BBC Scotland debate: Key exchanges as party leaders clash

Perhaps, surprisingly, there was little mention of the troubles that had hit Scottish Conservative leader Mr Ross who announced on Monday he would be standing down as party leader after polling day on July 4.

His decision followed a growing Tory rebellion over his decision to contest the Westminster election - having previously said he wouldn't - and for standing in the seat of Aberdeenshire North and Moray East after its candidate former Scottish Office minister David Duguid was deselected by the party while in hospital.

It was left to presenter Stephen Jardine to bring up the controversy asking Mr Ross, to laughter in the audience, why "anyone in Scotland should vote for a party you don't even want to lead" and that he may soon have more time to spend with his family.

Mr Ross said that whatever happened to him he would be "proud" to spend time with his wife and two young sons adding that the election was "an opportunity" to send a message to First Minister John Swinney on the SNP's record in government over 17 years.

READ MORE: BBC Scotland debate: Leaders clash on independence

Here are some of the key exchanges in the debate among the leaders of the rival parties.

Independence

Labour leader Mr Sarwar insisted the election "is about getting rid of the Tories" and not independence as he made a plea to Yes supporters to back his party.
"I don't support independence, I don't support a referendum, but I can understand why so many people across Scotland were looking for an escape route from a Tory Government," he said adding that independence was "for the people of Scotland to decide".
Scottish Greens co-leader Ms Slater pressed Mr Sarwar if a Labour government would allow another referendum on independence.
"You said it yourself, it's for the people of Scotland to decide, so will you respect our democratic mandate and allow us a referendum on independence?" she said.

(Image: PA)
Mr Sarwar repeated that he did not support independence, but understood why some Scots did.

Mr Ross said there had been a "decade of division" in Scotland since the independence referendum in 2014 an independence was "the obsession of the nationalists", adding: "It's not the NHS, not the education system, it's not carers. It's going to be independence above everything else and Scotland will suffer as a result of that. We can do so much better."
But First Minister Mr Swinney insisted: "People in this country have a democratic right to decide if they wish to be independent."
And he said even if the SNP lost in the election the party would continue to make the case for independence.

Austerity
Mr Swinney and Mr Sarwar clashed on whether Labour would make major public spending cuts if it won the election with the SNP party leader saying whether the Conservatives or Labour won, independent experts said £18 billion of public spending cuts would be made.
 "The austerity we are facing in Scotland is direct product of austerity cuts from the United Kingdom Government and Anas Sarwar is going to prolong those cuts within Scotland if his party win the election," he said: " And what that means is that Anas is not being straight." 

(Image: PA)
Mr Sarwar hit back: “Let me say unequivocally there will be no austerity under a Labour government. We saw the consequences of Tory austerity on this country, and how it devastated local budgets. And we also saw the consequences of austerity imposed by John Swinney when he was finance secretary.”
And he added: “Read my lips. No austerity under Labour.”

The NHS 
During the debate First Minister John Swinney apologised to a woman whose 93-year-old mother waited six hours for an ambulance.
A member of the BBC audience told what had happened to her mother, asking if the NHS was “broken”.
The First Minister said: “I’m very sorry that your mum had that experience, that shouldn’t have been the case.”
He said the NHS was under “acute pressure” as a result of rising demand and turning to delayed discharge, he added that Scotland’s low unemployment and immigration issues caused by Brexit had led to a depleted social care workforce.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton complained it was “hard” for people to get GP appointments – saying he had met a woman in Caithness in the Highlands who had to phone her doctor’s surgery 200 times to try to get seen.
Noting that one in four GP appointments are about mental health issues, he said Scotland is dealing with a “mental health crisis”.
He added his party would fix this by trebling the digital services tax which is paid by social media giants such as Facebook and Instagram, with the cash raised from this then used to improve mental health care. Mr Cole-Hamilton also raised problems in Scots accessing proper dental treatment saying people are “buying tools on Amazon” to “do dental work on themselves” because waiting lists are so long.

Teacher cuts
Mr Swinney was asked by a member of the audience about teacher cuts in Glasgow and how he would tackle the issue.
"Glasgow and Scottish parents in education are sick of you passing the buck. We're sick of hearing it's Westminster's fault that education is in crisis," she asked the First Minister.
Mr Swinney said there were difficult financial issues and "there's a fixed sum of money that's available to the Scottish Government."
He added: "We've expanded that, to increase tax, to make more resources available, to invest in our public services, because we were so concerned about the levels of public funding."

Gaza
During the debate Scottish Labour leader Mr Sarwar said he believed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has committed "war crimes".
Mr Netanyahu has been criticised for his Government's handling of the conflict in Gaza since the October 7 attack by Hamas.
Speaking at the BBC debate, Mr Sarwar said: "I've been to the Gaza Strip myself to deliver aid into the Gaza Strip before I became a politician, my views are well known.
"I believe in a two-state solution, I believe Benjamin Netanyahu is committing war crimes, I believe that we need an immediate ceasefire and immediate access to humanitarian aid."