The Scotsman Bulletin Wednesday May 14 2025 #Westminster

The Scotsman

Transcript

00:00Hello, welcome to the Scotsman's Daily Video Bulletin for this Wednesday.

00:04My name's Dale Miller, I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman,

00:07and I'm joined by our Westminster correspondent, Alexander Brown.

00:12Alex, there's plenty happening on the politics front.

00:14I know you weren't directly involved in a lot of the coverage,

00:18but I'll make a point of firstly to the front page of today's Scotsman,

00:22and it was to do with the assisted dying bill.

00:25There was a landmark moment last night as MSPs voted in a vote that went 70 to 56

00:34to pass the legislation.

00:36A picture there of Liam McArthur, the Liberal Democrat MSP,

00:40that has been driving forward this bill.

00:42That means it passes stage one.

00:45It will now be looked at in terms of amendments.

00:48Liam McArthur himself has already flagged that he wants the minimum age

00:51to be raised in the bill from currently 16 to 18 to meet one,

00:56but there will be others.

00:58The feeling certainly in the build-up was that if this passed,

01:02there would be still some convincing that MSPs would need to back it

01:07as a majority at later stages.

01:08So work to be done here, but the fact that it did pass stage one

01:12had not happened at the previous two attempts.

01:15It was a big night for Liam McArthur, a big night for the Liberal Democrats,

01:18a big night for all the supporters of the bill,

01:21but the concerns among sectors of the community as well as some politicians,

01:26including First Minister John Swinney, have voted against it, remain.

01:30There's also a story from you there, Alex,

01:32which we're going to talk about just in the wing on the front page,

01:35which is jobs.

01:37And this is thousands of jobs overall that will be going to areas

01:42outside of London, across the UK,

01:44but three cities in Scotland in particular.

01:47Yeah, so it's good for Scotland in one sense,

01:51and it kind of goes against the grain of what had been happening

01:53more broadly in the civil service.

01:55Pat McFadden, the minister responsible,

01:57had announced last month sweeping cuts to the civil service.

02:02They're trying to get people out of it.

02:04They're trying to cull it and have a smaller government approach

02:08that can appeal to maybe reform or conservative voters.

02:11However, as we reported, I think exclusively at the time,

02:14those cuts will be heavily weighted on London rather than Glasgow and Scotland

02:21more broadly.

02:22The intention was always to keep more civil servants in Scotland.

02:25And so not only are they doing that,

02:27it's now been announced they are sending more people to Scotland.

02:30They say this is going to generate, I think it's a million,

02:34a hundred million pounds in, you know, investment in the area,

02:38but having some terms there, contributing to the economy,

02:40you know, paying to live there and everything else.

02:43And they also show that it shows that Scotland is the heart

02:46of the UK government's approach.

02:48I think what's more interesting is this announcement

02:50of a energy campus in Aberdeen.

02:54Now, you may be about to ask me, well, what's the detail of that?

02:57And I would tell you, we still don't know.

02:59But we do know that the government is planning to have this sort

03:02of civil service energy hub in Aberdeen,

03:05which you would imagine, as well as being helpful,

03:07given that's where GB Energy is based,

03:10is also a somewhat political move to give the front again

03:14criticism that they are leaving Aberdeen behind

03:16with their approach to North Sea oil and gas.

03:19If I was being critical, Alex, I would say, much like GB Energy,

03:25we're still looking for further detail about how it's going

03:28to work on the ground and what impact it will be.

03:30And like you said, if I had my cynical hat on,

03:33we both know that Harbour Energy announced 250 job cuts last week,

03:38one of the biggest players in the oil and gas sector here in the UK.

03:43Is it a coincidence that Aberdeen get this extra jobs boost

03:48inside a week of that actual announcement?

03:52I do think it is coincidence.

03:54I think we've known for a month now that we reported on it,

03:58that they were planning to move civil servants to Scotland

04:00and that it would be a priority.

04:02I think they've been talking about doing this

04:03since Michael Gove was in.

04:06I think even when Boris Johnson was Prime Minister,

04:08there was talk about moving more civil servants to Scotland.

04:10So that maybe adds to your argument,

04:13but we know it's been a long-term plan

04:15to move more civil servants to Scotland.

04:18And I suppose if that was the plan,

04:20maybe they would have announced it last week

04:22to kind of cover that news,

04:24rather than, for example,

04:25when they announced that they would be keeping the TGR benefit cap,

04:28there's a vote on it,

04:30the same day they announced this anti-polity task force.

04:32That is how to go, well, this is happening,

04:34but look, we're doing this, honestly.

04:35I just think it's a coincidence.

04:37I think it's a genuine attempt for the government

04:38to move people to Scotland,

04:41but you can also say these closures are a failure

04:43and you're not doing enough on that.

04:44I don't believe they're linked, but who knows?

04:48And Alex, as we know,

04:50this comes against the backdrop of the UK government

04:52that is trying to cut down its overall base

04:55in terms of civil servants.

