. -- strathclyde.— 2005. -- strathclyde. that was a ress 2005. -- strathclyde. was a press conference with police i press conference with police scotland, who said they let victims down in 2005 with their policing. this obviously comes after a formal apology from the police service for their response, and their investigation into the murder of emma caldwell in 2005. earlier they said that emma caldwell have family and many of the victims were let down, for that we are very sorry. they also added that the reinvestigation of the case has been extremely challenging and has said it's without doubt the largest police inquiry of recent times in scotland. well let's listen to a part of the caldwell family solicitor who made this impassioned statement outside the court in glasgow in the last hour. {lister statement outside the court in glasgow in the last hour. over the ears i glasgow in the last hour. over the years i have _ glasgow in the last hour. over the years i have stood _ glasgow in the last hour. over the years i have stood on _ glasgow in the last hour. over

the from the university of strathclyde is now with us.— from the university of strathclyde is now withons and was reflected in your previous contribution is the fact it looks as though reform uk are able to win notable share of the vote. we know from the polling data that a lot of thatis from the polling data that a lot of that is coming from people who voted conservative in 2019 stop not all of them will necessarily go conservative if reform uk went on the ballot paper but it is clear reform uk will do more damage to the conservatives than to the labour party and that's not going to be enough for reform uk themselves to win a seat but it increases the risk to conservative mps that they will lose their seat to the labour party especially if you bear in mind that in these constituencies, the constituencies, the predecessor the brexit party of reform uk did not stand because they stood down on our seats conservatives were not defending. richard tye, the former —— the current reform uk leader has said that will not happen. the fact they're taking votes from conservatives, the evidence at

margaret believes she was betrayed by strathclyde police and by sir stephen howes and his senior detectivescommissioner of the metropolitan police and i understand presently suspended. 0n metropolitan police and i understand presently suspended. on his watch in 2015, the counter corruption unit unlawfully spied on police officers who blamed iain packer and try to uncover the sunday mail sources. when the police should have been more concerned with taking a serial rapist and killer of the streets. we were told that it may 2016, that investigation called operation montay left by a chief superintendent was to reconcile a series of complaints received in connection with the investigation of the murder of emma caldwell. the family have no trust in the police or crown 0ffice investigating themselves in the coming days we have been told we will meet with the first minister, with the lord advocate and the chief constable. if there is no time limit on justice, then any officers retired or not, suspected of criminality must be prosecuted and those are our criminaljustice prosecuted and those are our

thejustice to speak up at the time, also did not get the justice and support they needed and deserved from strathclyde the trial at the high court in glasgow has found packer to be one of the most prolific sex offenders in scottish history. today's guilty verdict is justice for emma's family. butjustice delivered perhaps years later than it could have been, leaving a dangerous killer free to continue offending. again a reminder of the breaking news, that one of the uk's most high profile, unsolved murders of the last two decades, has been resolved, after iain packer was found guilty of the murder of 27—year—old emma caldwell. he has beenjailed 27—year—old emma caldwell. he has been jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 36 years. emma's body was found in a remote part of south lanarkshire in may 2005, five weeks after she disappeared. today a jury weeks after she disappeared. today a jury at glasgow high court found iain packer guilty of her murder, along with 32 other charges against along with 32 other charges against a total of 22 women. a second ago we showed use an interview with iain

also with us is polling guru sirjohn curtice now, professor of politics at the university of strathclydef course for being with us. i wanted to start, we were talking about willingboro with harry, and there is quite a lot on social media saying labour going to win this. you have your ear to the ground, what are you hearing at the moment respect well, it's certainly true that twitter, including some professional journalists twitter, including some professionaljournalists on twitter, which perhaps is more important, are saying both the labour sources and conservative sources are in agreement that labour have won the constituency, just to remind everybody, this is the more difficult of the two by—elections tonight for labour to win, it requires an 18% swing, it requires the kind of swing, it requires the kind of swing not far short of the over 20% swing set labour security is the by—elections back in autumn. iii is the by-elections back in autumn-— is the by-elections back in autumn. ., , is the by-elections back in autumn. . , , autumn. if indeed that ends up bein: the autumn. if indeed th

lightning started off their season with a win over surrey storm, 63—50... with team bath just edging strathclydedon pulse were beaten by manchester thunder. and the game between cardiff dragons up against the saracens mavericks finished 48 all. duane chambers' return to the british indoor athletics championships at the age of 45 took him as far as the semi finals of the 60 metres in birmingham. running from lane one on the right chambers... who won the world title in this event... finished last in his semi final... which was won by eventual championjeremiah azu... who's less than half chambers' age. amy hunt is the women's sixty metres champion. the 21 year old's strong finish saw her take the title in a time of 7.26 seconds ahead of bianca williams. cindy sember secured her place at next month's world indoor championships in glasgow in the heats of the 60 metres hurdles and followed that up with the title in a time of 7.99 seconds. the final day of competition concludes tomorrow. and finally despite being woken in the middle of the night after her hotel room flooded following heavy rain, charle

sirjohn curtice, professor of politics at strathclyde university, has been following the by electionsning us, you have been up all night and you are still going. let me ask you the big question. do you think these results suggest that keir starmer�*s labour party will secure a victory at the next general election?— secure a victory at the next general election? these results certainly do _ general election? these results certainly do nothing _ general election? these results certainly do nothing to - general election? these results certainly do nothing to cast - certainly do nothing to cast any doubt on that proposition that didn't exist beforehand. it has long looked, really ever since the downfall of liz truss backin since the downfall of liz truss back in the autumn of 2022, that labour had an excellent chance of winning a general election. we have now seen overnight two very substantial swings from conservatives to labour. they are on top of substantial swings in by—elections in the second half of last year, and therefore in a sense the evidence is all of a sense the evidence is a

