First Ministers Questions: Unpicked with Rachel Amery and Dale Miller
First Ministers Questions: Unpicked with Rachel Amery and Dale Miller
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Good afternoon, welcome to the Scotsman's Politics Show.
00:12 We're here to unpick First Minister's questions.
00:15 It was the first one since Hamza Yousaf resigned on Monday.
00:19 My name's Dale Miller, I'm Head of News at the Scotsman.
00:22 I'm joined by political correspondent, Rachel Amory.
00:25 Rachel, it was always gonna be fascinating
00:27 to see how Hamza responded and went today.
00:31 Clearly, questions on the off about him and John Swinney,
00:35 who has announced his leadership bid.
00:37 Can you just talk us through what was discussed
00:40 today at FMQs?
00:42 - Yes, so as you were saying, this is the first FMQs
00:44 since he announced his intention to resign on Monday.
00:47 Both Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader,
00:49 and Anna Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader,
00:51 members trying to attack his record in government,
00:53 because there's every chance this could be his last FMQs
00:57 as First Minister.
00:58 So I think both opposition parties there
01:00 wanting to try and get the last chance
01:03 to attack his record in government.
01:05 Although I think Hamza Yousaf was quite combative back.
01:09 It was a very fiery exchange as well.
01:11 But one thing I thought was also pretty interesting
01:13 is Lorna Slater, the Scottish Greens co-leader,
01:16 was also given an opposition question as well.
01:18 So of course, now that the Beat House agreement has ended,
01:20 she is now an opposition party.
01:22 And she chose to ask the government about climate change
01:25 and also urged the government to not press ahead
01:27 with dueling the E96,
01:29 which I thought was a very interesting topic
01:31 for the Greens to go in on, on their very first time
01:34 under Hamza Yousaf as opposition party.
01:36 - Rachel, it sort of seemed like Lorna Slater
01:39 almost just dug the knife in a little bit
01:41 with that question.
01:42 She made a couple of points about the climate commitments
01:45 being ditched and the question really stuck out
01:49 in the FMQs.
01:50 Do you think it got noticed?
01:53 - Perhaps it did, yes.
01:54 She was definitely saying that the ending
01:56 of the Beat House agreement was done needlessly.
01:57 So that was quite a harsh statement,
01:59 but probably does get lost in the sort of fiery exchanges
02:02 that we saw from the first two opposition leaders.
02:04 So Douglas Ross and Anna Sar were there.
02:06 - And Rachel, how did you think Hamza actually went?
02:10 He's been under pressure for weeks, we know,
02:12 but how did you think he performed the FMQs for that?
02:16 - It was actually quite an interesting FMQs to watch.
02:18 It was quite a, lots of good exchanges back and forth,
02:21 but having talked to other people in Hollywood
02:22 just in the past sort of five, 10 minutes there,
02:24 I think the general consensus
02:26 is that he's done pretty well, actually.
02:27 It was, it looked quite good for him.
02:29 I think he's done quite well at the back of it.
02:31 Perhaps it's just that he now has no more pressure
02:33 on his shoulders.
02:34 He knows he's on the way out
02:35 and just wants to maybe have a bit of fun
02:36 with FMQs this week.
02:37 So definitely performed better than he has
02:40 in the past few weeks, I think.
02:41 - And just zeroing in on the mentions around John Swinney,
02:45 what did Douglas Ross and Anna have to say
02:48 about him in particular?
02:49 - Yes, both mentioning the fact that John Swinney,
02:51 the former Deputy First Minister,
02:53 he has now officially launched his bid
02:55 to be the next SMP leader and First Minister.
02:58 Our political editor, Alistair Grant,
02:59 was at that launch in the grass market this morning,
03:02 and you can see more of his analysis
03:03 on our website later on today.
03:05 But yes, both opposition leaders wanted to highlight
03:08 John Swinney, particularly saying that sort of the failures
03:11 that they see in the SMP government,
03:13 he has been at the heart of.
03:15 Of course, he has held many senior positions
03:17 under both Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon,
03:19 including Education Secretary, Finance Secretary,
03:21 and Deputy First Minister.
