we are | :32:02. | :32:04. | |
campaigning full square for independence, that is our objective, | :32:04. | :32:10. | |
to make this country better. That is what the SNP will campaign for. | :32:10. | :32:14. | |
We are also a Democratic Party, we are putting the choice to the | :32:14. | :32:17. | |
people of Scotland. It is the Westminster parties that are | :32:17. | :32:20. | |
running scared from the possibility of presenting Scotland's | :32:20. | :32:25. | |
constitutional future to the people. It sounds like you were forcing the | :32:25. | :32:29. | |
other parties into presenting a second question, and a Newsnight | :32:29. | :32:33. | |
yesterday, it was clear they did not want to present the second | :32:34. | :32:39. | |
option, it was the SNP wanted it as an insurance policy. Some parties | :32:39. | :32:43. | |
are already moving on from the Calman Commission, the Lib Dems say | :32:43. | :32:48. | |
they want more to be established. And that was said last night that | :32:48. | :32:53. | |
they do not want the second question. I am at a loss as to why | :32:53. | :32:57. | |
they do not want to ask the people of Scotland why and what they want? | :32:57. | :33:00. | |
They will have the choice of further Paris been transferred to | :33:00. | :33:05. | |
Scotland, that is positive and constructed -- constructive. In | :33:06. | :33:13. | |
relation to the Labour Party, some serious figures in the Labour Party | :33:13. | :33:17. | |
supporting a multi-option referendum, Gordon ground antenna | :33:17. | :33:24. | |
McLeish to name two. -- Gordon Brown and Henry McLeish. The have | :33:24. | :33:34. | |
:33:34. | :33:35. | ||
no idea what the new Labour leader would say? I have no idea what they | :33:35. | :33:39. | |
want to say, but they are at odds and want to walk all over the | :33:39. | :33:42. | |
Scottish Parliament and the Scottish people. The SNP will | :33:42. | :33:46. | |
campaign for independence but we are not afraid to put the question | :33:46. | :33:50. | |
to the people of Scotland if other parties want to bring forward their | :33:50. | :33:54. | |
proposals for devolution and further devolution. That is an | :33:54. | :33:57. | |
incredibly democratic and positive position for the party of Scotland, | :33:57. | :34:04. | |
the SNP, too alkaline. One thing other parties are very clear on is | :34:04. | :34:11. | |
the ambiguous resolved, what if you get 51 % voting yes to voting Yes | :34:11. | :34:16. | |
and many people are voting for something else, what happens and | :34:16. | :34:21. | |
the SNP view on that? A primary- school child understands if there | :34:21. | :34:27. | |
is a straight yes majority then... What if there is a straight | :34:27. | :34:34. | |
majority for a Dieselmax? They are saying if he would like a parrot | :34:34. | :34:39. | |
that Parliament to extended, and now they are asking if you would | :34:39. | :34:44. | |
like independence, and if not, would you like something else, but | :34:44. | :34:47. | |
if they vote for independence in the majority, that is what they | :34:47. | :34:54. | |
would get. These two referendums are totally different, the last | :34:54. | :34:58. | |
referendum was one question with something else on top, there are | :34:58. | :35:05. | |
two totally different alternatives. The London party is saying to not | :35:05. | :35:10. | |
transfer other parties to Scotland and Paris to Scotland and do not | :35:10. | :35:14. | |
answer the question. It would be a tragedy for democracy if they did | :35:14. | :35:18. | |
not get the independence of their nation. The debate is about if | :35:18. | :35:23. | |
people want it, yes or no? I believe with independent support | :35:23. | :35:27. | |
growing by the day, the people of Scotland will vote yes and we will | :35:27. | :35:34. | |
have a more prosperous, fair, and just nation. Thank you. | :35:34. | :35:39. | |
Let's look at some of the issues raised with our political | :35:39. | :35:44. | |
correspondent, is this an issue with the SNP, this 51 % voting yes | :35:44. | :35:50. | |
in a referendum on independence, but a higher proportion voting yes | :35:50. | :35:55. | |
on the other option? This is a huge problem. They are not properly | :35:55. | :36:03. | |
addressing the problem may be as as their teasing out the option of | :36:03. | :36:09. | |
independence, there is this other option where there separately | :36:09. | :36:14. | |
tested against the status quo. Even if the second option is more | :36:14. | :36:18. | |
popular than the independence option, if they both managed a | :36:18. | :36:22. | |
majority and the independence majority is a small one, it appears | :36:22. | :36:26. | |
