The 5 Live Must Watch blog Feed

Victoria Derbyshire's Scottish independence debate

2013-09-10T08:02:49+00:00

In a year’s time people living in Scotland will cast their vote in a referendum that could change the future of the UK. They'll be asked "Should Scotland be an independent country?" and that's what we'll be debating on Monday 16 September at 10am in our largest ever Victoria Derbyshire audience debate.

More on that to come, but first some facts.

Yes Scotland is the official campaign for independence, while Better Together is the group arguing to keep the Union. The Scottish National Party (SNP), Scottish Greens and independent MSP Margo MacDonald back independence, while Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are opposed.

The vote will take place on Thursday 18th September 2014. Everyone over the age of 16 who lives in Scotland will get to vote, but registered Scots who live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland won't get a vote. Non-Scots who're registered to vote in Scotland will get a say.

The question "Should Scotland be an independent country?" came about after protracted negotiations. The Scottish government's original version of the question, "Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country?", was dropped after the Electoral Commission raised concerns it could lead people into voting "Yes".

In the events of a “Yes” vote, Alex Salmond the leader of the SNP wants to declare Independence Day in March 2016, with the first elections to an independent parliament in May. However, before that happens though a constitutional settlement would need to be agreed with the UK government, involving weighty issues which may take a long time to resolve. The independence referendum has been described as a once-in-a-generation event, so a “No” vote would put the issue to bed for the time being.

On Monday 16th September at 10am Victoria Derbyshire will be debating the key issues. We’ll be joined by leading members of the Yes Scotland campaign, the Better Together group and around 300 5 live listeners from right across the UK.

Opinion polls show a large number of people are yet to make up their minds on how they'll vote, so during the programme we'll ask our studio audience to vote twice. Once at the beginning of the programme and once again after they've heard the debate. As well as the main question, we’ll be asking what the rest of the UK would be called if Scotland does vote for independence, what would happen to the monarchy and if Scotland would keep Sterling as a currency.

The economy will also dominate the debate. The Yes campaign says Scotland generates more money for the UK economy than is handed back by Westminster and that after independence that cash can be spent where it's really needed. The No campaign says Scotland's economy benefits from the security of being part of one of the world's biggest economies, from bank bail outs to green energy subsidies, and so cutting ties built up over 300 years would leave Scotland dangerously exposed in a volatile world.

The debate will be filmed and broadcast on the 5 live website, BBC News Channel, Red Button and the BBC News website from 10am on Monday 16 September. It will also be broadcast again on 5 live on Sunday 22nd September at 8.30pm.

To join in the debate you can call 0500 909 693, text 85058 or use the hashtag #5livedebate.

Follow us on Twitter here.

Associated content

Video: What would independence mean for Scotland?

5 live latest audience figures

2013-02-01T11:42:50+00:00

I just wanted to share the headlines from our latest audience figures with you.

The total numbers of listeners to 5 live increased by a small amount in the last quarter (October to December 2012) to 6.12 million listeners. One of our aims is to maintain an audience reach of above 6 million, so it is pleasing to do this again for the 16^th consecutive time.

A lot has happened over the last year, not least the small matter of moving a 24 hour live speech radio station 200 miles, so I’m really proud of the commitment shown by our team over this period to keep making really strong and brave programmes.

5 live sports extra saw its biggest ever figure for the October-December period – up to 850,000 listeners each week. Our sports team have put a lot of focus into improving the schedule on sports extra so I am pleased to see these good numbers.

It has been a busy start to the year as we put our plans in place for 2013 and we’ve been putting some early thoughts in about Commonwealth Games and World Cup coverage in 2014. I’ve been really pleased with the strength of our sport and news journalism over the last fortnight. Highlights have included coverage of the David Cameron Europe speech when I thought we analysed all the issues very clearly across the day. The latest twist on the Lance Armstrong story - his Oprah interview – saw really significant audience interest. We covered it well on Up All Night, in 5 live Sport and on Sportsweek in particular.

We commissioned a documentary from an independent production company called “Snappin Turtle” which took a snapshot of homelessness in the UK on one of the coldest nights of the year. This was recorded and edited very quickly and we broadcast it last Sunday night as part of an extended Stephen Nolan show.

I was also really pleased with our transfer deadline day coverage and the way we worked closely with our colleagues from BBC TV and BBC Sports website to keep a track on all the stories.

They are just some of the things that have been keeping us busy. Let me know your thoughts on what you’ve been hearing.

We should have a new permanent controller in place within the next few weeks. When we do have, we will make sure we are on this blog, asking you what you think about our programmes and our coverage and any suggestions you want to share about how we keep making 5 live even better. We also have lots of exciting plans about the Ashes summer and some powerful news specials we have commissioned which we can tell you about soon.

Thanks for reading and for being one of the 6.12 million listeners.

Jonathan Wall is acting controller of 5 live and 5 live sports extra

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced for Octoberfest 2012 line-up

2012-09-19T11:42:27+00:00

Octoberfest, 5 live's free three-day festival of shows and off air events, is only a few weeks away now and we're putting the finishing touches to the programme line ups.

One guest who'll be joining us is Nick Clegg, who'll take part in a special one-off show hosted by Shelagh Fogarty from 12pm on Friday 12 October. The Deputy Prime Minister, leader of the Liberal Democrats and MP for Sheffield Hallam, will face questions from 5 live listeners about the coalition government.

The debate is just one highlight of the festival, run in partnership with BBC Radio Sheffield, which will also feature many other 5 live programmes including 606, 5 live Breakfast, Fighting Talk, Richard Bacon and Kermode and Mayo's Film Review.

There'll also be off-air events too that anyone who can get to Sheffield will be able to come along and enjoy in the 5 live activity 'Igloo', which will be located in Tudor Square. On top of all that we're also trying to break a world record forChildren in Need (more details of this one will come in the next few days).

The shows will all take place in the Crucible and Lyceum Theatres and free tickets are available now.

Click here for full line up and ticket information.

Adrian Van-Klaveren is controller of BBC Radio 5 live and BBC Radio 5 live Sports Extra.