Zubir Ahmed

While it is encouraging that people in Scotland are drinking less frequently than the UK average, these findings highlight a worrying shift towards heavier drinking on individual occasions.

This is the wrong debate at the wrong time.

I now ask you for the sake of that urgency and that national duty, to step aside and set a timetable for an expedient and orderly transition to new leadership that commands the confidence of our country.

It is clear to see that whatever the magnitude of individual achievements and progress, they are now being dwarfed and undermined by a lack of values-driven leadership at the centre.