:00:00. > :00:09.Tonight at six: We're in Edinburgh, where the Scottish Government has
:00:10. > :00:14.published its blueprint for independence. With ten months to go
:00:15. > :00:17.to the referendum, the First Minister and his deputy call it a
:00:18. > :00:23.mission statement, but opponents say it's a work of fiction.
:00:24. > :00:25.With independence, we can have the powers and responsibilities we need
:00:26. > :00:31.to seize opportunities to build a wealthy and fairer nation, but also
:00:32. > :00:35.to face our major challenges. They were supposed to come up with
:00:36. > :00:37.all the answers anyone could want to know about everything to do with
:00:38. > :00:42.independence, but there is absolutely nothing new.
:00:43. > :00:46.But what do Scotland's voters make of it? We'll be in Dundee asking
:00:47. > :00:51.people for their reaction to the prospect of independence.
:00:52. > :00:54.Also tonight: A police officer is charged over the plebgate affair -
:00:55. > :00:59.it's alleged he falsely claimed to have witnessed the incident. But the
:01:00. > :01:05.Crown Prosecution says there is no evidence that Andrew Mitchell was
:01:06. > :01:08.the victim of a police conspiracy. A court hears that Nigella Lawson's
:01:09. > :01:11.former husband accused her of being off her head on drugs.
:01:12. > :01:19.Children as young as 11 are involved in sexual violence - a shocking
:01:20. > :01:21.report into gang culture. There were more than 30,000 extra
:01:22. > :01:32.deaths during last year's freezing winter - doctors say fuel poverty
:01:33. > :01:35.was factor. In the sport, Chelsea can qualify
:01:36. > :01:39.for the knockout stages of the Champions League with a draw against
:01:40. > :02:00.Basel tonight, Arsenal and Celtic are also in action.
:02:01. > :02:04.Good evening from the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, where
:02:05. > :02:07.ministers have set out their vision of an independent country with ten
:02:08. > :02:12.months to go before next year's referendum. Alex Salmond, the First
:02:13. > :02:18.Minister, is promoting independence as a way of changing Scotland for
:02:19. > :02:28.the better. He's set out a long list of policy pledges. It is a pretty
:02:29. > :02:31.hefty document, 650 pages packed full of big statements and detailed
:02:32. > :02:34.policies. Alistair Darling, Labour's former Chancellor, has dismissed the
:02:35. > :02:36.document as a work of fiction, full of meaningless assertions. First our
:02:37. > :02:47.special correspondent Allan Little reports on the shape of the
:02:48. > :02:53.independence plan unveiled today. For nationalists, the campaign has
:02:54. > :02:56.moved into an ambitious new phase. The most significant milestone to
:02:57. > :03:01.date on the long march to independence, and the first detailed
:03:02. > :03:06.account of the character, shape and spirit of the new nation they hope
:03:07. > :03:11.will soon be born. One independent Scotland could have the eighth
:03:12. > :03:14.highest economic output and the 10th highest national income per head of
:03:15. > :03:19.population in the whole of the developed world. What would an
:03:20. > :03:23.independent Scotland look like? It would be a kingdom with the Queen as
:03:24. > :03:30.head of state, it would join NATO but demand the removal of submarine
:03:31. > :03:34.born Trident nuclear missiles within four years, and it would keep the
:03:35. > :03:39.pound is part of a sterlingzone with the rest of the United Kingdom. This
:03:40. > :03:44.is not a final blueprint for independence, it is the Scottish
:03:45. > :03:49.Government's starting point for an 18 month period of negotiations
:03:50. > :03:53.after a yes vote. It assumes that the EU will accept Scotland as a
:03:54. > :03:58.continuing rather than as a new member, that NATO will accept a
:03:59. > :04:01.nuclear free Scotland without Trident and that the UK Government
:04:02. > :04:05.will agree to share the pound with an independent Scotland in a
:04:06. > :04:10.currency union. And what of the UK Government
:04:11. > :04:14.refused to share the pound? An independent Scotland, Alex Salmond
:04:15. > :04:20.told me, I'd refuse to share Britain's national debt. These
:04:21. > :04:24.follow as night follows day. We have indicated the willingness that we
:04:25. > :04:27.will accept the financing of some of the mass of obligations and
:04:28. > :04:32.liabilities alter by Alistair Darling and now George Osborne, but
:04:33. > :04:37.that is predicated on a share of assets, you have to share both
:04:38. > :04:43.sides. Sterling on the Bank of England are these assets.
