The Scotsman Morning Bulletin Monday December 16 2024 #Politics
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Hello, welcome to today's daily video bulletin for the Scotsman.
00:04My name is Dale Miller.
00:05I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman and I'm joined by our political correspondent, Rachel Amory.
00:11Rachel, good morning.
00:13We're going to have a chat about the front page of today's Scotsman firstly.
00:18And we led on Nicola Sturgeon talking about Operation Branch Form, saying she still knows
00:25nothing more than she did 18 months ago.
00:29And the main picture there from what was a Hamden thriller, old firm Celtic V Rangers,
00:363-3 in normal time, went to extra time, went to penalties, dramatically won by Celtic.
00:42There was some unrest and issues in and around the game that police had to deal with as well.
00:49But you can read the full fallout and player ratings from that big game yesterday at Scotsman.com.
00:58Just look for the sports tab in our navigation bar.
01:01Rachel, we're starting to wind down, I should say, towards Christmas on the politics front,
01:07but there's still plenty happening this week.
01:09And firstly, just on Nicola Sturgeon and her comments, I feel like a lot of us have not
01:16moved on from but forgotten about Operation Branch Form, but it is still ticking over
01:22in the background.
01:22Just explain in a bit more detail what she had to say.
01:25Yeah, it's been going on for quite a long time now, Operation Branch Form.
01:29This is, of course, the police investigation into SNP finances.
01:33I think you'll probably remember last year, Nicola Sturgeon, her husband, Peter Morrell,
01:38and the party's former treasurer, Colin Beattie, were all arrested as well.
01:42Now, we should say Ms Sturgeon and Mr Beattie were both released without charge there.
01:47But this year, Peter Morrell was then charged with embezzlement.
01:51At that point, we're still not too sure how far along the investigation is at this point.
01:57And Nicola Sturgeon has done this interview over the weekend where she says that she now
02:00knows no more than she did 18 months ago when she was arrested.
02:05She says that she's got no more information to add to it and doesn't know how far on the
02:09investigation is either.
02:10So that was her comments over the weekend there about the police investigation.
02:15Now, last summer, she gave an interview where she said that she maintains her innocence
02:20in this case and she says that she still holds that position on the matter.
02:25And we know that things in the polls are looking much better for the SNP.
02:30They've shown upswings over the past couple of weeks and Scottish Labor is struggling.
02:35So I'm sure First Minister John Swinney will be hoping for a positive resolution
02:41overall for the party in terms of whatever ultimately comes out of Operation Branch
02:46Form. When that does come, you'll be able to read all the
02:50very latest on it at Scotsman.com.
02:53It's a milestone day today as well.
02:56Rachel, 10 years of equal marriage.
02:59And Nicola Sturgeon had some fresh quotes to say today about that.
03:04Yeah, equal marriage just seems so much part of Scottish life.
03:08Now, there'll be so many people who probably think it's been in place forever and not
03:11actually realising that it only came in in 2014.
03:14So today marks 10 years since it finally became law.
03:18So that meant that same-sex couples who had civil partnerships could apply for the
03:22paperwork to turn that into a marriage.
03:25And then the first same-sex marriages happened on the 31st of December that year.
03:29Nicola Sturgeon, of course, was very vocal on that at the time.
03:32She was one of the ministers who brought forward the bill for equal marriage.
03:36I believe she, alongside Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvey, actually were
03:40witnesses at one of the first same-sex weddings as well.
03:43So she's been commenting on that as well, saying it's one of the biggest achievements
03:47of the Scottish Parliament and sort of reminding people just how much progress has
03:51been made there and just how significant it was.
03:54Because it does seem strange now to think it's only been 10 years, because it does
03:57feel so much part of Scottish life now, doesn't it?
04:01It certainly does.
04:02I know you covered this topic in your morning Daily Politics newsletter.
04:07It's the Steamy.
04:08You can sign up to that newsletter, which goes out every weekday, Monday to Friday.
04:12We will, of course, pause it for a period over the festive weeks, Christmas.
04:17and New Year Hogmanay, but it will return again in 2025.
04:21It brings you up to date with all the latest developments on the news front in and around
04:26politics and is produced by Rachel on a daily basis.
04:31It's a great read, so please sign up.
04:33You can get all your latest politics news at scotsman.com.
04:37Rachel, thanks for joining us.
04:38You can follow us on Facebook, X Instagram, Blue Sky, and please go out and buy a copy
04:44of the paper tomorrow in your newsstands and support local journalism.
04:47Thanks to you, Rachel, and thanks everyone for joining us.
04:50Bye-bye.