our top story. the us senate has voted to acquit donald trump of both charges for which he was impeached. votes were cast along party lines, with the exception of one republican senator. the president said it was a victory for america, and tweeted this mock up of a time magazine cover. chinese authorities are reporting the biggest single—day increase in the number of new coronavirus cases. it total, nearly 25,000 people have been infected so far. there have been 560 deaths, the vast majority in china. and some newsjust in, the hollywood icon, kirk douglas has died. star of spartacus, and many other hollywood epics, he earned several 0scar nominations in the 1950s for both his acting and producing. his son, the actor michael douglas, described him as a movie legend and a great humanitarian.

now on bbc news it's hardtalk with stephen sackur. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. britain is formally out of the european union but for how much longer will it be a united kingdom? the scottish national party says brexit reinforces the need for scotla nd brexit reinforces the need for scotland to forge an independent future inside the eu. but in the face of implacable opposition from prime minister boris johnson, face of implacable opposition from prime minister borisjohnson, how do they get there? my guest is the smp leader in the uk parliament, ian blackford. but for all their passion are the smp lacking something?

-- smp. —— smp. —— -- smp. -- snp. —— smp. —— snp. welcome to hardtalk. it isa —— smp. —— snp. welcome to hardtalk. it is a pleasure to be here. would it be fairto it is a pleasure to be here. would it be fair to say that you and the snp see brexit as the moment of maximum opportunity for the independence movement? we certainly think that scotland should be independent in any event but brexit crystallises there. hearing what you we re crystallises there. hearing what you were saying there about leaving the european union, it pains me to listen to you say that. we do not accept that we should be out of the eu. my entire adult life has been as a citizen of europe. my grandchildren are going to lose

their automatic right and, quite frankly, it would damage us economically, socially and culturally. in scotland in many respects we are lucky because there isa respects we are lucky because there is a roadmap for us and that is through becoming independent i'm becoming a member of the eu in our own right. the battle lines have been drawn between you and boris johnson but it is plain that in terms of the commanding heights, the high ground in this battle, he has the heights and you do not. let us wait and see. when you look at the recent history and the referendum we had in 2014, we lost it and we accept that it not only did you lose it you accepted and nicola sturgeon and her predecessor had both clearly and her predecessor had both clearly and explicitly accepted that this was a once—in—a—lifetime opportunity for scotland to give its voice on that choice so once—in—a—lifetime means once in a lifetime. let's analyse that. what happened in that

campaign, we were told if we stayed in the uk we would stay in the eu and our rights as eu citizens would be respect that. but from that referendum what happened was that the smith commission was established to look what would happen with further powers for the scottish parliament. that was an all—party commission which all parties signed up commission which all parties signed up to and in that report was accepted it was up to the people of scotla nd accepted it was up to the people of scotland to determine the constitutional future. so there was no situation where it was accepted that we could not return to having a referendum on scottish independence in the future. that is a complicated argument about process but this will thing that the rest of the uk citizens understand is that you had a chance to vote for independence and bya a chance to vote for independence and by a clear majority, it was voted against. you want to run the whole thing again but that is not what you agreed to in the first place. there are two agreements that

are important. the first is the edinburgh agreement that established the scottish parliament had the power to call the referendum. that was a legal agreement. the power granted by westminster. there was nothing in that agreement that precluded having a referendum in the future and nothing that took place in the smith commission that precluded having another referendum. there may be nothing written down but it is quite clear that boris johnson with this mandate and this majority in the westminster parliament, he said in this formal response to nicola sturgeon ‘s saying we must have a second referendum, boris johnson said saying we must have a second referendum, borisjohnson said that a referendum, another one, would continue the political stagnation that scotland has seen the last it simply will not happen. however the uk we removed voted to remain a part in 2014 no longer exist. we have left the eu and the game has changed. having had we been told

