Gray must quit! Fury over SNP minister's limo trip to the pub
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Scotland's Health Secretary is facing calls to quit as his position is ‘untenable’ after it emerged he used a taxpayer-funded limo to travel to a pub.
Neil Gray has come under fire over fresh revelations showing he was chauffeur-driven to an Aberdeen pub for a ‘personal engagement’ before being taken to watch a football game in May last year.
Scottish Government rules state limos cannot be used when the ‘principal purpose’ of a trip ‘is not connected to the performance of ministerial duties’.
Now critics claimed the situation ‘reeks’ of a ‘cover up’ – and have said Mr Gray has no option but to fall on his sword.
Scottish Tory deputy leader Rachael Hamilton said: ‘Neil Gray’s position is untenable. He should resign. It’s clear he misused his ministerial car and that he gave a misleading account to parliament of the details.
‘How can he be trusted to sort out the crisis in our health service when he is unable to give an accurate account of his actions?’
A Scottish Daily Mail investigation revealed that ahead of an Aberdeen match last year, Mr Gray was chauffeured to the city’s Brig O’Don watering hole, before being taken to Pittodrie Stadium.
The journeys were logged in the ministerial register as trips to and from a ‘personal address, Aberdeen’. This was only amended to a ‘personal engagement’ after our probe showed the Airdrie MSP has no home address in the city.
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: ‘The decision to take a taxpayer-funded car to the pub is questionable enough – but the fact it was hidden from the public reeks of a cover-up.
‘Neil Gray must explain why this trip to the pub was legitimate government business.’
Scottish Government policy on the Government Car Service (GCS) states trips must not be made for primarily personal business. It reads: ‘GCS cannot be provided from public funds for journeys where the principal purpose is not connected to the performance of ministerial duties.’
It continues that ‘if the minister wishes to use the GCS for journeys which do not have as their principal purpose the performance of ministerial duties they can do so on a repayment basis’.
The Scottish Government was asked if Mr Gray paid for his limo use.
The embattled health secretary was yesterday backed by First Minister John Swinney. He said: ‘The ministerial car was used in accordance with the rules.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘During a day of ministerial engagements in Aberdeen, the Health Secretary met with a relative for a personal dinner.
‘The meal was paid for by the Health Secretary and he did not consume any alcohol.’ Mr Gray has already battled calls to quit his ministerial position over the ‘limogate’ revelations.
He narrowly survived a Holyrood vote calling for him to quit in January after it emerged he had been chauffeured to and from nine football matches involving his teams, Aberdeen FC or Scotland, between 2022 and 2024.
Mr Gray was forced to apologise in November for giving ‘the impression of acting more as a fan and less as a minister’ but claimed the trips were not junkets and officials had made a record of business meetings at the matches.
Then, two months later, he admitted he had misled parliament – after it was revealed there was no written record of any discussions at the 2023 League Cup Final between Aberdeen and Rangers which he attended.
