DRUG research showing a rise in HIV infection should make the UK Government wake up to the crisis on the city streets, according to a Glasgow MP.

It was revealed HIV is at its worst for decades and that injecting drugs, including cocaine, has led to an epidemic among drug users in the city.

Alison Thewliss, SNP MP for Glasgow Central, warned ministers at the Home Office they need to "abandon their ideological obsession" and allow a Supervised Drugs Consumption Facility in the city.

The Home Office has refused to consider amending drug laws to allow a SDCF in Glasgow where drug users could bring their own heroin and inject in safe surroundings and have access to medical support.

Ms Thewliss said: "This latest research adds yet more weight to the already overwhelming body of evidence in support of a Supervised Drug Consumption Facility in Glasgow.

“I recently met drug charities based in my constituency who raised similar concerns with regards the changing habits of the drug-injecting population in the city centre. More people injecting stimulants like cocaine means more frequent drug-injecting, which in turn increases the risk of the transmission of blood-borne viruses.

“It beggars belief that the UK Government can blindly maintain that the current service offering is adequate when research shows that HIV rates are increasing, and drug-related deaths in Scotland are more than double the UK average."

Plans by the council and health board for a SCDF in the Calton area of the city have had to be put on hold for as long as the Home Office sticks to its position.

Ms Thewliss added: "The UK Government must urgently wake-up on this issue. They must abandon their ideological obsession with characterising drug use as a criminal issue, rather than a matter of public health. Lives are depending on it”.