SWINNEY 'LIED AND MISLED' HOLYROOD IN OEUH DEBATE

THE First Minister "fabricated" evidence and misled Holyrood in his attempts to distance the Scottish Government from the deepening crisis surrounding the opening of the country's £842million super-hospital, it has been claimed.

- BY RICHARD ELIAS

Critics allege the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) was forced to open after "political pressure" was applied, despite it being known the site was not yet ready to accept patients.

It is at the centre of a potentially devastating public inquiry for the SNP after seven people died, including two children, at the site and more than 80 others were taken ill amid problems over leaking sewage and the presence of a potentially fatal bug.

At the time the QEUH opened in April 2015, Nicola Sturgeon was First Minister.She was also branded “crass, offensive and tone deaf” after choosing to attend a £35-a-head “meet-and-greet” last night with supporters instead of answering questions over what she knew about the scandal.

The allegations over deliberately misleading evidence was made yesterday by the leader of Scottish Labour.

Anas Sarwar has for years been at the forefront of a campaign to discover who knew what about the controversial hospital’s opening.

In particular, he has worked closely with the family of Milly Main, a 10-year-old leukaemia patient from North Lanarkshire, who died while being treated at the hospital campus.

Mr Sarwar has now written to Mr Swinney demanding an explanation over comments made in Holyrood on Thursday.

In his letter, he stated: “After a chaotic week marked by lies and misinformation, I am writing to you about the most serious matter of all: your decision to mislead the Scottish Parliament.

“Yesterday, at First Minister’s Questions, after years of secrecy, cover-up and obfuscation over the catastrophic infections at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, you once again chose not to tell the truth to Parliament.