:04:44. > :04:47.This country has two national identities interwoven. Many are
:04:48. > :04:49.genuinely torn. But opponents of independents say the blueprint is
:04:50. > :05:13.wishful thinking. The idea that 27 European countries
:05:14. > :05:19.will roll over and give him what he wants is nonsense. For
:05:20. > :05:24.pro-independence campaigners see this as a battle between the sunlit
:05:25. > :05:31.promise of a new start and the fearful caution of the status quo.
:05:32. > :05:33.Might that yet swing it? Central to the debate on
:05:34. > :05:36.independence is the impact on Scotland's economy and how it might
:05:37. > :05:40.perform if the country broke away from the union. Alex Salmond insists
:05:41. > :05:43.that Scotland can become a more prosperous nation, but his opponents
:05:44. > :05:46.say he has no answer to the practical challenges of leaving the
:05:47. > :05:48.UK. Our chief economics correspondent
:05:49. > :06:00.Hugh Pym looks at the economic questions posed by independence.
:06:01. > :06:04.Scotland's history is well documented. The White Paper today
:06:05. > :06:07.looks to a possible new chapter, and a central part of that is the
:06:08. > :06:12.economic narrative. There is an attempt to lift the veil on crucial
:06:13. > :06:16.areas of the financial debate. On the currency, interest rates,
:06:17. > :06:21.banking, jobs and growth, there are many questions as to how an
:06:22. > :06:25.independent Scotland could relate to the rest of the UK. The white paper
:06:26. > :06:31.said said how the economy might work. The currency is a key factor.
:06:32. > :06:34.The white paper says Scotland will keep the pound, the Bank of England
:06:35. > :06:39.will set interest rates but there will be Scottish and put up the
:06:40. > :06:42.bank. It is not clear how much says Scotland would have in this
:06:43. > :06:47.important area of economic policy. It is very possible that the UK
:06:48. > :06:51.would allow Scotland to use the pound, they never said they would
:06:52. > :06:54.not. Whether they would allow Scotland a seat on the board of the
:06:55. > :06:58.Bank of England is another question, and if Scotland had a seat on the
:06:59. > :07:04.board, the question is, what influence would it have?
:07:05. > :07:08.A plan for Scotland's economy is set out. It says it would be the eighth
:07:09. > :07:13.largest leading economy in terms of output per person, government debt
:07:14. > :07:17.would be split with the rest of the UK. It says Scottish debt would be
:07:18. > :07:22.proportionately lower than currently forecast for the UK. But a lot
:07:23. > :07:26.depends on how much tax Scotland receives from North Sea oil and gas
:07:27. > :07:33.production. There is a big difference of opinion, and who knows
:07:34. > :07:37.who is right? But the paper takes quite an optimistic view about North
:07:38. > :07:40.Sea oil revenues as they might be at the time of independence. With the
:07:41. > :07:45.more pessimistic view, it is more difficult for Scotland to balance
:07:46. > :07:49.the sums. What about Scottish banks and how they are policed? The Bank
:07:50. > :07:54.of England will regulate financial stability, according to the paper.
:07:55. > :07:58.Taxpayer bailouts will be shared between governments. For individual
:07:59. > :08:03.banks, the white paper says there could be a separate Scottish
:08:04. > :08:07.regulator, but some say that might create confusion. For example, you
:08:08. > :08:12.might have the regulator looking after the entire system come out and
:08:13. > :08:16.say, well, we think a certain bank needs help, and you might have the
:08:17. > :08:22.regulator in Scotland, for example, say, we don't think so. It creates
:08:23. > :08:26.the potential for conflict. The outcome depends on the
:08:27. > :08:35.negotiation between two governments, which will only happen if Scotland
:08:36. > :08:39.votes yes to independence. My colleague Brian Taylor, the Scotland
:08:40. > :08:44.political editor for the BBC, joins me. How does today change things and
:08:45. > :08:49.what does it say about the months ahead? We have a structural debate.
