First Ministers Questions: Unpicked with Rachel Amery and Dale Miller

The Scotsman

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

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

00:12 We're here to unpick First Minister's questions.

00:15 It was the first one since Hamza Yousaf resigned on Monday.

00:19 My name's Dale Miller, I'm Head of News at the Scotsman.

00:22 I'm joined by political correspondent, Rachel Amory.

00:25 Rachel, it was always gonna be fascinating

00:27 to see how Hamza responded and went today.

00:31 Clearly, questions on the off about him and John Swinney,

00:35 who has announced his leadership bid.

00:37 Can you just talk us through what was discussed

00:40 today at FMQs?

00:42 - Yes, so as you were saying, this is the first FMQs

00:44 since he announced his intention to resign on Monday.

00:47 Both Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader,

00:49 and Anna Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader,

00:51 members trying to attack his record in government,

00:53 because there's every chance this could be his last FMQs

00:57 as First Minister.

00:58 So I think both opposition parties there

01:00 wanting to try and get the last chance

01:03 to attack his record in government.

01:05 Although I think Hamza Yousaf was quite combative back.

01:09 It was a very fiery exchange as well.

01:11 But one thing I thought was also pretty interesting

01:13 is Lorna Slater, the Scottish Greens co-leader,

01:16 was also given an opposition question as well.

01:18 So of course, now that the Beat House agreement has ended,

01:20 she is now an opposition party.

01:22 And she chose to ask the government about climate change

01:25 and also urged the government to not press ahead

01:27 with dueling the E96,

01:29 which I thought was a very interesting topic

01:31 for the Greens to go in on, on their very first time

01:34 under Hamza Yousaf as opposition party.

01:36 - Rachel, it sort of seemed like Lorna Slater

01:39 almost just dug the knife in a little bit

01:41 with that question.

01:42 She made a couple of points about the climate commitments

01:45 being ditched and the question really stuck out

01:49 in the FMQs.

01:50 Do you think it got noticed?

01:53 - Perhaps it did, yes.

01:54 She was definitely saying that the ending

01:56 of the Beat House agreement was done needlessly.

01:57 So that was quite a harsh statement,

01:59 but probably does get lost in the sort of fiery exchanges

02:02 that we saw from the first two opposition leaders.

02:04 So Douglas Ross and Anna Sar were there.

02:06 - And Rachel, how did you think Hamza actually went?

02:10 He's been under pressure for weeks, we know,

02:12 but how did you think he performed the FMQs for that?

02:16 - It was actually quite an interesting FMQs to watch.

02:18 It was quite a, lots of good exchanges back and forth,

02:21 but having talked to other people in Hollywood

02:22 just in the past sort of five, 10 minutes there,

02:24 I think the general consensus

02:26 is that he's done pretty well, actually.

02:27 It was, it looked quite good for him.

02:29 I think he's done quite well at the back of it.

02:31 Perhaps it's just that he now has no more pressure

02:33 on his shoulders.

02:34 He knows he's on the way out

02:35 and just wants to maybe have a bit of fun

02:36 with FMQs this week.

02:37 So definitely performed better than he has

02:40 in the past few weeks, I think.

02:41 - And just zeroing in on the mentions around John Swinney,

02:45 what did Douglas Ross and Anna have to say

02:48 about him in particular?

02:49 - Yes, both mentioning the fact that John Swinney,

02:51 the former Deputy First Minister,

02:53 he has now officially launched his bid

02:55 to be the next SMP leader and First Minister.

02:58 Our political editor, Alistair Grant,

02:59 was at that launch in the grass market this morning,

03:02 and you can see more of his analysis

03:03 on our website later on today.

03:05 But yes, both opposition leaders wanted to highlight

03:08 John Swinney, particularly saying that sort of the failures

03:11 that they see in the SMP government,

03:13 he has been at the heart of.

03:15 Of course, he has held many senior positions

03:17 under both Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon,

03:19 including Education Secretary, Finance Secretary,

03:21 and Deputy First Minister.

