:00:08. > :00:11.A blueprint for independence. Scotland's First Minister calls it a
:00:12. > :00:16.mission statement for the country's future. If Scots vote yes,
:00:17. > :00:21.Independence Day would be 24th March 2016. Alex Salmond says a separate
:00:22. > :00:37.Scotland would mean better childcare and education, and a reformed,
:00:38. > :00:42.fairer tax system. We could tap powers and responsibilities we need
:00:43. > :00:47.to face our major challenges. There is nothing new. Nothing they have
:00:48. > :00:54.told us today they could not have told us yesterday. They have ducked
:00:55. > :00:59.the fundamental questions. I am live at Holyrood with all the latest
:01:00. > :01:06.reaction as people die just the contents of the latest White Paper.
:01:07. > :01:08.Also this lunchtime... A police constable has been charged with
:01:09. > :01:11.misconduct in public office in relation to the Plebgate row, which
:01:12. > :01:14.involved the former Chief Whip, Andrew Mitchell. The killer winter.
:01:15. > :01:17.Last year's cold weather was responsible for the deaths of more
:01:18. > :01:19.than 30,000 people in England and Wales. The new report which reveals
:01:20. > :01:24.shocking sexual violence being carried out by children against
:01:25. > :01:29.other children, some as young as 11. Pulling the plug. Plans for a huge
:01:30. > :01:45.wind farm off the north Devon coast have been shelved. A third Westfield
:01:46. > :01:59.shopping centre. New technology in Ealing to keep cyclists safe.
:02:00. > :02:04.Good afternoon and welcome to the BBC News at One. Scottish First
:02:05. > :02:08.Minister Alex Salmond has launched the SNP's blueprint for an
:02:09. > :02:11.independent Scotland. The Scottish Government white paper is promising
:02:12. > :02:13.to build a more democratic, more prosperous, fairer society and forms
:02:14. > :02:29.the framework for debate ahead of next year's referendum. We can go
:02:30. > :02:34.live to Jane Hill at Holyrood. Thank you very much. Good afternoon from
:02:35. > :02:41.Holyrood. This is the White Paper. Not so much a paper, more a weighty
:02:42. > :02:45.tome to put by your bedside table. Your guide to an independent
:02:46. > :02:51.Scotland. This is what has been produced. The key question, is there
:02:52. > :02:56.enough detail in this document to persuade the people of Scotland to
:02:57. > :02:59.vote yes next September? Is there enough explanation as to how an
:03:00. > :03:06.independent Scotland would be able to operate?
:03:07. > :03:12.This was their moment, on their stage with their version of what an
:03:13. > :03:17.independent Scotland could look like. The first minister came to
:03:18. > :03:23.Glasgow to launch the White Paper. What it is about is explaining how
:03:24. > :03:27.independents and constitutional change and completing the powers of
:03:28. > :03:32.our Parliament can change Scotland for the better. The no campaign
:03:33. > :03:36.dream up their extraordinary suggestions as to why people should
:03:37. > :03:42.refuse to co-operate after Scotland becomes independent. We will say
:03:43. > :03:48.what we can do with independence. There would be no tax rises, they
:03:49. > :03:53.would keep the pound. As expected, the nuclear deterrent, Trident,
:03:54. > :03:57.would be removed from the Clyde by 2020. Any defence force would be
:03:58. > :04:07.created with 20,000 personnel in total. -- a new defence. There would
:04:08. > :04:10.be universal childcare and pensioners in an independent
:04:11. > :04:19.Scotland would get more, ?160 a week. As the first 20,000 copies run
:04:20. > :04:31.off the press, critics were quick to scrutinise the detail. There is
:04:32. > :04:36.nothing new. What is plan B if we cannot get into a currency union and
:04:37. > :04:46.the pound? Who will pay the pensions? The promises on childcare,
:04:47. > :04:49.why can't they do it now? These are the voters that need to be
:04:50. > :04:55.convinced. Fewer women back independence. When it comes to
:04:56. > :05:03.shaking up the country, they falter. With my life change? Would it impact
:05:04. > :05:07.on us as a family? I would love written evidence from Alex Salmond
:05:08. > :05:12.that Scotland can afford to be independent. That is the bottom
:05:13. > :05:20.line. It sounds good but I am frightened. What frightens you?
