FMQs unpicked with Dale Miller and Rachel Amery February 29 2024

The Scotsman

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 - Good afternoon and welcome to the Scotsman's Politics Show.

00:15 We're wrapping up First Minister's Questions here

00:18 for another week.

00:20 I'm joined by political correspondent, Rachel Armory.

00:23 Good afternoon, Rachel.

00:25 - Afternoon.

00:26 - Look, you're coming to us from Holyrood

00:28 and perhaps unsurprisingly, all the questions today

00:32 off the top from both Anna Salwa and Douglas Ross

00:36 were about the Emma Caldwell verdict,

00:38 which we learned yesterday.

00:40 Can you talk us through what that verdict was

00:42 and the nature of some of the questions?

00:45 - Well, yes, after 19 years,

00:47 Ian Packer has been found guilty

00:49 of the murder of Emma Caldwell

00:50 and a number of other cases of attacks and rapes

00:53 against various women over the years as well.

00:55 So both Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader,

00:58 and Anna Salwa, the Scottish Labour leader,

01:00 both questioned Humza Yousaf on this topic today.

01:03 Saying that there's been multiple feelings in the police.

01:05 Police do have an issue with things like misogyny

01:08 and sexism as well.

01:09 Both as well calling for an independent

01:11 public inquiry to take place.

01:13 Now, Humza Yousaf's response to that

01:15 was that it's not off the table.

01:17 In fact, later on in his speech,

01:18 he then said it's firmly on the table

01:20 and it is something that the government

01:22 is actively looking at exploring just now.

01:24 He also says that he has written

01:26 to Emma Caldwell's mother, Margaret,

01:28 offering to meet with both,

01:30 offering for him and the justice secretary

01:32 to meet with her and her legal representatives as well.

01:34 But a very subdued atmosphere in FMQs today,

01:37 particularly after the last couple of weeks.

01:38 It's been very fiery questioning

01:40 the last few weeks of First Minister's questions.

01:42 But this time around, very subdued.

01:44 Now, after First Minister's questions finished,

01:46 we tried to grab a word from Humza Yousaf

01:47 to ask for a bit more detail.

01:49 You might actually be able to see

01:49 he's behind me right now trying to get his photograph taken.

01:51 Unfortunately, he walked past and just said,

01:53 I've said what I've said in the chamber already.

01:56 - It was interesting, Douglas Ross,

01:58 we shouldn't be surprised.

01:59 He agreed with some of what Humza was saying,

02:02 but basically made it clear that he felt

02:05 that he needed to act urgently

02:07 to press ahead with this judge-led inquiry.

02:10 There was some questions about whether that judge,

02:13 if the inquiry went ahead, came from Scotland or not.

02:16 Was that relevant?

02:17 Rachel?

02:18 - Yes, one thing that's quite unusual about FMQs today

02:21 was that Anna Sarwar, Humza Yousaf and Douglas Ross

02:23 all seemed to agree on a lot of the points

02:25 that we're seeing today.

02:26 So lots of consensus between the three party leaders

02:29 at this debate today.

02:30 But yes, Douglas Ross is very keen to make sure

02:32 that this is an independent judge-led inquiry

02:35 and that person leading the inquiry is not from Scotland.

02:38 They want to make sure it's completely separate

02:39 from all of the sort of justice system

02:41 that we have here in Scotland,

02:43 all of the police services we have as well.

02:44 They want someone who's completely separated

02:46 from all of those things.

02:47 So he's wanted to make sure that individual

02:49 is not somebody from Scotland

02:51 so they can be completely unbiased and fair

02:53 when it comes to this inquiry.

02:54 - And Rachel, just for Police Scotland,

02:58 this is another headache that they do need to deal with.

03:00 Anna Sarwar brought up failings within the force,

03:04 the questions over misogyny,

03:06 there's questions over listening and properly taking forward

03:10 evidence given by victims.

03:12 There were references to journalism,

03:14 the fact that it took several publications

03:19 and broadcasters like the BBC

03:20 to really push this story to get justice.

03:23 We know here at the Scotsman,

03:25 we've written a lot about the case as well.

03:27 But coming around to what Police Scotland have to get right,

03:32 there was a report as well when Ian Livingstone

03:34 was finishing up as chief constable,

03:36 acknowledged failings within the force.

03:38 How much pressure on them to actually show

03:41 they're undergoing meaningful change now?

03:44 - Well, yes, the outgoing chief constable, Ian Livingstone,

03:47 when he left his position,

03:48 he did say that it was a very big problem

03:50 within the police force with things like

03:52 misogyny, sexism and racism.

03:54 And that is something that Anna Sarwar

03:56 brought up in the chamber today.

03:57 And given the content of this report that we had

04:01 about the problems of misogyny,

04:03 this case in certain ways kind of demonstrates that.

04:06 It feels that there was a lot of sexism and misogyny

04:08 in investigating this particular case.

04:10 So there's been a lot of headaches for the police force,

04:12 a lot of questions for them to answer.

04:14 And that is why the two party leaders

04:16 have been calling for this public inquiry

04:17 because they're hoping that that will give the answers

04:20 people are so desperately wanting.

04:21 - Rachel, Jo Farrell is the chief constable

04:26 that started in October.

04:28 So it will be interesting to see what she has to say

04:32 about calls for improvement within Police Scotland.

04:34 I, thanks very much, Rachel, for joining us.

04:39 It's taken us through the majority of what we heard

04:41 at First Minister's Questions today.

04:43 Thank you all for joining and watching this video.

04:46 You can read our full coverage at scotsman.com.

04:49 Follow the politics tab for the latest,

04:53 and you'll be able to find out all the details

04:56 about the Emma Caldwell case,

04:57 the verdict surrounding Ian Packer,

05:00 and what the criticism is

05:03 about the failings of the force moving forward.

05:05 (upbeat music)

05:10 (upbeat music)

05:12 [MUSIC]

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