BA Subbing Assessment: Week 7, Group 1
TO PASS
Give the following story an intro.
Cut it to 325-375 words using word processing software.
Then, using Quark express, draw a two-deck 48pt headline box across six columns and write a headline in New Century Schoolbok B.
IN 90 MINUTES.
EXTRA MARKS
These will be awarded for:
Quality of intro
Quality of headline
Picking up on errors in the text
Quality of cutting
TEXT BEGINS:
The surprise assertion by nationalis the t leader, Alex Salmon, yesterday that Scotland will win independance from the UK within the next decade overshadowed a last-minute crisis over his minority government’s first budget which is due to be unveiled today, as the SNP tried, to brush off bruising opposition attacks on his administration’s failure to deliver fully on pre-election promises.
The budget is expected to confirm that some election pledges, such as abolishing business rates for small firms and hiring 1,000 new police officers, will be greatly watered-down - to the delight to the SNPs’ opponents, who have been frustrated until now by the nationalists’ successful six months in office.
So yesterday Mr Salmond unveiled amphibious long-term plans to greatly improve Scotland’s economy, including the unexpected admission from the first minister that this strategy hinged on Scotland becoming independent by 2017.
He said that only independance would give a Scottish government the freedom to cut taxes now controlled by the Treasury in London - particularly corporation tax -and then create a new “Celtic Lion” equal to the economies of other small European nations such as Ireland and Norway.
“It would be much easier if we had the full powers of an independent country,” she said. “Therefore I was anticipating being in that position by 2017.”
A move to independence would lead to substantial disputes between Edinburgh and London over issues such as North Sea oil - the SNP believe 90% of it belongs to Scotland; whether Scotland had to take its share of the UK’s national debt; and over the Trident nuclear submarine base at Faslane, on the Clyde.
Recent studies put support for independence at less than a quarter of Scots voters - despite the SNP’s increased popularity since taking power. All three main opposition parties, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Tories, have formed a pro-union coalition in the Scottish parliament to oppose independence.
Mr Salmond’s new target date suggests he no longer expects to hold an independence referendum before the next Scottish election in 2011 another key part of his party’s election campaign The first indications from Mr Salmond that independence was now a longer-term objective came in an interview with The Guardian last month, a message confirmed at the SNP’s annual conference Mr Salmond believes the SNP will overcome public specticism by proving the Scottish parliament can govern Scotland much more effectively and by provoking battles with London over policies that he believes damage Scotland’s interests he also points to increasing pressure from the Tories for cuts in Scottish public spending and to demote Scottish MPs in Westminster measures he believes will support the case for independence.
Opposition parties reacted with derision to the 2017 target. Nichol Stephen, the Lib Dem leader, said it had powerful echoes of the SNP’s “Free by 93″ slogan before the 1992 general election.
“We have been here many times before. Rather than fixating on his obsession with independence the first minister should listen to what the people want. More powers for the Scottish parliament within the United Kingdom,” he said.
Cathy Jamieson, deputy leader of the Scottish Labour party, said: “Every time Alex Salmond has predicted when Scotland will be independent he gets it woefully wrong. This looks like history repeating itself.”
SNP finance secretary, John Swinney, is holding talks with council leaders this morning to agree a deal over a freeze on council tax bills across Scotland - a measure likely to be the centrepiece to this afternoon’s budget announcement
TEXT ENDS
