MAXWELL BLASTS LIB DEM HYPOCRISY ON A and E KNIFE REPORTING CALL

MAXWELL BLASTS LIB DEM HYPOCRISY ON A&E KNIFE REPORTING CALL

PILOT SCHEME SCRAPPED WHILE LIB DEMS WHILE IN OFFICE

West of Scotland SNP MSP Stewart Maxwell has accused the Liberal Democrats of hypocrisy after they failed to support proposals to share knife assault data between police and hospitals while in office.

Mr Maxwell has campaigned for a reporting system of knife-related assaults within hospitals for a number of years, which would give police a far greater knowledge of where and when knife attacks are taking place. The number of knife-related assaults fell by 40% in Cardiff after such a scheme is introduced. However, a pilot project in Strathclyde was scrapped while the Liberal Democrats were in power, and a parliamentary motion laid by Mr Maxwell in support of a reporting scheme attracted the signature of only two Liberal Democrats. Commenting, Mr Maxwell said:

"I was frankly astonished to see the Liberal Democrats calling for A&E units to share information on knife assaults with the police. I raised this issue repeatedly with the Labour/Lib Dem Executive during the last parliament, but my calls fell on deaf ears.

"The Lib Dems are right when they say this information is essential to allow police to map out violence hotspots, but it was essential five years ago as well when I first raised this in Parliament. And it was essential in 2007, when the scheme at the Royal Alexandra was scrapped under the Lib Dems' watch."

"Given that Robert Brown couldn't bring himself to sign my motion about this, why has he suddenly become so interested? Has he only just woken up to the extent of the knife crime problem in Scotland?

"The fact is, it is the SNP who are committed to the idea of closer collaboration between hospitals and police, with pilots being carried out in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Fife and Lanarkshire. It is our focus on early detection and greater discretion over sentences that has seen an 11% reduction in the number of offences of handling an offensive weapon since we took office.

"Of course, if anyone in the Lib Dems has spent an evening shadowing police in Paisley on a Saturday night as I have done, they'll know that booze and the blade go hand in hand. If they're really serious about cracking down on knife assaults, maybe they should listen to the overwhelming support of the healthcare workers and the police and support the SNP's plans for minimum pricing for alcohol."