:05:21. > :05:33.Whether or not we can cope on our own. Will this cast a spell over
:05:34. > :05:38.voters? The SNP need to tell people what independence is about. If they
:05:39. > :05:45.do not succeed in doing that, it is very difficult to see how in three,
:05:46. > :05:53.4-macro, five and six months time, they can turn the tables around? The
:05:54. > :05:58.focus is on theirs. The Scottish Government hopes that people across
:05:59. > :06:02.Scotland will read it. With the yes campaign trailing in the polls,
:06:03. > :06:11.today is the day they hope they can turn the course of this campaign
:06:12. > :06:13.their way. In a minute, we'll be talking to our chief political
:06:14. > :06:16.correspondent, Norman Smith, in Downing Street. First, our Scotland
:06:17. > :06:23.political editor, Brian Taylor, who joins us from Glasgow. What strikes
:06:24. > :06:28.you? Is that the detail in this document that people have been
:06:29. > :06:33.hoping for? There is detailed - whether it is enough to convince the
:06:34. > :06:38.people is a different matter. People are looking for answers, precision.
:06:39. > :06:43.You cannot have precision in political life or life more
:06:44. > :06:49.generally. It is a challenge and a conundrum. They are trying to give
:06:50. > :06:57.as much assurance as they possibly can. The launch was at the science
:06:58. > :07:03.centre in glass go. Politics is sometimes a dark art. -- glass go.
:07:04. > :07:09.They pose a question to themselves. They asked the voter what does it
:07:10. > :07:14.mean to me? The answer is, it means, enhanced childcare. It means
:07:15. > :07:21.maintaining benefits and scrapping the bedroom tax and improving the
:07:22. > :07:25.offer with regard to the benefit system more generally. It means
:07:26. > :07:29.improving matters for the household in other words. What they are trying
:07:30. > :07:33.to do is say you have the conundrums of questions on the European Union,
:07:34. > :07:38.NATO and, above all, on the currency. This issue will be judged
:07:39. > :07:42.not by a tribunal of experts but by the people of Scotland. Alex Salmond
:07:43. > :07:52.hopes he can appeal directly to them. Is that going to be an appeal?
:07:53. > :07:57.Would that be your best guess? Over the next ten months, does it appeal
:07:58. > :08:06.to people 's hearts as much as heads? I think that Alex Salmond
:08:07. > :08:11.calculates that people in Scotland feel a sense of Scottish identity.
:08:12. > :08:15.That is the default position which is as well expressed in the union as
:08:16. > :08:21.it would be by independence. The debate is on the question of, with
:08:22. > :08:27.the individual Scottish voter be better off? They have the offer on
:08:28. > :08:31.childcare. They have the offer on benefits and on maintaining
:08:32. > :08:36.pensions. They have the offer on cutting fuel bills. Alex Salmond
:08:37. > :08:41.says that trumps the concerns and anxieties - genuine concerns and
:08:42. > :08:45.anxieties that exist about the European Union and NATO. Alex
:08:46. > :08:49.Salmond talks about the currency and says it would be in the best
:08:50. > :08:54.interests of the remainder of the UK and perverse to turn it down. His
:08:55. > :09:02.opponents say the opposite in that the UK would see no benefit. And we
:09:03. > :09:10.can talk to Norman Smith, who is in Downing Street. There have been some
:09:11. > :09:17.robust comments very much already this morning. It seems today was the
:09:18. > :09:22.day the gloves came off at Westminster. To date, Alex Salmond
:09:23. > :09:25.has been able to get away with presenting an independent Scotland
:09:26. > :09:29.as a land of milk and honey where there are only happy outcomes.
:09:30. > :09:34.Ministers want to spell out what they regard as some of the harsh
:09:35. > :09:38.consequences and choices involved in independence. Number one, an
:09:39. > :09:44.independent Scotland could not expect to keep the pound. Why? They
:09:45. > :09:52.say it is not credible to expect UK tax payers, through the Bank of
:09:53. > :09:55.England, to be the lender of last resort, to what would be a foreign
:09:56. > :09:58.country. They say they are not bluffing about this. They say that
:09:59. > :10:03.Scottish taxpayers could end up paying a lot more in tax. What do
:10:04. > :10:09.these warnings tell us? Here, the view is it is the economy where the
:10:10. > :10:13.Scots feel they are better or worse of that will determine how they vote
:10:14. > :10:17.and that it will still be a very close contest and they have two
:10:18. > :10:21.punch hard. Here is the one peculiarity. Do not expect David
:10:22. > :10:27.Cameron and senior Tories to be doing much of that punching. Why?
