The Scotsman Bulletin Monday June 3 2024
Scotsman Deputy Editor Alan Young talks with Political Correspondent Rachel Amery about the first election television debate which airs on STV tonight featuring John Swinney, Anas Sarwar, Douglas Ross, and Alex Cole-Hamilton. Rishi Sunak will alter the equality act if the Conservatives are reelected.
Scotsman Deputy Editor Alan Young talks with Political Correspondent Rachel Amery about the first election television debate which airs on STV tonight featuring John Swinney, Anas Sarwar, Douglas Ross, and Alex Cole-Hamilton. Rishi Sunak will alter the equality act if the Conservatives are reelected.
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 Hello, and welcome to the Scotsman's Daily Bulletin
00:08 for Monday.
00:09 I'm Alan Young.
00:10 I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman.
00:11 I'm joined by our political correspondent, Rachel Emery,
00:14 to take a look ahead to the big events.
00:17 Hi, Rachel.
00:18 Good morning.
00:18 Let's have a quick look at the front page first.
00:22 And we splash today on the latest from the election
00:27 campaign trail, and specifically the indication
00:30 that John Swinney has given that the party could move away
00:36 from the presumption against new oil and gas licenses.
00:40 Why is that important?
00:41 It's important because of Labour's position,
00:45 which the SNP claim will cost 100,000 jobs in the Northeast.
00:50 Much more inside today.
00:51 We'll also have a look ahead, top of the page
00:53 there, to the Scotland-friendly against Gibraltar,
00:57 the first of two games in the run-up to the Euros.
01:02 The big news, obviously, is the absence of Lyndon Dykes
01:05 and what Steve Clarke does.
01:08 So, Rachel, 11 days into the election campaign now,
01:15 but it feels like today is potentially
01:17 the first big moment as leaders go head to head in Scotland.
01:22 Yes, that's because tonight we've
01:23 got the first televised TV debate,
01:25 and it's going to be on STV.
01:28 So it's the Scottish party leaders
01:29 that are going to be taking part in this.
01:31 So John Swinney from the SNP, Douglas Ross
01:33 from the Scottish Conservatives, Anna Sarwar from Scottish
01:36 Labour, and Alex Cole-Hamilton from the Scottish Lib Dems.
01:39 Now, there has been a bit of argument over this
01:42 because the Scottish Greens have not
01:44 been invited to take part in this.
01:46 They are saying that's outrageous, not only
01:48 because they're a big party within Scotland,
01:50 but also because they're the only party
01:52 with a female leader as well.
01:54 However, they're not going to be taking part in this event
01:57 tonight.
01:58 But yes, I can imagine lots of sparks flying tonight,
02:00 lots of more definite policies, maybe what each party actually
02:05 is standing for might get revealed a bit more tonight.
02:09 But of course, the only person--
02:11 none of these people are actually
02:12 standing for election in this election for Westminster.
02:16 So again, it's quite interesting to see how
02:18 that dynamic plays out as well.
02:21 Indeed, and also how confrontational
02:24 the debate may be will be very, very interesting,
02:27 given what John Swinney has been saying for weeks now
02:33 about a less confrontational, less toxic politics in Scotland.
02:42 It's really difficult not to be confrontational in a TV debate,
02:45 I guess.
02:47 Yeah, you're very much being pitted against each other here.
02:49 And I don't think it will take very much for the gloves
02:52 to come off tonight.
02:53 I think the intentions to be nice and calm
02:56 and be not confrontational will be there at the start.
03:01 But I think it will very, very quickly unravel
03:02 when you get to this TV debate.
03:05 Although it will-- so I imagine that is
03:07 what will happen tonight.
03:09 But as you said, yes, there is this promise
03:11 to try and be a bit more civilized with this.
03:14 But I can imagine that won't be what plays out this evening.
03:17 But of course, we need to obviously look as well
03:19 as to how much this could impact on the campaign as well.
03:23 If you look at the S&P leadership contest last year,
03:26 the televised debate there saw a lot of divisions
03:28 getting sprung up between Kate Forbes and Humza Yousaf.
03:31 And that has plagued the S&P ever since.
03:34 So there could be long-term impacts
03:36 between too much confrontation being exposed at this debate.
03:40 Indeed.
03:40 So elsewhere on the campaign trail
03:42 before we get to that debate this evening,
03:45 what's happening?
03:47 Well, the big sort of announcement this morning
03:49 comes from Rishi Sunak and the UK Conservative Party.
03:51 They say that if they win the election,
03:53 they will alter the Equality Act so that it is--
03:57 so to clarify, when it says protected characteristic sex,
04:01 they mean biological sex.
04:03 So essentially, not those who are classed as trans.
04:07 Already a bit of confusion because it's quite--
04:10 it's not very clear as to what that actually means.
04:12 I've tried to ask the party what that means in practice
04:15 and how it would be policed.
04:16 And they're very much saying, you know,
04:18 it's more about clarifying the law as opposed
04:20 to altering the law.
04:21 And also, it's more about giving guidance to service providers
04:24 as opposed to them enacting anything in particular.
04:27 And so it is a bit confused at the moment
04:29 as to what exactly it means.
04:31 Given the polls, the Conservatives
04:32 are very unlikely to win this election.
04:34 So that's probably why there's little detail,
04:37 because they don't need to provide detail.
04:39 It won't ever happen.
04:41 But it will force Scottish Labour, the S&P, for example,
04:44 it will force them to maybe firm up their positions
04:47 on gender reform.
04:48 But yes, the announcement from the Conservatives
04:50 is quite interesting.
04:51 I think it's very much to try and appeal
04:53 to the right wing of the party that might move across
04:55 to reform at this election, trying
04:56 to get that core voter base back on side.
05:00 And it's quite interesting as well,
05:01 the language that's being used.
05:02 A lot of this has come from Kenny Badenoch, the Women
05:05 and Equalities Minister for the Conservatives.
05:07 And she was very much sort of referring to trans women
05:10 as men in her statement.
05:12 So that's quite interesting thing
05:14 to look at too when she's trying to sort of push
05:16 this policy out.
05:19 Like you say, it's clearly been launched by Rishi Sunak,
05:23 much like the National Service policy,
05:26 to attract their older, more traditional voters.
05:30 But this one, you feel, may well reignite a debate in Scotland.
05:36 We may hear this in the leaders debate.
05:41 Absolutely, yes.
05:42 Because as you would say with National Service,
05:44 it's quite easy for the other parties
05:45 to just dismiss it because it's not
05:47 been something that's happened in the UK for so, so long.
05:51 Very few people are alive that can probably
05:53 remember that being a thing.
05:54 So it's very easy just to dismiss that policy.
05:57 Not so much for this one because, of course,
05:58 we have the gender reform debate in Scotland that was passed
06:02 and then was blocked by the UK government as well.
06:06 John Swinney, when he first became first minister,
06:08 was asked to try and define trans women and women,
06:11 for example, as well.
06:13 So it will play more of a part in the debate.
06:16 And I imagine it will come up at the televised debate
06:18 this evening.
06:20 Great.
06:21 We will watch with interest.
06:22 Thanks very much, Rachel.
06:23 Please keep an eye on scottsman.com
06:25 throughout the day for all the very latest news and analysis.
06:28 If you can, do subscribe.
06:29 Then you'll be able to read and watch absolutely everything
06:32 on our site.
06:33 And if you're out and about today,
06:34 please do pick up a copy of the paper from me
06:36 and from Rachel.
06:37 Goodbye for now.
06:38 Goodbye.
06:39 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:42 (upbeat music)