:08:50. > :08:53.Would Scotland be in the European Union, in NATO, in that preferred
:08:54. > :09:00.sterlingzone that Alex Salmond favours and, if so, on what terms?
:09:01. > :09:05.We will have a debate, and the White Paper entrenches the debate and
:09:06. > :09:08.opens up a second front, which is the offer from the Scottish
:09:09. > :09:12.Government and the SMP on all sorts of welfare policies. The idea of
:09:13. > :09:19.enhanced childcare, protecting pensions, scrapping the so-called
:09:20. > :09:25.bedroom tax, all of these combining to offer a retail and populist
:09:26. > :09:29.offered to the electorate over the head of the, to some, slightly use
:09:30. > :09:34.terror debate about the how and where four of independence. Then the
:09:35. > :09:39.second front leads to the second set of arguments. Could Scotland afford
:09:40. > :09:46.it? If she could afford childcare, why not do it now? I think the
:09:47. > :09:51.campaign will be down the two silos, and an extremely interesting
:09:52. > :09:54.development with how the campaign progresses.
:09:55. > :09:57.We'll be back a little later with some thoughts from Dundee on what it
:09:58. > :10:00.means to be Scottish, and there's plenty of extra information for you
:10:01. > :10:03.on the BBC website, bbc.co.uk/news. You'll see the link to our section
:10:04. > :10:09.on Scotland's future. But, for now, it's back to George in London.
:10:10. > :10:12.The former Government Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell has launched a
:10:13. > :10:15.scathing attack on the police officers involved in the so-called
:10:16. > :10:18.plebgate affair. It follows the announcement that one of the
:10:19. > :10:22.officers has been charged with misconduct in a public office. But
:10:23. > :10:27.crown prosecutors say there's insufficient evidence of a police
:10:28. > :10:35.conspiracy against Mr Mitchell. June Kelly's report contains flash
:10:36. > :10:38.photography. A September evening last year, and
:10:39. > :10:43.Andrew Mitchell, then the government chief whip, begins a bike ride which
:10:44. > :10:47.would end his Cabinet career. His departure through the gates of
:10:48. > :10:51.Downing Street was marked by what he has admitted was an ill tempered
:10:52. > :10:55.exchange in which he swore in front of police. But he has always denied
:10:56. > :11:00.claims that he used the word plebs to describe the officers on the
:11:01. > :11:05.gates. It was that word and all its class associations which caused his
:11:06. > :11:09.downfall. The Plebgate 's gamble was born and battle lines were drawn,
:11:10. > :11:13.with the police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers,
:11:14. > :11:16.lined up against the government. Under massive pressure, Andrew
:11:17. > :11:23.Mitchell quit. That as more details of the episode you merge, Scotland
:11:24. > :11:30.Yard began and -- you merge, Scotland Yard began an investigation
:11:31. > :11:33.of its own and one officer has been accused of misconduct in public
:11:34. > :11:39.office by falsely claiming to have witnessed the incident. Together
:11:40. > :11:44.with seven others, he faces internal disciplinary seedings. He is one of
:11:45. > :11:46.five accused of gross misconduct. The Crown Prosecution Service says
:11:47. > :11:51.there was insufficient evidence to show Andrew Mitchell was the victim
:11:52. > :11:56.of a criminal conspiracy. It was this officer, Toby Rowland, who
:11:57. > :12:02.wrote in his note that the MP had used the word plebs. He is not
:12:03. > :12:07.facing any disciplinary measures. But this afternoon, Andrew Mitchell
:12:08. > :12:13.announced that he would be pursuing PC Roland. PC Toby Roland, who was
:12:14. > :12:18.responsible for writing those toxic phrases in his notebook, was not
:12:19. > :12:24.telling the truth. I will seek to say this on oath in a court of law
:12:25. > :12:32.and it is our intention to ensure that PC Toby Roland has two
:12:33. > :12:38.similarly swear. The Police Federation was considering its
:12:39. > :12:41.response to his attack on PC Roland. Meanwhile, the Independent Police
:12:42. > :12:44.Complaints Commission said some officers may be responsible for
:12:45. > :12:49.turning a short altercation which could hardly be heard into a
:12:50. > :12:55.national scandal. 14 months on from there are let these gates, the
:12:56. > :13:00.controversy continues. -- from the roll at these gates. The police
:13:01. > :13:01.officer who has been charged makes his first court appearance next
