The Scotsman Bulletin Wednesday September 24 2025 #Politics

The Scotsman

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Daily Video Bulletin for this Wednesday.

00:04My name's Dale Miller.

00:05I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman and I'm joined by political correspondent Rachel Amory.

00:10Rachel, we'll get to talking about a few things on the Scottish political front shortly.

00:17I just want to touch on the front page of today's Scotsman first.

00:21And we'll let on the exclusive SBS, Scottish Prison Service boss, Theresa Medhurst,

00:26talking about the situation inside Scottish jails, so that they're simmering on the brink of a crisis,

00:33delving into her concerns for where the system is at.

00:36We know that the Scottish Government agreed the release of several hundred prisoners

00:43to try to ease some of the burden on the prison service.

00:47And one of Scotland's major jails is being redeveloped to try to expand the deal

00:55with the pressures on the prison service as well.

00:59It's an important read, an important story by Martin McLaughlin there.

01:02You can read that at scotsman.com for all the very latest.

01:06And the Ryder Cup, you'll see that in the main picture there.

01:09It is getting underway later this week, but there is plenty to read about in the build-up

01:15with Bob McIntyre flying the flag for Scotland as part of the Europe team.

01:20But Martin Dempster is out there in New York.

01:23He's been writing about his predictions.

01:26He's also covered off on the course and some lukewarm receptions to just whether it is

01:32a great course or not for the tournament this year.

01:35Rachel, plenty else to talk about on the politics front.

01:39Now, I want to ask you about the housing bill because you've written a bit of a piece

01:42explaining what's in it and what could change on the back of it.

01:45But the debate continues today around the bill.

01:50Just bring us up to speed about why this is important.

01:54Yeah, this is actually a massive bill.

01:55It's taking a long time for MSPs to get through stage three of this bill.

02:01So they sat quite late last night.

02:03MSPs are going to sit again late tonight.

02:06And there's talk about potentially being moved into a third day, which would take place on

02:10Tuesday.

02:11So a really big piece of legislation here.

02:13These two days, they are going over 400 amendments.

02:18That's why it's taking so long.

02:20And that's after about 700 amendments at stage two.

02:22So it's huge, this bill.

02:25That being said, if it passes, then there could be some really big changes to happen to housing

02:30legislation in Scotland.

02:32I think the big headline that we're wanting to talk about is rent controls.

02:36So that would put a cap on rent increases to inflation plus 1% and no more than that.

02:43So that would be the big headline.

02:45There are, of course, exemptions to that.

02:46If there's, if a tenant's needing to have repairs done and things like that, there are

02:51exemptions and whatnot.

02:52But that being said, that's the sort of big headline there.

02:55Last night, I think the big thing to come out was the fact that students are going to be

02:59exempt from rent controls as well.

03:01That was something the Scottish Greens wanted to bring forward, but it seems to have been

03:04rejected in last day's discussion.

03:07Plenty more to go today.

03:08Some protections around evictions, for example.

03:11Protections around those suffering from domestic abuse.

03:14Some more rights in terms of having pets in homes, for example.

03:18What happens to council tax, particularly if you've got a second home.

03:22So loads of things happen on this housing bill.

03:23And that is why it's taking just so much time to go through.

03:28And, Rachel, it may, I mean, the word is may even extend into the start of next week.

03:36Is this, is it going to be one of the most significant pieces of legislation passed for

03:41quite some time?

03:43And practically, do you think it will have a significant impact for people?

03:47It's difficult to know if it's going to be one of the biggest pieces, because, you know,

03:50only last week we had the Justice Reform Bill passed.

03:54And that was huge, because that abolished the not proven verdict.

03:56So, yes, it's a big piece of legislation.

03:59It will make a huge difference, particularly to those who are in rented accommodation,

04:03which, as we know, that's a lot of people.

04:06So it will be a big change.

04:09Is it the biggest change recently?

04:10I don't know, because there's so many other bills being discussed right now.

04:13But it's certainly quite far-reaching, quite, quite far, yeah, far-reaching.

04:18There's so much in this bill to sort of get your teeth into, really, and a lot to look

04:23at, particularly if you're a renting or particularly if you are a landlord yourself.

04:27Now, we're recording this as John Swinney has been speaking at an event in Glasgow,

04:32giving a speech, Deputy Political Editor David Boll at that, and he will bring you the

04:37latest, which you can get at scotsman.com.

04:39I wouldn't be surprised, Rachel, if he's asked about his reassembled cabinet.

04:45Jamie Hepburn, a former SNP minister, was forced to stand down.

04:51He had to give an apology yesterday.

04:53He decided to give an apology in Parliament.

04:55Can you just talk us through that?

04:57And does that mean this issue with Douglas Ross linked back into the Seagull Summit is done

05:04with us today?

05:06It might very well be.

05:07He has apologised now.

05:09The Seagull Summit has been and gone.

05:11That was yesterday at Inverness.

05:12So that could be the end of it.

05:14I'm sure John Swinney will want to be putting a cap on it and saying that's that dealt with.

05:19So as you were saying, Jamie Hepburn, he resigned from his position as parliamentary business

05:23minister on Friday.

05:24It was after the accusations from Douglas Ross that he physically assaulted him in Holyrood

05:29last week.

05:31Now, Graham Day, he has been moved into the parliamentary business portfolio instead.

05:37And Ben McPherson, I believe he represents Edinburgh North and Leith, I think it is.

05:42He has been put in as higher education minister.

05:45That's the post that Graham Day has vacated.

05:47What is quite interesting, though, is that there are pieces of legislation coming up in

05:51the next day or two, which were led by Graham Day, and they're now going to be led by Ben

05:56McPherson instead.

05:57So quite interesting to see how quickly things can change in government and in Parliament.

06:03Yeah, the positions have now been filled.

06:05Apologies have been made.

06:06Summit has happened.

06:07I think the SNP in particular will be very keen to not let it go any further and say that

06:12that's the end of it.

06:13And we know that higher education brief that Ben McPherson has stepped into, there's a fair bit

06:19going on with universities looking at redundancies, including Edinburgh and Dundee and colleges

06:25under pressure.

06:27We reported earlier this week that the Allowa campus of Fourth Valley College, a decision

06:31on its future and whether it has been delayed for now.

06:36You can read all about the stories that we've discussed here at scotsman.com.

06:40If you ever can't find our politics coverage, there's a politics tab in the navigation bar

06:44that takes you to all the very latest.

06:46And please go out and buy a copy of the Scotsman in print tomorrow.

06:50We'll have the latest from what John Sweeney has had to say as his party gears up for S&P

06:56conference happening next month.

06:58Rachel, thanks to you.

07:00Thanks to everyone else for tuning in.

07:02Bye-bye.

07:03Bye-bye.

07:04Bye-bye.

07:05Bye-bye.

07:06Bye-bye.

07:07Bye-bye.

07:08Bye-bye.

07:09Bye-bye.

07:10Bye-bye.

07:11Bye-bye.

07:12Bye-bye.

07:13Bye-bye.

07:14Bye-bye.

07:15Bye-bye.

07:16Bye-bye.

07:17Bye-bye.

07:18Bye-bye.

07:19Bye-bye.

07:20Bye-bye.

07:21Bye-bye.

07:22Bye-bye.

07:23Bye-bye.

07:24Bye-bye.

07:25Bye-bye.

07:26Bye-bye.

07:27Bye-bye.

07:28Bye-bye.

07:29Bye-bye.

07:30Bye-bye.

07:31Bye-bye.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended