REFORM UK are calling for a vote of no confidence in drugs minister Maree Todd after figures this week showed drug deaths in Scotland had risen in the last year and are among the worst rates in Europe.
Figures from National Records of Scotland (NRS) released on Wednesday showed there were 1133 deaths because of drug use in 2025, 116 more deaths than there had been in the previous year.
Scotland continues to have the highest drug death rate in Europe, with the rate of deaths from drug poisoning said to be 2.4 times higher than it was in England, 1.6 times greater than in Northern Ireland and 1.5 times more than in Wales – with these figures covering 2024, the most recent year for which data is available for all parts of the UK.
On Thursday, Reform’s leader in Scotland, Malcolm Offord, submitted a motion of no confidence in Todd, who was appointed Minister for Mental Wellbeing, Public Health, Sport, Alcohol and Drugs in May 2026, following the SNP’s election win.
The motion submitted by Offord on Thursday to the Scottish Parliament read: “That the Parliament has no confidence in the Minister for Mental Wellbeing, Public Health, Sport, Alcohol and Drugs, in light of the persistently high number of drug deaths and calls on the First Minister to remove her as a Scottish Minister.”
Only 12 of Reform’s 17 MSPs have supported the motion, including Thomas Kerr, Graham Simpson and Amanda Bland.
The party’s vote of no confidence would need the support of 25 MSPs, meaning they would need support from another party.
If the threshold of 25 MSPs is met, the vote could be held as early as next week.
When asked by STV News if Reform is confident the threshold would be reached, Kerr said: “I think if you listen to all the parties in the chamber today, all of us were singing from the same hymn sheet on the fact that this is Scotland’s national disgrace.
“This is an emergency. People are dying because of SNP policies. So I’m hopeful that the opposition parties will unite behind us to say enough is enough.
“It’s time to put this minister out of pasture and make sure that we can deal with the issue.”
The First Minister was challenged on his Government’s record on drugs where he said hed agreed that “we face a public health emergency on drugs deaths”.
John Swinney he told journalists afterwards the Scottish Government was “exhausting every element of the powers and responsibilities that we have to address the situation”.
Asked about decriminalisation – where people would no longer face penalties if they were caught with drugs for personal use – he said that “the Government does support that position that there is an argument for decriminalisation of drugs for personal use”.
This however would need to be done by Westminster, which has control over drugs laws.
But Swinney said it could be “part of the range of measures that we could take to reduce the harm of drugs and to provide us with a situation where there is more control and an ability to provide greater support to individuals who are affected by drug use”.
Following the latest drug death figures, Todd raised concerns about the impact of an “increasingly toxic and unpredictable drugs supply”.
She said: “My heartfelt condolences go out to everyone who has lost a loved one to drug use.
“Each and every death is a tragedy, and even more so because every life lost to drug harms is preventable.”
Todd added: “Against an increasingly toxic and unpredictable drugs supply, this rise is deeply concerning and unacceptable.
“The increase in deaths involving cocaine, and the continued threat from dangerous synthetic opioids like nitazenes, must drive more coordinated action across the country.”
