'Struggling to see what the scandal is': Stephen Flynn hits back on Neil Gray football chauffeur row
Stephen Flynn has said he is “struggling” to understand why the SNP health secretary being chauffeured to Aberdeen football games in a ministerial car is a scandal.
Neil Gray, a Dons fan, was accompanied by a family member or guest at five of the matches he attended as minister. He attended six in total, including two games involving the Scottish national team.
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Mr Flynn, the SNP Westminster leader, insisted his colleague was just doing his job.
He told the BBC: “The scandal here is the fact that Neil Gray chose to go to far too many Aberdeen games. When it comes to how ministers partake in their duties, I think we need to be serious about the fact that our sports minister going to sporting events is not a scandal.
“He is doing his job and he's doing his job to the best of his abilities. What tends to happen in politics is you tend to create relationships, have discussions with people and that can only happen by being in those places at certain times.
“I would certainly be encouraging all of our ministers to get out with the people that they represent the bodies of who, of course, play a huge role within Scottish society and football. I’m struggling to see what the scandal is.”
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Hide AdMr Gray said on Thursday he was sorry for the “error” of how his trips looked, but insisted it was legitimate government business. He said he should have gone to a “wider range” of matches.
Also appearing on the BBC show was Scottish Labour’s deputy leader Jackie Baillie, who insisted the trips were a scandal.
She said: “I think it is a scandal because I think their [the SNP] eyes are off the ball, no pun intended. They've spent £30 million on trying to develop a National Care Service that could have bought a million hours of care.
“What you need to do is you need to think about what your priorities are when social care is in crisis. Why are you going to football games? You're also the health and social care minister, where we have one in six people on waiting lists in Scotland, where 9000 people are waiting for an assessment. These should be priorities.”
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Hide AdResponding to Mr Flynn’s comments, the Scottish Tories accused him of “rank hypocrisy”.
Scottish Conservative deputy leader Rachael Hamilton said: “He is just another SNP politician who thinks there should be one rule for his party and another for everyone else.
“In true SNP form, he also tried to downplay the scandal engulfing Neil Gray despite him [the health secretary] using taxpayers’ money to chauffeur him to watch his favourite football team.
“The brass-neck of the SNP knows no bounds. It is little wonder that the public’s trust in SNP politicians is broken, when they see senior nationalists acting like this.”
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