minister at transport, justice and recently in the health service. and seek to depict it as a record of failure. humza yousaf sjob seek to depict it as a record of failure. humza yousaf s job will be to paint a picture, create a vision of what he will do as leader of the snp, as the political leader of scotland, as the first muslim and first ethnic minority political leader of scotland. a huge moment for him and scotland and an enormous job he has on his hands in the coming weeks and months. james, thank you- meanwhile, more than 130,000 civil servants will strike next month, in a row over pay, pensions and job security. the pcs union represents workers in government departments as well as those at organisations such as 0fsted and the border force. it has been calling for a 10 percent pay rise but ministers say the proposals are unaffordable .
in, but with it comes milder air, but on its leading edge, anywhere from north wales, the north midlands northwards, we could see some hill snow. across parts of western scotland, we could see some of that getting down to low levels for a time. the milder air is starting to come in from the west, not as mild as we push further east at this stage. through the ev once again we start off with snow at lower levels, but as the milder air pushes in with the rain increasingly, that would be confined to the hills, and you can see it is going to be a fairly wet night. it won t be as cold as the one that has just gone. temperatures falling to around freezing around the glasgow area, but tomorrow it is going to be wet. again! thank you very much indeed, carol. it is quarter past six. the three candidates in the running to be the next first minister of scotland and leader of the snp, have all agreed that scotland could be an independent country within five years. ash regan, humza yousaf
continues. judith morris, bbc news, manchester. the three people vying to become the next first minister of scotland, and leader of the snp, will take part in theirfinal debate tonight. kate forbes, the finance secretary, humza yousaf, the health secretary, and ash regan, a former minister, will answer audience questions in edinburgh in an event hosted by the bbc. our scotland editor, james cook is there and will be watching. james. that s right. as you say, the big difference between this debate and the various other debates that have taken place so far is the audience sitting here will ask questions of the candidates in this very grand, beautiful venue in the centre of edinburgh. the candidates will be over here. humza yousaf presenting himself really is the continuity candidate from nicola sturgeon with what he calls a progressive agenda. kate forbes talking about her priority to get the economy growing, to tackle poverty, and ash regan who has put independence at the heart of this
have done so in some of the other debates so far. it s been a ferocious contest at times with heated discussions about some of those issues, about cultural issues, about the economy and independence. but it s not the audience in this room who the candidates need to reach, it s not the wider television audience, it is the snp members who will be voting. they started to vote in this contest yesterday and they have a couple of weeks to cast their ballots to choose who will be scotland s next snp leader anyway, and then the parliament itself has to vote on who will become first minister. , ., , ., ~ to vote on who will become first minister. , ., , ., ,, , ., minister. james, thank you. the united minister. james, thank you. the united states minister. james, thank you. the united states says i minister. james, thank you. the united states says a i minister. james, thank you. i the united states says a russian fighter plane has collided with an american military drone over the black se
their second thousands ofjunior doctors hold their second day of strike action in a dispute about pay and conditions. it is medical director professor stephen powis said some emergency departments experienced their busiest monday of the year yesterday. he is urging patients only to call 999 or to use accident and emergency in life threatening emergencies. former prime minister borisjohnson will give evidence in public next week about whether he misled mps over so called partygate. he will be questioned by a cross party parliamentary committee in a televised session on wednesday 22nd march. an initial report published earlier this month said mrjohnson may have misled parliament multiple times. he has rejected this and says he believes the process will vindicate him. the three people competing to become the next first minister of scotland, and leader of the snp, have traded blows in their final tv debate tonight. kate forbes, the finance secretary, humza yousaf, the health secretary,