SNP deliberately killing working-class people in ‘genocide’, says Reform deputy
Thomas Kerr said he held the Scottish Government responsible for the death of his father in 2016.
The Scottish Government is committing a “genocide” and is “deliberately killing” working-class people, Reform UK Scotland’s deputy leader has claimed.
In an extraordinary attack on the SNP, Thomas Kerr said he considered ministers in Edinburgh responsible for the drugs death of his own father.
The Glasgow MSP said Scotland’s sky-high rate of drugs deaths could only be as a result of incompetence or deliberate actions.
Scotland has the worst rate of drug deaths in Europe and numbers have remained more than 1,000 a year for nearly a decade.
Drugs minister Maree Todd has admitted the Scottish Government could do more and insisted her “eye is absolutely on the ball”.
However, she described Mr Kerr’s comments as “entirely untrue” and his language as “deeply irresponsible”.
In a sitdown interview with the Press Association at a pub in the east end of Glasgow, Mr Kerr said he believed the number of drug deaths amounted to a genocide, although he admitted “the wording was to make a point”.
He said: “2016 was when my dad died and the figures were around 600 or so people that died that year with drug-related deaths.
“We now see it routinely of over 1,000 people dying from drug-related deaths and that’s before you added alcohol numbers of up to 2,000-odd.
“I don’t know what else you would call that other than a systematic either failure from the Scottish government or a deliberate killing of working-class people because what we’re seeing is in communities like this, in the east end of Glasgow, if you stay in a community like this, the latest figures show that you’re 15 times more likely to die than if you stay in the middle-class area.”
“So, I do think there is a genocide of the working class,” he added. “I do now think it’s deliberate from the SNP that what we’re seeing is hundreds of working-class people losing their lives every single year.
“The reason I used (the word genocide) is because politicians need to start taking this issue extremely seriously.”
Pressed on if he really believed the death of drug users was a deliberate action by the state, he said it was “either that or it’s incompetence on a mass level”.
Having been elected to Holyrood in May after years as a Tory councillor, Mr Kerr claimed he had seen incompetence but “also the sinister side of some of the politicians” in the Parliament.
He said he felt personal pain speaking about the issue after losing family members to drugs.
He said: “There’s nothing more personally devastating for me than having to spend my time inside Parliament with ministers who, by the way, I personally hold responsible for the fact that I’ve lost a loved one.
“I hold Scottish Government ministers, who cut funding for rehabilitations, personally responsible for what has happened, not just in my life, but in hundreds of working-class families’ lives across the country.”
Alcohol and drugs minister Maree Todd said: “These suggestions are entirely untrue and this language is deeply irresponsible.
“Reducing deaths from drugs and alcohol is my driving mission and my heartfelt condolences go out to everyone who has lost a loved one to drug or alcohol use.
“We have heard clearly from families about their ask to depoliticise this issue and place people at the heart of the discussions we have and decisions we take.”
She continued: “We will continue to widen access to treatment, residential rehabilitation and life-saving naloxone.
“Our new alcohol and drugs strategic plan, backed by record funding, will strengthen surveillance, deepen links between treatment, housing and other services, and target support at the communities most at risk.
“An approach focused on human rights is essential and we know recovery looks different for everyone – that is why we have exceeded our commitment to support 1,000 people into publicly-funded residential rehabilitation each year and will continue to invest in residential services ensuring people can access the right support at the right time and sustain their recovery.”