Scotsman Politics: FMQs Roundup for Thursday April 03 2025

The Scotsman

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Politics Show. We're here to unwrap First Minister's

00:06questions for another week. Alistair, you're coming to us from Holyrood. I know there's

00:11a huddle with I think John Swinney happening behind you as we speak, but he had a few things

00:16to say about tariffs today. No surprise that that came up early doors at Epic News.

00:21Yes, so I'm in the Holyrood garden lobby just straight after First Minister's questions.

00:25You can see the huddle going on behind me or just ending actually with First Minister

00:29John Swinney. Journalists very much asking him about the tariffs that have been imposed

00:33by Donald Trump, those 10% tariffs and the impact that might have on the whisky industry.

00:39There's already been concerns raised about that quite widely by the Scotch Whisky Association,

00:43by individual distillery groups, by the wider business community, but also asking him about

00:48the engagement he plans to do when he's in America for Tarting Week over the coming days.

00:53Now he's flying out to New York. There's been a lot of questions about whether he's planning

00:56to meet people when he's over there, people within the Trump administration, people associated with

01:00the Trump administration, whether he's planning to go to Washington as part of that. John Swinney

01:04very much saying that these are reserved issues, the issues of international trade are reserved,

01:09it's for the UK government. But during First Minister's questions, he was saying that he

01:13would leave no stone unturned when it comes to attempting to protect the Scotch whisky industry.

01:19He was talking about the importance of that whisky industry to Scotland's economic well-being.

01:23He was saying that the tariffs are not good news, they will have a negative impact on economic

01:29activity. So a lot of concern, both in the Scottish Parliament, in this building today,

01:35and in the wider business community about the impact on these tariffs. And whisky is kind of

01:39the totemic example of an industry that will be hit potentially quite hard by this. I think the

01:45Scotch Whisky Association was saying that they expected to have an impact of around 200 to 400

01:51million pounds. Last time tariffs were imposed six years ago, they were in place for about 18 months,

01:57it's a 25% tariff. It cost the whisky industry about 600 million pounds over the course of that

02:02period. So it's a huge impact and the US is the biggest export market for whisky and for

02:09other products that Scotland produces. Alistair, the UK business secretary has been speaking down

02:17south as well. I think the government down there have outlined they'll at least seek advice about

02:22whether to progress with retaliatory measures or reciprocal tariffs, as some people are calling

02:27them. Do you get any sense from John Swinney and IOK Forbes who were speaking earlier this morning

02:33about whether they would support tariffs in response or not? Not had any sense of that from

02:39them. I mean, I think it's something that they wouldn't necessarily comment on. They would be

02:42reluctant to get involved in this and they want to go through the kind of official channels.

02:48Obviously, everything that anyone says on this is extremely sensitive. And you want to remain on,

02:53Scotland, the UK wants to remain on good terms with the US. It's such a huge export market.

02:58Scottish products like whisky, salmon as well is another one that will be caught up in this

03:03John Swinney was very much saying that he wanted to stick by these official channels to

03:07do things, I guess, by the book. He didn't use the exact language, but that's the sense you get.

03:12And rather than kind of saying anything rash, I guess, at this time that might have an impact

03:17that ends up affecting the wider industry. And I think you could see actually the reluctance to

03:22say too much about this last night from the Scotch Whisky Association. The comment they put out

03:26straight after the announcement by Donald Trump was very bland. It was very kind of it was noting

03:32that they're disappointed that they're concerned about this. The language didn't go any stronger

03:36than that. So people are very much tiptoeing around this at the moment, while also accepting

03:41that this is not good news, and that people are extremely concerned about it.

03:47Jackie Bailey was standing in for Anasawa with the second question. She spoke about yet another

03:53NHS recovery plan in her view, launched by the Scottish Government earlier this week.