04:57And we know that they're looking for the majority

05:00of those cuts to come in London.

05:02It is also the reality,

05:03if they're reducing jobs in London

05:05and moving people out with,

05:08then salaries overall would be lower

05:10because the extra London boost

05:13that you would expect in a lot of salaries

05:15will not be there,

05:16so it will spread the salary base more.

05:19It is the practical realities

05:20of what the UK government's doing at the moment.

05:22I want to ask you about something else,

05:24Key, on the UK government front,

05:26which is immigration.

05:27We had the big announcement linked to a white paper

05:31earlier this week.

05:33It was setting out some strict new requirements

05:35around immigration,

05:37including a new higher threshold for citizenship

05:40and the scrapping of social care work visas.

05:44There is a ministerial statement

05:46taking place at Holyrood today.

05:48We'll bring you the very latest from that.

05:50But some interesting comments from Kezia Dugdale

05:54that you covered yesterday, Alex.

05:55Yeah, so she told Times Radio

05:58that essentially this was the lowest point

06:00of Labour's tenure thus far.

06:03She was incredibly disappointed.

06:05And I think, and she made the point,

06:06which is interesting

06:07because it's the point that Labour supporters

06:09and even some members of the public might say

06:11that the language being used by Starmer

06:14this week about immigration

06:16and this approach, this white paper

06:17of making things more difficult

06:19for people to come here,

06:20it is at odds with the campaign he ran on

06:23in 2020 to be leader.

06:24It is, in fact, in direct opposition.

06:27This is not just a watering down.

06:29This is not saying,

06:30well, we want to do 28 billion for energy every year

06:33to we want to do as much as we can

06:35over the course of Parliament.

06:37This is saying we want to be welcoming

06:38to immigrants.

06:40We want to, you know,

06:41have this positive environment

06:42because they help and improve the country

06:44to saying in the government's white paper

06:47that they have created issues

06:49in housing and in public services.

06:51So it's a huge U-turn

06:53and I think the criticism

06:55of the former Scottish Labour leader

06:57will be, it's very damaging

06:59and I think it probably represents

07:02the wider feeling.

07:04I mean, some on the left.

07:05Downing Street would say,

07:06well, Miss Dugdale,

07:07she's briefly said,

07:08she would vote for independence now.

07:09So how Labour is she anymore?

07:12But I don't think that makes criticism

07:13any less valid

07:14and I think she speaks

07:16to a wider group of those on the left

07:18who are very, very frustrated

07:20with where the party is headed.

07:23And if I may say one more thing,

07:25I mean, we've reported on care homes

07:26this week

07:28and we've reported more

07:29about how national insurance contributions

07:31for employers

07:32could lead to a closure of care homes.

07:34And we're now in a situation

07:35where there's warning that they'll close

07:36because they rely on overseas staff.

07:38They don't,

07:38they're not paid brilliantly,

07:40but they are the ones propping up social care.

07:42If there is not a plan for social care,

07:44which there isn't,

07:46overseas workers

07:47are helping look after our elderly.

07:49And if we're making it more difficult

07:50for those things to come,

07:52there has to be a plan for social care

07:53and there isn't.

07:54So I think it's going to be incredibly interesting

07:56how the government makes this

07:58not just a political move,

07:59but one that's actually beneficial to the country.

08:02And we know this comes against the backdrop

08:04of the Scottish government

08:05not being able to go ahead

08:07with its national care service

08:08in the form it was meant to,

08:11which was obviously meant to be

08:12a plan that would tackle

08:14and improve the operation

08:15of the social care system.

08:16And Alex,

08:17it comes out of the backdrop of COVID.

08:20You know,

08:20we can't forget what happened

08:21four to five years ago

08:22where there was a huge focus

08:24on what happened on care homes

08:26and the resourcing around care homes as well.

08:29And what the UK Labor government

08:31have announced

08:32does come against that backdrop as well.

08:34It will be fascinating

08:35to watch the fallout from this

08:38and just to see what happens

08:40at the polls

08:41and whether this is actually

08:43a successful path ahead policy-wise

08:45for UK Labor

08:46or whether, you know,

08:47they lose more of their support base

08:50because they are,

08:51as you say,

08:52it is a change of tact

08:53from what Sir Keir Starmer

08:56spoke about back in 2020.

08:58You can read all the latest

09:00of our coverage

09:02around these issues

09:02at scotsman.com.

09:03If you ever can't find

09:05any of the stories

09:06you're looking for,

09:07go to the Politics tab

09:08and the navigation bar.

09:09You'll get all the latest

09:11from Alex

09:12and his other colleagues

09:13up here

09:14at the Scottish Parliament.

09:15Please follow us

09:17on all social media channels

09:18and go out

09:19and pick up a copy

09:20of the paper

09:21and print tomorrow.

09:22Thanks, Alex.

09:22Thanks, everyone.

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