Health Secretary Neil Gray has said he is sorry he did not go to a “wider range” of football matches after using ministerial cars to attend four Aberdeen games.

The Dons fan was driven by a chauffeur to watch three games at Hampden, as well as a home match. He registered the events as official government visits.

In a statement to parliament, Gray said he should have attended a greater variety of games to avoid giving the impression he was acting “more as a fan and less as a minister”.

The Scottish Conservatives accused him of having a “jolly to watch the football” at taxpayers’ expense.

Gray also said he had used the chauffeur service for five Scotland games.

The health secretary told MSPs that he had been joined by a family member or guest at six of the matches. He said that they travelled with him but at no additional cost to the taxpayer.

Gray said all the engagements were “official ministerial business”, and that he had not planned to attend only Aberdeen club matches.

He said: “I should have made sure that I attended a wider range of games and not just Aberdeen, and I apologise for my error.”

The SNP MSP added: “I am a football fan. I follow Aberdeen. But I should not have allowed the impression to be given that this played any role in my engagements and I am sorry for my error.”

Gray was given VIP tickets to Aberdeen matches at Hampden three times, once in his current role and twice when he was wellbeing economy, fair work and energy secretary.

The Airdrie and Shotts MSP watched Aberdeen v Hibernian in Scottish League Cup semi-final in November, and the final against Rangers in December, as well as the semi-final of the Scottish Cup against Celtic in April.

The minister was also driven to an Aberdeen home league match against Livingston in May during a day of ministerial visits in the city.

He said he was a guest of the SPFL at the first two matches, and of the SFA at the Celtic match.

Gray told MSPs he discussed a range of issues at the Hampden matches, including pyrotechnics, business engagement in sport and the SPFL’s work to support community wellbeing.

In March 2022, while serving as minister for culture, Europe and international development, Gray used the chauffeur service to go to Scotland matches against Ukraine and Poland.

After becoming economy secretary, he was driven to two European Championship qualifiers against Georgia and Norway in June and November 2023.

Last month, he attended Scotland’s game against Portugal at Hampden.

Scottish Conservatives called for a parliamentary investigation under the ministerial code.

Deputy leader Rachael Hamilton accused Gray said: “Taking family members and guests to these games, in limos paid for by the taxpayer, confirms beyond all doubt that these meetings were not government business, but a jolly to watch the football.

“Taxpayers have been duped and Neil Gray must now refund them in full.”

Gray said the ministerial code makes clear that family members or guests can accompany a minister.

Labour MSP Neil Bibby said the minister’s attendance at the Aberdeen v Livingston game at Pittodrie has “raised particular eyebrows” and asked for further details of the discussions to be published.

Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie said the “real issue” was the minister’s use of a government car and there would not have been a problem had he used public transport.

Speaking to journalists following Gray’s statement, First Minister John Swinney said he would not refer the health secretary for an investigation under the ministerial code.

He said the statement had addressed “all the issues that need to be considered” and he now considers the matter “closed”.

Council tax bills in England are set to rise by up to 5% next April, after the government confirmed it was sticking with the current cap on increases.

Communities Minister Matthew Pennycook told the Commons this was the “right threshold”, as he pointed to the pressures on council budgets.

It means the average household faces an above-inflation increase of more than £100 to their to their council tax bill next year.

Pennycook said the government expects an extra £1.8bn to be raised through council tax in 2025/26.

But the Conservatives claimed Labour had left a “black hole” in council finances.

Under current rules, councils in England providing social care services can increase tax rates by up to 5%, while others can increase rates by up to 3%.

Councils who want to increase bills above this level must get permission from the government or hold a referendum.

According to government figures, the average band D council tax set by local authorities in England for 2024-25 was £2,171 – an increase of £106 or 5.1% on the previous year.

On Wednesday, the prime minister’s press secretary told reporters the 5% threshold set by the previous government “remains the same”.

It came after Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch pressed Sir Keir Starmer during Prime Minister’s Questions over whether the cap would be kept in place, with the PM sidestepping the question.

