Jamie Greene MSP for West Scotland and Shadow Justice Secretary shared a tweet calling out the Scottish First Minister, as a survey reveals more than half of Scots want knife and violent crime to be a top priority for Police Scotland. He shared a screenshot of a newspaper which featured his comments on the issue.
He wrote above the picture: “The SNP Government need to start prioritising violent crime before it spirals further out of control.”
Violent crime was voted the highest priority for the police to tackle in the poll, followed by child abuse inquiries and investigating sexual offences, antisocial behaviour and “drug and crime enforcement”.
A number of Scottish opposition politicians have voiced their concerns on the issue, highlighting their dismay at the SNP Government’s inability to tackle the problem.
Mr Greene from the Scottish Tories said: “Violent crime is surging on the SNP’s watch, so it is of little surprise that so many people want it to be treated as a top priority.”
Scottish Lib Dem deputy leader and former police officer Wendy Chamberlain added her views: “It is clear that the Scottish Government must ramp up its efforts to tackle violent crimes as soon as possible.”
Pauline McNeill, Scottish Labour’s justice spokeswoman said: “The statistics are clear – our police service needs all the support it can get to tackle violent crimes of all kinds.”
The Scottish Government hit back with claims that crime was down to one of its lowest levels since 1974.
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“But she doesn’t have the courage to tell her activists, she fears that they will flock to Salmond’s outfit or another separatist movement.
“She’s worried about the fracturing of the nationalist cause and she’s putting the ideological focus on independence ahead of the needs of the people of Scotland.”
