By Peter Morris, Great British PAC Scottish Borders Director.
Accountability is the mechanism by which individuals and institutions are held responsible for mistakes, incompetence, and wrongdoing.
Whether in the workplace, where employees are held accountable for errors, or in broader society, such as in legal matters, accountability plays a vital role. It is rightly expected in all such circumstances.
Unfortunately, in Scotland, it appears that the political “elites” have become immune to accountability. Since the SNP took control of the administration at Holyrood, meaningful accountability has seemingly disappeared. Despite scandal after scandal and failure after failure, no one has been held responsible. Democracy in Scotland has been eroded, replaced by an authoritarian culture that resembles a dictatorship more than a representative government.
Throughout these scandals, document disappearances have been rampant. There has been a consistent inability, or refusal, to provide evidence at Parliamentary inquiries and court cases. The list goes on. When a government feels confident enough to withhold crucial documents from the judicial process, it is a clear sign that it believes itself to be above the law.
A government’s first duty is to protect its citizens. Every decision it makes has a direct impact on the population. When those decisions result in harm, those responsible must be held accountable. This accountability should not be limited to elections every four years. Ministers should answer for the consequences of their actions and departmental failures as they occur.
The Ministerial Code exists to hold ministers accountable. However, there is a significant conflict of interest: the First Minister is responsible for upholding and enforcing this code. How can impartiality exist when the First Minister—who leads the same party as the ministers in question—is the arbiter of alleged breaches?
The most disturbing and tragic case of failed accountability is the tens of thousands of drug-related deaths in Scotland. In 2007, the year the SNP came to power, there were 455 drug deaths. Compare this with previous years:
- 2000 – 292 deaths
- 2001 – 332 deaths
- 2002 – 382 deaths
- 2003 – 317 deaths
- 2004 – 356 deaths
- 2005 – 336 deaths
- 2006 – 421 deaths
(Source: Statista)
The numbers were relatively stable. From 2007 onwards, however, drug deaths began to rise. By 2014, they had increased to 614. Some might argue this was due to the SNP shifting focus to the 2014 independence referendum. That referendum was ultimately lost, and Alex Salmond took accountability by stepping down as First Minister.
Nicola Sturgeon then assumed leadership. From this point forward, drug deaths surged dramatically. The SNP blamed Westminster, citing the Misuse of Drugs Act as a reserved matter. But England, Wales, and Northern Ireland operate under the same law—yet Scotland’s death rate is the highest in Europe.
Under Sturgeon’s leadership, funding for drug rehabilitation beds was cut—despite warnings from drug support groups that doing so would lead to more deaths. Those warnings were ignored. Even more shocking, rehab beds in Scotland were sold to addicts from countries such as the Netherlands, while Scots were dying in the hundreds for lack of access.
In 1999, Great Western Trains faced corporate manslaughter charges after seven people died in a train crash caused by the company’s negligence. That was accountability in action. Why, then, has no similar action been taken against a government whose policies have coincided with the deaths of thousands?
Warnings were given. They were ignored. Yet no charges—corporate or individual—have ever been brought against those responsible.
Many now question whether democracy in Scotland has been fundamentally corrupted by the SNP administration. Allegations persist that funding flows only to groups that support or promote SNP ideology. There are even claims that the Crown Office has been compromised, especially given the Lord Advocate’s presence in the SNP Cabinet—undermining judicial impartiality.
What about Police Scotland? With more than a thousand drug deaths per year since 2018, and widespread media and political concern, why has there been no criminal investigation? In 2023, 1,127 people died from drugs. Already in 2025, the numbers are rising again. This is despite the operation of a government-funded Drug Consumption Room (DCR), which the SNP claimed would be the solution.
Now, the administration is pushing for an Inhalation Room—a space for users to inhale Class A drugs using taxpayer-funded paraphernalia like crack pipes.
Something must change. There must be a full, independent criminal investigation into the tens of thousands of drug deaths in Scotland. This must be carried out by a police force from outside Scotland, and entirely independent of the Crown Office. The lack of action so far is deeply disturbing and suggests a chilling conclusion: life in Scotland is worthless, and accountability is dead.
Compare this again with the manslaughter case involving Great Western Trains, where seven deaths led to legal action. Tens of thousands have now died in Scotland—and still, no one is held to account.
In my role as Scottish Borders Director of the Great British PAC, I will be campaigning to build support for a full criminal investigation.
— By Peter Morris, Great British PAC Scottish Borders Director
