The Scotsman Bulletin Friday November 29 2024 #politics

The Scotsman

Dale speaks to political editor Alistair Grant ahead of votes on assisted dying and the memorial service for former First Minister Alex Salmond

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's video bulletin for this Friday. My name's Dale Miller.

00:05I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman. I'm joined by our political editor, Alastair Grant. We've

00:11been coming off another busy week in politics, Alastair, and we'll get to all the latest

00:15that's going to happen over the next 24 hours. But firstly, to talk about the front page

00:21of today's Scotsman. And we led on the new winter fuel payments, the details of which

00:27were announced by Shirley Ann Somerville at Holyrood on Thursday afternoon, outlining

00:34that there will be a payment introduced for next year. Depending on whether recipients

00:40receive pension credit or not, that payment will be a minimum of £100. It could range

00:45up to as far as £300. There will be money received by the government that will be allocated

00:51for this financial year, but it won't be the same in the form of a payment. Now, there

00:56is still more details to come around this that we'll find out in next week's Scottish

01:01budget. Effectively, how they're paying for this or where the money is coming from for

01:06this move, which I think will be significant in the sense of any spending cuts that do

01:12need to be announced on Wednesday next week with the budget. It's one to watch. And Greg

01:17Wallace has obviously been a big story in the past 24 hours. You can read all the latest

01:21on those two stories at Scotsman.com. Alice there, you'll be attending in person Alex

01:27Salmond's funeral tomorrow, St Andrew's Day. It's a significant event. I know we've already

01:33had a, sorry, the funeral, this will be a memorial service. I know we've already had

01:37that, but there should be a significant turnout tomorrow.

01:42Yeah, so this is a memorial service for Alex Salmond, who of course died in October at

01:48the age of 69 while attending a conference in North Macedonia. It sent shockwaves through

01:54Scottish politics, I think it's fair to say. But this is going to be the public, as you

01:57say, we've already had this small kind of family funeral service. And this is more of

02:02a public memorial service for political figures and kind of people from outside the family.

02:08And I think one of the things that's caught people's eyes over recent days is it's going

02:12to be performances from the proclaimers who performed their song Cap in Hand, a bit of

02:17a kind of nationalist anthem. Also from Dougie McLean, who will be performing his rendition

02:23of Caledonia. So I think that will be probably quite moving, I think, to hear that in St

02:29Giles. But there's also going to be input from Alex Salmond's family. Christina Hendry,

02:34his niece, will be giving a tribute during the memorial service. And also political input

02:39as well. There'll be a tribute from Kenny MacAskill, the former Justice Secretary in

02:43Scotland, who then defected from the SNP to Alex Salmond's Alibaba party. There'll

02:48be a reading from David Davis, the former Brexit Secretary, who was close political

02:53friends with Alex Salmond, despite them coming from quite different political backgrounds.

02:57So very much an opportunity for these kind of wider political figures to come together

03:03to pay tribute to the life of someone who, while he has a complicated legacy in some

03:07ways, was a titan of Scottish politics, someone who changed the face of Scottish politics,

03:12I think it's fair to say. And his legacy will live on, I think, for a number of years. But

03:18it'll be interesting to see, as well, who's there from, for example, the Scottish Government.

03:23We know, for example, that John Swinney, the First Minister, is expected to attend. So

03:27is Kate Forbes, the Deputy First Minister. I think we should expect other figures from

03:31within the Scottish Government to be there as well. Also expecting some of the opposition

03:35party leaders, Russell Finlay, the Scottish Tory leader, Anna Sarwar, the Scottish Labour

03:40leader, to be there as well. So that's going to be happening tomorrow. I'll be there for

03:45the Scotsman, covering it as a journalist. So stay tuned to the Scotsman's website tomorrow

03:51and pick up a copy of the paper on Sunday for that.

03:55Just away from that, a big political event today down at Westminster with a debate and

04:00a vote on the sister dying. We know, separate to that, there's been an ongoing discussion

04:06that's actually run longer up here in Scotland, ahead of the vote as well. I want to ask you,

04:12we're recording this at the point where we don't know what the vote will be in Westminster.

04:16But what do you think are the implications either way, especially for the vote here in

04:21Scotland, ultimately, which is being led by Lynne MacArthur?

04:26I think there are quite big implications either way. I would caveat that by saying that it

04:30is, you know, in the true tradition of political analysis, slightly more complicated than that.

04:35I think if the legislation is voted through today, in terms of through to its next stage,

04:40obviously it won't be becoming law today. But if in this first vote, MPs come together

04:44and support it, that's a bit of a boost for those who support assisted dying north and

04:48south of the border. It's a boost for Lynne MacArthur, who's bringing forward the legislation

04:52in the Scottish Parliament. The legislation in Westminster only applies to England and

04:58Wales, but it certainly adds to the general music in terms of what people feel about assisted

05:04dying and kind of gauging the temperature of the kind of political debate around this.

05:09I think if it's rejected, you could then argue that that's a bit of a blow for Lynne MacArthur,

05:14because if it's rejected, that's the end of the process in Westminster. It won't be going

05:18forward any further. And that again, the music might cause Lynne MacArthur concerns. But

05:24the caveat here is that, as you say, the process has been going on a lot longer in Scotland.

05:29So Kim Ledbetter, who's brought forward this private members bill in Westminster, has been

05:33working on this for a number of months. Lynne MacArthur has been working on this for around

05:37three years. So the process has been going on for a lot longer in Scotland. He's had

05:42conversations with pretty much every MSP in Holyrood about this. You see him all the time

05:47down in the garden lobby of the Scottish Parliament, where I am right now, talking to MSPs. I saw

05:52him talking to Nicola Sturgeon a few days ago about this. So he's very much been addressing

05:58or trying to address some of the concerns of MSPs. Some of those concerns you've heard

06:02in Westminster about this legislation is that it's happening too fast. I think whether

06:07or not you support assisted dying, you cannot say the same about the process in Scotland.

06:11As I say, it's been going on for a long time. So I think it will have an impact in terms

06:16of the debate in Scotland, in terms of the legislation in Scotland. But there is a separate

06:20process going on up here that I think is going to run its own course, regardless of what

06:25happens in Westminster.

06:26Now, Alistair, I know you've interviewed and written a few pieces about the issue in the

06:30lead up to today as well, a piece with a medical expert from actually my native Western

06:37Australia as well, just talking about the issue of assisted dying, which is in place

06:41in parts of Australia, as opposed to the ongoing debate here. You'll be able to follow all

06:46the latest on the issue and the developments today at scotsman.com. Follow us on Facebook,

06:54Instagram, we're on Blue Sky as well now. And please go out and buy a copy of Saturday

07:00Scotsman. You have all the latest on this, including some of our latest coverage in education

07:06and transport as well. Thanks very much for joining us.

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