Answering an urgent question on the issue in the House of Commons on Thursday, Pennycook defended the decision to keep the cap.

The minister said the government was committed to protecting the most vulnerable through the 25% discount on council tax for people who live alone and other support schemes.

He added that this means more than eight million households do not pay a full council tax bill.

Pennycook was also challenged over the financial pressures facing councils.

Liberal Democrat MP Lee Dillon said his party was “deeply concerned that people are simply paying more council tax for fewer services”.

He highlighted the increased costs for councils from inflation, wages and demand for local services and urged the minister to ensure they did not have to close libraries, cut bus routes or reduce road repairs as a result.

In response, Pennycook said: “The government certainly recognises the pressures on local authorities and the burdens placed on households as a result of 14 years in which local government was run down.”

“We are determined to turn that situation around,” he added, pointing to an extra £4bn in new funding for councils in last month’s Budget.

The Local Government Association has welcomed the extra funding for councils, but warned they still face significant pressures in areas like adult and children’s social care and homelessness support.

The County Councils Network also said the money “does not eradicate councils’ funding gap”, meaning they would “have little choice but to raise council tax and still need to take difficult decisions over services to balance their budgets”.

Conservative shadow communities minister David Simmonds claimed the government had left a £2.4bn “black hole” in councils budgets.

“Answers to parliamentary questions show that the government is expecting spending power to increase by £3.7bn, funded by grants of £1.3bn,” he told the Commons.

He added: “Whilst nobody would want to see the [council tax rise] referendum limit scrapped simply to bail out central government, the announcement of the 5% constrains local authorities when it comes to their fundraising.

“Will it be our High Streets through increased business rates or will it be other council services through significant cuts that will need to fill their £2.4bn black hole?”

Pennycook rejected the figure, saying it did not take account of more than £300m raised in business rates and an expected £300m in additional new housing.

He pointed out that the 5% cap on council tax rises was in place when the Conservatives were in government and called on the party to clarify whether they believed it should be abolished or reduced.

The boss of the UK’s largest police force has warned it faces “eye-watering cuts” to services unless ministers increase its funding.

Met commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told the BBC he was “deeply troubled” by talks so far on its annual settlement for next year.

He added that the force was in a “precarious position” because previously used options to “prop up” its budget had run out.

The government has said it plans to increase the overall policing budget next year – although allocations by force are still to be negotiated.

The Met’s budget for this year is just over £3.5bn, a 3.5% increase from 2023/24, comprising £2.6bn from central government and £956m from local taxes.

Sir Mark said conversations over its funding allocation from next April – which would normally be expected to be announced in December or January – were still “ongoing” with the government and City Hall.

But, speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Political Thinking with Nick Robinson, he said he was “deeply troubled by the situation we appear to be heading towards”.

Policing a global capital such as London came with an “extra set of challenges”, he said, adding that per person was lower than in other cities such as New York and Sydney.

He said that the “cumulative effect of decisions over the last decade or so” had put the force in a “more and more precarious position”, and some of its buildings would be “unusable” in a few years without further investment.

“Some of the things that successive [police] commissioners and mayors have used to balance the books – like selling police stations and using reserves – all of those things have run out,” he added.

“The chancellor has been very clear – it’s a difficult public sector context.”

“You add all those things together, and you get a dramatic change in budgets of a scale that’s never going to be absorbed by efficiencies, and is going to require some pretty eye-watering cuts to sort of to the services we provide to London.”

He added that he was not going to get into detail at this stage on the “tough choices” the force would face without an increase in resources.

But he said he planned to specific “10 or 20 things we’re going to do differently” before Christmas.

He added that the implications for policing in the capital would “become more public” in the coming weeks.

The budget for the Home Office is set to shrink by 3.3% next year in real terms, with the bulk of this coming from assumed savings on asylum support.

At last month’s Budget, the government said it planned to “increase the core government grant for police forces,” although it did not specify whether this would be in cash terms or taking account of inflation.

Before the election, Labour also said it also planned to save £360m through more efficient purchasing of police equipment, which it promised to spend on extra community support officers.