Rosneath resident Ruth Wishart has insisted that instead of a summit about curbing youth violence, John Swinney should be focusing on Scottish Independence.The Scottish Daily Express is reporting that a prominent nationalist journalist who lives locally has provoked anger after suggesting that breaking up the UK is more important than combating rising levels of youth violence in Scotland.
Veteran columnist and talking head Ruth Wishart made the comment in the hours after First Minister John Swinney announced yet another summit to curb the growing habit of carrying knives amongst teenagers.
The First Minister is to bring together charities, politicians and public sector groups in a bid to reassure families and the public after a spate of tragic deaths. Two teenagers were allegedly knifed to death in separate incidents in the central belt in the past four months.
Kayden Moy, 16, was killed on Irvine Beach following a disturbance, with three youths being charged in connection with the death. Meanwhile, Amen Teklay, 15, was also pronounced dead in Glasgow in March after allegedly being stabbed, with three teenagers facing court.
This has led to claims that the SNP Government is not doing enough to deter youths from committing serious crimes due to soft-touch sentencing rules which includes a presumption against jailing anyone under 18. Mr Swinney is holding a THIRD youth violence summit this summer to combat this.
But this decision has been questioned by independence-supporting journalist Ms Wishart who was insistent that breaking up the UK should come before teenagers killing each other. She wrote on X: “A summit on youth violence is fine. A summit on Independence is rather more urgent.”
Her comments were slated by opposition politicians who highlighted that for some nationalists, independence trumps even the safety of children. Scottish Labour MP Michael Shanks said: “I’ve worked in youth justice, been in Polmont, met people whose lives have been torn apart by knife crime. Tell them your constitutional grievance is more urgent than stopping young lives being lost to violence.”
Glasgow Scottish Labour MP Dr Zubir Ahmed, a surgeon, responded: “Having operated on multiple young people (usually in the middle of night) who were usually victims of life threatening stabbings I must disagree @ruth_wishart. The longest walk for a surgeon is the one from the operating theatre to the relatives’ room to tell the parents of a young man that we tried but we couldn’t save him.”
But he has also been told to ensure that this new youth violence summit isn’t just a “talking shop” with no positive outcomes.
It has been suggested that he is becoming infamous for holding summits about issues such as conquering the far right and stopping Reform UK, which are having no substantial impact.
Top of page: Police officers turn up to the scene of yet another fatal stabbing.