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EU stance on British fishing ‘can’t be right’
Raab said that the rights of British fishing communities were still a crucial component of the potential deal, though he stopped short of implying that fish could bring the whole deal crashing down:
SR: If you look at reports, the UK wants British fisherman to have access to 80% of fish caught in UK waters. The EU thinks it should be 18%. That feels like a big difference.
DR: I think it is a significant difference… 18% control of fish in our own waters? That can’t be right… [But] I think there’s a deal to be done.
Sajid Javid is ‘a great guy’
Ridge also couldn’t resist floating the latest Westminster gossip ahead of an expected government reshuffle:
SR: There’s lots of talk about Sajid Javid becoming the next Foreign Secretary. Are you looking over your shoulder a bit?
DR: Not really… Forgive me, I don’t pay too much attention to the tittle-tattle… Sajid’s a great guy… I’m working very effectively with [the Prime Minister] and the Chancellor and everyone else in the Cabinet.
Nicola Sturgeon – Scotland’s education attainment gap ‘is not widening’
Andrew Marr’s major interview slot was with the First Minister of Scotland. Marr asked about Scotland’s progress in closing the education attainment gap between young people from the wealthiest and the poorest backgrounds:
NS: … The evidence doesn’t bear it out that the attainment gap is getting wider… On a number of indicators we see evidence of the attainment gap closing…
AM: Despite [extra] funding, the gap is spreading…
NS: …The gap is not widening… We see more young people from deprived backgrounds leaving with qualifications, Highers in particular… There are record numbers of pupils from deprived areas going to university… Is it job done? Absolutely not.
Inquiry into Alex Salmond ‘must take its course’
It has been widely reported that Sturgeon and her predecessor as First Minister no longer see eye to eye. Alex Salmond resigned his SNP membership in 2018 to fight allegations of sexual harassment being made against him – and made clear that he would reapply if he won his case, which he did earlier this year. Marr asked Sturgeon if she would like to see her former mentor back in the party. Sturgeon did not take the opportunity to welcome Salmond back with open arms:
NS: There’s a parliamentary inquiry underway… Of course, Alex Salmond was acquitted in a court of law, and no one can gainsay that… I think it’s important to allow the processes underway to take their course.
‘I do not accept’ there is a gap between ‘presentation and reality’
Marr challenged Sturgeon over what she had known about the allegations against Salmond. He played a clip from 2018, in which Sturgeon appeared to deny that she had known anything about the allegations until April of that year:
AM: Was that true?
NS: I stand by what I said…
AM: …You’ve given written submission to the inquiry saying that you knew in November 2017… It seems to me that… there is a gap between how you present yourself… and what has really been going on in Scotland.
NS: I don’t accept that, but ultimately… the judge of that will be the people of Scotland.
Lisa Nandy – Labour not committing to vote for the tier system
The shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy told Marr that Labour was not currently preparing to vote in favour of the government’s tier system which, alongside a backbench Conservative rebellion, could spell major trouble for the government’s plans:
LN: The reason that I’m not committing to vote for these measures is because we’re not convinced at the moment that they are either sufficient or workable. It’s not too late for the government to convince us of that, but… they haven’t even published the regulations yet, let alone the economic or health impact assessments.
Jim McMahon – Government needs a plan for transport over Christmas
The shadow transport secretary outlined Labour’s request for the government to get its house in order, as it makes preparations to lift Covid restrictions in time for Christmas:
JM: What we’re really concerned about is that there are engineering works taking place on the national highway network, [and] also on the railways… The peak and off-peak ticket arrangement [creates] an artificial bottleneck that just isn’t needed… We think there are very practical steps the government can take in order to get ahead.
Hugh Osmond – Covid measures are destroying lives
And finally, the entrepreneur Hugh Osmond, a former Conservative donor, told Ridge that the tier system would have a catastrophic effect on businesses in the hospitality sector, and on the nation more generally:
HO: People in hospitality are seeing their businesses shut down with people out of work all across the country…. If [Boris Johnson] destroys… those jobs and those businesses… there will be extensive misery. He needs to get out and meet some of the people whose lives he’s destroying.
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