Political Editor Alistair Grant and Political Correspondent Rachel Amery chat about Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speech after he addresses delegates at The Scottish Conservative Party Conference in Aberdeen
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:04 Hello, I'm Alistair Grant, the Scotsman's political editor.
00:07 And I'm joined by Rachel Avery, the Scotsman's political
00:09 correspondent.
00:09 And we're here at the Scottish Tory conference in Aberdeen,
00:13 where Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister,
00:14 has just been giving a speech to the conference delegates,
00:17 followed by a Q&A session with Scottish Tory leader Douglas
00:21 Ross.
00:21 Rachel, what did you make of Rishi Sunak's speech
00:24 to conference?
00:24 It was quite short, really.
00:25 It was short.
00:26 It was only about 10 minutes in total,
00:28 which I was kind of thinking a bit more.
00:30 Two weeks ago, we were at Scottish Labour conference,
00:32 for example.
00:32 Sir Keir Starmer's speech was over 40 minutes, I think.
00:35 So quite a big difference in terms
00:37 of the length of speech there.
00:39 As we thought, quite heavily focused
00:40 on oil and gas and the Northeast industry,
00:42 the jobs up here in the North Sea.
00:44 But one thing I thought was quite interesting
00:46 was that wasn't the first thing he went on.
00:48 When he first came onto the stage, his first point
00:50 was about gender reform.
00:51 And the second point was about taxes.
00:52 And then he went on to oil and gas.
00:54 So that's something very interesting.
00:55 Not the opening line to his speech was not oil and gas,
01:00 even though it was what his speech was focused on.
01:02 Yeah, I think it's interesting that his speech was so short.
01:04 He's almost got past form for this.
01:05 I remember doing a story--
01:07 I think it was back in 2022 when he was chancellor.
01:09 And he gave a two-minute and 16-second speech.
01:12 I think it was a pre-recorded speech to Tory conference,
01:14 and was criticised for that.
01:16 But again, today, quite short and snappy.
01:18 I thought it was interesting, that focus on oil and gas
01:21 later on in his Q&A session with Douglas Ross,
01:24 following a question from the audience.
01:25 But they were chosen questions by Douglas Ross.
01:29 So it's something they clearly wanted to speak about.
01:31 Because we had a press huddle with Rishi Sunak
01:33 just before his speech, where journalists
01:35 were able to ask questions about various issues.
01:38 And he was asked about reports that
01:40 have been in the media in the last 24 hours
01:42 about Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor,
01:44 contemplating extending the windfall tax in some shape
01:47 or form in the spring budget.
01:50 Rishi Sunak very much saying that he doesn't comment
01:52 on speculation ahead of a budget.
01:54 He's not ruling that by not commenting.
01:56 He's almost keeping the story alive, in a way.
01:58 Very much so.
01:59 And also, he got the spring budget on Wednesday.
02:01 And there's a lot of people wanting
02:02 to know exactly what happened, particularly
02:04 with that council tax as well, and funding
02:05 for the Scottish government.
02:07 So it'll be interesting to see what happens.
02:09 But yeah, he did seem quite--
02:10 wasn't saying no, was he?
02:12 No.
02:13 I think the other issue that came out of that huddle was,
02:16 he was certainly signalling that the UK government favours
02:19 a cut to national insurance, rather than a cut to income
02:22 tax in that spring budget.
02:24 Because income tax rates and bans are devolved in Scotland,
02:27 if they make changes to income tax down south,
02:30 that's not going to benefit people in Scotland.
02:32 It's going to increase that tax gap between Scotland
02:34 and England.
02:35 So he's very much saying--
02:36 I think he called a cut to national insurance,
02:38 like they did at the autumn statement.
02:40 He called it a union tax cut, something that
02:42 would benefit Scots as well.
02:43 So although he wasn't saying that they would cut it,
02:46 he was certainly signalling that that's their preference.
02:49 Yes, I think taxes did feature as well in the speech.
02:52 And I'd say the question and answer session
02:54 with Douglas Ross after the speech,
02:56 while obviously pre-approved questions,
02:58 a lot of those questions focused on tax as well.
03:00 So it's clearly something that the Conservative members,
03:02 at least, are very keen to hear more about.
03:05 Yeah, and it's something that they've
03:06 been quite strong on as well.
03:07 I mean, his comments about the SNP,
03:10 about the Scottish budget, I think
03:11 he's echoed the language that Douglas Ross and Scottish
03:14 Secretary Alistair Jack used about that being a taxing axe
03:17 budget.
03:18 And the SNP essentially making Scotland
03:20 the highest taxed part of the UK.
03:22 I think he says it's a high tax capital of the UK.
03:25 Yes, absolutely.
03:26 That was brought up a lot.
03:27 But it took a lot of opportunities
03:28 to have a go at Scottish Labour and the SNP,
03:32 over oil and gas, but over other issues as well.
03:34 So I think Alistair Jack, the Scottish Secretary,
03:37 he introduced it to CUNAC and says
03:39 that he wants to make Scotland net--
03:42 Net zero.
03:43 Net zero, he said net zero.
03:45 And then, in the speech, Eddie was saying,
03:47 let's send the SNP home to think again,
03:49 sort of referencing the Player of Scotland song there.
03:51 So clearly he wanted to get a few digs in at the opposition
03:53 parties.
03:54 So yeah, absolutely.
03:56 Yeah, very much playing to a home crowd.
03:58 But that was Rishi Sunak at the Scottish Tory conference.
04:01 We'll be here for the rest of today
04:02 and into tomorrow, Saturday as well,
04:04 when Douglas Ross, the Scottish Tory leader,
04:06 is expected to make his speech.
04:09 [MUSIC PLAYING]
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