Sarwar accuses SNP of ‘hypocrisy’ over Health Secretary football chauffeur row

Anas Sarwar has accused the SNP of hypocrisy for defending the Health Secretary after he was chauffeured to see his team play at Hampden four times.

The Scottish Labour leader said the party wanted to attack Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and the UK Government “day after day” for accepting freebies but “now find themselves in a very similar position”.

Scotland’s Health Secretary Neil Gray has been under fire for using a ministerial car to attend several football matches.

During his statement to the Parliament on Thursday, he admitted he attended six games for free, two of which were to see Scotland and four were to watch Aberdeen.

The Dons fan apologised during his speech for not going to a “wider range” of football matches.

He said this gave the impression he was acting “more as a fan and less as a minister”.

Asked about his apology on Friday, the Scottish Labour leader told the PA news agency: “I think the public can see and understand that it’s probably not a mere coincidence.”

Mr Sarwar, who was in Maryhill in Glasgow campaigning for his party, claimed the SNP had one standard for themselves and another for everyone else.

He said: “I think it exposes the hypocrisy of the SNP who wanted to spend day after day, week after week, attacking the Labour Party for engaging in what they call engagements and making an issue around football tickets, etc, and they now find themselves in a very similar position.

“It’s the hypocrisy of it where they expect one standard for everybody else but actually a different standard for themselves.”

Mr Sarwar said he was “perfectly relaxed” about politicians attending sports and cultural events, adding that “it’s important they do”.

“What they have to be is transparent,” he said. “They have to make a judgment call about what public resources are used or not used.”

Mr Sarwar, who was given free tickets to watch Liverpool FC with Scottish Secretary Ian Murray in September, joined the Tories in calling for the Scottish Government to publish more details on why Mr Gray attended the matches, including how the meeting was set up and the minutes taken during the events.

He said: “Neil Gray himself has admitted that perhaps he got the balance wrong in terms of focusing primarily on Aberdeen football games given he’s an Aberdeen fan.

“What I’m not sure about is he seemed to suggest that the problem was he should have gone to even more games rather than choosing the appropriate games if he was genuinely on Government business.”

Rachael Hamilton, deputy leader of the Scottish Tories, has written to First Minister John Swinney urging him to launch an investigation into whether Mr Gray broke the ministerial code.

She accused Mr Gray of being “another SNP minister out to swindle taxpayers”.

The Tory MSP said: “If officials were there, we need to know who and what notes they made.

“Neil Gray must publish all correspondence around these trips, so the public can see if he was invited to Aberdeen games or asked to go himself, and he must also produce the minutes of all meetings and details of all conversations that supposedly involved Government business, if they exist.”

Speaking to journalists on Thursday, before the letter was sent, Mr Swinney said he would not open an investigation into Mr Gray. He said he considered the matter “closed”.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Mr Gray has made a statement to Parliament on this issue. The question raised by Rachael Hamilton was answered by the First Minister yesterday.”

The Scottish Government has been approached for comment about Mr Sarwar’s remarks.