Gray backs bid to save MS care home

The Multiple Sclerosis Society plans to shut the home on December 3 despite a massive campaign to keep it open, which has included a 30,000-signature petition presented to Mr Gray outside the Scottish Parliament.

The East Lothian MSP has written to the Charity Commission - which is already investigating a wider complaint against the MS Society - claiming the process leading to the closure decision had been flawed.

He has asked Charity Commission chief executive Sam Younger to include the MS Society's decision to close Leuchie House and its three other respite care centres across the UK in the ongoing investigation.

Mr Gray said: "Clearly I have grave concerns about the decision itself but also about the consultation process which I consider to be wholly flawed.

"I have asked the Charity Commission to confirm if the investigation is looking at that process as part of the overall consideration of the MS Society's governance."

The charity plans to close its respite homes so it can fund more people taking short breaks elsewhere, but campaigners say the people who use the homes desperately need the care on offer.

Moni Robson, a physiotherapist who worked at Leuchie House, welcomed Mr Gray's move and said the consultation had not been satisfactory.

"It was a very small number of people being asked and those who filled in the questionnaire were not aware of the consequences. They were misleading questions," she said.

Campaigners failed to get a motion of no confidence in the MS Society trustees passed at the charity's AGM last month.

The original complaint was sparked by the decision of the MS Society to suspend the charity's Scottish council. Author JK Rowling, who had been a keen supporter, announced she would no longer carry out high-profile fundraising.

Denise Fagg, the former chairwoman of the Scottish council who lodged the complaint, said: "I have challenged the legality of suspending the council without taking it to a general meeting."