Swinney boasted of scandal hospital opening 'on time'

JOHN SWINNEY was accused of misleading parliament once again over the SNP Government's role in opening the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) too early.

- BY DAVID WALKER Scottish Politics Reporter

He denied that any Nat politicians had demanded that the hospital be opened “before it was ready”.

New evidence was unearthed which showed the First Minister boasted ahead of the 2015 General Election that the QEUH would be opened “on time and on budget”.

He bragged that the construction of the ill-fated £852million site showed that “competence is one of the great strengths of your SNP Government”.

At First Minister’s Questions he was confronted by Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, who highlighted all the evidence that it was the SNP who “pressured” NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde into opening the hospital “before it was ready”.

Despite evidence that he did do this building up, Mr Swinney refused to admit any fault, instead branding his rival “desperate”.