The Scotsman Bulletin for Monday June 09 2025 #Politics

The Scotsman

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

00:04My name is Dale Miller, I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman and I'm joined by Alexander

00:08Brown, our Westminster Correspondent.

00:11Alex, there's plenty to talk about again with a spending review from Rachel Reeves due on

00:17Wednesday that will have implications for here in Scotland.

00:20But talking through the front page today, firstly, the Scotsman, we led on an exclusive

00:25potential turmoil as legal aid board lawyers threaten the strike.

00:31The position's been outlined by the GMB union, a suggestion that they've moved to having

00:38one person on doing shifts for 12 hours, taking calls effectively from those who are needing

00:46legal representation, you know, via police and otherwise, and just a lack of staffing

00:54and the measures and extent to which some of those lawyers are being asked to work and

01:01what shifts has led to the pushback.

01:03There's talk about potential for them to strike.

01:06There's a 16-strong team that works across Scotland.

01:09They play a crucial role in the operational legal system and any industrial action around

01:15those lawyers would have implications for not only those needing legal representation, but

01:23also to an existing backlog with the legal court system that we've written about extensively

01:29in the Scotsman.

01:31And in the wing there, there's a story referencing the spending review as well.

01:36Alex, it's going to be a big week.

01:38I know a lot of the focus has been at Westminster about departments being told, well, this is

01:44what you've got to work with, and that it could be a bit tighter than what it's been.

01:48That tighter nature of budgets has been a theme in the first 12 months of government from

01:53Labor.

01:54But talk me through what we might be expecting and what it might mean for Scotland and the

02:00fact that there's been some pressure around opposition against new nuclear power plants and

02:05facilities as well.

02:06So I think it's often really easy and problematic that, you know, newspapers and outlets do

02:13like the winners and losers of spending reviews, because I think we think that's what people

02:16are going to click.

02:17But actually, when we look at the spending review, it looks like there may be winners

02:21and losers.

02:22This has not been like a coherent thing put forward by the government with all the Cabinet

02:26on board.

02:27There has been a real back and forth and a fight between Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, and

02:32many of the ministers.

02:33One significant area for Scotland that we do know, I imagine, will be health.

02:38We're going to hear the groundwork being laid for this 10-year plan on health.

02:41Obviously, that's evolved.

02:42But if there's a huge amount of investment coming, that's going to be beneficial for Scotland.

02:47We know there's been small investments on transport.

02:49There's been investment coming on housing.

02:51Again, if those things could then translate to money for Scotland.

02:55But as yet, we obviously don't know.

02:56We also know that Ed Miliband has relentlessly been fighting his corner on energy, and there

03:02was a real battle over that, over whether his department and GB Energy would be able

03:06to get the funding that was required, which is really interesting, because even before

03:10Ed Miliband was in government, the idea of GB Energy was a big battle between him and

03:16others in the party.

03:16We have to have the green transition.

03:18We have to get this funding.

03:19This is the department that has to be protected above all else.

03:22And it looks like he's done that.

03:23So that probably will translate to more green investment projects in Scotland, because we

03:27don't yet know what that looks like.

03:29The only holdout at the moment is about Cooper on policing, who just wants more money, and

03:34it looks like it's going to go down to the wire, which I think is really remarkable.

03:37We knew the spending review was coming.

03:38The government is in a bit of trouble after drubbing the local elections, even if it won

03:43the Hamilton by-election, and yet there are still fights going on right now.

03:48There is not this coherent, we're all in it together plan.

03:52There are battles between departments.

03:54As for nuclear, we know, I mean, the S&P have never approved of nuclear.

03:57That continues to be the case.

03:58I don't necessarily know whether we'll see nuclear plants in Scotland, but it's not really

04:03a change in position, and I think you can expect ministers to go harder on the benefits

04:07of nuclear in the coming days.

04:09And we know one that we'll be looking out for on Wednesdays, whether there is funding

04:14for the Acorn and Carbon Capture Facility.

04:17We know the Scottish government, specifically John Swinney, has been pressing to try and get

04:22the UK government to invest more.

04:24He said the Scottish government will put in this if the UK government puts in money as

04:29well.

04:29So that will be one that we'll be looking at on Wednesday to see if it's included in the

04:35spending plans or it's not.

04:36Alex, the Prime Minister's off to Canada as well.