from read a stand at the moment, that it would still go ahead | :36:26. | :36:30. | |
because it is a majority. There is another way of doing it. They could | :36:30. | :36:34. | |
test all three against each other on a single transfer, one-vote | :36:34. | :36:39. | |
basis, so we have a choice of each of the three options, and the | :36:39. | :36:43. | |
bottom one drops out and the other two face-off against each other in | :36:43. | :36:49. | |
the final calculation. They could do that way were we test | :36:49. | :36:54. | |
independence against what they are having as the other option. The | :36:54. | :36:58. | |
idea that the second question is like the question refaced in 1997 | :36:58. | :37:03. | |
is nonsense, because the second question in 1997 was a question on | :37:03. | :37:10. | |
the Paris of this devolved Parliament. If the first question | :37:10. | :37:16. | |
had not been accepted, if the Scottish people had said we do not | :37:16. | :37:19. | |
want devolution, the second question would not have happened | :37:19. | :37:23. | |
because there was no vehicle for it to happen. The issue now is that | :37:23. | :37:27. | |
they are trying to put both options up saying that they want the other | :37:28. | :37:32. | |
parties, the Unionist parties to come up with what that the other | :37:32. | :37:36. | |
option would look like. If the deal is that they come up with the idea, | :37:36. | :37:41. | |
but even if it gets a bigger vote, he does not happen because | :37:41. | :37:45. | |
independence is won by a narrower margin. Who in the Unionist parties | :37:45. | :37:49. | |
will come along and say be well do that? That is a great idea, we will | :37:49. | :37:53. | |
go along with that. That will not happen. But the SNP want to | :37:53. | :37:58. | |
continue with the other option as an insurance policy or for whatever | :37:58. | :38:04. | |
reason and have the two questions? I am not clear. I do not think | :38:04. | :38:08. | |
anyone is clear what they will do in these circumstances, but the | :38:08. | :38:12. | |
idea that you have these two votes and that the one with the smaller | :38:12. | :38:18. | |
majority would still prevail seems to be a perversion of democracy. | :38:18. | :38:22. | |
Before that stage, do you think the union has party Sarat catch 22 if | :38:22. | :38:31. | |
they take on the second option or not? -- are at catch 22. Ends of | :38:32. | :38:36. | |
the Unionist parties are in such a mess over the consequences of the | :38:36. | :38:46. | |
:38:46. | :38:47. | ||
SNP becoming a majority government at Holyrood. One is in the midst of | :38:47. | :38:51. | |
an election campaign, I do not think their heads or straight, any | :38:51. | :38:55. | |
of them, to come up with the answers. -- are straight. For | :38:55. | :39:00. | |
people looking on, ad that are not committed politicians, members of | :39:00. | :39:05. | |
political parties, that is most of us, the vast majority of Scotland | :39:05. | :39:11. | |
are not members of political parties, for most of us, we can't | :39:11. | :39:15. | |
think that the choice that most people wanted in any situation was | :39:15. | :39:19. | |
the choice that prevailed. Here we seem to have a proposition that | :39:19. | :39:24. | |
says no, you can have the votes, but you might find at the end of | :39:24. | :39:27. | |
the day that the choice that most of the wanted will not prevail | :39:27. | :39:32. | |
because you say at the other one got over the 50 % mark, it will | :39:32. | :39:37. | |
prevail. Thank you. Coalition divisions over Europe have | :39:37. | :39:44. | |
prevented David Cameron from playing a leading role in tackling | :39:44. | :39:51. | |
the euro-zone crisis. That is the claim of David Miliband in a clash | :39:51. | :39:54. | |
at Prime Minister's Questions today. He was also asked about the murder | :39:54. | :40:01. | |
of Stuart Walker in Scotland this weekend. Does the Prime Minister | :40:01. | :40:05. | |
agree with me that we need not just for Greece and Italy to sort out | :40:05. | :40:08. | |
there problems and the proper recapitalisation of the European | :40:08. | :40:16. | |
banks, but also an agenda to help Europe and Britain to grow? What is | :40:17. | :40:20. | |
necessary this evening is to deal with the key elements of the euro- | :40:20. | :40:24. | |
zone crisis which is acting as a drag anchor on recoveries in many | :40:24. | :40:28. | |
other countries including our own. The main elements and decisive | :40:28. | :40:32. | |
action to deal with the Greek situation and a proper | :40:32. | :40:35. | |
recapitalisation of the banks which has not happened across Europe up | :40:35. | :40:39. | |
