SCOTLAND’S Public Health Minister has said the Home Office is “beneath contempt” after a UK Government minister rejected calls to work together at a summit to reduce drug deaths.
Kit Malthouse, the Minister of State for Crime, Policing and the Fire Service, confirmed in a letter he was “unable to commit” to taking part in such a meeting. Public Health Minister Joe FitzPatrick received the note shortly after updating Holyrood on the work of a new task force the Scottish Government has set up to deal with the problem.
The Scottish Government took action after drugs deaths reached a record high of 1187 in 2018 – up 27% on the previous year.
With the task force to meet for the first time on September 17, FitzPatrick said he would “very much welcome a commitment from the UK Government to work with us”.
Malthouse wrote: “On your request for UK Government ministerial attendance at the proposed summit in Glasgow, unfortunately I am unable to commit to this, however, I wish you well with the event.”
He added: “The Home Secretary and I are nevertheless keen to ensure that the UK Government continues to work together with the Scottish Government at official level to address the challenge of drugs and drug harms.”
Fitzpatrick hit out at the “high-handed arrogance with which the Tories have dismissed all of our requests”.
He added: “The very fact that they deliberately delayed issuing this response until just minutes after MSPs had discussed this matter in Holyrood adds insult to injury.
“How can the Tories seriously say they want to continue to engage on this issue when they won’t even come to meetings? What Scotland faces in terms of drug deaths is an emergency – addressing that will need new approaches even if at first they may be challenging.
“Everyone should be working together on this important issue and if the best the Tories have to offer is half-hearted good wishes then they really are beneath contempt.”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon pledged an additional £20m to tackle the scourge of drug abuse in her Programme for Government on Tuesday.
The Home Office has already blocked attempts to set up a safe drugs consumption room in Glasgow, with Malthouse saying: “It is important for me to be clear from the outset that the UK Government has no plans to change the law to allow the establishment of such facilities.”
Alison Thewliss, the SNP MP for Glasgow Central, also blasted the response of the UK Government and Home Secretary Priti Patel.
She said: “To continue to dismiss the overwhelming evidence in support of a Supervised Drug Consumption Facility (SDCF) out of hand is appalling.”
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