The Scotsman Bulletin Wednesday October 29 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. I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman and I'm joined by

00:08political correspondent Rachel Amory. Rachel, it is a busy day in terms of

00:14Scottish politics. We've got plenty to talk about. I just want to pull up the

00:19front page of today's Scotsman firstly. And we led on the Prime Minister,

00:24Sir Keir Starmer, who spoke to our Westminster correspondent, Andrew Quinn.

00:28He was defending the barracks plan for migrants. This is the plan or proposal

00:34to put up to 300 migrants or asylum seekers in Cameron Barracks up near Inverness.

00:41There's one other military barracks at this stage in the UK that's been chosen

00:45to house asylum seekers. There was confirmation yesterday that more sites

00:50were being looked at as potential housing areas, but hasn't been received

00:57well all round, including Highland Council that has raised some concerns

01:04about the plan in question. Also, the local Labor candidate for next year's

01:08Holyrood election branded the plan bizarre, which is an interesting one

01:13when both him and Keir Starmer sit within the same party.

01:17I think there'll be more to play out there. You can read that full story

01:20at scotsman.com. Rachel, just off the bat, there is an announcement

01:26that for next year's Holyrood elections, there will be no overnight count.

01:32It will take place during the day, which is significant.

01:36Before we get into a few of your stories, do you just want to give me

01:40your thoughts on that? It obviously takes away maybe a bit of a romance

01:45of the overnight count.

01:47I know it does a little bit. When I first saw that coming out earlier

01:50on this morning, I was a little bit disappointed because I do always look

01:52forward to the overnight counts. There is a bit of excitement about that.

01:56The clock counting down to 10 o'clock and then the rush to try and get the

01:59papers in, who gets their ballot papers into the hall first, all of that

02:04kind of thing. So it's a bit of a shame that we're not going to have that

02:07this year. The decision has been taken because they say that it's better,

02:11it's more accurate if the staff counting the votes are better rested,

02:15which will happen if the count takes place during the day.

02:20This is what happened in 2021 because of the COVID pandemic.

02:22The counts are done over two days. If you remember, day one was all

02:25the constituency votes and then day two, which was on a Saturday,

02:28was all the regional list votes. So I think they're perhaps looking

02:31at what happened in 2021 and now going forward with this plan here.

02:35But yeah, it looks a bit disappointed. It does take a bit of the fun

02:37and excitement out of the election counts.

02:38Yeah, it's interesting. We could easily expect it to run over two days

02:42again like we did during COVID. So watch this space for more details

02:46in the initial story up at scotsman.com. Rachel, you've got a couple

02:50of really strong stories that our listeners and those viewing in can read

02:57on the Scotsman site. Firstly, it was won and came via and is referred

03:03to in Jackie Bailey's column today as well. But the case of a woman

03:07that was heavily pregnant was left wandering the streets of Inverness

03:12for about 12 hours a night. Can you talk us through this?

03:16Yeah, this is issues with maternity care up in the far North Highlands.

03:21This is something that I did in my previous job and I worked

03:23at the Preston Journal as well because it's been an issue that's been

03:26ongoing for a very long time. So 2016, the maternity services

03:29in Caithness General Hospital, which I think is in Wick, were downgraded

03:34and it's now no longer consultant-led. That means that about 90%

03:38of women in the area travel to Inverness to give birth.

03:42Now that is over 100 miles. In the wintertime, that road is pretty

03:46impassable because of bad weather. In the summertime, there are

03:49significant delays because of all the tourists on the North Coast

03:52500 route as well. So we've been hearing about a few different women

03:56and the issues that they have had. And this one in particular, that

03:59the group of campaigners has spoken about, Ashlyn. She had travelled

04:03to Inverness to have an induction. However, I was told when she

04:07arrived at the Aegmore Hospital that there was no room for her and

04:09so she was to go home and come back later. However, that couldn't

04:14be done. She lives over 100 miles away in Caithness. So going back

04:17home for two hours was not an option. So she said that she was

04:20basically left to wander the streets of Inverness and she had to keep

04:24going back to be told that there was no hospital beds available. So

04:27we went back out and came back in and back out. So in total, it was

04:3012 hours before she was finally admitted into hospital and given

04:34the induction that she had been travelling down to see. But we

04:38were told by the Caithness Health Action Group, this is not an

04:40unusual story. This happens time and time again. They said that

04:43there's been plenty of horror stories that they have described

04:46it of different women and the experiences that they have gone

04:49through. They ultimately want to see the unit in Caithness General

04:53Hospital brought back to what it was in 2016. And in the meantime,

04:58before that happens, they want to see Caithness treated like an

05:01island health board. So they were saying that people in Orkney and

05:04Shetland in particular, for example, they are often transferred to

05:08the mainland, but they do that by air ambulance, by helicopter,

05:11accommodations provided for them, for example. And they said that Caithness,

05:16because it's so remote and so inaccessible during certain months of

05:21the year, that Caithness should be treated as an island health board when

05:24it comes to this sort of issue. So quite a distressing story to hear

05:28that there. And clearly a lot of things going on in the far North

05:31Islands that are causing a lot of issues in the area.

05:35And Rachel, also quite a damning report into the maternity unit at

05:40Edinburgh Royal Infirmary out this morning. Can you talk us through that?

05:44Also, Max, for tough reading, particularly if you're a young

05:48parent?

05:49Yeah, so obviously into the country, but again, seeing similar

05:52problems with the maternity services. So this is on the back

05:55of an unannounced inspection that took place in June at the

05:58maternity unit at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. And it was basically

06:02highlighting sort of really bad understaffing issues. And that was

06:05causing frustration, it was causing patient safety issues, for

06:08example, as well. And seeing the staff are feeling overwhelmed by the

06:13amount of work that they were having to do. Inspectors were

06:15noting that terms of observation charts were not being completed

06:19properly, that women were having to, to wait up to 29 hours for

06:22inductions, they're having to wait hours as well for other

06:26procedures to be taken, be carried out as well. So it's one of

06:29these things, we've now got a very remote community in the far

06:34North Highlands, and then a very urban community in Lothian and in

06:37Edinburgh, both experiencing some issues there with maternity care. Now,

06:41HS Lothian's chief executive has apologised on the back of this

06:45report that's been released this morning. And Health Secretary Neil

06:49Gray has said that he is deeply disappointed with what has been

06:52recorded in this report from the inspectors. So again, not a great

06:56news story when it comes to young families in the Lothian area

07:00either.

07:00You can read all three of those stories that we've discussed the

07:05changes with the election count next year, and also Rachel's story

07:09on the situation in Inverness, and as well, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and

07:16that that major report out this morning. We'll also have fresh

07:21coverage over the next 12 to 24 hours. John Swinney, speaking at two

07:26events today, an IPPR Think Tank event, but also the Just Transition

07:32Commission conference that is taking place today. We've got our political

07:37editor, Alistair Grant, and our deputy political editor, David Boll,

07:41across both of those. And you'll be hearing more from Sir Keith Starmer

07:45via our Westminster correspondent, Andrew Quinn, as well, who will bring you

07:50the latest from his interview with the PM. Rachel, thanks to you. Thanks to

07:55everyone else for tuning in. Bye.

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