Scottish ministers are facing accusations of a cover-up and deceit regarding the scrapped £2.1 billion Monklands hospital replacement project. Official advice from NHS experts recommending the abandonment of the project due to excessive costs was received by the Scottish government two months prior to the May Holyrood election, yet this information was not disclosed to the public.
Instead, ministers continued to promote the project's progress during the election campaign. The decision to halt the project was publicly announced by Health Secretary Angela Constance on June 25, just 20 minutes before the parliamentary recess. This timing has drawn sharp criticism, with interim Scottish Labour leader Jackie Baillie stating, "It is now crystal clear that the SNP knew about the cost of the new Monklands hospital and was advised to scrap the project well before the election but decided to lie to local voters."
Bombshell documents obtained indicate that former Health Secretary Neil Gray, Drugs Minister Maree Todd, and Public Health Minister Jenni Minto were informed in March that NHS experts "would not recommend progressing to construction" of the Monklands Replacement Project. Despite this advice, Gray, whose Airdrie constituency includes the hospital site, continued to campaign on the project's development. His election leaflets promised "Continued development of the new Monklands hospital" and urged voters to "It has to be both votes SNP." He also visited the proposed site with First Minister John Swinney, highlighting the project in campaign materials.
The halted project has already incurred £225 million in costs. This expenditure is four times the estimated £48 million required to address existing issues at the current Monklands hospital. In early March, the Scottish Government was alerted to spiraling costs, with each month of delay adding approximately £4 million to the overall bill, alongside unresolved "key issues" that needed addressing before construction could commence.
NHS Assure, a body tasked with supporting major NHS construction projects, was requested by the Scottish Government in January to conduct a cost review. Its initial findings, reported in early March, estimated the project's cost at a minimum of £2.1 billion and highlighted several unresolved issues. The report stated, "Our review has identified several key programme issues, including that no agreed programme exists, and every additional month of delay adds up to a further £4m in inflationary costs."
On March 5, a senior civil servant in the health department sent a "high level assessment" of the update to Todd and Gray. The final version of NHS Assure's findings was formally submitted to the government on March 20. Public Health Minister Jenni Minto also received a briefing from officials before the parliamentary recess concluded on March 26.
Scottish Conservative MSP Meghan Gallacher commented, "These bombshell revelations will be met with fury from patients across Lanarkshire. This is concrete proof that John Swinney and Neil Gray disgracefully lied to voters and hid the truth from them in a shameful attempt to keep voters on side with their party during an election period."
A spokesperson for the Scottish Government stated that the government remains "fully committed" to building a replacement for Monklands hospital. Regarding the timing of the announcement and ministerial awareness of the advice, the spokesperson said, "It is always the case that projects of this scale take time to fully consider and take through the appropriate internal governance assurance processes, as the public would expect when such significant amounts of public money are involved."
The statement continued, "In March, the project was still going through various internal assessments and the business case was not ready to proceed for decision before the Scottish Government entered the pre-election period. On formation of the new government, Scottish Ministers assessed the full business case and informed the Scottish Parliament of the decision to reset the project so that an affordable and credible pathway to deliver the new Monklands Hospital could be achieved."