SNP health secretary under fire over football

What is it with separatist health secretaries claiming from the public purse for the footie? First there was the £11,000 iPad scandal, which caused a headache for hapless Humza Yousaf and pushed former SNP health secretary Michael Matheson out of his government job. Now his successor Neil Gray is in the spotlight after the Sunday Mail revealed that the nationalist minister had been using ministerial cars to take him to sports matches. Alright for some!

It transpired that Aberdeen FC-fan Gray had been chauffeured to three cup games at the national stadium, as well as a Pittodrie league match. The newest SNP health secretary declared his excursions in line with official guidance, logging two of the games as meetings with the Scottish Football Association on the ‘social impact’ of sports investment while the other two were simply listed under ‘sport’. Yet while Gray’s fellow MSP and net zero secretary Gillian Martin was quick to defend her colleague – telling BBC Radio Scotland the trips were ‘in line with his government duties’ – not everyone is convinced…

The Scottish Tories are calling for a Holyrood statement from Gray himself over the revelations, with deputy party leader Rachael Hamilton demanding that the Nat ‘must explain the full facts of what he’s done to the Scottish parliament and let the public judge for themselves’.