03:23 So definitely trying to sort of tie John Swinney

03:26 into some of the previous workings of the SMP there.

03:29 Now, after First Minister's questions,

03:32 the media did try to ask him

03:33 to speak about what his thoughts were.

03:34 And there's a video on our Twitter feed as well,

03:36 which you can see of that exchange.

03:39 Basically said that he was delighted to see John Swinney

03:41 putting himself forward to be the next SMP leader,

03:43 but not being drawn into saying explicitly

03:46 he's going to back John Swinney.

03:47 He was very much saying whoever the next leader ends up being,

03:50 he wishes them well, it's the best job that you could have.

03:52 So still not quite explicitly saying who he's going to back.

03:55 - What do you think of John Swinney putting himself forward?

03:58 - I totally agree.

03:58 I think the majority of his understanding

04:01 of the geopolitical universe is great.

04:04 I think he's a part of the First Minister

04:07 and maybe other candidates to come forward.

04:09 Whoever they are, we can all wish them well.

04:11 All I say is that if there is a government,

04:13 let's make sure that we're talking about candidates

04:15 up to who he's talking about.

04:16 - Okay.

04:17 - And Rachel, just lastly, at the point of recording this,

04:20 we still don't know whether Kate Forbes is running,

04:23 but we know she will be speaking

04:25 over the next couple of hours to confirm that.

04:27 I noted you said this could be Hums' last FMQs.

04:32 Realistically, if it's just John Swinney

04:34 and there's no other challenges,

04:36 does that mean he could be in place

04:38 as quickly as Thursday next week?

04:40 - Well, that certainly could happen if it is the case.

04:42 So nominations for SMP leader close on Monday.

04:45 If it gets to Monday and it is only John Swinney,

04:48 potentially, yes, you could then be looking at

04:50 the vote to replace him as First Minister

04:52 happening in the chamber as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday.

04:55 So potentially, yes, potentially that could happen.

04:58 Like you said, we are expecting something

04:59 to come from Kate Forbes later on today.

05:01 Now, in John Swinney's leadership launch this morning,

05:05 he was very much saying that if he wins,

05:07 he's going to give Kate Forbes

05:08 a very senior position in the cabinet.

05:11 He wouldn't be drawn as to what that position would be,

05:13 but you'd expect it to be something

05:14 like Finance Secretary and Deputy First Minister.

05:18 Now, she is due to make a statement later today.

05:19 She was due to speak in the chamber at half past two.

05:22 That question from her has now been withdrawn.

05:25 So perhaps that is because she is due to make a statement.

05:28 But also we don't quite know if this is a full-on statement

05:30 in front of the media or if this is merely a press release.

05:33 So it wants to get a bit more clarity

05:34 as to whether it's a full media statement

05:36 or as to whether it's just an email.

05:37 I think at that point, we'll know a bit more

05:39 about whether she's going to announce

05:40 that she's standing or not.

05:42 Ivan McKee, one of the backbenchers

05:44 who backed Kate Forbes last year

05:45 and has again backed her this week,

05:48 when he was coming out of the chamber,

05:49 he was asked if this statement

05:50 is going to be a leadership launch.

05:52 And he merely said,

05:53 "You just have to wait to see what happens."

05:56 - You can get all the latest on Kate Forbes's decision

05:59 and also what John Swinney had to say this morning

06:03 at his leadership bid launch at scotsman.com.

06:08 It's amazing to think it was only a week ago

06:10 that Humza Yousaf was ripping up the Beaud House Agreement.

06:13 Things have moved extremely quickly.

06:15 And to think we may have a new first minister in place

06:18 in another week's time is a big change

06:21 of the world of Scottish politics.

06:22 Rachel, thanks very much for joining us.

06:24 You can get all the very latest

06:26 about the SNP leadership at scotsman.com.

06:29 Please follow us and pick up a copy of the paper tomorrow.

06:32 Thanks, everyone.

06:32 (upbeat music)

06:36 (upbeat music)

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