Suella Braverman has clashed with the Scottish Government over its call to decriminalise drugs for personal use.
The right-wing Tory home secretary held a "fiery" meeting today with Shirley-Anne Somerville, the social justice secretary, in which she claimed such a move would cause "untold damage".
It comes after SNP ministers last week demanded an end to people being arrested and charged for possessing small amounts of banned substances.
SNP minister Elena Whitham claimed the “ambitious and radical proposals” would save lives.
The Record has led a long-running campaign to tackle Scotland's shamefully high drugs death rates and first called for decriminalisation in 2019.
But drug laws are reserved to Westminster and the Tory government has persisted in viewing drug addiction and its associated issues as a criminal matter.
Braverman met with Shirley-Anne Somerville, the Social Justice Secretary, today to repeat Rishi Sunak's opposition to decriminalisation.
A readout of the meeting provided by the Home Office described the meeting as “fiery”.
"To be clear this government will not be changing our policy on personal use of illegal drugs,” the Home Secretary said at the London meeting. "I am very clear that illegal drugs destroy lives and communities – they are devastating.
"The proposals I read from the Scottish National Party last week are irresponsible and would do untold damage to our neighbourhoods.
"We’re focused on protecting people and preventing lives from being ruined, targeting gangs and preventing supply of drugs from overseas.
"We’ve absolutely no intention of decriminalising illegal drug use and I think the Scottish National Party should focus their efforts on what powers they do have such as reforming health outcomes for the Scottish people.
"Drug deaths are still a huge problem in Scotland and this government is keen to work together to try to tackle that problem and prevent the very levels of drug deaths in Scotland.”
According to the readout, Somerville said the two Governments would always “fundamentally disagree” on drugs.
Scotland has had the highest level of drug-related deaths in Western Europe in recent years, with 1,330 recorded in 2021 – the latest data set – and the Scottish Government is looking to more radical approaches to stem the tide.
The Scottish Government published a report last week on measures it believes could be taken now, or through further devolution or independence.
The proposals include decriminalisation of all drugs for personal supply progressed as part of a wider review of drug laws.
A spokesman for Shirley-Anne Somerville said: "It is disappointing to see well-evidenced proposals once again being rejected in such a high-handed manner, without the UK Government even having gone to the bother of giving them proper consideration.
"This is a serious issue, and we all agree on the need to save lives and reduce harm - which we believe is best done by treating this as a public health issue. Westminster is out of touch with the general public, who rightly expect a mature and open-minded debate about the right way forward.
"The Scottish Government is ready and willing to work constructively with the UK government, the political parties at Holyrood and of course stakeholders more widely to make progress.”
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