I have criticised the Deputy Prime Minister’s comments in Parliament this week relating to the Scottish Government and the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Inquiry.
At Prime Ministers Questions, the Rt Hon David Lammy MP responded to a question from Labour MP, Patricia Ferguson on issues surrounding the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, and accused SNP Ministers of siding “with the health board” and “dismissing families who went through tragic circumstances”.
This is a wholly untrue statement by the Deputy PM. The Scottish Government has acknowledged the pain and suffering that the relatives of those affected by these circumstances have suffered. The families deserve better than this kind of gutter politics from Labour. It was the SNP Government at Holyrood who called the inquiry into this hospital in the first place to establish the truth about what has happened.
Given this is a live inquiry, it is utterly inappropriate and frankly irresponsible for the Deputy Prime Minister to cast these aspersions on the Scottish Government, which are based on falsehoods and on which they had no right of reply at the time. Labour is sailing very close to the wind in seeking to influence an independent inquiry and its chair – that is in breach of the Inquiries Act 2005 (which is UK legislation too). It is right and proper (and the law) that Lord Brodie should have the time and space to consider all available evidence.
The final statements by the Counsel to the Inquiry also makes clear there was no external pressure on GGC to open early and that GGC failed to disclose issues to Scottish Ministers until 2018.
It’s also important to highlight that this is another example in a long line of untrue statements by Labour Cabinet Ministers in Parliament. First, we had Steve Reed MP making potentially misleading comments on water quality in Scotland as highlighted by the independent UK Stats Authority which they said could affect public trust; then we had the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting MP making up stories on waiting lists in hospitals rising in Scotland when in fact the reverse has been true these last six months while waiting lists in England have gone up. Now, we have this unacceptable statement from David Lammy.
As I have already highlighted, this is a UK Government that plays fast and loose with the Nolan Principles and on three clear occasions now has not met the high standards in public life we should expect and indeed deserve. I have written to the Deputy Prime Minister to ask him to apologise and also to the Speaker of the House to implore him to ensure that Labour Ministers adhere to the truth and not mere hearsay.
