DR SCOTT Arthur MP has blasted the Scottish Government for “letting down” the population following Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s HIV test.
Posting to social media yesterday the Labour MP for Edinburgh South West took aim at the Scottish Government for being behind on HIV response.
The 55-year-old’s rant comes after Starmer filmed himself receiving a test for the infamous disease at 10 Downing Street following the first day of National HIV Testing Week yesterday.
Dr Athur shared his stance, quoting a leading HIV charity as on record stating that Scotland is far behind the rest of the UK in its HIV response, suggesting that the SNP has “let down” Scots on the issue.
He also shared a graph showing the leading contributors to HIV infection, which demonstrated a dramatic rise in recent years.
This rise came mostly from heterosexual intercourse and not drug use as suggested by many Scots.
Dr Arthur claimed that blaming the issue on drug use, a reserved issue, was a “classic example of putting the constitution before doing something for Scotland”.
A number of Scots responded to the MP suggesting that drug use was indeed the reason Scotland was behind.
They became annoyed with the MP after pointing out that drug policy is a reserved Westminster issue.
Dr Arthur stood by his claims, however, focusing on SNP Government policy as the reason Scotland lags behind.
He said: “From a leading HIV charity – ‘we unfortunately don’t have our own testing week in Scotland and are also falling further behind in other areas of our HIV response’.
“Why is the SNP Government letting Scotland down on this?”
After being met with pushback from Scots he continued: “That’s a great example of someone putting the constitution before doing something for Scotland.”
