Maree Todd: Thomas Kerr’s drugs genocide claim is a disgrace

Drugs minister Maree Todd has condemned Reform’s Thomas Kerr after he accused the Scottish Government of committing a “genocide” against working-class people.

In an interview with Press Association, Kerr – the deputy leader of Reform UK in Scotland – said he held SNP ministers personally responsible for the loss of his father, who died from drug-related causes in 2016.

A total of 1,133 drug-related deaths were recorded in Scotland last year. The figure was 11 per cent higher than the previous year.

A drug checking service has opened in Glasgow today in a bid to reduce harms for addicts.

Kerr, a Glasgow region MSP, has accused Scottish ministers of carrying out a “genocide of the working class”. He said: “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. And the reason I used it is because politicians need to start taking this issue extremely seriously.”

Kerr’s party recently attempted to bring a vote to oust Todd, which failed to win sufficient support from across the parliament.

Saying his wording was to “try and make a point”, he claimed some MSPs have a “sinister side”. Pressed on the genocide claim, he said: “Either it’s incompetence at a sheer scale or it’s a deliberate killing of working-class people.”

On his father’s death, he said: “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.”

Asked to respond, Todd said the comments were “completely untrue” and “entirely irresponsible”.

She said: “The families who are losing people in Scotland do not want this issue politicised. They have begged us not to make their loved ones into political pawns and Thomas Kerr is doing exactly that. It's a disgrace.”