Pressure On Scottish Health Secretary

Motion of 'no confidence' in Alex Neil.

The Labour party will call for the Health Secretary to step down later.

Alex Neil is facing a motion of 'no confidence' over his handling of mental health provisions at Monklands Hospital.

Labour MSPs claim he stepped in to reverse cuts and then attempted to cover it up.

It's the first time a motion of 'no confidence' has been debated for 13 years.

Neil Findlay MSP said: 

"Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Alex Neil and Alex Salmond continue to blindly claim that no wrongdoing has taken place with the health secretary's involvement in mental health services at NHS Lanarkshire.
 
"Nearly a week after these damning emails were released under FOI, Alex Neil's explanation as to why he meddled in local services and then claimed he had excused himself from the decision have not been satisfactory.
 
"Medical experts stated that keeping Monklands wards open would result in a 'less than optimal service' for patients. Yet Alex Neil has been unable to provide any clear rationale or evidence for changing the decision, which is contrary to his own health policy of delivering health services in communities wherever possible. 
 
"Now that it has emerged the wards he ordered to save contain asbestos, his position has been made even more difficult. His failure to come up with answers to the questions being asked of him mean he is not fit to be running our health service."

The Scottish Conservatives also support the motion of no confidence. Tory Chief Whip John Lamont said:
 
"There is a simple principle here – it is not acceptable for a minister to come to the chamber and say things that he knows to be untrue. 

"In another time, any minister who misled parliament would be expected to fall on his sword. 

“To see the First Minister defend Alex Neil when he's been caught bang to rights, having misled the chamber, is an unedifying spectacle indeed."

A Scottish Government spokesperson said:
 
"The Health Secretary has acted entirely appropriately at every single stage of the process regarding mental health service provision across NHS Lanarkshire and all of the key information in this case has already been in the public domain for a very long time. We look forward to using the opportunity tomorrow to once again outline that position.

"That will ensure the Health Secretary can continue to focus on ensuring our NHS - one of Scotland's greatest success stories – goes on delivering high quality care for thousands of people, day in, day out."