:13:02. > :13:04.month. The former husband of celebrity chef
:13:05. > :13:07.Nigella Lawson has claimed that she was so off her head on drugs that
:13:08. > :13:12.she allowed her personal assistants to spend whatever they liked. The
:13:13. > :13:15.allegation emerged during the trial of two women accused of committing
:13:16. > :13:23.fraud while working for the couple. Sangita Myska reports from Isleworth
:13:24. > :13:31.Crown Court. It contains flash photography. The flavours are so
:13:32. > :13:36.complex that it is very rewarding to eat. Nigella Lawson, daughter of a
:13:37. > :13:40.top alteration and one of the most celebrated television chefs in
:13:41. > :13:48.Britain. A string of TV series and books has earned her ?20 million and
:13:49. > :13:52.a place on the celebrity circuit. Today her two former PAs, Elisabetta
:13:53. > :13:58.and Francesco Grillo, came to court to face charges that they defrauded
:13:59. > :14:04.both Ms Lawson and her former husband to the tune of ?300,000.
:14:05. > :14:09.Charles Saatchi, a multimillionaire art collector, and Ms Lawson,
:14:10. > :14:13.recently divorced amid acrimonious claims that Mr Saatchi grabbed his
:14:14. > :14:19.ex-wife by the throat outside a London restaurant. Today, as part of
:14:20. > :14:25.the fraud trial, the judge read an e-mail from Mr Saatchi to Ms Lawson
:14:26. > :14:31.accusing her of being a drug user. It said, now the Grillos will get
:14:32. > :14:35.off on the basis you were so off your head on drugs that you allowed
:14:36. > :14:41.the sisters to spend what they liked. Yes, I believe every word
:14:42. > :14:45.they have said. A court had previously heard from the Grillos'
:14:46. > :14:50.defence team that Nigella Lawson was using cocaine and description drugs
:14:51. > :14:56.and the personal assistants had been allowed to use credit cards with the
:14:57. > :15:03.tacit understanding that they would not reveal Ms Lawson's drug use to
:15:04. > :15:06.her ex-husband, Mr Saatchi. Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo
:15:07. > :15:16.denied the charges. The proceedings continue. Children as young as 11
:15:17. > :15:21.are involved in sexual violence against other youngsters, that is
:15:22. > :15:24.the shocking verdict of the Children's Commissioner. In a report
:15:25. > :15:27.into child exploitation and gangs published today, researchers say
:15:28. > :15:31.that rape is seen as normal and inevitable. This report contains
:15:32. > :15:37.some disturbing details from the beginning.
:15:38. > :15:41.Voices rarely heard, disturbing voices, young girls witnesses to
:15:42. > :15:46.appalling sexual violence in Britain's street gangs, committed
:15:47. > :15:51.against children, often by children. It could be eight guys and one girl,
:15:52. > :15:59.treating the girl like a piece of meat. I don't know, it is not right,
:16:00. > :16:04.but what can you do? Today I spoke to a girl, now getting a help from a
:16:05. > :16:10.charity, who was repeatedly raped by a gang of young boys in London. Out
:16:11. > :16:16.of everybody there, I was the youngest, I was 11, and like they
:16:17. > :16:21.was all 13 and 14. They just undressed me themselves, and was not
:16:22. > :16:26.caring about what I said to them, was not caring how they made me
:16:27. > :16:30.feel, because they could see I was upset and I was crying. I told them
:16:31. > :16:36.to stop, and they wasn't really bothered, they was laughing at the
:16:37. > :16:42.time. Lapping? They did not see it was serious. The report spoke to 288
:16:43. > :16:48.young people in gang neighbourhoods, 41% were aware of
:16:49. > :16:52.breaks, 39% said young girls exchanged sex or drugs or drink. One
:16:53. > :16:56.of the most scary things about the research findings is that young
:16:57. > :17:00.people feel it is an inevitability, part of what happens in their lives,
:17:01. > :17:06.they have no option but to live through it, because that is what
:17:07. > :17:10.happens. Panel members said they were aghast at the chilling evidence
:17:11. > :17:15.presented to them and wrote of a deep malaise in society, children,
:17:16. > :17:21.they said, being badly let down by the agencies which should be there
:17:22. > :17:25.to protect them. This reformed gang head says he has had sex with a very
:17:26. > :17:30.large number of young women, sometimes deliberately to disrespect
:17:31. > :17:35.a member of a rival gang. I could sleep with one girl one night, and
:17:36. > :17:44.then another three or four people the same night. Used as sex objects?