that the you —— uk was a family of nations and we would leave the uk, scotla nd nations and we would leave the uk, scotland voted to remain. actually, there was a very crucial poll last week that showed that 73% of scottish people wanted to stay in europe. so we were being taken out against their wishes. europe. so we were being taken out against their wisheslj europe. so we were being taken out against their wishes. i have seen the poles on the latest showed 52% of scottish people approve of the idea of independence to in some respects you write hide in the poles but the problem is that you appear to be sending a message to the scottish people that somehow a second independence referendum is within reach when frankly it is not. and some of your former colleagues, people likejim sellers, a former deputy leader of the snp have accused nicola sturgeon of wilfully misleading supporters by suggesting there is a pathway to a second referendum when there is not.

there is a pathway to a second referendum when there is notlj respectfully say to jim, dear and old friend of mine, that we fought the election to the scottish parliament in 2016 on securing a mandate for it independence referendum and we warm that election. there has been a material change of circumstances are not only did we secure the 2016 mandate we have warm every election since then typically for the election of 2019 on the basis of scotland's right to choose, to reinforce that mandate the scottish government has. we warm 45% of the vote in scotland to i'm not sure you are addressing my key strategic question. what will you do as borisjohnson strategic question. what will you do as boris johnson emphatically rejects the notion that he and the westminster parliament will give you the right to a second referendum to examine your party already talking about taking this to lourdes. a colleague of yours is saying that we need a multifaceted strategy. she seems to be contemplating legal action to try and get the government

to back down on its opposition. what i would say to colleagues is to have a degree of patience. we havejust had an absolutely outstanding election result and if you go back and look at the eu elections, we got 38 descent of the vote in the eu elections. the higher share of the vote we have ever had in a european election and the high share of the vote that any party in western europe got in the european election. we are winning elections and boris johnson is not going to be able to hold this line to the he said no to the government of scotland a few weeks ago and look at what happened since then. the edinburgh parliament has voted by a majority of ten to reinforce that desire for an independence referendum to has that made a blind of difference to boris johnson's position? a straight a nswer johnson's position? a straight answer please. no is the answer. scottish people are a strong bunch and what you have seen in the policy

referred to, three polls over the course of the last few days, majority support for independence in each one and support for the snp in the forthcoming scottish election are sitting at 50% to borisjohnson cannot be a democracy denier, he cannot be a democracy denier, he cannot hold the line that westminster ca n cannot hold the line that westminster can say no to scotland. what i say to colleagues is that we need to stick with the strategy that is working which is uniting the people of scotland behind us and when you look at the polling you referred to, a substantial number of people who voted for other parties... hang on. iwant people who voted for other parties... hang on. i want to ask a few questions here. firstly, your message to joanna is few questions here. firstly, your message tojoanna is no, we will not ta ke message tojoanna is no, we will not take league and —— legal action. and another snp politician talks about constitutional convention. he wants to draw in other parties and talk to the trade unions and have a national conversation. you do not appear to wa nt to conversation. you do not appear to want to do that. that will happen. the first minister announced that

last friday to we need that support to secure scottish devolution and we need to create that engagement with civic scotland so there will be a constitutional convention where all scottish msps, departing meps and mps... this will be a cross—party basis. what about one of the lesson you may learn, that from catalonia when they could not get authorised station from madrid for a referendum and they cold their own and handled it themselves and we know what happened to would scotland consider doing that? what i say to you is that we are proving to be enormously —— enormously popular. that we are proving to be enormously -- enormously popular. that is not an answer to my question. it is. the strategy will wind in the end stop borisjohnson is a man with this hand over the bunsen burner and saying it does not hurt. we need to turn up pressure sitting he cannot turn up pressure sitting he cannot turn around and tell the people of

scotla nd turn around and tell the people of scotland that you cannot have the right to determine your own future. you won't turn out of —— turn up the pressure of the scottish people fall out of love with the snp? over the course the last few months, people talking about the impact brexit would have on their life and the fa ct would have on their life and the fact that the scottish people are delivering scottish government are delivering scottish government are delivering for the people to despite the evidence that the nhs in the education system are in crisis. do they come up to you and say thank goodness you are running our country well? if we were not getting on with our dayjob.... well? if we were not getting on with our day job.... it is well? if we were not getting on with our day job. . .. it is a question of how well you are doing it.|j our day job. . .. it is a question of how well you are doing it. i knocked on the door after door of people asking if they experience the benefit of the nhs and when they require the service, they have been delighted it was there for them. if you look at public satisfaction. . ..

