Neil Gray is under fire for allegedly misleading the Scottish Parliament about meetings at football matches he attended in official limos
Edinburgh: So, Neil Gray is in a bit of hot water. He’s the SNP Health Secretary, and folks are saying he might have misled the Scottish Parliament. It’s all about some meetings he had at football matches while riding in government limos.
He claimed that minutes were taken at all these meetings. But a Sunday paper found out that there were no notes from a meeting at the 2023 League Cup Final. That’s where Rangers beat Aberdeen, by the way.
Gray, who’s a big Aberdeen fan, said it’s totally fine for ministers to go to sports events. He even mentioned he’d keep attending. But he later apologized, saying he might have come off more like a fan than a minister. He admitted he should have gone to a wider variety of games.
In his statement, he said he attended six matches, including two with the Scottish national team, all while being driven in a government car.
First Minister John Swinney thinks the whole thing is “closed,” and some SNP members are backing Gray. But Tory MSP Stephen Kerr raised a point in Holyrood, saying the government’s response didn’t match Gray’s earlier claims about the meeting minutes.
Kerr pointed out that Gray might have given inaccurate information, whether on purpose or not. He even asked the Presiding Officer what could be done about it.
The Presiding Officer, Alison Johnstone, said it’s crucial to provide accurate info to Parliament. Labour’s Neil Bibby also jumped in, asking Gray to clarify the “glaring inconsistency.”
He warned that it looks like Gray might have misled Parliament, and that’s not something that can just be ignored. The Scottish Government has been asked for a comment on this situation.
