Scotsman deputy editor Alan Young speaks to political correspondent Rachel Amery ahead of today's First Minister's Questions
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00:09 Hello and welcome to the Scotsman Daily Bulletin for Thursday.
00:12 I'm Alan Young, I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman.
00:15 I'm joined today by our political correspondent,
00:18 Rachel Emery from Hollywood.
00:20 Hi, Rachel.
00:21 Morning.
00:22 Let's have a look at the front page first as ever.
00:26 And we splashed today on the big news that broke last night
00:30 that the SNP and Green government, let's not forget,
00:35 are set to roll back on that key 2030 climate change target
00:41 to cut emissions by 75%.
00:44 That is very controversial,
00:46 puts more pressure on the SNP and Green coalition.
00:50 And we'll speak to Rachel about that in just a minute.
00:54 At the top of the page there, we have the football action
00:57 from last night, Dundee and Rangers playing out a goalless draw.
01:03 Just how much of an impact will that have on the title race?
01:08 All that and more in today's paper.
01:10 So, Rachel, big day in Hollywood today.
01:13 We'll come on to the First Minister's questions
01:17 since the Easter recess in a minute.
01:20 But let's start with that climate story.
01:23 That is causing quite a bit of controversy,
01:25 even if it was expected that this was going to happen.
01:29 Yes, so this afternoon we are getting a ministerial statement
01:31 from net zero secretary, Vary and Callan,
01:34 and she's expected to scrap the 2030 emission targets.
01:37 Now, this is the target to reduce 1990 levels of emissions by 75%.
01:43 It doesn't affect the overall net zero target for 2045,
01:46 but this is another target which the Scottish government,
01:49 particularly under Nicola Sturgeon, was very proud to say
01:52 made them more ambitious than the rest of the UK.
01:54 So this is now going to be scrapped, which will be very controversial
01:57 because of these previous commitments that have been made.
01:59 And also, of course, because the Scottish Greens are in government
02:02 with the SNP, and obviously that is their whole purpose
02:06 is tackling climate change.
02:07 So it's really interesting to see how that all plays out this afternoon.
02:12 And have we heard anything from the Greens yet?
02:15 So the Greens are expected to support this move.
02:17 We have heard from Robin Harper, one of the first Green MSPs
02:21 to come into Bollywood and previous co-leader of the Scottish Greens,
02:25 basically saying the voting base will be extremely disappointed by this move.
02:30 I can't imagine it's going to go down particularly well
02:32 with their key voter base, because a lot of people who are voting for them
02:36 are voting for them because they want them to stand up
02:38 for climate change and climate emergency.
02:40 It's going to be really interesting to see how well this goes down
02:43 with their voters.
02:45 But yeah, it hasn't gone down well so far.
02:48 We've had Oxfam saying it's an embarrassment on the global stage,
02:52 for example, Labour saying it's a betrayal as well.
02:56 And people on the radio this morning were speculating
02:58 this could be the Lib Dem moment for the Scottish Greens
03:01 because it could be very damaging for them.
03:03 So it's going to be interesting to see how it plays out this afternoon.
03:06 Indeed, and Humza Yousaf, sure to be asked about this,
03:11 you would think of First Minister's questions today.
03:14 But there's a lot else going on as well.
03:18 What do we expect is going to come up?
03:21 Yes, it's been a very, very busy Easter recess.
03:23 For only being two weeks, a lot of things have happened,
03:26 not least the Hate Crime Act, which came into force
03:28 at the beginning of the month.
03:30 Now, yesterday, the Conservatives tried to repeal that legislation,
03:33 but were voted down because the SNP and the Greens
03:35 enjoy a majority here in Holyrood.
03:37 But that could come up as well.
03:39 There's other things as well, such as the Cass review,
03:41 which I know we've had a lot of stories in the Scotsman about that
03:44 with Yousaf in the past couple of weeks.
03:47 That could also come up as well as this question over
03:50 the use of puberty blockers in Scotland.
03:52 But yes, I can imagine climate change may be quite heavily
03:56 featuring in FMQs today, although I suspect while it would be
03:59 easy hits for the Conservatives and Labour to attack the government
04:02 on climate change, I can imagine Humza Yousaf's response
04:04 will just be wait until the Menil Cereal statement,
04:07 because Mari McCallum's statement is due to come after FMQs.
04:10 So I'm sure that all his responses will be wait for the statement.
04:15 Thanks, Rachel. Busy day ahead.
04:17 Please keep an eye on Scotsman.com throughout the day
04:20 for all the very latest news as it happens.
04:23 If you can, please do subscribe, then you will not miss a thing.
04:26 And if you're out and about today, do pick up a copy of the paper
04:30 from me and from Rachel. Bye for now.
04:32 Bye bye.
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