they face a shortfall in the coming five years without significant reform. that is from audit scotland. the chair of the bma in scotland says that overall the nhs in scotla nd says that overall the nhs in scotland is in a parlous state. this words to parlous state and you have been running that service for goodness knows how many years. the fa ct goodness knows how many years. the fact remains we put more resources into the nhs. but it is not working. the new hospital in edinburgh which is massively delayed and overbudget and there are still fundamental problems that it cannot open. hills services around the world face challenges but when you look at the performance of our nhs, look at our ana performances. scottish people appraising you for the way you run

the country and for the parts of the snp is responsible for. if you look at scotland's placing in the index of oecd social and economic well—being, scotland is one of only three countries, three countries in europe where the opposition in the index has gone down. one of the challenges we have faced over the last few years has been austerity and that is controlled by westminster. when you talk about nhs budgeting, we have increased resources and we want to do more. we call for additional resources throughout the uk. but in real terms our budget has been cut by 5% and of course there are consequences of that squeeze that has been on our public finances by westminster. that a nswer re p rese nts public finances by westminster. that answer represents a problem for your political offer. according to the institute for fiscal studies if you are serious about running a strong and stable economy postindependence, the snp would have to take, quote

unquote, austerity further because of the nature of the scottish economy to the gross commission report shows that we can reach a sustainable position by investing in public services. if you look at the harsh reality of the moment we have had a uk government that has mismanaged the government postage efc. -- mismanaged the government postage efc. —— post gf see. mismanaged the government postage efc. -- post gf see. they have run the numbers on what a postindependence scottish economy would look like and because of, frankly, historically the reliance of scotla nd frankly, historically the reliance of scotland on tax revenue has been transferred from england, they conclude, let me finish, they conclude, let me finish, they conclude that postindependence and this is a direct quote, given the ageing population in scotland and the rising cost of healthcare, social care and pensions unless these demands were not met then it means elsewhere in the scottish budget, independent budget, they will have to be many and serious

cuts in public spending. the snp. that is what they have concluded. 0ne that is what they have concluded. one of the premises there is that scotla nd one of the premises there is that scotland has been subsidised by the ukfor scotland has been subsidised by the uk for how many years. that is not true. 0ver uk for how many years. that is not true. over the last 40 years and these are treasury figures, scotland has more than contributed its fair share of taxation and we have subsidised the rest of the uk. the reason we want independence for scotla nd reason we want independence for scotland is because we want to grow the economy and when you talk about the economy and when you talk about the ageing population, that is one of the challenges that we face we agreed. that is why we need to control migration in scotland because we need the lifeblood of people coming to live and work in scotla nd people coming to live and work in scotland to grow the economy.. you used to be a banker and you work for deutsche bank and you knew in 2015 in the run—up to the referendum, dodger bank issued a report and analysis where the chief economist said while it may sound simple and

costless to exit a three hundred year old union, costless to exit a three hundred yearold union, in costless to exit a three hundred year old union, in fact, costless to exit a three hundred year old union, infact, nothing could be further from the truth. pa rt could be further from the truth. part of that statement, they said financial institutions would leave scotla nd financial institutions would leave scotland but what they omitted to tell you was deutsche bank left scotla nd tell you was deutsche bank left scotland prior to independence referendum. they said they were actively looking at moving many of their office staff from scotland to england as a result of the possibility of a "yes" vote in 2014. you had a number of statements around that time, one that was often misquoted was that royal bank of scotla nd misquoted was that royal bank of scotland were going to move ahead office from scotland, which was then firmly denied. the simple fact of the matter is i can tell you i met many financial institutions, many banks, over the course of the last few months and they recognise the challenges we face in scotland and i don't find many of these financial institutions are worried about scotland's constitutional future and scotla nd scotland's constitutional future and scotland being independent. are you sure? the crucial difference is an independent scotland in europe would

