Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander has urged John Swinney’s government to prioritise Scotland’s drug-death crisis rather than focusing on independence.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Breakfast programme, the Labour MP said the Scottish Government should be “tackling the crisis on Scotland’s streets” after 1,133 people died from drug use in 2025.
The figure represented an 11% increase compared with the previous year. Deaths among males rose by 19%, while deaths among females fell by 5%, according to figures cited in the report.
Alexander described it as “deeply upsetting” that Scotland continues to have the highest drug-death rate in Europe. He said the increase had resulted in “not just personal devastating outcomes for the families affected”, but also what he called a “national shame for Scotland”.
“If you push me to say what should be the priority of the Scottish Government, honestly tackling the crisis on Scotland’s streets seems to be very high up on that list,” Alexander said.
His comments came after the Scottish Parliament backed a motion declaring that Scotland, as a nation, had the right to decide its own future. Alexander dismissed the vote as an attempt by Swinney to “use the Scottish Parliament to manage the politics of the SNP”.
“The biggest and most important story last week in Scotland wasn’t the vote in Scotland’s Parliament, it was the drug deaths in Scotland’s streets,” he said.
Alexander said Scots had always had the right to decide their own future, but argued that the political conditions that led to the 2014 independence referendum had not been repeated.
He said there had been consensus in both the Scottish and UK parliaments before the 2014 vote, as well as “complete consensus across the Scottish political parties” and Scottish civic life.
“Those conditions frankly don’t apply today,” Alexander said.
He also referred to comments Swinney made in May that the threshold for another referendum was a majority of SNP members of the Scottish Parliament. Alexander said Swinney had “set the bar” and failed to cross it.
“The SNP are back on the hamster wheel of political management as they try and convince their own supporters, to lead them up the hill and back down again,” he added.
Although Alexander rejected calls for an independence vote at present, he said the UK Government was prepared to discuss the future of devolution with SNP ministers.
He said he was willing to work with Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s government, the UK Government and Scottish local government to consider “what comes next for devolution in Scotland”.
“My door is open,” Alexander said. “We’re ready, willing and able to have those conversations.”
