as you would expect, the conservatives, who are now the principal opposition party at holyrood, saidet, meaning that people in scotland, if you follow the conservative argument, will pay more tax than people in the rest of the uk. labour have decided to go on the offensive. they would have liked a higher top rate of tax. they would like to have seen a 50% tax rate for the highest earners in scotland. —— 50p. and the liberal democrats are saying there is a sleight of hand in all this. when you look away from the income tax announcements, money is being taken away from local authorities in scotland. turning to wales, the welsh assembly has shut up shop, but the house of lords has been discussing the wales bill. could you explain to us the main points in the wales bill? this is devolving more powers to the welsh assembly, mainly on things like energy, transport, the way elections are run in wales, even the name of the assembly. it is also removing the need for a referendum before devolving income tax, so wales will, if this is passed, have powers over a certain amount of income tax, as

lorna gordon at holyrood.ormy. certainly a storm yet spell than we have had so far this winter. —— the stormiest spell. you can see on the satellite picture, this ribbon of cloud driven by a powerfuljet stream. we will see storms forming, there is one close to why flintjust now. it is pushing the weather front through western areas. sobhi in the north—west, blustery gales. —— soggy. north—west, blustery gales. —— soggy. the wet weather is moving further south through the night. all of us will get a few drops of rain, but it will be heavy in the north—west. chilly are chucking in behind this cold front. —— tucking in. the winds will be strong, gales across the north—west. hailsham hours, sleet showers across the hills. but a bit of sunshine, too. -- hail hills. but a bit of sunshine, too. —— hail showers. after a bright start it will turn quite soggy. from cornwall into east anglia, it will be on the milder side, and also quite wet. tomorrow evening, colder airdigs in behind. quite wet. tomorrow evening, colder

lorna gordon is in holyrood this morning. what will happen later this morning? good morning.the uk as a whole voted to leave the eu. but a majority of people in scotland voted to remain. today we expect quite a lot of detail, actually, about what nicola sturgeon wants to do to protect scotland's interests going forward. she is calling for a soft brexit, not a hardline. that means maintaining the single market. ideally she would like that to happen with the uk as a whole, maintaining that access. if that is not possible, she wants scotland is to have that access. see things in orderfor that to to have that access. see things in order for that to happen significant powers need to be devolved to the scottish parliament in edinburgh for things like immigration, employment rights, and if none of that is possible, the option of a second independence referendum. theresa may, the prime minister, said she will look seriously at these proposals and there is a meeting next month to discuss them. lorna gordon, thank you. surgeons have described a new treatment for early stage prostate ca

fishing and farming, she said, should be transferred from brussels direct to holyrood.loyment and should have the power to set immigration policy as well. this scottish company which employs seven people sees europe is a growing market for its products and a source of talent for its team. it's finnish owner says clarity is needed about what brexit will mean for his business. we need to certainty. i personally need certainty. i am born in finland, i have lived in the uk for 15 years. we are a growing business, we need to know where do we find future employees, and i want to know if i can stay in the uk myself. the conservatives insist there will be no separate deals the different parts of the uk. i've always said that we want to work very constructively with the scottish government. that is the way to get the best possible deal for the uk and for scotland. i am interested to look and see the proposals in the paper, and they will be given very careful and detailed consideration. in fact, they will be discussed at the next meeting of ourjoint ministerial committee, and i a

fishing and farming policy she said should be transferred from brussels directly to holyrood. key areas such as employment and should have the power to set immigration policy, too. this scottish company which employs seven people sees europe as a growing market for its products and a source of talent for its team. its finnish owner says clarity is needed about what brexit will mean for his business. we need some certainty. i personally need some certainty. i'm born in finland, i've lived in the uk for 15 years. we are a growing business, we need to know where we can find future employees that we want to hire. and i want to know, can i stay in the uk myself. the conservatives insist there will be no separate deals for different parts of the uk. what we absolutely do not want to see is anything that jeopardises scotland's trading relationship with the rest of the uk. scotland trades four times as much with the rest of the uk as it does with the whole of the european union, and that's the single market that we've really got to preserve. some light shed today by scotland's governm

ms sturgeon proposes a substantial further transfer of powers from westminster to holyrood. the brexit vote on june 23. the paper sets out the primary ways in which scotland's place in the single market can be protected. it has three main strands. firstly, we propose that the uk as a whole should stay in the single market by remaining a party to the european economic area agreement, and that it should also stay in the customs union. membership of the eu and the single market are two distinct propositions. i accept that there is a mandate in england and wales to ta ke a mandate in england and wales to take the uk out of the eu. but i do not accept that there is a mandate to ta ke not accept that there is a mandate to take any part of the uk out of the single market. it would make no economic sense for the uk to leave the single market and it would be entirely democratically justifiable for the uk to remain within it. so the scottish government will continue to argue and build common cause with others of like mind for continued uk membership of the single market. however i, al

potentially devastating to scotland's economy, and is expected to propose more powers are devolved to the holyroodor scotland was "not realistic". a survey of hospital trusts in england shows that overseas patients not entitled to free healthcare left the nhs with unpaid bills totalling almost £30 million last year, a sharp rise on the previous 12 months. more than 120 trusts were asked to provide data on overseas patients, 104 replied. the government recently reminded hospitals of their legal duty to recover the money, and encouraged them to ask to see passports before giving treatment. nine big london hospitals account for the bulk of the bad debts left by overseas patients. it is still owed almost £5 million from last year, although it says it's improving the way it identifies patients who should be paying, and uses hand—held card readers at the bedside to obtain money from them. this was more than one of 100 english hospital trusts that responded to freedom of information requests from the press association. excluding european patients, whose countries the uk can charge for the cost of treatme