:17:45. > :17:48.That is what they are there four, that is their purpose. The report
:17:49. > :17:52.wants authorities to do much more to deal with child sexual exploitation,
:17:53. > :18:00.but above all it calls for one thing, that we see and we hear the
:18:01. > :18:06.child victims. The time is 17 minutes past six, our
:18:07. > :18:10.top story this evening: The Scottish Government unveils its plans for
:18:11. > :18:15.independence, ministers say Scotland faces a choice between two futures.
:18:16. > :18:21.And still to come, more details on the suspected slavery case, we speak
:18:22. > :18:25.to a former neighbour. Coming up in Sportsday on BBC News,
:18:26. > :18:30.Manuel Pellegrini denies there is any chance that Joe Hart could leave
:18:31. > :18:34.the club in January, he returns to the site in their Champions League
:18:35. > :18:42.match tomorrow. -- the side.
:18:43. > :18:48.It was one of the coldest spells on record, and now there is new
:18:49. > :18:53.evidence of a sharp rise in the number of deaths last winter.
:18:54. > :18:58.According to official figures, there were more than 31,000 extra deaths
:18:59. > :19:02.in England and Wales, an increase of 29% on the previous winter. The
:19:03. > :19:08.majority of the deaths, more than 25,000, were among the over-75s.
:19:09. > :19:12.Doctors have called the figures disturbing and as a fuel poverty is
:19:13. > :19:17.a major factor. Branwen Jeffreys reports.
:19:18. > :19:22.It felt as though last winter went on for ever, snow in March and
:19:23. > :19:30.bitterly cold temperatures, cold that claimed the lives of thousands
:19:31. > :19:36.of elderly people. Roy, from what I can see... Jane is a snow angel, a
:19:37. > :19:42.project visiting pensioners, checking up on them to make sure
:19:43. > :19:48.they know to keep warm. In his 90s, Roy has had heart problems, and last
:19:49. > :19:52.winter was tough. It was the coldest winter are member for a long time,
:19:53. > :20:00.and the snow lasted for a lot longer. -- I remember. It is 60
:20:01. > :20:05.years at least since I experienced anything approaching this. He keeps
:20:06. > :20:11.his spirit up in winter, and his heating, but not all pensioners do.
:20:12. > :20:15.It may be that they keep warm room warm, but the others will be very
:20:16. > :20:21.cold, which can in itself be very dangerous, so people may end up
:20:22. > :20:26.sleeping in bedrooms which are too cold to be safe. Energy prices have
:20:27. > :20:32.been going up, leaving doctors worried about those in their 80s and
:20:33. > :20:38.90s. Their bodies are not as good as they were to resist the cold, and
:20:39. > :20:43.they become victims of the energy price crisis that we have got and
:20:44. > :20:47.the poverty of the poor pensions they are on. More people die in
:20:48. > :20:52.winter than at other times of year. If we look at this graph, the longer
:20:53. > :20:57.term trend has been for winter deaths to fall, but in March the
:20:58. > :21:01.average temperature was just 2.6 Celsius, and a very low temperatures
:21:02. > :21:05.are links to more deaths. Death rates vary, the highest in the
:21:06. > :21:11.north-west, the lowest in London. Health officials say there is help
:21:12. > :21:14.for the elderly in winter. We really understand the difficulty that it
:21:15. > :21:18.causes if people feel that they have to make a choice between spending
:21:19. > :21:23.money on heating and spending money on eating, both of those are
:21:24. > :21:26.absolutely essential. With winter unfolding again, the latest figures
:21:27. > :21:32.can only fuel the debate about energy prices.
