There is no problem in Scottish society for which the SNP will not try to apportion at least some of the blame to ‘Westminster’.
The brave Scottish nationalist does his best in the face of endless obstacles placed in his way by malign unionist forces. But only independence will allow him the freedom to address the vast array of pressing issues, both social and economic, facing the oppressed people of North Britain.
Reality has just called the nationalists’ bluff
Of course, the SNP’s determination to hold the UK government to account for things over which it has no control is utterly cynical. But that’s nationalism, for you.
Over recent years, the troubling matter of Scotland’s record-breaking numbers of drug related deaths has seen SNP politicians try to dodge full responsibility.
Confronted each year with devastating new statistics – the latest figures show there were 1,051 drug-related deaths in Scotland in 2022, almost three times the average across the UK nations – nationalist politicians have regularly turned their fire on the UK government. If only Scottish ministers had the authority to open so-called safe consumption rooms, then perhaps they could make real, positive change.
Whether such locations – at which addicts can have drugs tested for purity and then take them under supervision – would help matters is uncertain, but that’s neither here nor there. The main thing is that, with Scotland’s drug death rate the highest in Europe, it’s important to palm off some of the responsibility to those wrong ‘uns in Whitehall.
Reality has just called the nationalists’ bluff.
Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC – the Scottish Government’s chief law officer – has given the green light to the opening of safe consumption rooms. It turns out that big bad ‘Westminster’ (the current code for ‘England’) wasn’t preventing such a move.
You see, although responsibility for drug laws is reserved to Westminster, Scotland has room for manoeuvre when it comes to setting the rules on prosecutions.
It would not, says Bain, be in the public interest to prosecute drug users for possession should they choose to use a consumption room. The Lord Advocate adds that she would be perfectly willing to publish such a policy if required.
The Home Office maintains its opposition to the establishment of such facilities but there is not, it’s now clear, a thing it can do to stop the Scottish government proceeding on the terms laid out by Bain.
The current Lord Advocate has been in position for more than two years, which throws up the question of why SNP ministers have not previously asked for her guidance on this matter. Furthermore, none of Bain’s predecessors appear to have been asked for a view, despite government ministers knowing that prosecuting guidelines in Scotland have nothing to do with ‘Westminster’.
Scotland’s Drugs and Alcohol policy minister Elena says the Lord Advocate’s statement removes an obstacle to establishing the first official safer drug consumption facility in the UK.
This is clearly true. It’s also clearly true that the obstacle in question was not created by ‘Westminster’ but by the failure of SNP ministers to ask Dorothy Bain – or her predecessors – to provide an opinion.
Comments