John Swinney accuses Anas Sarwar of ‘shameful’ interference in hospitals inquiry

First Minister John Swinney has accused Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar of “direct political interference” in the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry.

The inquiry, launched in 2019, is probing the circumstances surrounding the opening of Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital where several patients died after contracting infections.

Sarwar last week wrote to the chair of the inquiry, Lord Brodie, calling for it to consider taking evidence from current and former ministers following concerns about pressure being applied to open the hospital too soon.

Speaking at FMQs, Swinney said he “appalled” by the letter, stating: “It is direct political interference in the conduct of an independent inquiry, and Mr Sarwar should be ashamed of himself.”

The inquiry concluded its oral evidence sessions two weeks ago.

In its closing submission, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde admitted the hospital “opened too early” and said the “pressure was applied to open… on time and on budget”.

While it later said that pressure had come from within the health board itself, Sarwar said in the letter that there was a lack of clarity about “who applied this internal pressure, why they did so, and if it was due to external pressure that they themselves were under”.

He called for former first minister Nicola Sturgeon to be invited to submit evidence to the inquiry, as well as then-health secretary Shona Robison and Swinney, who was then finance secretary.

In the chamber on Thursday afternoon, the Scottish Labour leader continued to call for answers about what the government knew and when about patient safety issues at the hospital.

He accused Swinney of telling parliament a “blatant untruth” when he said ministers had been unaware of such issues until March 2018, highlighting the Scottish Government was alerted on 14 separate occasions of incident at the hospital between 2015 and 2018.

He said: “Warning after warning was sent to the SNP government and met with inaction. People died as a result. Worse than this, the Scottish Government’s instinct was to close ranks and cover up.”

Swinney said those 14 incidents “did not suggest there were wider problems with the water system” at the hospital and reiterated that ministers were only made aware of that problem in 2018.

He added that the inquiry and its chair must be given the “time and space” to consider the evidence without “external speculation”.

He continued: “This government has established an independent public inquiry, led by Lord Brodie. We will respect the law and allow Lord Brodie to undertake his inquiry, and we will distance ourselves entirely from the direct political interference that Anas Sarwar is perpetrating in his letter to Lord Brodie.”