:21:33. > :21:37.Now to the case of the couple suspected of holding three women as
:21:38. > :21:39.slaves for 30 years. As the police continue their investigation into
:21:40. > :21:45.Aravindan Balakrishnan and his wife Chanda, the BBC has been speaking to
:21:46. > :21:49.a former neighbour of the couple. Home affairs correspondent Tom
:21:50. > :21:54.Symonds takes up the story. Caught on camera in an ITV
:21:55. > :21:58.documentary from 1997, Aravindan Balakrishnan attending an inquest
:21:59. > :22:02.into the death of a woman at a house where he lived. She fell from the
:22:03. > :22:07.upstairs window. The inquest failed to explain why. Today Scotland Yard
:22:08. > :22:15.confirmed it was re-examining the case. You are part of the fascist
:22:16. > :22:19.state... It is believed that these are two of the three women who
:22:20. > :22:25.called a charity last month, triggering the investigation.
:22:26. > :22:28.Charlotte Watts lived two doors down for more than a decade. She caught
:22:29. > :22:33.glimpses of the group, and the images still stick in her mind even
:22:34. > :22:37.today. They appeared quite vulnerable, they did not have any
:22:38. > :22:42.social skills whatsoever, and they used to walk in a line, they never
:22:43. > :22:45.made eye contact, and I used to regularly say hello to them, and
:22:46. > :22:50.they always either looked through you or away from you. She describes
:22:51. > :22:55.the occupants of the house, the Indian man who came to the door when
:22:56. > :23:00.she once called, three women, one Malaysian, a face in an upstairs
:23:01. > :23:05.window. She used to stand up in that window for hours, staring for a long
:23:06. > :23:12.period of time, and I used to wave at her and never get anything back.
:23:13. > :23:16.I do remember her sliding these notes in front of, but because they
:23:17. > :23:21.were so high up, I could never read what they were saying. The group
:23:22. > :23:26.later moved to this flat in Peckham, yesterday boarded-up, where
:23:27. > :23:29.Aravindan Balakrishnan and his partner Chanda were arrested. They
:23:30. > :23:36.are on bail until January as police inquiries continue.
:23:37. > :23:39.That visit from me, more now on the main story, the Scottish
:23:40. > :23:44.Government's unveiling of its independence plans. We can return to
:23:45. > :23:48.Huw in Edinburgh. George, thanks very much, that
:23:49. > :23:51.document published today lists some of the advantages of independence as
:23:52. > :23:55.the Scottish Government sees them, but the appeal is not simply about
:23:56. > :24:01.policy. Alex Salmond and his team are urging Scots to think of
:24:02. > :24:03.independence as a natural step, but what do Scott understand by building
:24:04. > :24:08.some kind of modern Scottish identity? James Cook has been
:24:09. > :24:18.talking to people in Dundee, and this is what he found out.
:24:19. > :24:23.The skies are clear now, but once Dundee roared with industry and
:24:24. > :24:28.echoed with radical ideas. Socialism thrived here. Today, though, this
:24:29. > :24:34.old Labour city is a stronghold for the Scottish National Party, and the
:24:35. > :24:37.air is alive with change. Dundee is undergoing an extraordinary
:24:38. > :24:41.transformation, the whole waterfront here is being redeveloped, and it is
:24:42. > :24:45.an exciting time. Campaigners for independents want to tap into this
:24:46. > :24:52.sense of optimism to persuade people to vote yes, not out of fear, but
:24:53. > :24:56.out of hope. There is no shortage of hope at the university, where these
:24:57. > :25:01.physics students are brimming with energy and ideas, but will they vote
:25:02. > :25:05.with their heads or their hearts? At the start, when there were whispers
:25:06. > :25:09.of a referendum, a lot of people thought, I am Scottish, I will be
:25:10. > :25:15.patriotically stuff, but I think people are becoming a lot more
:25:16. > :25:19.thinking about it practically. I would not say that the future of
:25:20. > :25:23.Scotland depends on how I feel about being Scottish, it depends on what
:25:24. > :25:29.is best for Scotland. A lot of people think they would be better
:25:30. > :25:33.off if independent, but it is not really trading away a 300 year
:25:34. > :25:39.partnership for the price of an iPad. But does Dundee benefit from
:25:40. > :25:45.its British identity? It certainly build hundreds of ships for the
:25:46. > :25:49.Empire. These visitors think a shared history should count for
:25:50. > :25:56.something. This is our island and not mine and not yours, it is ours.