become a destination... interesting you say that bring back brexit, which is where we began, surely now brexit has happened in the uk formally, you face serious and practical questions about the future. one, if you get your way, and we discussed if it's in anyway possible in the short run, if you get a second referendum and you win it and the scottish people vote to leave, you say you will immediately request to rejoin... rejoin the european union, although there would be an accession process. let's talk turkey. number one, trade with england still more than two—thirds of the scottish economy, there's going to be a hard border with england, isn't there? we don't know as we are sitting here today what the trading relationship will be between the uk and europe, i hope it's as close as possible and i would prefer to the uk remain in the single market. you know the uk, led by borisjohnson, single market. you know the uk, led by boris johnson, is single market. you know the uk, led by borisjohnson, is quite clear that it will not be in the single market and the customs union you

might as well start factoring that in right now. let me give you an example of what happens to ireland, go back 50 or 60 years, 90% of the irish trade was with the uk and last year the figure was 11% because the economy in ireland has globalised and they benefited from the opportunities of being independent in europe. there was a fascinating report from credit suisse during the referendum in 2014 about the success of small countries, small countries in europe tend to have a growth rate of 0.7% of gdp per annum higher than larger countries. those great opportunities for countries that can deliver on social policy with the correct architecture. you scotland don't know what currency would have as independent, in 2014 you said you would stick to the pound even though people in london and the city didn't think that would be possible, as well as many scots, but now you say you definitely won't have the pound. is that because you got an idea for your own currency or are you going

tojoin the your own currency or are you going to join the eurozone? we debated this at the party conference months ago and the settled position as we will keep the pounds, we will establish our own central bank and there will be a series of economic tests that will have to be met before an economic... assuming the bank of england were happy for you to keep the pound, you would be entirely reliant on a policy—making centre in london for your monetary... it wouldn't be a question of the bank of england agreeing to that because you can do that anyway, we wouldn't do that in a currency union, we would have a central bank that would have powers over the scottish economy stop the you know that phrase take back control, how would that in any way relate to what scotland would be if it still used at the pound, which ultimately the decisions about the currency were taken... for the simple reason that what excites me and what would get me up in the morning is delivering a stronger economy for scotland, delivering a fairer scotland, one that takes climate responsibilities properly and of course in order to

do that and you achieve the confidence of the financial markets, it's the right thing to do that we keep sterling for a transition period and a recommendation in the fullness of time would come from the central bank to the scottish parliament about a number of tests being met that would allow us to navigate towards our currency. that's a practical solution to take. what i'm trying to do is test and scrutinise what the snp message is to your own scottish people, it seems it's very confused. on the one hand you say you will keep the pound and recognise the authority of the bank of england, on the other hand you say we will definitelyjoin the eu, which will involve a long—term commitment tojoin eu, which will involve a long—term commitment to join the euro, and eu, which will involve a long—term commitment tojoin the euro, and it will give european fishermen rights to fish in scottish waters, something your own scottish fishermen have fought tooth and nail to get rid of. let's wait and see what happens with the negotiations overfishing for the last few months because barnaby joyce has said that european

fishermen will continue to have access to european waters. i remember the previous brexit secratary david davis danger me he wasn't in the business of making spanish and french fishermen redundant, so let's have a reality check with fishing. a final point, people will be interested to see this vision being painted through, you are going to have your own scottish military forces. you say you will spend 1.6% of gdp on them. that doesn't even meet the nato requirement for 2% of gdp and if one actually works through what it would mean, you wouldn't be able to afford what you have promised, a 15,000 strong army and all sorts of naval vessels, antisubmarine capability, you wouldn't be able to afford it. you are referring to historical figures and we will make an offer for our defence capabilities when we come to the independence period and when we're putting that in front of the people of scotland, but we will ta ke the people of scotland, but we will take responsibilities seriously and we will make sure we have investment both in our navy, our air force and

