Failing to sack Neil Gray 'will destroy public trust'

Neil Gray is a regular at Aberdeen matches - using government funded cars to attend official business.

Failing to sack Neil Gray as health secretary over his use of a ministerial car to travel to football matches could destroy public trust, a former parliamentary standards chief has warned.

Sir Alistair Graham insisted it is “too easy” for politicians to simply make a public apology – as Gray has done this week – and said disciplinary action would act as a strong deterrent to other members who might think of doing something similar.

Gray apologised to MSPs on Thursday for using a Scottish Government car to attend matches involving Aberdeen FC, the team he supports.

While he stressed he also took part in meetings at the games, he conceded he had given the impression of “acting more as a fan and less as a minister”.

Gray also told MSPs that at several games he was accompanied by a family member or guest, and that they travelled with him in his ministerial vehicle.

However, it has been further revealed that he failed to declare Hampden Park hospitality from football chiefs who lobbied him for a change in government policy.

Sir Alistair, who was chair of the committee on standards in public life at Westminster from 2004 to 2007, said actions like this “only increase cynicism about the political system”.

He said: “Breaches like the ones we have seen from Neil Gray and other leading politicians, which people may think are relatively minor, in fact undermine public confidence in whether politicians are putting the public interest before the private interest.

“That is clearly the case here, where the use of an official car was plainly to satisfy the private interest rather than meeting the needs of the public.”

Trust at a ‘low ebb’

Sir Alistair said the decision of whether Gray should be sacked is one for the first minister but added that him staying on as health secretary “will add to the cynicism already felt by much of the public at a time when trust is at an extremely low ebb”.

“If there has been a consistent track record of failure to abide by the ministerial code at Holyrood, then it should be for the Scottish Parliament to take action against Neil Gray,” Sir Alistair said.

“He should not be allowed to get away with it.”

Pressure is mounting for First Minister John Swinney to launch a formal investigation into whether his Cabinet colleague broke strict rules around gifts.

Health Secretary Neil Gray listens to First Minister John Swinney speaking in the chamber. Image: PA

Last September, the health secretary said he would consider scrapping the ban on alcohol in stadiums before being slapped down by Swinney.

It has since emerged Gray was approached at a garden party in 2022 by bosses representing Scotland’s top clubs, who wanted to get the prohibition lifted.

The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) – a company which runs Scotland’s senior football divisions – then twice arranged VIP seats for him to watch Aberdeen in major cup ties at Hampden.

However, the freebies were not fully declared by Gray.

Instead, he registered the junkets as ministerial discussions with the sport’s governing body, the Scottish Football Association (SFA).

Calls for answers

As they were deemed to be government meetings, Gray was not only chauffeur-driven to and from both games at taxpayers’ expense but also avoided having to declare the SPFL’s hospitality in his Holyrood register of interests.

Both events were registered as government meetings with the SFA to discuss “Social Impact investment in Sport”.

However, Gray was in fact given the match seats by the SPFL, though they weren’t declared as gifts by the minister.

SNP health secretary Neil Gray. Image: PA.

Gray himself confirmed this during his apology to parliament on Thursday.

There is no suggestion that the SPFL has done anything wrong.

The pressure on Gray comes after his predecessor Michael Matheson resigned after he attempted to use public cash to pay for £11,000 of data roaming charges on his Scottish Parliament iPad – charges which were run up after the device was used to watch football on a family holiday to Morocco.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “There is no requirement on ministers to record official government events in the Scottish Parliament Register of Interests.

“Where ministers attend events in an official, government capacity these are recorded as official business and published on the Scottish Government website.

“All engagements referred to by Mr Gray in his statement to Parliament this week were official government business.”