MINISTERS “could have breached a criminal threshold” in applying pressure to open Scotland’s largest hospital complex too soon, claims Scottish Labour.

The accusation came after NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde told the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry that there was evidence the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and Royal Hospital for Sick Children, which share a Govan campus, opened too early after “pressure was applied to open the hospital on time and on budget.”

The admission comes just days after the health board accepted a probable “causal connection” between dirty water on the site and a wave of infections among vulnerable cancer patients between 2016 and 2018 linked to the deaths of three children, as well as 73-year-old Gail Armstrong. 

Now Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has written to Health Secretary Neil Gray questioning the role of ministers in applying that pressure in the run-up to the 2015 general election.

“We maintain the belief that ministerial conduct during this process could have breached a criminal threshold and should be investigated by the proper authorities,” he wrote.

“You have rejected these calls. This is a simple invitation to prove that is not the case by sharing vital evidence publicly.

“The public has a right to know what ministers knew, when they knew it, and what actions were taken.

“This is about more than one hospital. It is about a culture in public bodies that too often protects the institution rather than the people it exists to serve.

“Families deserve answers. They deserve accountability. And they deserve justice.

“The question is simple: will you finally do the right thing, and release the communications Scotland has waited too long to see?”

The Scottish government was contacted for comment.