Dale speaks to Westminster correspondent Alexander Brown about developments in Syria and the Middle East
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's video bulletin for this Monday.
00:04My name is Dale Miller.
00:05I'm deputy editor of the Scotsman and I'm joined by our Westminster correspondent,
00:09Alexander Brown.
00:11Alex, we're going to get to a subject that is on the front page of today's Scotsman.
00:15It was pretty hard to go past as the lead image.
00:19The regime in Syria being overthrown overnight into Sunday.
00:25The picture there featuring was from Trafalgar Square in London where members of the Syrian
00:30community based in London had turned out to, in many cases, celebrate the actual overthrow
00:38of the regime.
00:39It's a significant moment.
00:41There is some doubt and uncertainty over what comes next and Alex will get to talking about
00:47that.
00:48We also splashed on Edinburgh City Council leader Kami Day and pressure on him to resign.
00:55I've got allegations around sexually explicit messages sent to Ukrainian refugees.
01:01There will be more on that story and you can watch Scotsman.com for all the very latest
01:06throughout today and into the next couple of days.
01:09Alex, on Syria, it's a significant moment, isn't it, that it does have ongoing repercussions
01:17for the Western world and the UK as well.
01:21How do you think this will play out from a perspective of us looking on from you?
01:26Well, for the UK government and I think the wider West, it's kind of a wait and see approach.
01:31There's no easy response to this.
01:33I think initially there is obviously the cause of celebration.
01:36The genocidal dictator who used chemical weapons against his own people has fallen and we have
01:42seen people returning home, Syrian refugees returning back to the country they had to
01:47flee due to him and due to Assad.
01:50So that is obviously a cause of celebration and I think everyone in government is quite
01:53pleased to see that.
01:55However, going forward, it's not that simple because the rebels who have overthrown Assad
02:02were formerly a denomination of al-Qaeda.
02:05Their leader was a former head of al-Qaeda and they are, I think, they're a prescribed
02:09terrorist group by several international bodies.
02:13So it's not an easy thing to just go, OK, well, actually, peace and democracy has been
02:17brought back to the country.
02:18That's not the case.
02:20We've seen the end of one dictator, but what happens next is unclear.
02:24And in Kirstein's words, he was very addressed, addressed that manner.
02:28He spoke about the fact that what we needed, what we needed now was peace and security,
02:32which is quite a vague term.
02:34There's no specifics in that.
02:36And he said the fact that we did just have to wait and see and we hope that we he was
02:40asked if we could work with the new rebels.
02:42And he basically refused to answer and said, well, we'll have to wait and see because it's
02:45not easy to say, well, hold on.
02:48An al-Qaeda subdivision is now in charge of a country.
02:51Yes, let's get closer ties and relations with them.
02:53That's that's just simply not possible.
02:54It's not practical. That's not something that any leader can say.
02:58So it sounds, you know, not maybe the best analysis, but ultimately the view in government
03:03is we just have to wait and see because we don't know.
03:05We don't know what's going to happen next.
03:08We just know this is a good moment right now.
03:11And look, reports that were confirmed like yesterday that the former Syrian president
03:17now has has fled to Moscow and is there.
03:21Alex, it adds to an overall volatile picture in terms of world politics, particularly across
03:27the Middle East. And we know what's happening between Russia and Ukraine and Israel.
03:32Starmer, Sir Keith Starmer is out in the UAE today, obviously a trip abroad.
03:38That's probably timely in the context of what's going on.
03:41Can you can you say why he's there and what you might expect to hear from him?
03:45So the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, despite some of their human rights records,
03:50are actually some of Britain's closest allies in the region.
03:54Saudi Arabia has spent billions of pounds trying to, you know, whitewash itself really
04:00after the murder of a journalist who they chopped up in their own in a government building.
04:05They have then sought to kind of be more accepted by the West.
04:08We've seen that in their pitch for the World Cup, much like Qatar.
04:12I think it's widely expected that Saudi Arabia will get the next World Cup.
04:16So it's all about improving relations with these countries who have actually been the port of call for when Britain
04:22and America are trying to negotiate to end the conflict in Israel.
04:26They speak Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia's country that wants to help bring that to an end.
04:30They are our closest allies.
04:31So this is this meeting is about investment because there is so much money there.
04:35It's almost definitely about oil. It's about recruitment and it's about defence.
04:39It's about having closer ties with one of the most affluent and softer on UK administrations there is in the region and having closer ties with them.
04:50But I would be remiss if I didn't mention that in all of this, I think it's also I think this is a tremendous blow to Russia and Iran.
04:57Iran and Russia both extensively funded Assad and they have not got very much back on their return.
05:02I mean, he's now Assad's now fled to Russia and claimed asylum.
05:06It's worth noting that Iran last night put out a statement essentially saying how disappointing he was,
05:11how they have he hasn't delivered what he promised and he's not showing the stability that he promised as well.
05:17So those regions and where they go now, now they've lost these huge allies and they've pulled out their militias.
05:23Iran, you know, have their own who have their own militia who had been helping Assad.
05:27What that means, the conflict in Israel going forward will be really interesting.
05:30And also Ukraine, because obviously Russia, close ally, those relations will have to be reset.
05:36So it's it's chaos and it's something that we'll have people following very closely going forward.
05:43And Alex, just lastly, it's been notable that Sir Keir Starmer has made a lot of foreign trips inside the first four to five months of his premiership.
05:53The polls are saying that things aren't going well at home.
05:56What's your view on that?
05:57I know a couple of weeks ago, someone, a few critics even tried to take a positive over how much he was travelling.
06:04It's obviously part of being a prime minister of the country.
06:08But is it a time where he should be focusing more of his attention on what's happening at home?
06:14What's your view on that?
06:16No, I think that's a Tory argument or, to be honest, more of a reform argument.
06:20It is the job of the prime minister to lead the country and to improve relations with other countries, to deliver investment and improve our security and grow the economy.
06:30Going to Saudi Arabia can help improve the defence of this country.
06:33It can help grow the economy.
06:35Travelling to America, travelling to summits to meet with international countries is about forging better relations.
06:42It's about addressing the migrant crisis and having closer ties with, I think we've struck deals on immigration,
06:49possibly Bulgaria and the issue's been addressed in France.
06:52He went to Italy to discuss immigration, which is a huge concern for voters, especially in England with the Italian prime minister, who admittedly is a far right prime minister,
07:01but they've been very successful in their approach to reducing immigration.
07:05So they had that conversation.
07:06I think it's a really easy and lazy stick to beat the administration with for someone the right go for because it's low hanging fruit.
07:16But if you compare Rishi Sunak's tenure as prime minister, it's basically the same.
07:21The prime minister is doing what a prime minister does and the issues at home domestically wouldn't change if he wasn't going.
07:28If he was staying at home, he'd still have the same policies.
07:30So he has to go on these trips and just maybe have better communication at home rather than, you know, not trying to grow the economy internationally.
07:39Alex, thanks for talking us through everything today that's happening from a global perspective.
07:44You can get all the latest news, including the best politics at scotsman.com.
07:50Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Blue Sky.
07:54The number of platforms continue to grow.
07:55You can get us on all those and also go out and buy a copy of the paper tomorrow for the latest wrap of all your news.
08:03Thanks to you, Alex, and thanks, everyone else, for joining us.