Under fire Health Secretary Neil Gray is due to update MSPs on the growing row around his use of government cars to attend football games at Hamdpden.

The SNP minister attended three matches at the national stadium when Aberdeen were playing.

The Scottish Government has insisted the Dons fan was attending as a guest of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) to discuss "essential" business.

He is due to address MSPs on Thursday afternoon and will face questions from the other parties. 


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Mr Gray has not broken any rules and all of the matches were recorded as official government meetings, though minutes have not been published.

Ministers are allowed to use publicly-funded transport as part of their job, and any use of government cars must be approved by the civil service in advance.

The first game on November 4 2023 took place while he was still Humza Yousaf’s Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy.

He watched Aberdeen beat Hibs 1-0 at Hampden in the semi finals of the League Cup.

He registered the ministerial engagement as discussing the "social impact investment in sport".

He was back at Hampden on December 17 where he watched Aberdeen's final clash against Rangers, where his team lost 1-0.

Weeks after his appointment as Health Secretary, following the resignation of Michael Matheson, he returned to Hampden on April 20 to watch Aberdeen take on Celtic in the semi finals of the Scottish Cup.

The game ended 3-3, with Aberdeen contorverisially denied a penalty in the dying minutes of the game.

Celtic ultimately won the tie on penalties.

The engagement this time was only registered as "sport".

(Image: Agency)

The row comes after weeks of controversy around donations accepted by Sir Keir Starmer and senior Labour party figures.

It emerged over the summer that the Prime Minister had been gifted more than £100,000 in freebies since 2020.

The SNP strongly condemned Sir Keir and his colleagues over the freebies.

The Prime Minister announced last month he would pay back around £6,000 for the gifts he received since entering Downing Street in July, including the cost of six tickets to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.

On Wednesday, Kate Forbes defended Mr Gray, saying it was “appropriate” for him to attend the games.

Speaking during a visit to the Clyde Gateway East Business Park in Glasgow, the Deputy First Minister told the PA news agency: “Neil Gray is the minister for health and sport, so it is quite appropriate that he engages with stakeholders in the health service but also within the sports world, and that includes football.

“Now he is making a statement to Parliament this week on the questions that have arisen in the press.

“He will be able to take questions from the opposition and answer them robustly, because he has operated, as I understand it, entirely within the rules of what governs both our transport as well as how we engage with stakeholders.”

Asked if it was a resigning issue, Ms Forbes said: “I don’t think it is, no. I think that as the minister for health and sport, it is entirely appropriate for him to engage with sports stakeholders.”

Rachael Hamilton, deputy leader of the Scottish Tories, said: “Once again, the public seems to be picking up the bill for an SNP minister to watch the football.

“Neil Gray must end the secrecy and outline in full the exact nature of these meetings and explain why he thinks they can possibly be considered as government business.

“The public’s trust in SNP politicians is broken and they are sick and tired of their rank hypocrisy.”

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: "These taxpayer-funded trips are bound to raise some eyebrows and Neil Gray must explain clearly how all of these journeys can be considered Scottish government business."