The Scotsman Morning Bulletin Monday December 16 2024 #Politics

The Scotsman

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00:00Hello, welcome to today's daily video bulletin for the Scotsman.

00:04My name is Dale Miller.

00:05I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman and I'm joined by our political correspondent, Rachel Amory.

00:11Rachel, good morning.

00:13We're going to have a chat about the front page of today's Scotsman firstly.

00:18And we led on Nicola Sturgeon talking about Operation Branch Form, saying she still knows

00:25nothing more than she did 18 months ago.

00:29And the main picture there from what was a Hamden thriller, old firm Celtic V Rangers,

00:363-3 in normal time, went to extra time, went to penalties, dramatically won by Celtic.

00:42There was some unrest and issues in and around the game that police had to deal with as well.

00:49But you can read the full fallout and player ratings from that big game yesterday at Scotsman.com.

00:58Just look for the sports tab in our navigation bar.

01:01Rachel, we're starting to wind down, I should say, towards Christmas on the politics front,

01:07but there's still plenty happening this week.

01:09And firstly, just on Nicola Sturgeon and her comments, I feel like a lot of us have not

01:16moved on from but forgotten about Operation Branch Form, but it is still ticking over

01:22in the background.

01:22Just explain in a bit more detail what she had to say.

01:25Yeah, it's been going on for quite a long time now, Operation Branch Form.

01:29This is, of course, the police investigation into SNP finances.

01:33I think you'll probably remember last year, Nicola Sturgeon, her husband, Peter Morrell,

01:38and the party's former treasurer, Colin Beattie, were all arrested as well.

01:42Now, we should say Ms Sturgeon and Mr Beattie were both released without charge there.

01:47But this year, Peter Morrell was then charged with embezzlement.

01:51At that point, we're still not too sure how far along the investigation is at this point.

01:57And Nicola Sturgeon has done this interview over the weekend where she says that she now

02:00knows no more than she did 18 months ago when she was arrested.

02:05She says that she's got no more information to add to it and doesn't know how far on the

02:09investigation is either.

02:10So that was her comments over the weekend there about the police investigation.

02:15Now, last summer, she gave an interview where she said that she maintains her innocence

02:20in this case and she says that she still holds that position on the matter.

02:25And we know that things in the polls are looking much better for the SNP.

02:30They've shown upswings over the past couple of weeks and Scottish Labor is struggling.

02:35So I'm sure First Minister John Swinney will be hoping for a positive resolution

02:41overall for the party in terms of whatever ultimately comes out of Operation Branch

02:46Form. When that does come, you'll be able to read all the

02:50very latest on it at Scotsman.com.

02:53It's a milestone day today as well.

02:56Rachel, 10 years of equal marriage.

02:59And Nicola Sturgeon had some fresh quotes to say today about that.

03:04Yeah, equal marriage just seems so much part of Scottish life.

03:08Now, there'll be so many people who probably think it's been in place forever and not

03:11actually realising that it only came in in 2014.

03:14So today marks 10 years since it finally became law.

03:18So that meant that same-sex couples who had civil partnerships could apply for the

03:22paperwork to turn that into a marriage.

03:25And then the first same-sex marriages happened on the 31st of December that year.

03:29Nicola Sturgeon, of course, was very vocal on that at the time.

03:32She was one of the ministers who brought forward the bill for equal marriage.

03:36I believe she, alongside Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvey, actually were

03:40witnesses at one of the first same-sex weddings as well.

03:43So she's been commenting on that as well, saying it's one of the biggest achievements

03:47of the Scottish Parliament and sort of reminding people just how much progress has

03:51been made there and just how significant it was.

03:54Because it does seem strange now to think it's only been 10 years, because it does

03:57feel so much part of Scottish life now, doesn't it?

04:01It certainly does.

04:02I know you covered this topic in your morning Daily Politics newsletter.

04:07It's the Steamy.

04:08You can sign up to that newsletter, which goes out every weekday, Monday to Friday.

04:12We will, of course, pause it for a period over the festive weeks, Christmas.

04:17and New Year Hogmanay, but it will return again in 2025.

04:21It brings you up to date with all the latest developments on the news front in and around

04:26politics and is produced by Rachel on a daily basis.

04:31It's a great read, so please sign up.

04:33You can get all your latest politics news at scotsman.com.

04:37Rachel, thanks for joining us.

04:38You can follow us on Facebook, X Instagram, Blue Sky, and please go out and buy a copy

04:44of the paper tomorrow in your newsstands and support local journalism.

04:47Thanks to you, Rachel, and thanks everyone for joining us.

04:50Bye-bye.

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