:25:57. > :26:01.I think we both need each other. You might as well stay in the UK with
:26:02. > :26:06.us, you will be better off, tourism and financially. Stay with us.
:26:07. > :26:13.Whether Scotland does or not is up to 4 million individuals, but this
:26:14. > :26:18.is Dorinda not think it will drive their decision. -- this is Dorian.
:26:19. > :26:24.It is coming down to his use of how you want the nation to be governed.
:26:25. > :26:32.Even as Scotland's identity is settled, it must decide on the road
:26:33. > :26:36.and the miles it wants to travel. Nick Robinson, our political editor,
:26:37. > :26:40.is with me, your impressions of the day? I thought I might be witnessing
:26:41. > :26:45.the birth of a nation, at least the side of the first scan, a glimpse of
:26:46. > :26:48.what a new Scotland might be like, and yet the First Minister and his
:26:49. > :26:53.deputy were not like excited parents, they were low-key,
:26:54. > :26:58.downbeat, like business executives at a corporate rebranding exercise,
:26:59. > :27:07.because I think their message today to Scotland and everybody in the UK
:27:08. > :27:09.is that everything will change in an independent Scotland, but not that
:27:10. > :27:12.much will change. The pound will stay, the Queen will stay, it will
:27:13. > :27:15.still be in the EU and in NATO, pensions will be paid. And yet the
:27:16. > :27:18.things that Scots do not like, the bedroom tax and Trident, that will
:27:19. > :27:21.change. The messages, keep the good from the UK and get some more
:27:22. > :27:27.goodies, too. What the critics will then say is, isn't that a bit too
:27:28. > :27:32.good to be true? There may be 650 pages in that document, but are
:27:33. > :27:36.there really answers in its? Nick, thank you very much indeed. Time to
:27:37. > :27:37.have a quick look at what the weather is doing, we can join Tomasz
:27:38. > :27:45.Schafernaker. The weather is fairly quiet, and
:27:46. > :27:49.over the next couple of days we will see cloud and drizzle, and tonight
:27:50. > :27:55.it is going to be mostly frost free. Last night some of us had a frost,
:27:56. > :28:00.there will be many temperatures were it will dip away quite a lot. Plenty
:28:01. > :28:03.of bad across northern part of the country, and that is going to be
:28:04. > :28:07.toppling over the UK, a warm front, and that does not necessarily mean
:28:08. > :28:12.warm weather, but slightly milder than recently. On top of that, lots
:28:13. > :28:20.of drizzle, hill fog, murk on the way. No blue boxes on the charts,
:28:21. > :28:24.five degrees across northern part of England, two at the very lowest. A
:28:25. > :28:29.drizzly start to the day across the South, many areas hanging on to a
:28:30. > :28:33.lot of cloud, but a bit of sunshine, not an awful lot, mainly to the east
:28:34. > :28:38.of the Pennines. Here are probably feeling least cold, around nine
:28:39. > :28:45.degrees in Leeds, ten in London, but feeling cooler. On Thursday, a
:28:46. > :28:48.similar picture, a lot of cloud, the best brightness across eastern
:28:49. > :28:52.areas. The further west you are, the thicker the cloud will be, one or
:28:53. > :28:56.two spots of rain. A change in the weather through Thursday into
:28:57. > :29:00.Friday, this area of low pressure between Iceland and Scandinavia is
:29:01. > :29:05.going to shunt colder weather our direction. That is coming from the
:29:06. > :29:10.central North Atlantic, rather than the Arctic, so it will be a cold,
:29:11. > :29:13.but not necessarily because the temperatures are lower but because
:29:14. > :29:17.the winds will be strong, especially across Scotland. This is the
:29:18. > :29:21.summary, milder for a time, rather cloudy, cold and windy on Friday
:29:22. > :29:31.with wintrinesss across Scotland. That is all from BBC News At Six, I
:29:32. > :29:32.will be back with more from Edinburgh at ten. Now