until now, and the stress tests carried out have not had | :40:39. | :40:44. | |
credibility. The most important thing is the construction of this | :40:44. | :40:49. | |
fire wall of this European funds to stop contagion elsewhere. There are | :40:49. | :40:52. | |
wider growth strategies across Europe which is required, but that | :40:52. | :40:58. | |
is what was debated on Sunday and that is where the Commission | :40:58. | :41:02. | |
proposals on the single market, liberalising energy quality, all of | :41:02. | :41:07. | |
those proposals, they could have been written here in London. | :41:07. | :41:10. | |
would emphasise that those are long-term measures, but we also | :41:10. | :41:13. | |
need immediate action for growth and that needs to happen not just | :41:13. | :41:20. | |
dead European meetings but at the G20 next week. -- at European. We | :41:20. | :41:23. | |
know that his focus was not sorting out the European crisis, it has | :41:24. | :41:28. | |
been sorting out the problems on his own side. He said his priority | :41:28. | :41:37. | |
was to repatriate powers from Europe, which Paris and when? -- | :41:37. | :41:47. | |
:41:47. | :41:47. | ||
powers. Boy one serious question and straight on to the politics, | :41:47. | :41:55. | |
how typical! Let me be clear, the idea you could go into this meeting | :41:55. | :42:01. | |
of arguing that Britain should add an extra �100 million to its | :42:01. | :42:05. | |
deficit is a total joke. In terms of the relationship with Europe, | :42:05. | :42:12. | |
let me say, the coalition agreement does so dark to talk about | :42:12. | :42:19. | |
rebalancing power between Britain and Europe. -- does talk about. We | :42:19. | :42:25. | |
have got this bail-out power back, the bail-out power Betty get away. | :42:25. | :42:30. | |
My constituency is in a state of shock following the murder last | :42:30. | :42:35. | |
weekend of the local man, Stuart Walker, a very popular local man. | :42:35. | :42:39. | |
Will the Prime Minister join me in sending condolences to his family | :42:39. | :42:42. | |
and admits the much unhelpful speculation about the motivation | :42:43. | :42:47. | |
for this murder, when he called on local people with any information | :42:47. | :42:53. | |
to go to the police to help with inquiries? I certainly join her in | :42:53. | :42:56. | |
sending condolences to her constituents family and what she | :42:56. | :43:01. | |
said is absolutely right. The police at the public and the public | :43:01. | :43:05. | |
how the police, the police cannot solve crimes without the help of | :43:05. | :43:09. | |
the public and I hope everyone will have as much as they can. It was | :43:09. | :43:13. | |
reported a week ago that the Bank of England had reprimanded one | :43:13. | :43:16. | |
commercial bank and there may be others that tried to manipulate the | :43:16. | :43:20. | |
gilts market to exploit but do these things. Could he ask for a | :43:20. | :43:30. | |
report on this matter and if it is true and we will use the full force | :43:30. | :43:34. | |
against them if they tried to rip off the tax payer. It is important | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
to show that there is not something called white collar crime that is | :43:38. | :43:42. | |
less serious than other crimes. Crime is crime and should be | :43:42. | :43:46. | |
investigated and prosecuted with the full force of the raw. It felt | :43:46. | :43:51. | |
like the days of John Major's government as we waited for revolt | :43:51. | :44:01. | |
:44:01. | :44:06. | ||
on Europe on Monday night. Concerns for aid and -- concerns over any | :44:06. | :44:11. | |
referendum on that night, and now let's go back to the Scottish | :44:11. | :44:14. | |
Affairs Committee story and Ian Davidson issue that apology a short | :44:14. | :44:20. | |
time ago. Yes, that apology came in the last 45 minutes. At the | :44:20. | :44:24. | |
beginning of the public session this afternoon, Ian Davidson made a | :44:24. | :44:28. | |
statement saying that he apologised if any offence had been caused by | :44:28. | :44:32. | |
remarks he made in a private session of the committee last week. | :44:32. | :44:35. | |
He remained resolute that he did not issue any threats and was | :44:36. | :44:40. | |
apologising for any offence that might have been caused. It is an | :44:40. | :44:43. | |
issue that has caused great interest among MPs from all | :44:44. | :44:49. | |
political parties today, as indeed that issue of Europe. We would do | :44:49. | :44:54. | |
with Europe in a moment, but I am joined by three Scottish MPs, two | :44:54. | :44:57. | |
