By stewartb
In a medium sized country like Scotland not far away there is a ‘Labour Party’ in opposition that takes a different view from the socially conservative Mr Sarwar. This is the Labour Party of Ireland.
Source: https://labour.ie/policy/decrim/
‘Labour believes in a system in decriminalisation and taking a health led approach. It’s time to take problem drug use out of the courts and wrap supports around people who need help. Criminalising, shaming and stigmatising people in addiction leads to a system that undermines and dehumanises people who need our support, care and compassion. It’s time to change it.
‘Decriminalising would mean: Community based harm reduction services; addressing disease transmission and overdoses; introducing supervised injection facilities; a commitment to a client centred and evidence based recovery programmes.’
Decriminalising does not mean the same as legalising!
And in the UK, there has been a longstanding disagreement within the British Labour Party over reform of drugs-related legislation (see https://labourlist.org/search/Drugs/ ) So far the socially conservatives like Anas Sarwar have won the day.
From Labour List August 8, 2022: ‘A public health-based approach to drugs must be the guiding principle for Labour’.
‘Drug deaths have almost doubled since the Conservative government took office in 2010, with treatment for funding cut by up to 40% in some areas and the number of people accessing treatment services vastly reduced due to both a lack of capacity, and a lack of will to address the problem from a government more concerned with headlines than saving lives. These tragic figures starkly illustrate the extent of the emergency that we now face, the crucial role that inequality plays in problematic substance use and the urgent need for reform to our counterproductive drug laws.’
And: ‘Evidence and compassion must be the basis of drug policy-making, not focus groups. Prohibition and criminalisation have failed, and at huge human and financial cost. The Tories authoritarian turn on drugs, along with the ever-increasing severity of the situation demands a clear plan of transformative action from Labour, and a bold rhetorical case accompanying it that doesn’t apologise for not winning a ‘war on drugs’ but makes the case for ending it.’
The author, Jay Jackson, who is involved with a ‘Labour Campaign for Drug Policy Reform‘ must be hugely disappointed – show me the ‘progressives’ who are not – with the new Labour Government in Westminster. And Mr Sarwar appears to be confirming that the branch operation of the British Labour Party in Scotland has morphed into – has fallen into lock step with – what is more accurately termed the Labour in Name Only Party (LINO) in England!
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MSM Monitor posted this on ‘X’ on 12/10/25 in respect to a Laura Kuenssberg interview with John Swinney on her Sunday Politics programme…….
“Laura Kuenssberg twice claimed the UK Govt was supplying £10bn to build warships on the Clyde. This is false. The £10bn will come from Norway after it signed a deal with BAE systems. The UK Govt isn’t supplying any cash” .
Meanwhile the same BBC in August 2025 on their website wrote….
“UK secures £10bn deal to supply Norway with warships”
So let’s break that BBC website headline down.
“UK secures £10bn” not as Kuenssberg was stating “ UK Govt was supplying £10bn”.
Big difference is there not in both statements…….as in both cannot be right.
One statement is false and the other is accurate…..
Kuenssberg communicated false information when she said to Swinney:
“But if you don’t want to deal with Arms companies for example, does that mean then you did not want the UK government to spend £10 billion pounds with BAE building ships on the Clyde” ?
So what is actually happening here with this deal ?
Is the UK government spending £10 billion pounds to buy Norway war ships ?
Sorry ,what again is Laura Kuenssberg’s official position/title with the BBC ?
This is basic stuff…….however let’s break it down for Laura K….and explain it in such a way that even she will comprehend……..I think….
Or is this another ‘error’ to be noted in the BBC Corrections and Clarifications section…..
Where we will read at some point on there , in the (too distant) future, that ….
’We (the BBC) should have stated that it was actually Norway spending £10 billion and not the UK government’…..
Why yes you should have…..but you did not….yet again….a pattern of (bad) behaviour.
So this is for Laura K’s comprehension on this matter…….
Norway places an order with the UK for new war ships for the Norwegian Navy….which will cost them , Norway, £10 billion pounds….so it is Norway spending £10 billion pounds …..and not the UK government.
The Daily Mail promoted the deal as being:
“Britain has agreed a landmark £10 billion defence deal with Norway to export UK built warships”.
The Financial times promoted the deal as:
“Being worth £10 billion to the British economy”
What about the official Labour UK government website….well……..they promoted it on 30 August 2025 as ………
“Billions of pounds will be pumped into the UK economy following Norway’s decision to select British warships for their Armed Forces – securing thousands of jobs in Britain for years to come”
“Major export deal sustains 4,000 UK jobs including more than 2,000 in Scotland”
(Note the “UK jobs” and then the adding “including in Scotland”….so where in the UK part are these jobs ?….is it #JobsForEngland and also are they, the UK government, now suggesting that Scotland is outwith the UK ).
“£10 billion boost to UK economy is expected to support more than 400 British companies, delivering on the Government’s Plan for Change”.
So what does Anas Sarwar say on this deal:
Well the BBC website reported on 28 September 2025 that he stated:
“Labour’s achievements included helping to secure a £10bn shipbuilding order for the Clyde”
Sorry is Sarwar saying that the whole £10 billion from Norway is just for the Clyde shipbuilding ?
I thought the UK government website and the UK newspapers stated it was a benefit for the whole UK economy ?
So who is lying there ?
Also Defence is a ‘reserved power’ …..and had Scotland been independent then we would have received all of that £10 billion from Norway for Clyde shipbuilding….
As SNP MP Dave Doogan stated:
“Scotland’s world-class shipbuilders are leading the UK’s biggest ever warship deal, with Norway choosing Glasgow built Type 26 frigates in a £10bn agreement. A small glimpse of what Scotland can achieve on the global stage”.
While Labour and the BBC are doing their best to try to undermine and challenge the reality of Scotland’s true potential as a future independent country that could and would be both successful and economically stable an viable…………and where we would also be seen, as a country , that many other countries in the world would want to trade with and do deals with…..as our Scottish products are very much sought after by other countries …..as our products are considered world class.
It’s the UK that holds us back on the world stage……..and so stops us from getting all of the various economic benefits that we surely would get…. but only if we were independent ….the Labour party cannot ‘allow’ that to happen……as the loss for their UK would be far too great……that’s the actual reality as to why they want Scotland to still be a part of their UK State.
Liz S
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