Health Secretary Neil Gray charged the taxpayer for chauffeur-driven trips to watch his favourite football team whilst claiming he was on official business, it has emerged.
Details of the minister’s journeys came as the Scottish Government is refused to answer key questions about a catalogue of sporting junkets for ministers that have been registered as official business.
It emerged Mr Gray was taken to and from Hampden Park three times and once to agame at Pittodrie stadium in Aberdeen.
Each visit to Hampden coincided with Aberdeen, the club Mr Gray supports, playing in a major cup tie, and he was gifted VIP seats for the matches.
After the trip to Pittodrie, he was then driven home from the north east in a government car, a journey believed to be around 140 miles.
Mr Gray was driven to Hampden and Pittodrie in a ministerial car
Aberdeen line up at Hampden for cup final that saw Dons fan Neil Gray cheer on his team in their clash with Rangers
There are now calls for full disclosure on the VIP sporting trips enjoyed by ministers, which have included Scotland international matches in both football and rugby union.
Scottish Conservative deputy leader Rachael Hamilton said: ‘This response will not cut it and looks yet another attempt at a cover-up from the secretive SNP.
‘It is looking increasingly like Neil Gray has no justification for claiming these trips to Hampden Park and Pittodrie were ministerial engagements.
‘He cannot attempt to sweep this situation under the rug.
‘The SNP must offer full transparency around the true nature of these visits – and those of other ministers – so that taxpayers can trust their money is being spent wisely.’
The Scottish Government has repeatedly refused to say whether family members were also taken along on some of the junkets.
Mr Gray, 38, is MSP for Airdrie and Shotts in Lanarkshire . He was promoted to the cabinet in March 2023 as Well-being Economy, Fair Work & Energy Secretary.
Mr Gray is an avid Aberdeen FC supporter
Mr Gray was previously criticised for trying to buy Oasis tickets during a discussion about Alzheimer’s disease
But he was whisked in and out of Hampden Park, Glasgow, three times in five months to watch Aberdeen in major cup ties on the basis that he was carrying out important work for the nation.
On November 4 last year, the Aberdeen beat Hibernian at Hampden in the League Cup semi final.
Mr Gray was a guest of the SFA, registering it as a ministerial engagement to discuss ‘social impact investment in sport’.
Weeks later, on December 17, he was back at Hampden, supposedly to discuss the same subject – on the day Aberdeen lost to Rangers in the final.
Last February, Health Secretary Michael Matheson resigned in disgrace after trying to charge the taxpayer £11,000 for iPad roaming charges he ran up on holiday.
He initially claimed they had been racked up on constituency business, but he later admitted his sons had been watching a football match on the device.
Mr Gray replaced him, but within weeks, on April 20, he was back at Hampden for a third time to watch Aberdeen take on Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-final – this time registering the reason for the visit as ‘sport’.
Fellow ministers Mairi Gougeon and Emma Roddick also enjoyed Murrayfield tickets to watch Scotland play rugby, insisting their visits were helping to promote aquaculture and refugees respectively.
Meanwhile, Siobhian Brown was ferried to Scotland’s recent football match against Finland, insisting it was part of efforts to make Scotland safer.
Joanna Marchong, investigations campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, added: ‘Scots will be highly suspicious that Scottish ministers are using taxpayer cash to fund jollies dressed up as official engagements. The lack of detail is disturbing.’
Mr Gray at one of the Aberdeen matches at Hampden
Taxpayers were recently landed with a £24,223 bill for First Minister John Swinney, Culture Secretary Angus Robertson and sport minister Maree Todd to attend matches at the Euros in Germany with a dozen officials.
And Mr Gray has been criticised for trying to buy tickets for an Oasis concert while chairing a meeting on dementia.
He admitted he was in the queue for the tickets on his mobile phone while convening the event at the SNP’s conference in August.
When it emerged that Sir Keir Starmer had accepted gifts and hospitality worth £100,000 since becoming Labour leader – including a string of Arsenal tickets – the SNP branded him ‘completely out of touch’.
The Nationalists’ Westminster leader Stephen Flynn wrote at the time: ‘Life is tough at the top of the British state – so tough in fact that voters get asked to tighten their belts while Cabinet Ministers rake in freebies.’
Last night, the Scottish Government failed to provide details of Mr Gray’s business during the trips, but said sport comes within the health portfolio and is important to a well-being economy.
It also wouldn’t say whether Mr Gray had sought out the invitations.
Ms Roddick, it claimed, met charity workers at Murrayfield who support Ukrainian refugees, and Mrs Gougeon was a guest of Salmon Scotland with France being a valuable export market.
Ms Brown discussed pyrotechnics with the SFA as part of her role in community safety.
A spokesman said: ‘Ministers are invited to a range of engagements and attend select events in an official capacity, details of which we publish proactively.
‘This is an essential part of government business that allows ministers to engage and build relationships with key stakeholders and to help promote Scotland as a place to visit, work and invest in.
‘All travel costs are in accordance with travel and subsistence policies to ensure we deliver the best value for money possible for the Scottish public.’
The Scottish Government refused to say if ministers had taken along family members though insisted there had been no misuse of public money.
Driving ministers to official engagements cost the taxpayer £1.51 million in 2023/24, up nine per cent from the £1.38 million the previous year.
The Scottish Government ministerial fleet comprises ten Volvos, ten Teslas and 13 Kias.
