The Scotsman Bulletin Wednesday May 14 2025 #Westminster
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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
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09:18and go out
09:19and pick up a copy
09:20of the paper
09:21and print tomorrow.
09:22Thanks, Alex.
09:22Thanks, everyone.