Demands grow for Neil Gray to explain to Holyrood why he was chauffeured to football games

Deputy leader Rachael Hamilton said the SNP’s “shoddy excuses” in defence of Neil Gray made the row look like “another Michael Matheson affair”.

Mr Gray is facing criticism after it was reported that he was chauffeured to Hampden to watch three Aberdeen games.

The Health Secretary was given VIP seats by the Scottish Football Association three times, once in his current role and two when he was wellbeing economy, fair work and energy secretary.

Those include the Aberdeen v Hibernian match for the semi-final of the League Cup and the final against Rangers last year, as well as the semi-final of the Scottish Cup against Celtic this year.

The Scottish Tories urged Mr Gray to explain himself to MSPs.

Ms Hamilton said: “What is it with SNP health secretaries and claiming taxpayer funds to watch the football?

“The SNP’s shoddy excuses are making Neil Gray’s chauffeur scandal look a lot like the Michael Matheson affair.”

Mr Gray took over from Mr Matheson earlier this year following an expenses row.

Mr Matheson had billed the the taxpayer for a £10,000 iPad roaming charge that he later admitted was clocked up by his sons watching football.

He repaid the costs after the story broke but later quit in light of a critical report by Holyrood officials which found he breached Parliament’s expenses policy.

Ms Hamilton accused the SNP of “secrecy and hypocrisy” after previously criticising Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Cabinet for accepting freebies.

“Nationalist politicians are the first to cry foul but the last to accept they’ve done anything wrong,” the MSP said.

“The SNP hammered Labour politicians for accepting donations for high-end clothes and all sorts of gifts, yet they don’t say much when it’s one of their own.

“Neil Gray must explain the full facts of what he’s done to the Scottish Parliament and let the public judge for themselves.

“People deserve transparency or they will lose even more trust in SNP politicians.

“The health secretary should be using taxpayers’ money to reduce NHS waiting lists, not cut the cost of following his football team.”

Earlier on Monday, the Net Zero Secretary had defended her Cabinet colleague, saying he was “doing his job” while attending the games.

Gillian Martin said Mr Gray would not have been allowed to use the car if it was not for official reasons.

She told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “It’s my understanding that Neil Gray was doing his job as the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport.

“It seems to be that he has done visits in line with his Government duties and in line with his responsibilities for sport.

“So he would use a ministerial car to get to somewhere where he was doing a ministerial event and that’s pretty standard.”

Questioned on why the three visits were to watch Aberdeen, the team Mr Gray supports, Ms Martin said: “That’s a question for him”.

“I obviously don’t know anyone’s football preferences,” she said.

“If he goes to see Aberdeen as part of a ministerial visit, then that’s obviously something that he has done and then aligned with the ministerial code.”

Ms Martin, who is in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the Cop 29 climate conference, said it was the first time she had heard about issues being raised about ministerial car use.

She added: “The fact of the matter is you wouldn’t get a ministerial car unless there was a ministerial visit attached to that.

“And that’s just the fact. You would not be able to arrange a ministerial car unless it was ministerial business.”

The Scottish Government has been approached for comment.