:10:28. > :10:32.The one game changer for Alex Salmond is, if he can turn this into
:10:33. > :10:38.a row between Edinburgh and London, between a Scottish nationalist
:10:39. > :10:44.government and an English tourist -- Tory government. There is lots more
:10:45. > :10:47.on the BBC News website, including a live page detailing the latest
:10:48. > :10:49.developments minute by minute. And there's a special Scotland's Future
:10:50. > :10:50.website where there's plenty more background and analysis. That's at
:10:51. > :11:06.bbc.co.uk/scotlandsfuture. That is all in the run-up to the
:11:07. > :11:10.referendum on 18th of September next year. Within the past hour, it has
:11:11. > :11:12.been announced that one police officer has been charged in
:11:13. > :11:14.connection with an incident in Downing Street, involving the former
:11:15. > :11:25.Conservative Chief Whip, Andrew Mitchell. The officer will also face
:11:26. > :11:29.gross misconduct proceedings along with four others. The MP, who lost
:11:30. > :11:33.his job in government over the affair, admitted swearing but denied
:11:34. > :11:37.having used the word pleb. A September evening last year and
:11:38. > :11:43.Andrew Mitchell, then the government Chief Whip, begins a bike ride which
:11:44. > :11:49.would end his Cabinet career. His departure through the gates of
:11:50. > :11:54.Downing Street was marred by an ill tempered exchange in which he swore
:11:55. > :12:03.at police. He has denied he used the word collapse to describe officers
:12:04. > :12:09.on the gates. It was that word which caused the Minister 's downfall. The
:12:10. > :12:14.Police Federation lined up against the government. Under massive
:12:15. > :12:18.pressure, Andrew Mitchell quit. As more details of the episode is
:12:19. > :12:24.managed, Scotland Yard began an investigation into some of its own.
:12:25. > :12:28.This led to a series of arrests. One officer, Keith Wallace, a
:12:29. > :12:32.comfortable in the diplomatic protection group, has been charged.
:12:33. > :12:40.He is accused of misconduct in public office by falsely claiming to
:12:41. > :12:47.have witnessed the incident and claiming -- asking his nephew to
:12:48. > :12:51.witness his false claims. In a statement, it added... The CPS has
:12:52. > :12:57.also found there is insufficient evidence to show that Mr Mitchell
:12:58. > :13:02.was the victim of a conspiracy of misinformation. The fallout when
:13:03. > :13:07.beyond London. A few weeks ago, members of the Police Federation is
:13:08. > :13:10.in Warwickshire and the West Midlands were brought before a
:13:11. > :13:14.parliamentary committee to answer questions. They have been accused of
:13:15. > :13:21.deliberately discrediting Mr Mitchell. 14 months on from the bike
:13:22. > :13:24.ride which brought him down, focus moves from the behaviour of Mr
:13:25. > :13:32.Mitchell to the courts. And June is with me now. What we have been told
:13:33. > :13:35.by the Independent Police Complaints Commission is that they are
:13:36. > :13:39.investigating five officers, including Keith Wallace, the officer
:13:40. > :13:45.facing criminal charges. They are all facing disciplinary charges
:13:46. > :13:49.accused of gross misconduct. The Police Federation says it welcomes
:13:50. > :13:52.the decision by the Crown Prosecution Service that there was
:13:53. > :13:54.insufficient evidence that the officer at the gate of Downing
:13:55. > :14:01.Street should be charged or that Andrew Mitchell was the victim of a
:14:02. > :14:08.computer is the. They point out -- a conspiracy. They have looked at all
:14:09. > :14:15.the evidence, including CCTV footage from Downing Street. The police had
:14:16. > :14:21.said this footage has been edited and does not show the full picture.
:14:22. > :14:27.The officer involved will face his first court appearance on 16th of
:14:28. > :14:32.December. -- his first court appearance. There was a big rise in
:14:33. > :14:34.the number of winter deaths last year. It is estimated there were
:14:35. > :14:38.more than 31,000 excess deaths because of the cold weather. That's
:14:39. > :14:41.up 29% on the previous winter. The Office for National Statistics shows
:14:42. > :14:44.most of the deaths across England and Wales involved people over the
:14:45. > :14:51.age of 75. Checking up on a pensioner in Cheshire. A visitor
:14:52. > :14:56.from the snow angels project pops in to offer help. Keeping warm during
:14:57. > :15:03.winter is a matter of life or death for the elderly. For many last year
:15:04. > :15:09.the weather was leaf fall. The thing you remember about last winter is it
:15:10. > :15:16.was very cold. -- lethal. In February, March and April it was
:15:17. > :15:21.cold. What was the coldest March we have had since 1962. It was bitterly
:15:22. > :15:26.cold last year with late snow in many areas. When temperatures drop,
:15:27. > :15:30.it is the very elderly who are most at risk -- more likely to get
:15:31. > :15:34.serious chest infections or have heart problems. Doctors are
:15:35. > :15:40.concerned they may also worry about heating bills. We have a growing
:15:41. > :15:46.proportion of people who are old and very old. Over 75 and over 85. Their
:15:47. > :15:50.bodies are not as good as they were to resist the cold and they become
:15:51. > :15:57.victims of the energy price crisis that we have got under the poverty
:15:58. > :16:01.of the poor pensioners they are on. Energy prices have been going up.