that the present Scottish MPs and one that is Scottish that | :44:57. | :45:04. | |
represents a sudden Committee. Firstly, Stewart, from what Ian | :45:04. | :45:09. | |
Davidson has said this afternoon, has he gone far enough for your | :45:09. | :45:15. | |
party now to return to the Scottish Affairs Committee no, the | :45:15. | :45:20. | |
allegation was that he threatened to give Dr Eilidh Whiteford a doing. | :45:20. | :45:25. | |
He was suggesting this was sent SNP is me around he was forced to | :45:25. | :45:32. | |
apologise. -- this was an s n p sneer and he was forced to | :45:32. | :45:36. | |
apologise. People are appalled at what has gone on and further action | :45:36. | :45:40. | |
needs to be taken and he must still resign the chairmanship of that | :45:40. | :45:45. | |
committee. Alan our, this does not involve your party, but what you | :45:45. | :45:55. | |
:45:55. | :45:57. | ||
There should never be any circumstances where one member of | :45:57. | :46:00. | |
parliament should be anything other than courteous and polite to other | :46:00. | :46:08. | |
members of Parliament. If he has caused offence, he should apologise. | :46:08. | :46:14. | |
Were hearing that Ian Davidson should fully apologise. Iain has | :46:14. | :46:18. | |
apologised for any offence that was caused. Colleagues across the House | :46:18. | :46:21. | |
have to treat each other with courtesy. I hope we can conduct | :46:21. | :46:26. | |
this dialogue about the referendum that looks like it will come on | :46:26. | :46:30. | |
separation with respect. But it must also mean that the First | :46:31. | :46:35. | |
Minister should treat the Scottish people with respect and answer | :46:35. | :46:41. | |
questions about monetary and fiscal policy and currency. The people of | :46:41. | :46:44. | |
Scotland deserve answers to this question. The Scottish Affairs | :46:45. | :46:48. | |
Committee is quite right to begin a dialogue about what separation | :46:48. | :46:53. | |
would mean. In Brussels today, there is an important meeting where | :46:53. | :46:57. | |
the European Union is basically trying to stitch a deal together to | :46:57. | :47:02. | |
get countries like Greece out of a financial hole. How important is it | :47:02. | :47:07. | |
that this afternoon or this evening they get that deal? We need a final | :47:07. | :47:12. | |
deal. The future of Europe is that state. One in five young people are | :47:12. | :47:17. | |
out of work in Britain. 80,000 and stop them. Nearly half the | :47:17. | :47:23. | |
population of Spain. We need the recapitalisation of the banks. We | :47:23. | :47:27. | |
need a proper fund that is there to stand behind this debt and make | :47:27. | :47:34. | |
sure the markets have confidence. We need growth and the need | :47:34. | :47:40. | |
European nations to recognise that the programme of austerity cuts is | :47:40. | :47:45. | |
not fully working. Where there is no growth, countries after have | :47:45. | :47:50. | |
another look at the fiscal consolidation plans. You Prime | :47:51. | :47:54. | |
Minister is saying to the Euro countries that they have to | :47:55. | :47:58. | |
consolidate themselves more and have more convergence. How worried | :47:58. | :48:02. | |
are you that if the deal was not put together that things will get a | :48:02. | :48:07. | |
issued a man worse? Very worried. The Foreign Secretary and the Prime | :48:07. | :48:13. | |
Minister are doing all they can to help Europe. We are all in this | :48:13. | :48:18. | |
together right across the whole of Europe. They do have to be | :48:18. | :48:22. | |
austerity cuts because part of this crisis has come about because many | :48:22. | :48:26. | |
countries have been spending money that we don't have. We have got to | :48:26. | :48:32. | |
see the realism of the economic situation across Europe. David | :48:32. | :48:36. | |
Cameron is playing that role very well. Posterity or spend our way | :48:36. | :48:42. | |
out of this? It is about growth. All package that needs to be agreed | :48:42. | :48:46. | |
is the European Financial Strategy Fund has to be beefed up to give | :48:46. | :48:52. | |
confidence, the ECB has to provide liquidity into sovereign markets so | :48:52. | :48:58. | |
that Spain and Greece cannot fall away, Italy has to be resolved, | :48:58. | :49:03. | |
debt has to be resolved. We have to look across Europe and in the UK | :49:03. | :49:07. | |
where we are cutting and how we're cutting. If it is as deep as it is | :49:07. | :49:11. | |
here, it is weakening the potential for growth, which means that even | :49:12. | :49:16. | |
