John Swinney still has confidence in Neil Gray after football limo row 'mistake'

John Swinney has backed his health secretary after he was forced into a second apology over a row concerning his use of limos to attend football matches.

John Swinney has insisted he still has confidence in under-fire SNP health secretary Neil Gray after the minister was forced to apologise for misleading Parliament - amid claims he has broken the ministerial code.

Mr Gray issued an apology to MSPs on Tuesday for what he called an “inadvertent error” in his remarks in a row over his free journeys to football games.

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John Swinney and health secretary Neil GrayJohn Swinney and health secretary Neil Gray
John Swinney and health secretary Neil Gray | PA

He had initially said that minutes were taken at all of the meetings he held at football stadiums, but has now admitted that was not the case for all of the games he attended.

The contrition is the second time Mr Gray has apologised to Holyrood over his use of taxpayer limos to watch Aberdeen – the team he supports – and the Scotland national team.

Mr Swinney’s support for his minister came shortly before the Scottish Conservatives claimed Mr Gray had “clearly violated the ministerial code”, adding the situation was “black and white”.

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In November, Mr Gray said it was legitimate for ministers to attend sporting events and that he would continue to do so. But he issued his first apology after admitting he had given the impression of “acting more as a fan and less as a minister” and should have “attended a wider range of games”.

Speaking to journalists after a speech on the Scottish economy at JP Morgan in Glasgow on Wednesday, Mr Swinney was asked whether he still had confidence in his health secretary.

The First Minister said: “Yes, of course I do.”

Mr Swinney had previously said he considered the matter “closed”.

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Asked if he was wrong to say that, Mr Swinney said: “Neil explained to Parliament one specific, detailed point, which was in one of his answers to Parliament that was not consistent with two other points that he made during that statement.

“So I think for me, the content of the issue hasn’t really changed since Neil made his parliamentary statement.”

Neil GrayNeil Gray
Neil Gray | Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

The SNP leader said “the substance of it hasn’t really changed”.

He said: “In the course of the statement, he had set out the accurate position twice and then on the third occasion he just had one word too many, and the word was ‘all’.

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“So it was a mistake and he described it as an inadvertent error, and I would accept that.”

A Freedom of Information request on December 13 showed Mr Gray attended several events where no summaries or minutes were taken. But the minister did not correct his previous assertion unit January 21.

Scottish Conservative MSP Stephen Kerr said: “There can be no doubt that Neil Gray knew months ago that he had misled Parliament.

“He had clearly violated the ministerial code. It’s black and white. So does the minister accept that this is a violation of the ministerial code? ”

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SNP business minister Jamie Hepburn insisted “Mr Gray was not forced to come and apologise”.

He said: “Mr Gray willingly came forward to acknowledge the inadvertent error he made, of course, in releasing the information.”

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