in ourarmy. isn't it true, ian blackford... weapons we want removed from scottish soil. we began by discussing whether this was a moment of maximum opportunity for the snp but it may turn out in the next year or two that they are moments of maximum dangerfor the snp. they are enormous opportunities and the questions i am able to answer... when you talk about the euro, as you said a second ago, there are requirements under the treaties to join the euro but there is a but. before joining join the euro but there is a but. beforejoining the euro, join the euro but there is a but. before joining the euro, you have to be in the exchange rate mechanism for a two—year period as a transition. joining that is entirely volu nta ry. transition. joining that is entirely voluntary. we meet the criteria as laid out for the european union by an independent country having a central bank. the eu is going to love you, sounds like you're trying to change the rules of the game before you have joined the club. we a cce pt joined the club. we accept the rules as they are, we will be a member of the eu and play ourform part as will be a member of the eu and play our form part as a will be a member of the eu and play ourform part as a member and something we enormously look forward

to. ian blackford, we are out of time u nfortu nately ian blackford, we are out of time unfortunately but thank you very much for watching me on hardtalk. thank you. high pressure will bring us fine and settled whether and you could call it the next few days the calm before the storm. here is our area of high pressure, slowly retreating back to the continent as we head through thursday and friday but it's still going to be strong enough to influence our weather. like winds in central and southern areas mean we

could start this morning with mist and fog, some could be quite dense and fog, some could be quite dense and stubborn to clear. some areas might hold onto it for all day. most it will, there are able amounts of cloud but also sunny spells and most of the cloud in western scotland and northern ireland. those temperatures peaking around seven or eight degrees but colder than that where any fog lingers. through thursday night, looks like it will stay dry. more of a breeze picking up out west. generally more of a breeze and it looks like it should be quite as cold to start friday as what we've seen the last few mornings. we start friday with a bit more of a breeze but also sunshine, that means we are less likely to mist and fog. good spells of sunshine through the day but the breeze will pick up from the south, particularly across western areas will see the first of the weather fronts pushing areas will see the first of the weatherfronts pushing into outbreaks of rain here and you will see temperatures lifting to ten. that first weather front spread through during friday night and it will be quite breezy and even windy in the north—west. that rain clears

from the east early on saturday morning and then we have a window of fine weather and this sunny weather could be the best weather of the weekend for most of us but it will turn windier, particularly in the west, gales develop later in the day with the next weather front that moves in with heavy rain and snow on the hills. temperatures reaching highs of 8—9. turning much windier during saturday night for all, in particular across western areas with widespread gales and outbreaks of heavy and persistent rain. for sunday's named storm we have to go back to the us, where this low pressure has already developed and it has brought troublesome weather to the south and east of the us and it will be picked up by a very strong jetstream in the north atla ntic strong jetstream in the north atlantic as it hurtles towards our shores. it's likely to bring damaging winds, look at all the isobars on the chart associated with storm keebra and a lot of the models are agreeing with this, which is why the met office have named their storm early. concerns for storm

ciara, arriving saturday night through sunday, to bring damaging winds with likely disruption, so stay tuned for the weather forecast.

this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon, in singapore. the headlines: donald trump is acquitted at his impeachment trial — just one republican senator votes against him. it is therefore ordered and adjudged that the said donald john trump be and he is hereby acquitted of the charges in said articles. chinese authorities spray the streets, as the number of coronavirus deathsjumps by the biggest number in a single day so far. i'm kasia madera, in london. also in the programme: a plane breaks into three pieces after overshooting a runway in istanbul. one person is killed, many others are injured. i am spartacus!