the target of the Tories cannot be met. I agree with some of that. | :49:16. | :49:21. | |
We'll see what the problem has, but that has to be some responsibility | :49:21. | :49:24. | |
taken for how the route -- how the problem are rows and the first | :49:24. | :49:29. | |
place and that is because public spending across Europe was too high | :49:29. | :49:33. | |
by countries that didn't have the money to spend, and that was also | :49:33. | :49:38. | |
done in Britain. Fortunately we're not in the Euro because many of us | :49:38. | :49:43. | |
fought to keep Britain out of the Euro, but it does not mean that we | :49:43. | :49:48. | |
are not affected by what is going on. We need to help other European | :49:48. | :49:53. | |
countries in order to save the economy of Europe as a whole. | :49:53. | :49:59. | |
partly you're party's fault for spending too much? I don't accept | :49:59. | :50:09. | |
:50:09. | :50:12. | ||
that. Denmark has put together at �10 billion strategy but its | :50:12. | :50:17. | |
borrowing powers are less than the UK. We're talking about cutting VAT | :50:17. | :50:19. | |
and National Insurance to get young people back into work. That should | :50:19. | :50:28. | |
be the Prime policy for Britain and Europe. How important you think the | :50:28. | :50:33. | |
debate on Europe this week was in terms of changing the view of | :50:33. | :50:40. | |
Europe from Westminster? I think is extraordinary damaging for the | :50:40. | :50:46. | |
Prime Minister that just under half his backbench MPs did not support | :50:46. | :50:50. | |
him. Instead of negotiating with his backbenchers, he should be | :50:50. | :50:53. | |
leading for Britain in Europe to make sure we get these changes that | :50:53. | :50:59. | |
will be in our interest. It is not in our interest to see the eurozone | :50:59. | :51:03. | |
so unstable with little growth. We need growth for Britain to prosper | :51:03. | :51:07. | |
as well. More than half of our trade in goods and services is with | :51:07. | :51:12. | |
Europe. To have a referendum at this point to pull ourselves out of | :51:12. | :51:19. | |
Europe would have been entirely the wrong course for Britain. You voted | :51:19. | :51:26. | |
with the Government this week. How difficult was it for you not to | :51:26. | :51:35. | |
support other Euro-sceptics? would not support that motion. It | :51:35. | :51:39. | |
was another referendum with three questions, just like you're one. It | :51:39. | :51:44. | |
is not the right way to proceed in Government. I don't have any | :51:44. | :51:51. | |
difficulty not voting for that. All will Labour have to say that this | :51:51. | :51:56. | |
puts David Cameron in a weak position, it doesn't. What it does | :51:56. | :51:58. | |
is let David Cameron and the Government's see the strength of | :51:58. | :52:03. | |
feeling out there in the country about wanting to keep Britain | :52:03. | :52:09. | |
rather separate from the debacle that is going on in Europe. About | :52:09. | :52:14. | |
renegotiating our future terms on which we are involved in the | :52:14. | :52:17. | |
European Union. David Cameron is in a very strong position on that. It | :52:17. | :52:22. | |
was difficult for some backbenchers in the Conservative Party on Monday | :52:22. | :52:26. | |
night. Some of them did want to dig their heels and and make their | :52:26. | :52:31. | |
voices heard. But that doesn't mean it is week for the Prime Minister. | :52:31. | :52:39. | |
The SNP abstain done has fought, why? It was not in our manifesto | :52:39. | :52:48. | |
either. -- abstained in this vote. The real danger here is that | :52:48. | :52:53. | |
Scotland and the UK need a successful Europe to export to, to | :52:53. | :52:57. | |
get growth and recovery. Although the debate here had no particular | :52:57. | :53:01. | |
bearing, the constant sniping and attacking of her friends and | :53:01. | :53:05. | |
partners in Europe is profoundly damaging. We should be working | :53:05. | :53:10. | |
together to get a recovery across the entire Continent which benefits | :53:10. | :53:16. | |
Europe and benefits us. It looks as though it is about to start raining, | :53:16. | :53:21. | |
so I will let you go. Europe is one of those issues that is very much | :53:21. | :53:27. | |
coming back to the fore here at Westminster. | :53:27. | :53:32. | |
Let's get some final thoughts from our political commentator, Alf | :53:32. | :53:35. | |
Young. How important is that deadline for getting that bail out | :53:35. | :53:43. | |
package together as these European leaders meet in Brussels today? | :53:43. | :53:48. | |
Critical. This is entirely about confidence. If the leaders of the | :53:48. | :53:51. | |
