On Friday 27 November, on the eve of the SNP conference, I have been asked to deliver the Wales Centre for Governance’s annual lecture. The title I have chosen is ‘Stands Scotland where it did? Scotland’s Journey Back to Statehood.’  

Previous lectures have been delivered by Nicola Sturgeon in 2014 and Tom Devine in 2016. Looking back to what they said then, it has been instructive and inspiring to see how far we have progressed towards our destination in the last few years. The lecture is a great opportunity to tell an engaged and interested UK wide audience about the sea change in support for independence as a result of Brexit and the Covid crisis. It is also a chance to talk about our movement’s vision of what an independent Scotland will look like. 

The attempts by Scottish Tories to benefit from this week’s furlough fiasco would be laughable if we weren’t talking about people’s livelihoods. The shambles that have occurred is no way to run a country let alone a supposed union of equals. While Scottish Ministers are trying to take important strategic decisions to protect public health, the Scottish Tories are more interested in trying to ensure Douglas Ross gets a win and puts out a zinger of a tweet. It was tragi-comic to observe how his efforts failed and such glory as he managed to obtain didn’t even last 12 hours. The efforts of David Mundell to pull off the same ‘feat’ the next day were truly pathetic.  

Finally, yesterday, with the PM pantomiming false joviality at his side (he’s obviously been to the same acting school as Ross, Mundell and Ronald Villiers), Rishi Sunak announced an extension of the furlough scheme until the end of March next year.  He did so trumpeting the “strength of the union” and the importance of “reassuring people in Scotland” etc. But the damage has been done.  Everyone knows that this is a decision to which the UK Government has been dragged kicking and screaming and that without an England wide lockdown it would never have happened. 

 Over the weekend the news that the UK Government was refusing to commit to making the full 80% furlough scheme available to Scotland outwith the English lockdown period brought almost universal condemnation. From the STUC to the Scottish Sun editorial there was support for the Scottish Government’s localised approach to tackling the virus and the notion that the furlough must be available when Scotland needs it. Even Douglas Ross seemed belatedly to agree. However, the First Minister and Kate Forbes found it impossible to get a clear undertaking from UK Government Ministers and it appeared that the broad shoulders of the union were not nearly as broad as we were led to believe. 

Last weekend, you may have noticed people tweeting with the hashtag #IstandwithPeterKrykant. Peter Krykant is a community activist who has been operating a converted minibus as a safe place for drug addicts to inject in Glasgow since August.  He has received support from medical students and the former MP Paul Sweeney. But last weekend he was charged with an offence under the Misuse of Drugs Act. 

I have to be careful what I say because I would not wish to be seen as seeking to influence the police or the Crown in respect of the prosecution of a particular individual but many people believe that the work Mr Krykant is doing reduces harm and saves lives and that he should be allowed to continue with it. 

In 2018 there were 1,187 drug-related deaths in Scotland – the highest since records began. Each death is a personal tragedy for the victims, their families and friends. It is also is a public health emergency which requires drastic action.