04:41We know over tariffs that there's been a bit of an ongoing barney between Donald Trump

04:46and Canada as well.

04:49It got pretty interesting a month or so ago.

04:52What's the visit about?

04:54Why Starmer heading across?

04:55So the visit's about making closer ties and maybe helping Canada with their defence.

05:02The issues of Russia and also China have meant that there is huge pressure on NATO countries

05:08to increase their defence contributions.

05:10The Prime Minister's meeting with the head of NATO today, who wants 5% GDP commitment from

05:16all NATO countries on defence.

05:18The Prime Minister has been dragged, kicking and screaming into 3.5 and still isn't giving

05:22a hard timeline for that.

05:24So the defence will be an issue.

05:26And I also, the way that these countries who have to work with America, how they deal

05:31with them.

05:31And given the shocking and unpredictable nature of this White House.

05:38I mean, it was only a month ago that the new leader of Canada, the Prime Minister, was

05:41not criticising Donald Trump over his calls to make Canada another state.

05:47So it's, you know, these public statements are what they need to do for their own polling.

05:52That sort of criticises them.

05:53I don't think you can really expect the Prime Minister to criticise Trump, given it could

05:56then damage UK relations.

05:58But there will be a lot of what can we do to have a seamless work environment with America

06:04as possible.

06:05And also how can we properly fund defence?

06:07How can we find the money to do it, which is especially timely, given the spending review

06:11coming on Wednesday?

06:12And look, it's been a fascinating few days for reform.

06:16We saw them, well, they came third in the Hamilton by-election, but they were particularly

06:21close to the SNP.

06:22They weren't that far off the Labor vote either.

06:25It was a compelling story about how, in the space of 12 months, effectively, they'd gone

06:30from having no support in Scotland to not being that far off winning, if we're honest,

06:36this by-election.

06:38But then we had Zia Youssef, who's the chairman, resign on social media late on Friday and then

06:45actually rejoin the party within 48 hours.

06:48It was an interesting statement around that.

06:51He is Scottish-born, though.

06:53He's an interesting figure.

06:54He seems to have been critical in the development of the party.

06:57What did you make of all that and how important do you think he is to the reform operation?

07:02Obviously, it was very funny, you know, the girls are fighting, but I don't know how necessarily

07:07damaging it is, because I think for those of us in the Westminster bubble, if there is

07:12such thing, and those who follow politics really closely, it looks really unprofessional that

07:16someone so important in the rise of the party can essentially say, I mean, quite literally

07:20say that fighting for a reformed government is no longer a good use of my time.

07:24That is incredibly damning for him to quit over comments made by the new MP.

07:29That's really significant stuff, but I just don't think anyone cares.

07:34I don't think it's going to damage them in the polls.

07:35I don't think Labour, the Lib Dems and the SNP have all tried to make some headway out

07:39of this, but ultimately, reform all this protest votes.

07:42They are not run in the same way as everyone else.

07:44I mean, they're probably run close to a business than the political party, and it's going to

07:49be fine.

07:50There hasn't been this huge blowback.

07:52They've all just got on with it, and I think that's the issue for reform.

07:55They're just okay to get the funding.

07:57They just need to have some sort of coherent, like, anti-government narrative where they

08:01don't need to look like this professional, we're all in a together outfit.

08:04That's just not what reform is about.

08:06There have always been these infightings, infringed movements and infringed parties, so

08:10they won't be too worried.

08:13But I think it's interesting the way they're trying to frame what happened in Scotland.

08:16There's this huge victory for them, when obviously they lost.

08:19And on the day and in the days prior, they were kind of briefing that they thought maybe

08:22they could come first.

08:23And they weren't that far off, but they did lose.

08:26And I think the real lesson from that is, if Labour are doing that well, where reform

08:30are on the rise and the government is in this much struggle, come next year and, you

08:35know, come the general election, Labour MPs will hope that they've done enough to improve

08:39their standing and, you know, do better than maybe is expected in the polling right

08:44now.

08:45I can only apologise, my buzz is going off.

08:47I don't know if you can hear that.

08:49Alex, thanks for joining us.

08:51Please pick up a copy of Tamara Scotsman for all the very latest across politics, both

08:58here in the UK and abroad as well.

09:01Thanks to you, Alex.

09:02Thanks to everyone else for joining us.

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