lightning started off their season with a win over surrey storm, 63—50, with team bath just edging strathclydeagainst the saracens mavericks — a short while ago it was 2a—29. duane chambers' return to the british indoor athletics championships at the age of a5 took him as far as the semi—finals of the 60 metres in birmingham. running from lane one on the right, chambers, who won the world title in this event, finished last in his semi—final which was won by eventual championjeremiah azu, who's less than half chambers' age. amy hunt is the women's sixty metres champion. the 21—year—old's strong finish saw her take the title in a time of 7.26 seconds ahead of bianca williams. cindy sember secured her place at next month's world indoor championships in glasgow in the heats of the 60 metres hurdles and followed that up with the title in a time of 7.99 seconds. you can watch the athletics on the bbc sport website and iplayer. the heats for the 1500 metres are the final events in birmingham today. the final day of the championships gets underway at 1130 tomorrow morning. and finally despite being wo

niaht, also with us is polling guru sirjohn curtice now, professor of politics at the university of strathclyde know you always enjoy these nights. a big test for conservatives and labour tonight. it is indeed. there are two rather different constituencies, kingswood is a seed that labour actually one of he comfortably went tony blair was prime minister and the 97,2001 and 2005 elections, contrary to what pat mcfadden implied in his statement about labour, actually kingswood if in the next general election were being fought on the current boundaries which they are not going to become a kingswood would actually be in the list of seats that they say labour would need to pick up if they need the majority. the swing of 11% is a little bit less than the swing we are seeing we might need here in order to get a majority in the general election, willingboro in contrast a requires an 18% swing, thatis contrast a requires an 18% swing, that is above the swing that is currently being recorded in the national opinion polls, which is around about 14.5% at the moment. but as the conservatives themselves be r

earlier i spoke with polling guru sirjohn curtice, professor of politics at the university of strathclydetion, just reflected in your previous contribution, is the fact that it does now look as though reform uk are able to win a notable share of the vote. we know from the polling data that a lot of that is coming from people who voted conservative in 2019. not all of them will necessarily vote conservative if reform went on the ballot paper, but it is pretty clear that reform will do more damage to the conservatives than they are to labour. and that is not going to be enough for reform themselves to win a seat, but it does increase the risk to conservative mps that they will lose their seat to labour, particularly if you bear in mind that is in the two constituency reform predecessor, the brexit party, did not stand in 2019 because they stood down and all the seats the conservatives were defending. richard tice, the current reform leader, has made it clear thatis reform leader, has made it clear that is not going to happen. the evidence of recent opinion polls, that reform are now taking

strathclyde, sir john curtice. good as always , john. good to see you as always, john.'s all it's not about the reality . it's about the optics, reality. it's about the optics, isn't it ? isn't it? >> well, i think the first thing i want to say is that mr sunak is clearly a lucky man. he is clearly very rich. his wife by reputation is also very rich. and i suppose one could say that given frankly, he he's not reliant on his income as prime minister or indeed he need not necessarily be reliant on the income from any job he might do. um, in a sense, he can certainly argue that he's engaging in pubuc argue that he's engaging in public service . but that said, public service. but that said, of course, what his wealth has long been used for occasions by his opponents, although , of his opponents, although, of course, it's a very narrow line to tread between seemingly engaging in unnecessary personal attack and, uh, a casting doubt on his judgement is still whether or not occasionally it does mean that he seems somewhat out of touch. and i suppose it was exemplified qualifica

strathclyde, sir john curtice. sir john, always good to see you. look, do every you. for the out what this all means for the national can we do that national picture. can we do that in this case or not? >> well, it shouldn't be done in isolation and it needs to be done with care in particular, what we should be doing is comparing by elections with by elections . then looking at what elections. then looking at what has followed in the wake of different kinds of by—election results , be aware that history results, be aware that history isn't guaranteed to repeat itself and then you know , draw itself and then you know, draw a measured conclusion. so the government, uh, way back now at 10:00 on thursday, uh, the conservative party at least issued a statement saying, well, you know, governments always lose and we lose by elections. and we shouldn't well shouldn't be surprised. well it's true that often voters will use by elections as a means of protesting against the government, particularly if they're unhappy with it. but that doesn't mean to say that the government nece

we'rejoined now by sirjohn curtice, professor of politics at the university of strathclyde.hose two by—elections and what they signify. impression of those two by-elections and what they signify.— and what they signify. there are three big headlines, _ and what they signify. there are three big headlines, naga. - and what they signify. there are three big headlines, naga. the| and what they signify. there are - three big headlines, naga. the first is that they confirm that the conservatives are still in deep, deep electoral trouble. the 21 point drop in their support in kingswood is in line with that 19, 20 point drop they have an opinion piles. the drop they have an opinion piles. the drop in wellingborough is actually the biggest loss that conservatives have had in a post—war by—election. it could be the circumstances regarding peter bone a's downfall and his replacement by his partner might have added to the woes there but this morning we are still looking at a government that at the moment is staring defeat in the face at the next general election. headline number two is