Starmer criticised for reversal on drugs reform

SIR KEIR STARMER has rowed back his support for drugs reform, insisting he would not follow a Scottish government decision to give those caught with them a police warning instead of a court date.

The Labour leader had previously said that the change introduced recently by the Lord Advocate was “probably the right thing to do”.

But in a Daily Record interview, Sir Keir said he did not think such a move “should be of general application across the United Kingdom”.

“One of the benefits of devolution was to allow each of the nations to look separately in context at the challenges that it has,” he said. “But if I was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, I would not be introducing that to the UK.”

Yesterday Paul Sweeney, a Scottish Labour frontbencher, became the first to publicly criticise Sir Keir on drug reform, accusing him of maintaining an “illjudged position” on the issue.

“Decriminalisation of possession is a no-brainer and anyone who doesn’t want to do it is ignorant of the issue or is too scared to admit the reality,” he said.