03:58I did enjoy the byplay between her and Swinney. At one point, Swinney accused her of playing

04:04politics. Is she playing politics on this one? Well, this is a big issue for Labor. They go

04:10into this a lot, First Minister's questions. I think playing politics is always a funny

04:15accusation to throw around in the middle of First Minister's questions in the Scottish Parliament,

04:19in which politics is the aim of the game in some ways. But there's wider concerns about

04:24the health service. That's part of the reason why Neil Gray has been announcing these improvement

04:28plans. And I think this kind of feeds into wider issues ahead of the Scottish Parliament election

04:34in May next year. Labor want that election to be all about public services, the state of public

04:40services in Scotland, how the Scottish Government is stewarding public services. That's what they

04:45want the election to be about, because they think if the election is about that, then they've got a

04:49good chance of winning. Whereas the SNP will be keen to at least point some of the spotlight

04:55towards the UK government and some of the unpopular decisions the UK government's made,

04:59stuff around national insurance, winter fuel payment, more recent decisions as well. So it's

05:04really, it'll be a battle of narratives, I think, going into that election. And that's part of the

05:08reason why Scottish Labor repeatedly bring up things like the health service at First Minister's

05:13questions. It's for that reason, so they can get those clips and they can put it on social media,

05:17so they can get on the news that they're raising this issue and that people aren't happy with the

05:22state of public services. Just lastly, Alistair, I know you're also filing a story on Sweeney

05:31talking about tariffs, but Patrick Harvie stood as well. He criticised the government for not

05:37extending the rent cap effectively. It's been a big issue for the Greens, a big issue that he's

05:41pushed. And he's been a big figure really in Holyrood and he is stepping down in the summer

05:47as Greens leader. Can you just talk us through his decision there and any thoughts on what impact

05:53it might have for the party? Yeah, I mean, Patrick Harvie has been a big figure in Scottish politics

05:59for a long time. He is the longest serving parliamentary leader. He's been in a leadership

06:04role in the Scottish Greens since I think 2008. So it's been some shift for him. And yeah, he's

06:09announced that he's standing down, although he intends to stay on as an MSP in Scottish Parliament.

06:15The Greens are unusual as a political party. They have these leadership elections every two years.

06:19So there's kind of this cyclical process. But I think it's a big moment for the Greens. I mean,

06:24Patrick Harvie has his critics in some ways, quite a divisive figure, but he's also had a huge impact

06:30on Scottish politics. The Greens have been quite effective at negotiating with the SNP when it

06:35comes to those budget processes going through the Scottish Parliament, getting some of the

06:39things they want. And of course, in 2021, they became the first Green politicians in the UK to

06:45enter government as part of that Bute House agreement that they signed with the SNP, that

06:49cooperation agreement. And that was a historic moment. Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater became

06:55Green ministers in the Scottish government. Some of their policies then became government policies.

07:00They had quite a big impact there. So yeah, he's been a, whatever your thoughts about Patrick

07:05Harvie's politics, your thoughts about him as a political figure, there's no doubt that he has

07:09made an impact on Scottish politics. And I think a moment like this is when the Greens will be

07:14taking stock about where they want to go next. They're obviously not in government anymore.

07:18We're going into the Holyrood election next year. So this is quite a big moment for them to decide

07:23on the future of the party. And I think names to watch, I would say all the talk is about Ross

07:28Greer, the Green MSP, who we've seen as an influential figure when the Greens were in

07:32government in terms of kind of backroom deals. He's known to be on quite friendly terms with

07:37John Swinney, the first minister. So I think Ross Greer is probably a good shout for going

07:42into that leadership role. You can read all the latest across both the tariff situation

07:50and what's come out of the first minister's questions, including Alastair's piece on what

07:55John Swinney had to say about the subject at Scotsman.com. If you ever can't find that

07:59coverage, go to the politics tab of the navigation bar. Alastair, thanks for taking time out to bring

08:05us up to speed on FNQs and the day at Holyrood. And thank you to everyone else for joining us.

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