that was the journalist victoria craig - inflation rate.that was the - journalist victoria craig talking to me a little earlier from istanbul. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. a new and controversial hate crime law has come into effect in scotland. the law creates a new offence of stirring up hatred in relation to personal characteristics including age, disability, religion and sexual orientation. the government says it will protect minority groups from prejudice and hatred. but critics argue it will undermine freedom of speech — and police fear the legislation could be weaponised for political purposes. here's the first minister humza yousaf commenting on the new bill. the only concern you should have when it comes to the new stirring up offences is if your behaviour is threatening or abusive and intends to stir up hatred. and by the way, even if that is the case, there are some defences such as the reasonable personal defence and so on and so forth. so unless your behaviour is threatening or abusive and intends to sti

victoria craig is a journalist in istanbul and describes the reaction on the ground.e jubilation in the streets of istanbul last night. i mean, i only got about two hours of sleep because i was out trying to talk to as many of them as i could outside the metropolitan municipality building. that's where mayor ekrem imamoglu will govern and continue to govern. people just overwhelmingly happy. his supporters at the huge election win that he pulled off. with more than 99% of the ballots counted this morning. his win stands at 11.49% over his main akp rival. and so people you know, i was talking to them and so many people, interestingly, you know, are excited, didn't want to go have their voices recorded. but many people saying that this marks really a turning point for istanbul and they say for the country, because this shows that mayor imamoglu could stand potentially against president erdogan if there are a number of constitutional changes or whomever he might face, whatever akp candidate as president. but people saying the economy is far and away the biggest concern a

joining me now is victoria craig, an independent decades of erdogan after years, decades of pressureople to do something to fix the economy and make things better, he has historically been a very avid opponent of high interest rates of rising prices. after his election in last year in the general election, he put a team in place to deal with that and thatis in place to deal with that and that is why we have the interest rates rise to try and combat the rising inflation. the problem is the president has done a number of fiscal policy to combat with the central bank. he raised minimum wage by 49%. all that that was put more money in people �*s pockets and continue to push inflation higher. the president himself acknowledged that in a specialist and said this marks a turning point for us and he says the economy is one of the biggest things he will start seeing positive results in the second half of this year starting with inflation. clearly it is on his mind. the istanbul mayor will not have direct control of that but i think it is more of what he represents to the country and to the pe

let's head live to ankara and speak to the independent journalist victoria craig. about that strategic partnership, but this feels more about economics than anything else. just feels more about economics than anything else-— anything else. just explain. it is alwa s anything else. just explain. it is always about — anything else. just explain. it is always about economics - anything else. just explain. it is always about economics here i anything else. just explain. it is always about economics here ini always about economics here in turkey. that is exact right, the turkish airlines chairman today at a press conference, one of the first things he said is that part of this increase in strategic partnership with these two companies is aimed at bringing in more foreign currency into turkey, that is helping to reduce the account deficit. basically, the country spends more money bringing in goods than exporting them. this is a long burning issue here in turkey, so turkish airlines sees its role in helping that process. he also talked about how the strategic partnership w

victoria craig is a journalist in istanbul and describes the reaction on the ground.of sleep because i was out trying to talk to as many of them as i could outside the metropolitan municipality building. that's where mayor ekrem imamoglu will govern and continue to govern. people just overwhelmingly happy.

let's speak to freelance journalist victoria craig in istanbul. importance on a national level. exactly. so many people i spoke to before the vote said there are local issues in the 81 provinces but really, this comes down to a national political identity and the future of turkish politics. that was at stake experts said in these elections. in istanbul especially, that was the case. as we saw ekrem imamoglu winning the election with 11 and a half percent of the vote here and many people see this as i guess an affirmation of his continuation in politics. he has been long seen as the opposition�*s opportunity to potentially take control of the presidential palace and that is the case now he has won re—election here by such a wide margin. in the next election in four years he will be the one to go up against whoever from the ak party who is put up. huge things at stake for both sides.— for both sides. what was in voters' mines? we — for both sides. what was in voters' mines? we talked _ for both sides. what was in voters' mines? we talked about _ for