Tories and Labour call for sacking of Neil Gray

Both the Conservatives and Labour have called for Neil Gray to be sacked as health secretary.

Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay said Gray misled parliament when he told the chamber last year that all meetings held at football matches he attended had been properly recorded.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said the health secretary “should be sacked for mismanaging our NHS, not just misleading this parliament”.

But first minister John Swinney continued to defend his health secretary, insisting he was focused on improving NHS services.

On the point about misleading parliament, he said Gray had been accurate in his statement to parliament and had misspoken in his answer to a question from Tory MSP Stephen Kerr – a point he has since apologised for.

Late last year, Gray became embroiled in a row over his use of ministerial cars to attend several football matches.

Gray said those trips were “legitimate” because he had discussed issues pertinent to his portfolio while in attendance.

But the matter resurfaced at the weekend after a newspaper reported that the government did not have a summary of a meeting at one of the matches Gray attended, despite him previously telling Kerr there were summaries for “all” of them.

Raising the issue at First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, Findlay said Gray “misled parliament, but he didn’t come clean straight away”.

He called for Gray to be investigated for breaching the Scottish Ministerial Code, and for Swinney to “show some leadership” by sacking him.

Sarwar criticised Gray's performance as health secretary, pointing to high levels of delayed discharge from hospitals.

He said: “Our NHS and care system is in permanent crisis, and we have a health secretary that no one has confidence in. He should be sacked for mismanaging our NHS, not just misleading this parliament.”

Swinney said Gray “acted entirely appropriately and responsibly in parliament, and in accordance with the ministerial code”, and highlighted that the independence advisors on the ministerial code could intervene if they thought they was not the case.

On performance, the first minister said both he and Gray were “focused on the concerns of the people”,  and pointed to record NHS funding plus cash for local authorities to improve social care services.

He made no mention of the National Care Service proposals, however, which are broadly expected to be scrapped in a ministerial statement by social care minister Maree Todd later today.