First Ministers Questions unpicked - November 14 2024:
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00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Daily Politics Show for this Thursday. My name's
00:05Dale Miller. I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman and I'm joined by our Political Editor Alistair
00:10Grant. We're here to unpick First Minister's questions today. We're getting used to Russell
00:16Findlay asking his first question, Alistair, and it was a pretty easy goal to kick towards
00:21today. You went up in April, Ray, and you missed the Royal Car Use.
00:26Yeah, so Russell Findlay, as you say, a very easy goal for him today, raising this row
00:31that's been developing over the last few days over Neil Gray, the SNP Health Secretary,
00:36and his use of ministerial cars to take him to football games. So I think there's three
00:41occasions in particular that are under the microscope in which he used a ministerial
00:45car to take him to Hampden, where Aberdeen just happened to be playing. Neil Findlay
00:49is an Aberdeen fan, so there's been lots of questions over whether that's an appropriate
00:53use of ministerial vehicles, questions around whether the taxpayers should be footing the
00:58bill for that kind of thing. And Russell Findlay today, bringing it up in the First Minister's
01:02questions, effectively saying that the Scottish Government was taking taxpayers for a ride.
01:07He was bringing up the Michael Matheson scandal that people might remember. That's a former
01:11SNP Health Secretary who was in place before Neil Gray, who ended up quitting the Government
01:17over a row over an £11,000 iPad data-roaming bill that he'd racked up while on holiday in
01:23Morocco. He ended up apologising over that. He said that he then discovered that his sons
01:29had been streaming football on the device. Michael Matheson's still an MSP, but he's
01:33stepped down from the Government because of that row. So there's a lot of pressure on
01:37Neil Gray. Mr Gray is expected to make a statement in Holyrood later this afternoon, about
01:4225 past two, in which he'll be setting out his response to this, letting the opposition
01:47MSPs ask whatever questions they want. And I think the Scottish Government are very much
01:51hoping that that will take the sting out of this in a way that if they just front it up,
01:55if they go into Parliament, if he lets everyone ask the questions they have, that it'll kind
01:59of take the steam out of it. And I think you should probably expect, don't expect Neil Gray
02:04to resign or anything like that, or even to really make a full apology, because the Scottish
02:09Government's position is that it's totally legitimate, that his car use was legitimate,
02:14that he was going to these events in his capacity as a minister. They were funded by the SFA,
02:22his tickets to Hamden, so it was kind of, he argues it was stakeholder engagement,
02:26and sport fall under his portfolio as the Health Secretary. But I think you should expect
02:31Neil Gray to maybe address some of the concerns and maybe show a little bit of contrition going
02:36forward. So I think the SNP will be very mindful over that Michael Mapps saga, and they won't want
02:41a repeat of that. And just to clarify for the viewer, we're obviously recording this immediately
02:47after First Minister's questions ahead of the Neil Gray statement, you'll be able to get
02:51everything that comes from that statement at scotsman.com as the day progresses. Alastair,
02:59the National Care Service, you wrote up effectively a story on this, this was breaking
03:04just before FNQs, and it came up again. It hasn't been scrapped, I'm not allowed to use that term,
03:11but it doesn't... I mean, there's an element of semantics here. So the government would say it's
03:16not been scrapped, that they are delaying stage two of that National Care Service bill until the
03:21new year. And they say that they're listening to the concerns that have been raised, they're
03:25listening to what stakeholders have said. People might remember that there's been a developing row
03:30over these National Care Service plans. These are plans to kind of centralise the care service
03:35under this kind of unified body that would ultimately answer to ministers. It's an idea that
03:40dates back to the COVID pandemic and some of the concerns that we saw with the state of the care
03:45service during the pandemic. It was also one of Nicola Sturgeon's key policies, actually. So
03:51be fascinated to know what she makes of these latest developments, because it's a key part
03:54of her legacy. And she's the one that kind of announced these plans in the first instance,
03:59but they've been supported by her successors, too. And there's lots of questions of Parliament
04:04over this today. As you say, it was a breaking story this morning, suggestions that it had been
04:08scrapped. What's certainly the case is that it's been kicked far into the long grass. And I think
04:14that delay ultimately means that the National Care Service, as it was first pitched, will probably be
04:20scrapped. I think that seems almost certain. The SNP run a minority administration in Holyrood.
04:26They do not have the support from opposition parties for the bill as it stands. They've got
04:31opposition from councils, from trade unions who have recently withdrawn their support for the
04:38bill. So it's just not in a good position at the moment. And actually, just as we left the
04:43Holyrood chamber just there, John Swinney was doorstepped by journalists asking questions
04:50about the National Care Service. And he was very much saying that all options are on the table,
04:55that it's not been scrapped, but they're certainly looking at the way forward. And
05:00yeah, it seems very much kicked far into the long grass is probably the most charitable way of
05:05fitting it. And we should reiterate, Alistair, that some 28 million pounds spent on the preparations
05:12to deliver this National Care Service already. So amid spending restrictions that have been
05:18announced over recent months, there's a definite cost pressure because we know
05:23the longer that this sort of drags on, the more money it costs the government as well.
05:27You can read that story as well as all the latest on Neil Gray at Scotsman.com. Alistair,
05:33thanks for joining us to talk through FNQs. And thanks to all those at home,
05:37you can get the full wrap of what's happened in tonight's politics in tomorrow's Scotsman.