Public Services

Ronnie Cowan Excerpts

Wednesday 16th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Ronnie Cowan (Inverclyde) (SNP)]

I want briefly to cover a range of subjects relevant to my constituency of Inverclyde. Despite devolution, it is always important to remind constituents of the influence that Westminster and the UK Government continue to exert over public services in our community. My constituency of Inverclyde has been particularly hard hit by the UK Government in recent years. Our coastguard station was closed, with the loss of 31 expert jobs. That decision was taken at a UK level, and against the will of local people and the experts who said that safety would be compromised as a result of the closure. Likewise, in Port Glasgow, the jobcentre closed in 2017, despite Inverclyde having some of the highest rates of poverty and deprivation in the United Kingdom. Clients of this service must now rely on a single office in Greenock, which covers a wide geographical area from Langbank to Skelmorlie, both of which are outside my constituency.

On broadband, it is time for the UK Government to take notice of Scotland. Telecoms is reserved to Westminster, yet the UK Government are contributing £21 million to the Reaching 100% programme—just 3% of the total. That is in stark contrast to the £600 million that is being provided by the SNP Scottish Government to ensure that all homes and businesses across Scotland have superfast broadband.

The UK Government could also support the delivery of health services in Scotland by taking two specific actions. First, they could support those parents of severely epileptic children by making it easier for them to access medical cannabis. Last year, the Government made all the right mood music, but then failed to provide. In March of this year, I was one of the 80 MPs who delivered a petition with almost 600,000 signatures on that subject. The UK Government have made some minuscule steps forward, but there is no point in legalising certain medications if no one can have access to them. I should clarify that: I said that no can have access to them, but if a person can afford to pay for a private prescription and has the tens of thousands of pounds per year, then they can access medical cannabis. If the UK Government are unwilling to take the necessary action to help those families, they should accept the call made by the Scottish Government in 2018 and devolve the necessary powers to Holyrood.

In that same spirit, it is time for the UK Government to allow a drug consumption room—a safe drug consumption facility or an overdose prevention room, whatever you want to call it—to be established in the west of Scotland. The Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council, with cross-party support, want this measure to progress because the UK Government refuse to let go of their failed and outdated policy on drugs.

Scotland is facing an unprecedented drug crisis; some 1,187 people died last year in Scotland. The UK Government will not allow anyone to try something new, based on rational, evidence-based policy. DCRs across the world, with the correct medical supervision and Naloxone on hand, have seen zero deaths—not one person has died in a DCR. The UK Government must open their eyes to these possibilities.

[Alison Thewliss]

Does my hon. Friend share my frustration that Glasgow’s plans for a DCR have been in place for three years now? The Home Office has not even bothered to come to Glasgow to see why they are so needed.

[Ronnie Cowan]

It is symptomatic of the fact that these people will not look at the evidence placed in front of them. They want to reinvent the wheel at every opportunity. The NHS in Greater Glasgow, Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Government all want this to happen. If people want to visit Glasgow and other areas, they can see the problem at first hand. We are offering a solution.

I tried to intervene during the Secretary of State’s speech, but she refused to take my intervention. She was talking about county lines. I encourage the Government to approach the police and ask them to stop recruiting young people. They are approaching young kids and young vulnerable men and women on county lines and using them as police informants. That is an extremely dangerous policy to pursue, and I ask the Government to revisit it.

In conclusion, much of Westminster’s stewardship of public services can be boiled down to a policy of blocking, stifling or closing public services, which might otherwise act in the public good. Scotland deserves better, but it cannot expect it from the current Prime Minister and his impotent UK Government.