03:23 So definitely trying to sort of tie John Swinney
03:26 into some of the previous workings of the SMP there.
03:29 Now, after First Minister's questions,
03:32 the media did try to ask him
03:33 to speak about what his thoughts were.
03:34 And there's a video on our Twitter feed as well,
03:36 which you can see of that exchange.
03:39 Basically said that he was delighted to see John Swinney
03:41 putting himself forward to be the next SMP leader,
03:43 but not being drawn into saying explicitly
03:46 he's going to back John Swinney.
03:47 He was very much saying whoever the next leader ends up being,
03:50 he wishes them well, it's the best job that you could have.
03:52 So still not quite explicitly saying who he's going to back.
03:55 - What do you think of John Swinney putting himself forward?
03:58 - I totally agree.
03:58 I think the majority of his understanding
04:01 of the geopolitical universe is great.
04:04 I think he's a part of the First Minister
04:07 and maybe other candidates to come forward.
04:09 Whoever they are, we can all wish them well.
04:11 All I say is that if there is a government,
04:13 let's make sure that we're talking about candidates
04:15 up to who he's talking about.
04:16 - Okay.
04:17 - And Rachel, just lastly, at the point of recording this,
04:20 we still don't know whether Kate Forbes is running,
04:23 but we know she will be speaking
04:25 over the next couple of hours to confirm that.
04:27 I noted you said this could be Hums' last FMQs.
04:32 Realistically, if it's just John Swinney
04:34 and there's no other challenges,
04:36 does that mean he could be in place
04:38 as quickly as Thursday next week?
04:40 - Well, that certainly could happen if it is the case.
04:42 So nominations for SMP leader close on Monday.
04:45 If it gets to Monday and it is only John Swinney,
04:48 potentially, yes, you could then be looking at
04:50 the vote to replace him as First Minister
04:52 happening in the chamber as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday.
04:55 So potentially, yes, potentially that could happen.
04:58 Like you said, we are expecting something
04:59 to come from Kate Forbes later on today.
05:01 Now, in John Swinney's leadership launch this morning,
05:05 he was very much saying that if he wins,
05:07 he's going to give Kate Forbes
05:08 a very senior position in the cabinet.
05:11 He wouldn't be drawn as to what that position would be,
05:13 but you'd expect it to be something
05:14 like Finance Secretary and Deputy First Minister.
05:18 Now, she is due to make a statement later today.
05:19 She was due to speak in the chamber at half past two.
05:22 That question from her has now been withdrawn.
05:25 So perhaps that is because she is due to make a statement.
05:28 But also we don't quite know if this is a full-on statement
05:30 in front of the media or if this is merely a press release.
05:33 So it wants to get a bit more clarity
05:34 as to whether it's a full media statement
05:36 or as to whether it's just an email.
05:37 I think at that point, we'll know a bit more
05:39 about whether she's going to announce
05:40 that she's standing or not.
05:42 Ivan McKee, one of the backbenchers
05:44 who backed Kate Forbes last year
05:45 and has again backed her this week,
05:48 when he was coming out of the chamber,
05:49 he was asked if this statement
05:50 is going to be a leadership launch.
05:52 And he merely said,
05:53 "You just have to wait to see what happens."
05:56 - You can get all the latest on Kate Forbes's decision
05:59 and also what John Swinney had to say this morning
06:03 at his leadership bid launch at scotsman.com.
06:08 It's amazing to think it was only a week ago
06:10 that Humza Yousaf was ripping up the Beaud House Agreement.
06:13 Things have moved extremely quickly.
06:15 And to think we may have a new first minister in place
06:18 in another week's time is a big change
06:21 of the world of Scottish politics.
06:22 Rachel, thanks very much for joining us.
06:24 You can get all the very latest
06:26 about the SNP leadership at scotsman.com.
06:29 Please follow us and pick up a copy of the paper tomorrow.
06:32 Thanks, everyone.
06:32 (upbeat music)
06:36 (upbeat music)