The Scotsman Bulletin Thursday October 09 2025 #Politics #Gaza

The Scotsman

Transcript

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

00:04My name is Dale Miller, I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman

00:06and I'm joined by our political correspondent Rachel Amory

00:10who's coming to us from Holyrood.

00:13Rachel, we've got another big day coming up.

00:16I know we're going to be speaking a little later today

00:18in the wake of the First Minister's questions

00:20but we're discussing here firstly the front page of today's Scotsman

00:26and we're led on private school roles dropping by 1,000 pupils across the country.

00:31This is information that's been put out by the Scottish Council for Independent Schools

00:36and they're looking at the change following the introduction of VAT fees

00:42from the Labor government and what it has meant for effectively pupils

00:48that are at private schools and whether they've moved away

00:51to public secondary or primary schools.

00:56Their records show 1,000 pupils moving which is a significant change.

01:03We know we've heard a lot from individual private schools

01:06including those as prestigious as Freddy's College

01:08about the impact that it's had on their intake and their finances as well.

01:14So you can read that full story from Katrina Stewart at scotsman.com.

01:19Not on the front page but it broke early this morning, Rachel,

01:23and that was some movement on Gaza coming a couple of weeks

01:28after we saw Donald Trump get up with Benjamin Netanyahu

01:31and basically talk about a potential peace plan.

01:35Well, we've had movement on that this morning.

01:37Can you talk us through?

01:37Yeah, so Donald Trump has announced that both Israel and Hamas

01:42have agreed to the first phase of his peace plan for Gaza.

01:46Now, there'll be more developments throughout the day.

01:48I believe the Israeli authorities are due to meet around 2 p.m. Jerusalem time,

01:53that's around midday hour time, to sort of try and agree to this peace deal.

01:57Now, if they do agree, it'll be an immediate ceasefire

02:00and one of the first things that will be happening

02:01is that Israeli troops will be withdrawn from the Gaza Strip

02:05and around 400 aid trucks will then go into Gaza.

02:09That's expected to take around five days.

02:11So there'll be 24 hours if it's agreed to at midday today

02:15for the Israeli troops to withdraw from Gaza

02:17and from that point, there'll be 72 hours for Hamas

02:20to release all Israeli hostages back as well.

02:24And amongst all of this too,

02:25there are hundreds of Palestinian prisoners as well in Israel

02:28that are part of that exchange deal.

02:30So a lot of things potentially going to be happening

02:32in the next few hours in the Middle East.

02:35And we've had a lot of reaction across from around the world

02:37and of course here in the UK and Scotland as well.

02:40Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister,

02:42said it was a great day for Israel.

02:43Hamas has said that we will never abandon our people's rights

02:46until freedom, independence and self-determination are achieved.

02:50Donald Trump, he's been posting on his social,

02:52truth social platform as well,

02:54saying it was a great day for the Arab and Muslim world,

02:57Israel, Saudi nations and for the USA as well.

03:00And Keir Starmer has said it's a moment of profound relief.

03:03Now we've heard in Scotland as well,

03:05from Prime Minister Hamza Youssef.

03:07Of course, his wife is half-Palestinian

03:10and he is saying he hopes and prays

03:12that the ceasefire will hold.

03:14So plenty more to come to date.

03:16It's all quite fragile at the moment,

03:18but this is what we are expecting to happen.

03:19And if the ceasefire deal is agreed,

03:21a lot is moving over the next few days in Israel and Gaza.

03:25And we know there's been talk in previous reporting

03:28about the role that some figures may play

03:30if the ceasefire and the peace deal does hold for the foreseeable will.

03:35Former Prime Minister Tony Blair be involved

03:39in a transitional authority.

03:41Some of these measures have been discussed.

03:43We know that Blair has been involved with talks

03:46with the White House throughout as part of this process

03:49over recent weeks.

03:51There'll be a lot more to play out on this,

03:53so you can follow the latest at scotsman.com.

03:56Rachel, it's been a big week as always in Scottish politics,

04:00but we've got the S&P conference coming up this weekend.

04:03Can you just lay the scene for those tuning in a little bit?

04:09What's the build-up been and how important do you see this weekend

04:13for John Swinney and the S&P ahead of next year's election?

04:18Yeah, so the conference kicks off in Aberdeen on Saturday.

04:20It runs all the way through until Monday.

04:23And we've got lots of speeches coming up,

04:24including from John Swinney and the S&P leader Stephen Flynn

04:28and Deputy First Minister Katie Forbes as well,

04:31all due to making speeches there.

04:32Now, of course, this is their last big conference

04:35before the 2026 Hollywood election.

04:38So it's very much a chance for the party to get together,

04:41come up with an election strategy

04:43and try and figure out how it is that they can win

04:45the Hollywood election next year.

04:47That's going to be the main focus of the conference this weekend.

04:50Another big part of the conference

04:51will be the independence strategy.

04:53Now, that's because yesterday,

04:55John Swinney unveiled a new independence paper.

04:57We've got some analysis on our website

04:59from our political editor, Alistair Grant,

05:01if any of the listeners want to take a read of that

05:03and what it is that he has been trying to say in this paper.

05:06Now, that's going to be debated at Parliament.

05:09John Swinney is bringing forward an independence strategy as well,

05:12sort of saying that a win for the S&P at the next election

05:16is a mandate to call for a second independence referendum.

05:19Now, there is some within the S&P who are trying to challenge that.

05:23They would rather see more action,

05:25saying that a win would be an automatic mandate

05:28rather than trying to look for an independence referendum.

05:31So lots to discuss when it comes to independence

05:33and the election strategy over the next few days.

05:37But myself and our deputy political editor, David Ball,

05:39we are both going to be in Aberdeen all weekend

05:41to bring you all the latest.

05:42So if listeners and watchers want to keep an eye

05:45on the Scotsman's Politics homepage,

05:47you will get all of the news throughout the weekend

05:49as to what happens at S&P Conference.

05:51And we know a conference being open in terms of big speeches

05:54by Stephen Flynn.

05:56He has one eye on being at the Scottish Parliament

05:59in the wake of next year's election.

06:01We know he will be running alongside others looking

06:06to make the shift from Westminster or pass Westminster roles

06:10down to Holyrood as well.

06:13You can read all the latest, as Rachel says,

06:16at the Scotsman homepage.

06:18Please follow us on all social media channels,

06:21Facebook X Blue Sky, and pick up a copy

06:25of the Scotsman in print tomorrow.

06:27We'll have the very latest on where things have got to

06:29with that peace deal and talks around the ceasefire

06:33relating to Israel, Hamas, and the Gaza Strip.

06:37Thanks very much to you, Rachel,

06:38and thanks to everyone else for tuning in.

06:41Bye-bye.

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