eurozone and the leaders of the wider European Community cannot | :53:51. | :53:56. | |
come to an agreement, and it still doesn't look as if the well, then | :53:56. | :54:00. | |
the consequences could be very damaging indeed. There are | :54:00. | :54:06. | |
fundamental differences about the extent to which Germany would be | :54:06. | :54:13. | |
prepared effectively to under right the entire problem across the 17 | :54:13. | :54:18. | |
members of the eurozone. There is clearly no appetite within the | :54:18. | :54:21. | |
European Central Bank to do what the Bank of England has been doing | :54:21. | :54:26. | |
and printing money to try to stimulate demand. So, if they don't | :54:26. | :54:30. | |
get that kind of agreement, what you then begin to have to look at | :54:30. | :54:34. | |
is the prospect of bits of the eurozone falling apart. You | :54:34. | :54:40. | |
actually look at default of sovereign nations like Greece, | :54:40. | :54:47. | |
problems in Italy with political instability because the Government | :54:47. | :54:52. | |
has called an election early and there is talk of Silvio Berlusconi | :54:52. | :54:56. | |
moving out of politics altogether, although I will believe that when I | :54:56. | :55:02. | |
see yet! But there is huge political and economic instability | :55:02. | :55:08. | |
built in there. As Stewart Hosie and others were saying, the | :55:09. | :55:18. | |
eurozone is 40% of our export trade. Europe as a whole is nearly 50%. | :55:18. | :55:21. | |
All forecasting is looking at this quarter that we are currently M | :55:21. | :55:25. | |
which runs until December and saying there will not be much crawl | :55:25. | :55:29. | |
for round at all in this quarter. This is three years on from Lehman | :55:30. | :55:35. | |
Brothers, four years on from Northern Rock. We are beginning to | :55:35. | :55:40. | |
look at a period of years running into you is beyond years were there | :55:40. | :55:49. | |
is no real recovery our growth, rising inflation. We heard about a | :55:49. | :55:59. | |
long period of stagflation, which nobody wants. That is an issue of | :55:59. | :56:04. | |
whether we are in the eurozone, whether we are in the wider circles | :56:04. | :56:10. | |
outside the eurozone, and it is a big issue here in Scotland because | :56:10. | :56:18. | |
with the referendum coming up, the whole picture on that is about | :56:18. | :56:23. | |
remaining part of a monetary union that is the United Kingdom, so the | :56:23. | :56:28. | |
Bank of England will set our interest rates. But the ambition in | :56:28. | :56:33. | |
the longer term is to join the eurozone. It part of the remedy in | :56:33. | :56:37. | |
the eurozone is a fiscal tightening, I Union that is not just a monetary | :56:37. | :56:42. | |
union with a single currency, but a fiscal Union where there are some | :56:42. | :56:48. | |
political entity at the centre that is dictating levels of taxation, is | :56:48. | :56:52. | |
that really the prospect of an independent Scotland signing up, if | :56:52. | :56:59. | |
it could get into that? What does that do about the capacity of that | :56:59. | :57:03. | |
independence Scotland Today its own decisions in the interests of these | :57:03. | :57:07. | |
people. He's a huge stakes we're playing with. Difficulties at the | :57:07. | :57:17. | |
:57:17. | :57:17. | ||
end of the day will be felt in people's living standards. David | :57:17. | :57:21. | |
Cameron is flying out to Brussels today. Ed Miliband said that he was | :57:21. | :57:25. | |
pleading, not leading. How is he performing in all of this Kerr ayes | :57:25. | :57:31. | |
will, he has found himself where John Major and Margaret thought -- | :57:31. | :57:41. | |
:57:41. | :57:41. | ||
where. Europe -- how is he performing in all of this? He has | :57:41. | :57:45. | |
found himself would John Major and Margaret Thatcher where regarding | :57:45. | :57:54. | |
Europe. He wants to trade with Europe, but that is about it. He | :57:54. | :57:58. | |
does not want to be part of their political integration. He has a | :57:58. | :58:05. | |
battle in his hands because MPs are preparing to vote against them -- | :58:05. | :58:13. | |
prepared to vote against him. There is a real difference there and | :58:13. | :58:17. | |
Europe is very much back on the agenda at the very time that it is | :58:18. | :58:22. | |
following a par. Thank you for that and for your company this afternoon. | :58:22. | :58:28. | |
That is all from us just now. We are back at the same time next week. | :58:28. | :58:33. | |
2:30pm here on BBC Two. Gordon Brewer will be here with Newsnight | :58:33. | :58:37. |