NICOLA Sturgeon’s public health minister faces a vote of no confidence in Holyrood after Labour and the Lib Dems criticised his leadership of plans to combat Scotland’s drug death crisis. 

Joe FitzPatrick has been under pressure after the National Records of Scotland revealed that 1,264 people had died drug-related deaths in Scotland in 2019, up 6% on the previous year.

Nearly seven in 10 of those who died last year were male and more than two-thirds were aged 35 – 54.

According to the NRS, Scotland’s drug-death rate was higher than those reported for all the EU countries and was approximately three and a half times that of the UK as a whole.

On Wednesday, Sturgeon said she had confidence in FitzPatrick, but then during Thursday’s First Minister’s Questions, she moved to take charge of the government’s response to the crisis, promising to attend the next meeting of the Scottish Government’s Drug Death Task Force on January 12.

She told MSPs she would “take stock with the task force and to consider what further immediate steps we need to take.”

She promised to make a statement in the chamber before the end of the next month.

Sturgeon also said there were questions over whether the drug death task force was doing enough work and whether it is going quickly enough.

“I take that seriously. This is not comfortable, it shouldn't be comfortable. I am not going to stand here and try to defend the indefensible," she said.

"These lives matter too much and we owe it to those who have lost their lives, but we owe it to those whose lives that can still be saved, to make sure that people like me do not engage in the usual political defensiveness, but accept where criticisms are due and valid and redouble our efforts to make sure that we are doing the right things to resolve this.”

Monica Lennon, Scottish Labour's health spokeswoman, said the minister had already lost the confidence of those working on the frontline of Scotland's drug death crisis.

"It's clear that the Public Health Minister does not carry the confidence of the recovery community and those who are desperately fighting for access to treatment and rehab services," she said.

"Regardless of what MSPs think of Joe as a person, that's what matters most.

"When leading recovery activist Darren McGarvey is saying the Minister 'is incapable of leading us anywhere but the mortuary' it should be obvious that it’s time to go."

She added: "Scottish Labour has lodged a motion of no confidence in Joe FitzPatrick because the Parliament must take responsibility and send a signal that the victims of Scotland’s drug deaths epidemic do matter. We owe it to those who have died, their families and the thousands of drug users who are fighting to stay alive today to put someone competent in charge.

"The First Minister has said sorry and promised to be more hands on in the New Year. If she’s serious about saving lives in 2021, she must have a new Minister by her side."

Scottish LibDem health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton said: "Joe FitzPatrick is a likeable public figure but has shown repeatedly that he’s just not up to the job.

"He has publicly floundered when questioned about the vaccine and the devastating drug death statistics. He simply does not command the confidence of our party and very likely the parliament."

While no-confidence motions are not legally binding, it would be difficult for a minister who has lost one to continue in post. 

It's understood the Scottish Greens are to consider their position over the weekend. 

A spokesman said: "Scottish Greens recognise that Scotland’s drugs death toll is shameful and both governments are accountable."

The SNP has been approached for comment.