:16:02. > :16:08.The advice for older people is that heating your home matters and that
:16:09. > :16:13.taking precautions for the colder months is important. You get the flu
:16:14. > :16:18.jab. Keep your bedroom and living room warm during the day while you
:16:19. > :16:21.are in bed. Also for all of ours, to make sure that we look out for
:16:22. > :16:26.neighbours, relatives and friends and keep an eye on them during the
:16:27. > :16:31.coming winter period. Labour said some deaths were due to cold homes
:16:32. > :16:35.and the government should stand up to energy companies. Health
:16:36. > :16:37.officials said the NHS was prepared with extra help in the community for
:16:38. > :16:49.elder people. There is another row between the
:16:50. > :16:52.British and Spanish after Spanish officials opened a diplomatic bag as
:16:53. > :16:58.it was being carried out of Gibraltar on Friday. It is the
:16:59. > :17:02.latest in an increasingly bitter dispute. James Robbins, how big a
:17:03. > :17:05.deal is this? Well, the Foreign Office call this a serious
:17:06. > :17:10.infringement of the Vienna Convention, which is what governs
:17:11. > :17:15.all diplomacy between states, and it makes clear that diplomatic traffic
:17:16. > :17:20.carried in diplomatic bags is inviolable, in other words no state
:17:21. > :17:23.has the right to open bags passing between British missions, or any
:17:24. > :17:28.mission and the parent government. So opening these bags at the border
:17:29. > :17:31.seems to be a clear infringement of that principle. The Foreign Office
:17:32. > :17:37.is clearly irritated, because it sees this as another escalation of
:17:38. > :17:41.this sort of diplomatic warfare that has been going on between Britain
:17:42. > :17:45.and Spain over Gibraltar, particularly over the last few
:17:46. > :17:51.months. You may remember we have had disputes over territorial waters,
:17:52. > :17:56.incursions by Spanish vessels alleged by the British, two small
:17:57. > :17:58.patrol vessels of the Royal Navy trying to sea loch Spanish
:17:59. > :18:03.incursions. We have had extra board checks on the land frontier, much
:18:04. > :18:08.argued over between London and Madrid, whether they were legitimate
:18:09. > :18:11.not. And now this, a sign that Madrid is spoiling for a fight over
:18:12. > :18:16.Gibraltar, which has been British territory for 300 years, something
:18:17. > :18:20.Spain has never really accepted. If you like, the constellation of stars
:18:21. > :18:25.is perfectly aligned, there is a right of centre government in
:18:26. > :18:28.Madrid, a hardline chief minister, a Gibraltarians in Gibraltar, and a
:18:29. > :18:35.government here that is an willing to give any ground. I think we can
:18:36. > :18:39.expect more of this row. Our top story this lunchtime: The
:18:40. > :18:44.Scottish government has published its plans for independence, arguing
:18:45. > :18:49.that leaving the UK would create a fairer and more prosperous Scotland.
:18:50. > :27:01.Later in the programme, coming to a television year you, the first of
:27:02. > :27:06.first of 19 new local stations went live this morning, broadcasting a
:27:07. > :27:08.mixture of sport and entertainment to quarter of a million homes. David
:27:09. > :27:26.Sillito reports. 365 days a year, number of staff
:27:27. > :27:35.eight. Good evening and welcome... Emma is the news presenter. She is
:27:36. > :27:40.also the news editor, the chief correspondent. And camera operator.
:27:41. > :27:45.We met on Scunthorpe's estate which took a battering when it was
:27:46. > :27:51.featured on a Channel 4 series, Skin. Emma feels local TV would
:27:52. > :27:55.present a more rounded picture of where we live. There are places like
:27:56. > :27:59.this in Scunthorpe and places in Grimsby and help that have had a
:28:00. > :28:02.knock, especially by national media. The national media tends to
:28:03. > :28:07.come in, they trample over everybody that live here, and then they can
:28:08. > :28:11.walk out again. This is where the evening news is going to be coming
:28:12. > :28:21.from Fort Northern Lincolnshire and Goole months to come. The question
:28:22. > :28:24.is, who is going to be watching? There is not enough happens around
:28:25. > :28:29.here for 24 hour telly. They might have a couple of hours a day,
:28:30. > :28:34.Scunthorpe is only a little town. What is your thought about the idea
:28:35. > :28:38.of more local television? Not interested, to be honest! You would
:28:39. > :28:51.watch local television? Yeah, definitely! Definitely about my own
:28:52. > :28:56.place. I have got to go. Local television has been tried
:28:57. > :28:58.before. This was set up in Greenwich 40 years ago. History is littered
:28:59. > :29:09.with television channels that have come and gone, remember Live TV's
:29:10. > :29:14.news bunny? But the Government was behind this idea, there is support
:29:15. > :29:21.from the BBC. Grimsby, Manchester, Scarborough, mould. You can get in
:29:22. > :29:23.touch with us... A nationwide network...